MULTIRACIAL COMMUNITY: ZERO

Census Bureau: 3 ½ Million Counted—Multiracial Community: ZERO

Most people believe that the United States Census Bureau (CB) sends them a census form every ten years, compiles the data from those forms, and their work is done. Not so fast. The CB also takes a nationwide survey every year called the American Community Survey (ACS). The results of the latest ACS were revealed yesterday.

The CB did NOT use any classification to identify the multiracial population. This is a huge blow to the multiracial community. We were assurance by the CB and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) that the classifications would remain the same as they were for the 2010 Census.

Our federal government has, once again, rendered multiracial people invisible. To say there may be an undercount of the multiracial population is a gross understatement.

Along with their actions being wrong on so many different levels, I wonder where our community is on this. Does anyone care or has the multiracial population become so apathetic toward the issue of appropriate racial and ethnic classification that it has lost its way completely? WAKE UP!

Our position at Project RACE has always stated that if the CB was going to collect population statistics at all, they needed to provide accurate data for our racial group. The CB’s American Community Survey tagline is: “A New Approach for Timely Information.” No kidding. That new approach got rid of any hope for the multiracial population.

Where are the other advocates? Eric Hamako is supposed to be representing the multiracial community on the Census Bureau’s National Advisory Committee (NAC) on Race, Ethnic, and Other Populations. Does he actually understand what happened on his watch?

Where are the academics? I know of at least one that was in an online chat room (still) taking pot shots at Project RACE and me, specifically. Another was tweeting about nothing.  At that same time, I was quickly reading about the population survey debacle and contacting the Census Bureau.

The survey figures came from 3 ½ million Americans. How could they not count the multiracial population? Does the multiracial community really not care to fix the government’s obvious discrimination and racism towards us? If that is the case, we might as well not exist at all. We are already invisible in the eyes of our federal government.   

Susan Graham