A Multiracial, Multiethnic Future

Olsen: A multiracial, multiethnic future

By erica olsen

Recent political analysis has focused on the decline of the white vote, and a corresponding rise in the number of minority voters. According to exit polls in November, President Barack Obama won the votes of about 93 percent of African Americans, 71 percent of Hispanics (crucial to his victory in Colorado) and 73 percent of Asians. Mitt Romney took 59 percent of the white vote.

Looking at these numbers, you’d think all voters fit neatly into one — and only one — racial or ethnic category. Pretty strange, considering that the guy who got re-elected doesn’t fit neatly into one category himself. Black father, white mother: Obama may identify as African American, but it doesn’t take Nate Silver to do the math and conclude that our president is biracial.

So why were mixed-race voters ignored in election reporting and analysis? After all, according to thenewvoters.news21.com, a website that looks at how demographic trends influence American voting behavior, "People who identify as multiracial make up the fastest-growing demographic in the country."

We’re the fastest-growing demographic in the country. I’m part of this hard-to-quantify, difficult-to-poll group. I’m Norwegian-Swedish-Korean American.

Born in 1966 in Los Angeles, I was in the demographic vanguard. Today, being mixed race isn’t unusual in California.

I’ve got it easier than President Obama. My name’s white bread — or should I say lefse, the Norwegian flatbread. Only my middle name, Soon, is Korean. No one asks for my birth certificate.

In California, I fit in. But I live now in the Four Corners area, that odd bit of geography where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona come together. Not many Asian Americans in our rural high desert country. Once, filling out new-patient forms at a clinic in southeast Utah, I went to check all of my race boxes because I hate checking "other." Asian wasn’t even an option.

In this area, with my looks, I’m sometimes mistaken for American Indian. I usually take this as a sign I’m wearing too much turquoise jewelry.

Seriously, though, as a mixed-race person I’m skeptical of attempts to peg identity as just one thing. I’m not Scandinavian American or Korean American; I’m not Caucasian or Asian. I’m mixed.

Is it my heritage that makes me question categories? Or is it part of the American condition?

Take the lines separating the Four Corners states on the map. Out here, we know the Four Corners is not only where four states meet, but also a place on the Navajo Reservation, American Indian land.

My mixed-race heritage makes me a demographic thorn in the side of the Republican Party. The party of Bill O’Reilly, who notoriously said on election night, "it’s not a traditional America anymore. The white establishment is the minority."

People like me aren’t necessarily a gift to Democrats, either, who may be over-reliant on a "minority establishment."

Mixed-race identities defy easy matching with political attitudes. In a world of Democrats and Republicans, blue states and red, mixed identities remind us that we’re all individuals, with beliefs that are mixed, as well.

As a fiction writer, identities — and the stories we tell about ourselves — grab me more than overtly political issues. Who is a Westerner? With my mixed heritage and newcomer status in the Four Corners, am I one?

For me, the personal is political. The decline of the white vote, the rise of minorities — that’s an old story I’m ready to leave behind.

As we begin a new year, let’s recognize America’s multiracial, multiethnic future. And then let’s start talking to each other.

Source: The Salt Lake Tribune/Erica Olsen is the author of "Recapture & Other Stories" (Torrey House Press), a collection of short fiction about the once and future West. A former resident of Blanding and Moab, she currently lives in Dolores in southwest Colorado.

Census Bureau Rethinks The Best Way To Measure Race

by Corey Dade

December 27, 201211:42 AM

(A crowd crosses the street in midtown Manhattan.

Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Possible revisions to how the decennial census asks questions about race and ethnicity have raised concerns among some groups that any changes could reduce their population count and thus weaken their electoral clout.

The Census Bureau is considering numerous changes to the 2020 survey in an effort to improve the responses of minorities and more accurately classify Latino, Asian, Middle Eastern and multiracial populations.

Potential options include eliminating the "Hispanic origin" question and combining it with the race question, new queries for people of Middle Eastern or North African heritage, and spaces for Asians to list their country of descent. One likely outcome could be an end to the use of "Negro."

The stakes surrounding population counts are high. Race data collected in the census are used for many purposes, including enforcement of civil rights laws and monitoring of racial disparities in education, health and other areas.

In addition, the information is used to redraw state legislative and local school districts, and in the reapportioning of congressional seats. The strong Latino growth found in the 2010 census guaranteed additional seats in Congress for eight states.

Latino leaders say changing the Hispanic origin question could create confusion and lead some Latinos not to mark their ethnicity, shrinking the overall Hispanic numbers.

The wording in the 2010 census question, which asked people if they are of Latino origin and then provided a space to fill in their race, yielded a strong response and a record count of 50 million Latinos. Their growth moved them ahead of African-Americans as the nation's largest minority group.

"We're the only group in the country that has our own question? Why give it up?" says Angelo Falcon, director of the National Institute for Latino Policy. "A lot of Latino researchers like the question the way it is now because it shows those differences. The way the Census Bureau is thinking about combining the questions, it might take away that information in terms of how we fit within the American racial hierarchy."

Falcon co-chairs a group of about 30 Latino civil rights and advocacy groups that recently met with the Census Bureau about the potential changes.
For many years, the accuracy of census data on some minorities has been questioned because many respondents don't report being a member of one of the five official government racial categories: white, black or African-American, Asian, American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander.

When respondents don't choose a race, the Census Bureau assigns them one, based on the racial makeup of their neighborhood, among other factors. The method leads to a less accurate count.

Broadly, the nation's demographic shifts underscore the fact that many people, particularly Latinos and immigrants, don't identify with the American concept of race.

The government categorizes Hispanic as an ethnicity, while many Hispanics think of it as a race. The confusion played out in the 2010 count, as nearly 22 million people — 97 percent of whom were Hispanic — identified as "some other race." It ranked as the third-largest racial category.

In addition, Asians and Hispanics had the highest rates of interracial marriage in 2010. And 9 million people identified as multiracial, compared with nearly 6 million in 2000.

Even the terms "Latino" and "Hispanic" are met by many with ambivalence, according to a 2011 national survey by the Pew Hispanic Research Center. Only about 24 percent of adults use either term to most often describe themselves. Slightly more than half of the respondents preferred to identify themselves by their family's country of origin. And 21 percent said they most often identify as American.
Middle Eastern and North African origin is an ancestry, which is no longer captured in the census form. The government racially defines the ancestry as white. Advocates say the methodology has led to severe undercounts of people of Arab descent.

"We don't necessarily identify as white because we have a lot of cultural and socioeconomic idiosyncrasies that are different," says Samer Araabi of the Arab American Institute, which supports the Census Bureau's efforts. "We think it's a great step forward not only for the Arab-American community, but for all other communities that are currently being lost in the census form."

The Census Bureau's research for the 2020 form is based on findings from an experimental questionnaire sent to nearly 500,000 households during the 2010 census. The forms worded the race and ethnicity questions differently than the official form, including combining them as a single question. Census officials say the combined question led to improved response rates and accuracy.

Karen Humes, assistant division chief for Special Population Statistics of the Census Bureau, says the agency's research is "expanding our understanding of how people identify their race and Hispanic origin. It can change over time." Humes says it's "very premature" to anticipate exactly how the 2020 census form might change.

Any recommended changes to the form must be approved by the Office of Management and Budget and by Congress. 
Source: NPR

Multiracial Population Predictions

Growing, Older, More Diverse Nation by 2060

Hispanic population expected to more than double during period

Article | December 20, 2012 | 

WASHINGTON — The U.S. population will be considerably older and more racially and ethnically diverse by 2060, according to projections released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. The projections of population by age, sex, race and Hispanic origin, covering the 2012-2060 period, are the first set based on the 2010 Census.

“The next half century marks key points in continuing trends — the U.S. will become a plurality nation, where the non-Hispanic white population remains the largest single group, but no group is in the majority,” says Acting Director Thomas L. Mesenbourg.

Furthermore, the population is projected to grow much more slowly over the next several decades, compared with the last projections released in 2008 and 2009.

The population age 65 and older is expected to more than double by 2060, from 43.1 million to 92.0 million, and will represent just over one in five U.S. residents by the end of the period.
Baby boomers, defined as persons born between 1946 and 1964, number 76.4 million in 2012 and account for about one-quarter of the population. In 2060, when the youngest of them would be 96 years old, they are projected to number around 2.4 million and represent 0.6% of the total population.

The non-Hispanic white population is projected to peak in 2024, at 199.6 million, up from 197.8 million in 2012. Unlike other race or ethnic groups, however, its population is projected to slowly decrease, falling by nearly 20.6 million from 2024 to 2060.

Meanwhile, the Hispanic population would more than double, from 53.3 million in 2012 to 128.8 million in 2060. The black population is expected to increase from 41.2 million to 61.8 million over the same period. The Asian population is projected to more than double, from 15.9 million in 2012 to 34.4 million in 2060.

Among the remaining race groups, American Indians and Alaska Natives would increase by more than half from now to 2060, from 3.9 million to 6.3 million. The Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander population is expected to nearly double, from 706,000 to 1.4 million. The number of people who identify themselves as being of two or more races is projected to more than triple, from 7.5 million to 26.7 million over the same period.

All in all, minorities, now 37% of the U.S. population, are projected to comprise 57% of the population in 2060. (Minorities consist of all but the single-race, non-Hispanic white population.) The total minority population would more than double, from 116.2 million to 241.3 million over the period.

Projections show the older population would continue to be predominately non-Hispanic white, while younger ages are increasingly minority. Of those age 65 and older in 2060, 56.0% are expected to be non-Hispanic white, 21.2% Hispanic and 12.5% non-Hispanic black. In contrast, while 52.7% of those younger than 18 were non-Hispanic white in 2012, that number would drop to 32.9% by 2060. Hispanics are projected to make up 38.0% of this group in 2060, up from 23.9% in 2012.

To review the data yourself, visit the U.S. Census website.
Source: U.S. Census 

WE STILL CALL IT MULTIRACIAL

From Census Bureau Press Release:

Unless otherwise specified, the statistics refer to the population who reported a race alone.  Censuses and surveys permit respondents to select more than one race; consequently people may be one race or a combination of races. The detailed tables show statistics for the resident population by "race alone" and "race alone or in combination."

The federal government treats Hispanic origin and race as separate and distinct concepts. In surveys and censuses, separate questions are asked on Hispanic origin and race. The question on Hispanic origin asks respondents if they are of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin. Starting with the 2000 Census, the question on race asked respondents to report the race or races they consider themselves to be. Hispanics may be of any race. Responses of "Some Other Race" from the 2010 Census were modified for these projections. This results in differences between the population for specific race categories in these projections versus those in the original 2010 Census data.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/2012/12/12/5049574/us-census-bureau-projections-show.html#storylink=cpy

Multiracial Growth Forecast

What will America look like in 2060? Census Bureau has an idea

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The headline from a U.S. Census Bureau release on Wednesday gets to the point: “Projections Show a Slower Growing, Older, More Diverse Nation a Half Century from Now.”

The bureau made projections all the way out to 2060, based on figures from the 2010 census. Here’s some of what is expected to be the reality in 2060, presuming, of course, that we survive the Mayan apocalypse next week.

The U.S. population will be 420.3 million om 2060, after hitting the 400 million mark in 2051.
People 65 and over will more than double, to 92 million. Those 85 and over will triple, to 18.2 million.

The youngest baby boomers will be 96, but there will still be 2.4 million of them, all complaining that music was better in their day.

In 2056 it will be the first time there will be more people 65 and older than there are young people 18 and younger.

The non-Hispanic white population is expected to peak in 2024 at 199.6 million. That’s not much more than today, less than 2 million more. After that it’s expected to drop, falling by 20.6 million by 2060.

The number of Hispanics will more than double, from 55.3 million to 128.8 million. That means nearly one in three people in the U.S. will be Hispanic; that figure is one in six today.

The black population is expected to grow from 41.2 million to 61.8 million, up to 14.7 percent of the country.

The Asian population will more than double to 34.4 million, which would be 8.2 percent of the country.

American Indians and Alaska natives will grow from 3.9 million to 6.3 million, while native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islanders will nearly double, from 706,000 to 1.4 million.

People identifying themselves as being of two or more races will triple, from 7.5 million to 26.7 million.

By 2043, the U.S. will be a “majority-minority” nation for the first time, though whites will still be the largest single ethnic group. By 2060, minorities – those who are not non-Hispanic whites – will make up 57 percent of the U.S., up from 37 percent today.
Matt Soergel's Blog/Jacksonville.com

SHAME ON CNN

SHAME ON CNN: A commentary by Susan Graham.

CNN aired a show hosted by Soledad O’Brien Sunday called “Who is Black in America?” I have been disgusted with the public misunderstanding of multiracial people on so called news shows in the past, but this one wins the prize for the absolute worst. 

First, let’s not forget that Soledad O’Brien is an entertainer and not an authority on the news. Her game is simple: ratings. She does not believe that people get to choose their own identities. But neither she nor anyone else should ever question someone’s racial self-identification. 

O’Brien’s mother is black and her father is white; her mother told her not to let anyone tell her she’s not black. So she self identifies as only black, denying half of her identity. She has that right and that opportunity. I feel that everyone should clearly have the right and opportunity to choose to be multiracial, too. But she has clearly brought her identity into her job this time.

This CNN special tells the story of several multiracial people who identify only as black, and are coerced into identifying as black to be on the national news. Some “experts” are thrown in who simply are getting free publicity for their books or are holding on to their academic jobs by writing and talking about the advantages of self-identifying as black if you happen to be unfortunate enough to have been born to parents of different races. 

There is a sub-story line to the show about how performing slam poetry can make a multiracial person black, what they “really” should be. They are mentored by a “spoken word poet” who helps them realize if they are multiracial, as he is, they can identify as black, as he does. They proudly succeed with one woman who says being able to be black is “a weight off my shoulders—a milestone.”

This show is, in my opinion, the most misguided show in the CNN “race” series to date. It’s a propaganda piece for every multiracial person to identify only as black; they should not even have a choice. Ms. O’Brien even tries to completely nullify multiracial advocacy by stating that you may only choose one race on the US Census. That statement has been absolutely untrue since the 2000 US Census. 

I was almost physically ill when a teacher was showcased for teaching young children about the brown paper bag test used at the height of racism in this nation to distinguish whether a person was light enough to enjoy all those advantages of white people, whatever they might be. For example a teacher—usually white—could hold a brown paper bag up to a student’s skin and separate the class into those lighter and those darker than the bag—a kind of segregation in itself. Those with lighter skin received something better than those with darker skin. The teacher said, “The more shocking the lesson, the better.” Is this really the way to teach anti-racism to a seven year old? No. It’s a way to make white people the enemy, which is really what this show concluded in its own media kind of way.  

The show fully embraces the one-drop rule—if you have one drop of “black blood,” you are monoracially black—and as evidence, one young woman is urged by Ms. O’Brien to stop identifying as biracial and become black. How in the world is this a balanced documentary?! It should not be titled “Who is Black in America,” but rather “You, too, should be Black in America!”

Only one white father on this very biased show says that his daughters should have the option of being biracial. 

There are plenty of people who will publicly—on the Internet anyway—applaud Ms. O’Brien for whatever reason and it will give them a chance to spout more hate against the multiracial movement, Project RACE, and me. I’m used to it after 23 years of fighting for the rights of multiracial people who wish to embrace their entire heritage. What is more recent is the new hatred against white people who are being blamed for what happened so many years ago and who fostered the civil rights movement. 

A certain radio talk show host is a prime example. This was her recent statement during one of her shows: “Historically white people have had the resources to help and opinions of people of color were NEVER taken into account…yes ideas were stolen but opinions were not counted.” NEVER is a pretty powerful word, especially when capitalized. It’s also a racist comment. I believe that “people of color” can be just as racist as anyone else. One of her devoted fans answered, “White people should go teach white people [about racism] cuz they don’t seem to be listening to me.” Why would anyone of any color(s) listen to this guy?

I wonder how people would feel if Project RACE stated it is imperative that only multiracial people teach about racism, or that the black population has sole responsibility to erase racism.  Every one of every race, ethnicity, culture, nationality, and religion has a responsibility to fight racism—not just whites. 

It reminds me of when I was a teenager and met and befriended a foreign exchange student from Germany. Being Jewish, my parents were openly hostile toward him. Huh? He did not do horrible things that Germans did to Jews and that occurred before he was even born. He was not responsible for wrongs any more than I, as a white woman, was responsible in any way for slavery or racism.  

There seems to be some kind of backlash going on to hold all white people accountable for racism and to believe that they should be held responsible for what ALL white people have done forever. I believe that ALL people choose their own identity and we should all be concerned about passing down racist ideas to our future generations. 

In fact, I have been taking the heat lately from some anti-multiracial bloggers. They single me out as a white woman who has actually gotten things done in communities, states, federally, and in the educational and healthcare systems for multiracial people and then attack me just for being white. One of their main issues is that since race is a “social and not biological construct,” we should stop trying to get more medical research done to find out if multiracial people really do have certain health risks that other groups do not; in essence, we are put down for trying to help save lives. 

It has finally occurred to me that if race really is not a biological construct in the eyes of those anti-multiracial racists, I should be willing to meet them halfway. I was born in Detroit—yes, Detroit, the city, not the suburbs—to a white man and white woman, was raised by a black woman, was married to a black man for 24 years and had two multiracial children, so I am more socially multiracial than white. I “get it” enough to finally declare my identity as multiracial: biologically white and socially black. That should make them happy. As for CNN and Soledad O’Brien, they can bask in the fact that they probably did turn some viewers against multiracial people and white people in a one hour program designed to elevate ratings.

Susan Graham is the executive director and co-founder of Project RACE (Reclassify All Children Equally). The views in this commentary are her own and not those of ALL of the membership of the organization.

Cheers to Mixed-race Brits and their Census!

Mixed-race Brits rising fast as prejudice wanes

Jessica Ennis, face of the Olympics and now face of the new Britain (Graham Hughes) 
 

MIXED-RACE Britons, epitomised by Jessica Ennis, the Olympic heptathlon champion, are among the nation’s fastest-growing ethnic-minority groups, according to official figures.

New data from the 2011 census to be published on Tuesday is expected to show that at least 1m people were born to parents from different ethnicities.

Academics believe the true number of people from a mixed-race background could be twice this amount, because many of them identified themselves in other categories, such as black or white, on census forms.

The findings coincide with new polling that reveals only 15% of people feel uncomfortable about interracial marriages.Twenty years ago, 40% of Britons expressed concerns about such relationships.
SOURCE:The Sunday Times

Mixed Chicks Win Legal Battle

Mixed Chicks Gets $8.5M Jury Award for Infringing Mixed-Race Hair Products

Lisa Shuchman

Corporate Counsel

Mixed Chicks LLC, a small company that makes specialized hair care products for women of mixed race, has won a jury award of more than $8 million in a trademark and trade dress dispute with a multimillion-dollar beauty supply company.

Sally Beauty Supply LLC, the world’s largest retailer of professional beauty supplies, agreed last month to pay $8.5 million to Mixed Chicks after the California jury found Sally Beauty had infringed the trademarks of Mixed Chicks’s products.

The settlement is actually larger than the amount awarded by the jury, as Sally Beauty offered the extra money to preempt the plaintiff’s requests for attorneys’ fees and disgorgement of Sally Beauty’s profits from the sale of the infringing products.

Mixed Chicks was represented by Kenneth Parker and Alan Wechsler of Irvine, California-based Haynes and Boone. “This is one of the largest trademark verdicts ever in the Central District of California,” Parker said, adding that Sally Beauty has also ceased selling its Mixed Silk products, which were the focus of the suit.

David vs. Goliath tales that come up with big wins for non-Goliaths are rare in the world of intellectual property, where the time and cost of litigation is daunting to small businesses and individuals. But Mixed Chicks co-founders Wendi Levy and Kim Etheredge felt that taking on the beauty supply giant was something they had to do. “We were warned the case was not a slam dunk, that it would be expensive and time consuming, and we were told the payoff, if we won, might not be large,” Etheredge said. “But it was about the principle for us.”

Like most small startups, Etheredge and Levy had worked hard to get their company going. The two women, who are both bi-racial, stumbled upon their idea for a specialty hair care company when they realized they had both struggled with their curly and often unruly hair most of their lives. They noted that the texture of hair for women of mixed race has particular qualities, and the women complained to each other that to get their hair under control they had to buy shampoos and conditioners in a drugstore’s “ethnic” aisle, along with others in the generic hair care aisle. Their need to combine multiple products meant, “we would have to use 10 different products instead of one,” Etheredge said.

In 2003 they went to a chemist to figure out what ingredients were effective for their hair types, and a year later launched Mixed Chicks. They started with a web-based business and soon were selling their products to salons and beauty-supply stores across the country. In 2009, Halle Berry endorsed the Mixed Chicks brand, giving the company a huge boost.

A representative from Sally Beauty Supply approached Etheredge and Levy at a trade show a short time later, and soon after the retail chain proposed an arrangement that would have it stock Mixed Chicks products in its stores. After studying the proposal, however, the women declined the offer, realizing that some of the chain’s policies—such as deep discounting, the need to provide large amounts of inventory, and a requirement that they accept returns—would be risky. “We wanted to make sure we had control of our merchandise and inventory,” according to Etheredge.

In early 2011, Sally Beauty rolled out its own product line for multiracial women, which it called Mixed Silk. Levy and Etheredge first learned about it from clients and customers, who were calling and asking why there was a product on the market that looked so much like theirs but went under a different name and was less expensive. Some even thought Levy and Etheredge had introduced a new low-cost product to segment the market.

Etheredge and Levy were shocked. Everything about this new product line appeared to be a knock-off. “The color and size of the bottles were the same, the color of the liquid was the same, the scent and texture of the products were almost identical,” said Parker, who formerly was corporate counsel for Callaway Golf Company. Even the advertisements seemed to resemble the Mixed Chicks promos, which feature a photo of Levy and Etheredge.

In addition, the Sally Beauty website contained a search engine in which a consumer could type in a product name to find out whether it was sold by Sally Beauty. It was programmed in such a way that when a consumer typed in “mixed chicks,” the only results it returned were the Sally Beauty “mixed silk” product line.

The effect, Parker said, was to deceive and confuse the public. In March 2011, Mixed Chicks sued [PDF], alleging Sally Beauty “intentionally, knowingly, and willfully” infringed the Mixed Chicks trademark and trade dress.

Trademark and trade dress suits often don’t go to trial, as the parties typically choose to settle. But Etheredge and Levy weren’t satisfied with Sally Beauty’s offers, and the large retailer continued to sell the products they were convinced infringed. So after an almost two-year battle, the case went before a jury.

During the nine-day trial, Sally Beauty testified that similarities were coincidental. (Sally Beauty’s attorneys, Jonathn Gordon and Casondra Ruga of Alston & Bird, could not be reached for comment.) The jury didn’t buy it. After deliberating for six hours, the jury decided that Mixed Chicks had suffered $839,535 in actual damages, and found that Sally Beauty had acted willfully and with malice, oppression, or fraud, resulting in a punitive damages award of $7.27 million.

The disposition of the case was finalized last week. “Others will enter the market, but we’re not afraid of competition—as long as it’s fair competition,” Etheredge said. “We knew we were in the right, and we’re happy we can now move forward.”
Source: Corporate Counsel

Multiracial Student Sues School

Court Upholds $1M Award in School Race-Harassment Case

 

A federal appeals court has upheld a $1 million jury award against a small New York state school district found to be deliberately indifferent to persistent racial harassment of a high school student by his peers.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit, in New York City, ruled unanimously in favor of the family of Anthony Zeno, who is half-white and half-Latino and is described in court papers as "dark-skinned."

Zeno was 16 when his family moved in January 2005 from Long Island to the heavily white community of Pine Plains, in Dutchess County, N.Y. At Stissing Mountain High School, where racial minorities were less than 5 percent of the student enrollment, Zeno quickly encountered the harassment, including students calling him "nigger" in the halls and telling him to go back where he came from, according to court papers. A student ripped a necklace from Zeno's neck and referred to it as Zeno's "fake rapper bling bling." There were also direct and implied threats aimed at Zeno, and references to lynching.

During the 2005-06 school year, Zeno faced racial harassment on his football team and continued comments in the hallways and in classrooms. School officials suspended offenders in some cases, but the district's superintendent declined to meet with Zeno's mother despite repeated requests. Despite the intervention of the local human rights commission and NAACP chapter, district officials declined suggestions that Zeno be assigned a "shadow" to help protect him in school.

The district coordinated a mediation session between Zeno's mother and the parents of some of his antagonists, but then neglected to inform Zeno's mother of the time and place of the session.
In his junior and senior years, Zeno faced continued hallway harassment, though he reported incidents less frequently because he did not think the school would respond. Zeno was in special education, and he eventually agreed to a form of special education diploma rather than continue in school to try to achieve a New York State Regents diploma.

Zeno sued the district, alleging race discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. A jury found for Zeno and awarded him $1.25 million in compensatory damages, which the trial judge reduced to $1 million.

The Pine Plains Central School District, which has 1,100 students and a $28 million annual budget, appealed to the 2nd Circuit, arguing that it was not deliberately indifferent to Zeno's harassment. The district said it responded reasonably to each reported incident, it was under no obligation to try options such as the shadow, and that it didn't know its responses were inadequate or ineffective.
In its Dec. 3 decision in Zeno v. Pine Plains Central School District, the 2nd Circuit court rejected the district's arguments.

"The jury could have found and apparently did find that the district's remedial response was inadequate — and deliberately indifferent — in at least three respects," the court said. First, while the district did discipline some students, it "dragged its feet" on implementing nondisciplinary measures such as bias training, the court said.

Second, many of those measures were "half-hearted," the court said. And third, "a jury reasonably could have found that the district ignored the many signals that greater, more-directed action was needed," it said.

"The district knew that Anthony was called 'nigger' and other racial slurs during his entire three-and-a-half years at [Sissing Mountain High School]," the court said. "The jury was entitled to conclude that the district knew that greater action was required."

The court also rejected the district's arguments that the $1 million damages award was excessive.
Zeno "was a teenager being subjected — at a vulnerable point in his life — to three-and-a-half years of racist, demeaning, threatening, and violent conduct," the court said. "Furthermore, the conduct occurred at his school, in the presence of friends, classmates, other students, and teachers. The jury reasonably could have found that the harassment would have a profound and long-term impact on Anthony's life and his ability to earn a living."

Zeno was supported in the 2nd Circuit by President Obama's administration, which filed a friend-of-the-court brief arguing that a school district may be found liable under the deliberate indifference standard "where its response to known acts of student-on-student harassment is not reasonably calculated to end persistent racial harassment."

"If a school district is aware that other students are not being deterred from engaging in harassment by individual disciplinary action, and the district continues to rely on those disciplinary measures as its exclusive remedy, that response would not be reasonably calculated to prevent persistent harassment from occurring again," said the brief, which was signed by lawyers from the federal departments of Justice and Education.

Source: Mike Walsh/Education Week