# US Census Form: The "race" question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 6, 2010, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-census-form-the-race-question/538513 "2010-05-06T15:15:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-census-form-the-race-question/538513/21 "2010-05-07T13:27:29Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > When asked the “race” question, I always write: the 100 yard dash. > [@Kimmy\_Gibbler](#): > > Which, ironically, is the equivalent of answering “as white as they come.” Huh? 😕 When was the last time a white guy/girl won the the 100 yard dash? :dubious: Everyone knows that the 100 yard dash is dominated by the people of Tricor; it’s just common knowledge 😃 Apologies in advance to my Tricordian friends (some of my best friends are from Tricor, really!) for any implied sterotypical racist overtones. ---
**Author:** ![DxZero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@DxZero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DxZero)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-census-form-the-race-question/538513/22 "2010-05-07T14:44:55Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Census worker here. > > Look, it’s not that the government isn’t interested in whose Swedish or Italian or Swedish-Italian, it’s that there’s only so much room on the form. There are arcane reasons while this year’s panel of choices was selected which I don’t, myself understand. > > HOWEVER - if you are _unhappy_ about the choices given you are WELCOME, VERY WELCOME to mark the box “Other” and write in whatever you please. I can not relate what I have seen written in that box, but I will say that every race, ethnicity, and variation thereof mentioned in this thread had most likely been put in that box by someone, and I myself have seen strange and bizarre answers there. > > So if you feel your race is “Swedish” then by all means write it in. While the census would sort of like you to stick to the choices offered they know there are bunches of people not satisfied with them, and thus make provisions for “Other”. I saw one EQ yesterday with Italiano filled in the race section. When the enumerator was questioned on it, he said that he tried to ask the guy if he meant Italian. Nope, Italiano. ---
**Author:** ![davekhps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@davekhps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davekhps)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-census-form-the-race-question/538513/23 "2010-05-07T17:25:12Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > As I’ve heard it, it’s because most white people in America don’t actually know whether they are Swedish or Italian, nor do black people know whether they are Nigerian or Sudanese, since there’s been so much mixing in those populations since the original colonization hundreds of years ago. I believe that you heard it wrong. Most black Americans surely face that problem due to the legacy of slavery, but I’ve never met a white American who didn’t know what their ancestry was, at the very least in general terms (e.g., “I’ve got German, Polish and Romanian in me, but I don’t know the percentages.”) It’s the immigrant inheritance, Americans are curious where they came from, and usually know the answer to varying degrees. I know that my experience doesn’t equal EVERY experience, but I can definitely say that I’ve never met any American of European (or Hispanic, or Asian) descent that didn’t have at least a basic sense of their ethnic heritage. As for the Census form… I chose “Other,” and then “American.” It’s as much a “race” as Tongan or Cambodian is, i.e. not one at all. If the U.S. government wants to study the demographic makeup of America, let them commission a survey to do just that-- don’t use the Census to cherrypick ethnic groupings in return for future allocation of racial spoils. ---
**Author:** ![magnusblitz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@magnusblitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/magnusblitz)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-census-form-the-race-question/538513/24 "2010-05-07T20:02:36Z")
> [@davekhps](#): > > As for the Census form… I chose “Other,” and then “American.” It’s as much a “race” as Tongan or Cambodian is, i.e. not one at all. I know you’re using them as examples where “race” seems to be replaced by “national origin”, but I wonder if “Cambodian” is really just a stand-in for “Khmer” who make up something like 90% of Cambodia’s populace. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2010, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-census-form-the-race-question/538513/25 "2010-05-07T20:08:41Z")
> [@davekhps](#): > > I believe that you heard it wrong. Most black Americans surely face that problem due to the legacy of slavery, but I’ve never met a white American who didn’t know what their ancestry was, at the very least in general terms (e.g., “I’ve got German, Polish and Romanian in me, but I don’t know the percentages.”) > > It’s the immigrant inheritance, Americans are curious where they came from, and usually know the answer to varying degrees. I know that my experience doesn’t equal EVERY experience, but I can definitely say that I’ve never met any American of European (or Hispanic, or Asian) descent that didn’t have at least a basic sense of their ethnic heritage. > > As for the Census form… I chose “Other,” and then “American.” It’s as much a “race” as Tongan or Cambodian is, i.e. not one at all. If the U.S. government wants to study the demographic makeup of America, let them commission a survey to do just that-- don’t use the Census to cherrypick ethnic groupings in return for future allocation of racial spoils. Hey, don’t rant at me, I don’t work for the Census (or the government at all, for that matter). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-census-form-the-race-question/538513.md?page=1)