Other

[LDAHL]

I just read that “other” is the second largest racial category after “white” in 2020 census reporting. Apparently a lot of people don’t identify in ways the government would prefer them to. Personally, I find that to be a hopeful sign.

[ApatheticNoMore]

Isn't it because there are an increasing number of biracial or multiracial people?

[jp1]

Isn't it because there are an increasing number of biracial or multiracial people?

That’s what I remember reading. If I remember correctly the census doesn’t allow people to choose two or more categories. But I agree, the sooner we can get past caring about people’s race the better off the country will be. But for now we still have the grandparents who tried to prevent black kids from going to school with their white children trying to prevent the teaching of that occurrence to kids today.

[Rogar]

I don't recall about the census, but I have checked other for both gender and race on certain forms on general principles.

[iris lilies]

But how will Congress provide race- based pork if it cannot identify minority enclaves?

[Yppej]

When given the option to write my race rather than check a box I put down Human.

[early morning]

Yeah I do that too, jeppy - and also mark "other" on many forms. Nothing to do with my ethnicity, everything to do with being categorized.

[catherine]

If that is a trend, it will make it really hard for the Census Bureau to come up with any good data. As a market researcher, I'm disappointed to know that many people will put "other" even if their race can be clearly identified. This is not a job application. What is it to you if the Government knows you are of a certain race? Funny how people will post selfies, announce vacations on Facebook, participate in identity politics, but refuse to tell the Government their race/ethnicity.

[Alan]

What is it to you if the Government knows you are of a certain race? Funny how people will post selfies, announce vacations on Facebook, participate in identity politics, but refuse to tell the Government their race/ethnicity.
I think it has more to do with a principled response than anything else. To paraphrase The Kinks, "It's a mixed up, muddled up, shook up world" when the government reserves the right to classify you by race while also reserving the right to prosecute any other institution doing the same.

I would also think that anyone who shared MLK's dream that "my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." would try to honor that dream by refusing to be categorized by their race by any person or institution that may harm them.

[LDAHL]

What is it to you if the Government knows you are of a certain race?

What is it to the government where I believe my ancestors came from? Most uses of that information will be the application of “justice” along ridiculously crudely drawn lines. I prefer a little more granularity in determining who has been unfair to whom. In this era where people expect public institutions to issue punishments and rewards based on self-identified race, maybe answering “other” is a way of taking the Fifth.

[jp1]

I’m curious who is expecting punishment or reward based on race?

[Yppej]

I’m curious who is expecting punishment or reward based on race?

Rewards - American Rescue Plan funding has a big racial component. Read the criteria and you will see.

[iris lilies]

I’m curious who is expecting punishment or reward based on race?

I didn’t even have to go beyond the first Googled hit to get to an authoritative source describing race based monies from Congress.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/evangerstmann/2021/05/11/biden-is-prioritizing-billions-of-covid-funds-by-race-and-gender-is-that-constitutional/?sh=7855ce4b1648

[flowerseverywhere]

The funny part is you may not be exactly what you were told. Although I have had great difficulty tracking down relatives, I was more Native American and African than I thought when my DNA was done. Family secrets.

[rosarugosa]

The funny part is you may not be exactly what you were told. Although I have had great difficulty tracking down relatives, I was more Native American and African than I thought when my DNA was done. Family secrets.

Good point! So I guess the question is more a matter of what we think we are!

[jp1]

I didn’t even have to go beyond the first Googled hit to get to an authoritative source describing race based monies from Congress.


https://www.forbes.com/sites/evangerstmann/2021/05/11/biden-is-prioritizing-billions-of-covid-funds-by-race-and-gender-is-that-constitutional/?sh=7855ce4b1648

Focusing funding during a pandemic on groups that were most impacted by it is giving them a reward? Or is it a punishment?

[ApatheticNoMore]

If that is a trend, it will make it really hard for the Census Bureau to come up with any good data. As a market researcher, I'm disappointed to know that many people will put "other" even if their race can be clearly identified. This is not a job application. What is it to you if the Government knows you are of a certain race? Funny how people will post selfies, announce vacations on Facebook, participate in identity politics, but refuse to tell the Government their race/ethnicity.

I would probably tell the census (I have no idea what I did) and maybe them alone, but the thing is 100 other things ask it and it's none of their business. It's really not, so I often mark refuse to state or something too. And if other's do too even on the census, it's partly because they are used to answering the question that way for ever 2 bit nobody asking the question for a survey including a job application, when it's none of their business and irrelevant.

[iris lilies]

Focusing funding during a pandemic on groups that were most impacted by it is giving them a reward? Or is it a punishment?

dude, federal monies going to minority-identified communities has a long history, far beyond Covid. I did lazy Googling and came up with this first one that talks about providing communications technology to historically black and Hispanic college communities.


https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/senate-bill/4422/text


All you have to do is poke around in the vast Internet world of information about federal block grants to see which ones are and have been targeted to minority communities. The census is important to race-based government funding. Of course there are programs targeted to specific individuals of minority status, but that’s not really what I am talking about here.

As to your question about reward vs punishment, I have no idea. You do you, and answer your own question.

[jp1]

I don’t think the covid funding targeting hard hit communities is reward or punishment. It is simply acknowledging that the money should go where it was most needed.