Why should the State and Federal Government collect data on race?

How would one be able to determine whether Blacks are over or under represented in certain areas without knowing what the overall percentage of blacks in America was in the first place? How could one determine whether or not Affirmative action was working without knowing what percentage of certain jobs were filled by black people? What about public health issues, where it’s well known that Black men have a higher vulnerability to certain diseases?

The old fashioned method - polling without assistance from the government. I think the negatives outweigh the positives especially regards to voting rights where gerrymandering minorities into discrete districts is widespread, and largely unchallenged, across the United States. I also think that reporting crimes using race does nothing but drive a wedge between racial relations in this country.

  • Honesty

I think the government is the only organization with the motive and the money to do a nationwide census.

I believe the word you are looking for here is on.

I hope many more than just white males are calling for a colorblind society…

I agree it is a common (if often only privately held) perception among non-black groups that “the lack of relative achievement among blacks in America is because their own culture and choosing not because of detrimental state and federal policies.” This view is not peculiar to whites, however, and I have have heard it commonly expressed among other groups who feel equally discriminated against but who nevertheless have achieved well as a group (Indians and Pakistanis, for instance).

The view is further bolstered by the fact that the relative lack of achievement among blacks is not limited to “blacks in America.” It becomes difficult, then, to attribute that lack of achievement to policies of the (US) federal and state governments. It’s hard to go anywhere in the entire world and find blacks who as a group are on an equal achievement level with other groups.

The dilemma with governmental collection of race data is that it promotes the idea that an awareness of race is important. Moreover, it allows easy generation of datasets which aggregate achievement and ability by racial categorization. I have no idea how people who wear hats do on school achievement here in Illinois but I am certain that those whose racial group is “black” score very poorly on standardized tests, even within a given school. I think that sort of categorization is counterproductive.

The race blindness laws have been defeated one after one by … minorities and politicians who don’t want to be seem insensitive to minorities. All people of a minority race need some assistance to compete reguardless of their culture or upbringing.

I find this as offensive as ebonics.

As long as races try to “level the playing field” based on race, there will be a test on the effectiveness of this policy. Take race out of the policy, and no one will care … some time later when the abuse of the policy had been forgotten.

If the Manhatten project had been broken up because there were too many jewish people at the top, we wouldn’t be having this debate right now. I’m in a technical field and it is predominenty all white males. I’m also in a competitive market and would never seek out anything other than the best.

I define race as, “The answer you give as a response to a survey when asked what race you are”.

I’m not sure why social security gathers data on race. But the Department of Census and Bureau of Labor Statistics have good reason to. It is of interest that black youth suffer greater unemployment that other groups – and it makes sense to track it over time. (The spread narrowed during the 1990s. Why? What made that period different and can we obtain the magic again? How does this spread relate to experiences by other groups?)

These large carefully constructed datasets are invaluable to economists and other social scientists. Dropping one of the variables that stretches back for decades would certainly produce some challenges to future researchers.

Here are a few links to surveys that are vastly more insightful than the fine work by Gallup et al.
Even better, a readable source of data-driven economic research is The Monthly Labor Review.

From the Feb 2007 issue, I see an article investigating, A black community with advanced labor force characteristics, 1960: “Women in a middle-class black community in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1960 were found to exhibit labor force characteristics associated with white women in the late 20th century.”

  1. Huh. That was before the Civil Rights Act. What happened?

In point of fact, “race blindness” laws and judicial decisions have consistently been set in place for 30 years with very few setbacks. Whether you are talking Bakke or Proposition 209 or Meredith v. Jefferson County Board of Education or *Parents Involved v. Seattle School District *, your statement is directly contradicted by the evidence. “Race blindness” laws have been steadily implemented, not defeated.
You are better off making claims that are accurate, not invented to support your beliefs.

You find a dialect offensive? What other dialects bother you? Midland? Great Lakes? Mountain Southern? Scots Highlander? Is there any particular reason why you take offense at a simple manner of speaking?

I don’t mind that government collects race data, long as everyone gets a fair shake, but I’d really like a mixed race option usually.

The closest matches that are usually on the forms are:

“mixed race not Hispanic”
“mixed race Hispanic”

I’m a Heinze 57 mix that includes some Hispanic (nothing like salsa ketchup).

I just either end up ignoring the question or writing in the correct answer.

I object to affirmative action because it makes me inferior relative to minorities and women. Poor and working class whites who don’t have the financial resources to challenge unfair decisions in court are necessarily victimized by this monstrously unfair practice. Many Asians are quite bitter about affirmative action as well because they aren’t one of the liberals’ pet minorities who get special status and prefential treatment.

That’s pretty racist. If you really feel such contempt for whites, perhaps you should consider living elsewhere.