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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 6, 1997)
CONTACTING US NEWSROOM: ADDRESS: (541)346-5511 Oregon Daily Emerald E-MAIL: P 0.80X3159 ode<8oregon uoregon edu Eugene. Oregon 97403 ONLINE EDITION: darkwing.uoregon.edu/-ode Perspectives EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Sarah Kickler EDITORIAL EDITOR Mike Schmierbach NIGHT EDITOR Doug Irving Changes in the United States census represent a key step in recognizing that racial and ethnic identity are individually defined Think of the govern ment as a big snake. A good idea goes in one end, and then you can watch as the lump that represents that idea slow ly makes its way through the system. One particular idea has fi nally made its way through the big boa we call the federal government — allowing peo ple to place themselves into more than one racial category on U.S. census forms. The Office of Management and budget took four years to research and debate the idea, and the notion had been around for a while before the discussion started. Finally, however, the office made a decision. The census currently has four racial categories, of which respondents were pre viously only allowed to select one. Under the new rules, people can select all the cate gories they feel they belong to. Another change will create a fifth category by separating Asians from Pacific Islanders. In addition, all the categories have been refined and more clearly defined, “Hispanic” will continue to be an ethnic category rather than a race, but it will be rela beled as “Hispanic or Latino." As a whole, we support these decisions. There is still plenty of room for debate over the proper categories or the best way to describe the exist ing ones, but as a whole the changes are admirable. It lias taken the government far too long to recognize that many people no longer fit eas ily into one racial category. Accord i ng to The Associated Press, there were more than 2 million children in mixed race families in 1990, up from 500,000 in 1970. Even this statistic is incomplete be cause it relies upon old cen sus statistics that did not al low individuals to report themselves as mixed race. Long overdue, the new rules will allow people to bet ter select and identify their racial background. Race is de termined not by genetics or innate traits, but by the cul ture with which a person identifies. By recognizing this fact, the government has revealed a deeper Haw in the census and other information gathering surveys. Because racial iden tity is defined by the individ ual, attempting to force indi viduals to place themselves within a few rigidly defined categories is dishonest. To begin with, other survey questions, such as those on standardized tests, need to ex pand their categories to coin cide with what the census has decided. They should do more, however, by working to find a way to allow people to more accurately identify themselves. A careful balance must be obtained. Reducing the ques tion to a blank line, while the most accurate way of deter mining race, ethnicity and cul ture, would prove statisti cally use less. In forma tion about race is important in identifying ongoing aspects of racism and dis crimination. Perhaps the optimal solution would be to ensure that there continue to be cate gories that differentiate be tween identifiable racial char acteristics while also providing space for people to clearly identify their exact racial identity. This would enable the government to track the possibility of racism, which is usually due to iden tifiable characteristics. At the same time, it would allow in dividual ethnic cultures to have a clearer sense of the role they play in the U.S. identity. I suppose this is a lot to ask of the government because it just finished a meal. Allowing people to identify their race as they see fit is important, though, and is therefore worth shoving down the snake’s throat. This editorial represents the opinion of the Emerald editorial Ixxird. Responses may Itesent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu New census categories: American Indian or Alaska Native: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America, in cluding Central America, and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment. Asian: A person having origin in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia or the Indian subcontinent includ ing, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand and Vietnam. Black or African-American: A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. Terms such as Haitian or Ne gro can be used in addition to black or African-American. Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander: A person having ori gins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa or other Pacific Islands. White: A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Europe, the Middle East or North Africa. In addition, the separate ethnic category of Hispanic will now j be known as “Hispanic or Latino.” It covers people of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American or other Spanish culture or origin, regardless of race. SOURCE: The Associated Press Drawing Board EXCUSE ME- I'M LOCHWG FW A MISSING BULL JOKW, TXtIWA &UU. On/X» rvwv**« i Quoted “About a quarter of a teaspoon of pow dered emu eggshell is enough to get you randy for at least two days.” Ivan Durrant, Australian artist, quoted by Reuters newsservice. "This is a rare and peculiar judge who does what he be lieves is right.” Lawyer Oliver Mitchell, discussing Hiller Zobel, the judge in the nanny murder trial, as quoted in the Tuesday Regis ter-Guard. Does what’s right? That really is a rare and peculiar judge. “It was the best of times, it was the worstoftimes.it was the age of wis dom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of increduli ty, it was the sea son of Light, it was the season of Dark ness, it was the springofhope.it was the winter of despair, it was the era of people not washing their hands after using the bathroom, it was the era of peo ple eating with their hands and falling violently ill after transferring bacte ria to one another. In short, it was not a very sanitary peri od." From a poster that was part of a cam paign by the Al legheny County Health Department to promote hand washing in and around Pittsburgh as quoted in the November Harp er’s. “What do you think the accuracy of ju ries is? If it’s lower than 90 percent perhaps we should just dispense with juries and have polygraphs.” Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, responding to argu ments that juries, and not lie detec tors, should deter mine the honesty of witnesses, in the Tuesday Register Guard. For that matter, what is the accuracy of Scalia's decisions? If if s below 90 percent, should we just re place him with a ra bid dog chewing on a copy of the First Amendment?
