Census Goes Woke with More Racial Reporting
The U.S. Census Bureau (USCB) announced this week stated it will be changing the way it reports racial demographic data.
In an Aug. 4 press release, the USCB stated it would be releasing its first results from the 2020 census, those results focused on race and ethnicity. The release stated that previously the bureau released results based on “majority” and “minority” status, which it claimed “has several conceptual and practical challenges,” and is moving to what it calls a diversity index, or DI.
“We chose this new set of diversity measures — the DI, prevalence maps, prevalence ranking, and diffusion scores — because they have clear conceptual definitions and interpretations. They also overcome some of the limitations of the diversity measures we have used in the past….
On the previous model, the release stated “some people classify individuals who identify with multiple population groups (such as Hispanic and White; White and Black or African American; and White and Asian) as part of the majority population, others classify them as part of the minority population. The dual identities of these groups highlight the social, political and economic complexities of race and ethnicity in 21st century U.S. society.”
“The inclusion of certain groups as part of the ‘majority’ or ‘minority’ has also become more complex and contested in recent decades, especially as many people may not identify with certain population groups even if that is how they are classified and tabulated per federal standards. The majority-minority approach is ambiguous, and it is further complicated by complex demographic and social realities,” the release added.
With the new measures, the release stated it will use the DI, prevalence rankings and diffusion score and prevalence maps to make determinations on a population’s diversity. The USCB uses standards set in 1997 by the Office of Management and Budget which the release stated include racial designations of white, black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander and some other race. The diversity calculation adds Hispanic and multiracial.
What should be noted is that American citizens do not have to answer any other census question except for the number of occupants in the home under Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution, which makes no statement on race. The Constitution states: “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons.”
Ron Paul, then a U.S. Congressman from Texas, said in 2010: “Last week Congress voted to encourage participation in the 2010 census. I voted ‘No’ on this resolution for the simple, obvious reason that the census — like so many government programs — has grown far beyond what the framers of our Constitution intended. The invasive nature of the current census raises serious questions about how and why government will use the collected information. It also demonstrates how the federal bureaucracy consistently encourages citizens to think of themselves in terms of groups, rather than as individual Americans. The not so subtle implication is that each group, whether ethnic, religious, social, or geographic, should speak up and demand its ‘fair share’ of federal largesse.”
“Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution calls for an enumeration of citizens every ten years, for the purpose of apportioning congressional seats among the various states. In other words, the census should be nothing more than a headcount. It was never intended to serve as a vehicle for gathering personal information on citizens.”
Over the years, the census has become more intrusive in its questions asking questions such as how many bedrooms at a dwelling, what kind of energy is used a home’s plumbing among many other questions.
Such data, especially “diversity” numbers, has been used by politicians to pander to specific groups by promising taxpayer dollars to fund programs such as President Joe Biden who said on Jan. 10, just after taking office, regarding future COVID-19 relief packages: “Our priority will be Black, Latino, Asian, and Native American owned small businesses, women-owned businesses, and finally having equal access to resources needed to reopen and rebuild.”
However, a Hispanic business owner, Walter Leja, filed a lawsuit calling it “discriminatory.” He added: “It’s locking up a bunch of funds that can only be used by Black businesses when there’s a ton of other businesses out there that need access to those funds. It’s not a white or Black thing. It’s an everybody thing.”
Many arguments have been made against the “diversity” push including from the now late black free market economist Walter Williams who wrote in 2011: “The bottom line is there no evidence anywhere that but for discrimination, people would be divided according to their percentages in the population in any activity. Diversity is an elitist term used to give respectability to acts and policy that would otherwise be deemed as racism.”
Content syndicated from TheLibertyLoft.com with permission.
