Rosenblum

Rosenblum, Karen E.

Group 2

Karen Rosenblum is writing many on the topic of the U.S. census. On top of that she is referring to the part of the census that refers to race and ethnicity. The first census came was made in 1790 and every census since that time period has had a question in regards to race and or ethnicity. Over the years as the census has evolved, there have been more choices for race. In 1970, the choices for race were white, Negro or black, American Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, Hawaiian, Korean, and Other. The census also mandates that it is the head of the household that decides what race to place on the census. However, the 1970 census was the first census that included ethnicity. It included ethnicity by asking the question of Hispanic or non-Hispanic ancestry. This area of ethnicity was added to hopefully eliminate or minimize the effects of undercounting. Undercounting is the effect where people are overlooked and not counted. This happens mostly in poor areas where poorer people more around a lot and are difficult to contact. This also happens with people who are illiterate and who are illegal immigrants who do not want to send something back into the government. The purpose of the census is the properly appoint the number of seats that are in the U.S. House of Representatives and also the distribution of federal funding to states and localities. Positives for having race on the census help with the voting rights act, equal employment opportunity programs, and racial disparities in health, birth, and death rates. Many it is a statistical program that helps to identify exactly what is going on in the country with regards to the people and how they are living. Still however, in 1970 the census referred to every race that was non-white as a minority. The aim of this data collection was to be able to pinpoint the extent of discrimination. The United States now has moved on from a basic white, non-white society to become a mixed multiracial country. We have advanced on and are still advancing to include everyone and respect everyone’s heritage. On the latest census, 2000, people were able to check more then one race, as a multiracial person they were able to identify themselves. Only two percent of the people who took the census checked off that box, however it was a move to further identify everyone for who they were. One such change that was not made was the change to identify Arab or Middle Eastern People. That is still a change that can be made for the future. The census as well as everything else in life can always get better, that is just the future to come.