US changes how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity. It's the first revision in 27 years
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — For the first time in 27 years, the U.S. government is changing how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity, an effort that federal officials believe will more accurately count residents who identify as Hispanic and of Middle Eastern and North African heritage.
The revisions to the minimum categories on race and ethnicity, announced Thursday by the Office of Management and Budget, are the latest effort to label and define the people of the United States. This evolving process often reflects changes in social attitudes and immigration, as well as a wish for people in an increasingly diverse society to see themselves in the numbers produced by the federal government.
“You can’t underestimate the emotional impact this has on people,” said Meeta Anand, senior director for Census & Data Equity at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. “It’s how we conceive ourselves as a society. … You are seeing a desire for people to want to self-identify and be reflected in data so they can tell their own stories.”
Under the revisions, questions about race and ethnicity that previously were asked separately on forms will be combined into a single question. That will give respondents the option to pick multiple categories at the same time, such as “Black,” “American Indian” and “Hispanic.” Research has shown that large numbers of Hispanic people aren’t sure how to answer the race question when that question is asked separately because they understand race and ethnicity to be similar and they often pick “some other race” or do not answer the question.
A Middle Eastern and North African category will be added to the choices available for questions about race and ethnicity. People descended from places such as Lebanon, Iran, Egypt and Syria had been encouraged to identify as white, but now will have the option of identifying themselves in the new group. Results from the 2020 census, which asked respondents to elaborate on their backgrounds, suggest that 3.5 million residents identify as Middle Eastern and North African.
“It feels good to be seen,” said Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani, a Democrat from Orlando whose parents are from Iran. “Growing up, my family would check the ‘white’ box because we didn’t know what other box reflected our family. Having representation like that, it feels meaningful.”
The changes also strike from federal forms the words “Negro” and “Far East,” now widely regarded as pejorative, as well as the terms “majority” and “minority,” because they fail to reflect the nation’s complex racial and ethnic diversity, some officials say. The revisions also encourage the collection of detailed race and ethnicity data beyond the minimum standards, such as “Haitian” or “Jamaican” for someone who checks “Black.”
Grouping together people of different backgrounds into a single race and ethnicity category, such as Japanese and Filipino in the Asian classification, often masks disparities in income or health, and advocates argued having the detailed data will allow the information about the subgroups to be separated out in a process called disaggregation.
“To be able to disaggregate can really be helpful to distinguish different kinds of discrimination, the ability to enforce laws around discrimination and do research on public health and economic outcomes,” said Allison Plyer, chief demographer of The Data Center in New Orleans.
The changes to the standards were hammered out over two years by a group of federal statisticians and bureaucrats who prefer to stay above the political fray. But the revisions have long-term implications for legislative redistricting, civil rights laws, health statistics, and possibly even politics as the number of people categorized as white is reduced.
Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP nominee for president, recently alluded to arguments made by people who allege Democrats are promoting illegal immigration to weaken the power of white people. As president, Trump unsuccessfully tried to disqualify people who were in the United States illegally from being included in the 2020 census.
Momentum for changing the race and ethnicity categories grew during the Obama administration in the mid-2010s, but was halted after Trump became president in 2017. It was revived after Democratic President Joe Biden took office in 2021.
The changes will be reflected in data collection, forms, surveys and the once-a-decade census questionnaires put out by the federal government, as well as in state governments and the private sector because businesses, universities and other groups usually follow Washington’s lead. Federal agencies have 18 months to submit a plan on how they will put the changes in place.
The first federal standards on race and ethnicity were produced in 1977 to provide consistent data across agencies and come up with figures that could help enforce civil rights laws. They were last updated in 1997 when five minimum race categories were delineated — American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander and white; respondents could pick more than one race. The minimum ethnic categories were grouped separately as not Hispanic or Hispanic or Latino.
Racial and ethnic categories used by the U.S. government reflect their times.
In 1820, the category “Free Colored People” was added to the decennial census to reflect the increase in free Black people. In 1850, the term “Mulatto” was added to the census to capture people of mixed heritage. American Indians were not explicitly counted in the census until 1860. Following years of immigration from China, “Chinese” was included in the 1870 census. There was not a formal question about Hispanic origin until the 1980 census.
Not everyone is on board with the latest revisions.
Some Afro Latinos feel that combining the race and ethnicity question will reduce their numbers and representation in the data, though previous research by the U.S. Census Bureau did not find significant differences among Afro Latino responses when the questions were asked separately or together.
Mozelle Ortiz, for instance, is of mixed Afro Puerto Rican descent. She feels the changes could eliminate that identity, even though people can choose more than one answer once the race and ethnicity questions are combined.
“My entire lineage, that of my Black Puerto Rican grandmother’s and all other non-white Spanish speaking peoples, will be erased,” Ortiz wrote the interagency group.
Others are unhappy about how some groups of people such as Armenians or Arabs from Sudan and Somalia were not included in the examples used to define people of Middle Eastern or North African background.
Maya Berry, executive director of the Arab American Institute, said that while she was “incredibly happy” with the new category, that enthusiasm was tempered by the omissions.
“It is not reflective of the racial diversity of our community,” Berry said. “And it’s wrong.”
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Anti-Asian Bias Incidents and Hate Crimes are Still Happening—What do you do if you’re Targeted?
In May of 2021, Sisi Yu, an international student from China living in New York City, said she walked into a deli in her Ridgewood neighborhood with only one item on her shopping list: a chopped cheese sandwich. While she was waiting, a man entered the store and glared at Yu. When their eyes met, he scoffed, sauntered over to the clerk, grabbed a pack of masks, and sneered loudly, “Fuck the Chinese, man.”
Yu was stunned. The clerk didn’t say anything; he simply bowed his head and busied himself with something on the counter. The rest of the people in the deli fell silent. Yu felt anger pulsate in her veins, prompting her to exclaim, “Why would you say that? You’re clearly talking about me.”
The man grabbed a pack of masks and threw them on the counter. “It’s because of you that I gotta wear these fucking masks,” the man yelled, tossing crumpled bills on the counter next to the single-use masks. The clerk rang the man up, still avoiding Yu’s gaze.
“You’re a racist,” Yu yelled as the man left the store. Only then did the clerk apologize to Yu. She didn’t respond. It took everything she had to fight back the tears brimming in her eyes.
“You’re sort of always thinking, “What if it happens to me?” And it did happen,” Yu said.
After this bias incident occurred, Yu was not sure what to do. Yu did not know her options, who to tell, or what would happen. Yu felt like the incident was not enough to report to the police—or report to anyone for that matter.
Anti-Asian hate crimes began to increase across the country during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism found that in 2020, anti-Asian hate crimes in the U.S. rose by 150 percent. However, 2021’s analysis revealed that hate crimes increased by 339 percent last year compared to 2020. The violence was even worse in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. And according to a preliminary police report in San Francisco, anti-Asian hate crimes increased more than any other category of hate crime last year. A National Report conducted by Stop AAPI Hate—an organization formed in response to the increase in anti-Asian attacks—looked at all hate incidents recorded from March 19, 2020, until September 30, 2021. The data shows the same trend: Of the over 10,000 discriminatory incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate, 44 percent happened in 2020, while the other 55 percent occurred in 2021.
“It’s been two years of people constantly worrying about their safety, and that takes a large mental toll on people—in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of people losing their jobs or having less access to services, this sentiment hasn’t stopped,” Richard Lee, the Senior Vice President of The Korean American Association of Great New York (KAAGNY), remarked.
However, according to Paul Mak, the director of The Brooklyn Chinese American Association (BCA), the numbers that are reported are most likely inaccurate and lower than the actual number of people who have been harassed because many AAPI do not report incidents to the police or other institutions that keep track of the numbers.
“There is a misconception that the Asian hate crimes have slowed down because people no longer see it on TV or in the newspaper. However, we always consider it two types of crimes against Asians. The first is the major cases you’d see on the news. Even though we may see less of that, the day-to-day struggles and harassment are still happening in Asian communities all over the city,” Mak said.
Anti-Asian hate crimes began to increase across the country during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism found that in 2020, anti-Asian hate crimes in the U.S. rose by 150 percent. However, 2021’s analysis revealed that hate crimes increased by 339 percent last year compared to 2020. The violence was even worse in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. And according to a preliminary police report in San Francisco, anti-Asian hate crimes increased more than any other category of hate crime last year. A National Report conducted by Stop AAPI Hate—an organization formed in response to the increase in anti-Asian attacks—looked at all hate incidents recorded from March 19, 2020, until September 30, 2021. The data shows the same trend: Of the over 10,000 discriminatory incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate, 44 percent happened in 2020, while the other 55 percent occurred in 2021.
“It’s been two years of people constantly worrying about their safety, and that takes a large mental toll on people—in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of people losing their jobs or having less access to services, this sentiment hasn’t stopped,” Richard Lee, the Senior Vice President of The Korean American Association of Great New York (KAAGNY), remarked.
However, according to Paul Mak, the director of The Brooklyn Chinese American Association (BCA), the numbers that are reported are most likely inaccurate and lower than the actual number of people who have been harassed because many AAPI do not report incidents to the police or other institutions that keep track of the numbers.
“There is a misconception that the Asian hate crimes have slowed down because people no longer see it on TV or in the newspaper. However, we always consider it two types of crimes against Asians. The first is the major cases you’d see on the news. Even though we may see less of that, the day-to-day struggles and harassment are still happening in Asian communities all over the city,” Mak said.
Anti-Asian hate crimes began to increase across the country during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism found that in 2020, anti-Asian hate crimes in the U.S. rose by 150 percent. However, 2021’s analysis revealed that hate crimes increased by 339 percent last year compared to 2020. The violence was even worse in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. And according to a preliminary police report in San Francisco, anti-Asian hate crimes increased more than any other category of hate crime last year. A National Report conducted by Stop AAPI Hate—an organization formed in response to the increase in anti-Asian attacks—looked at all hate incidents recorded from March 19, 2020, until September 30, 2021. The data shows the same trend: Of the over 10,000 discriminatory incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate, 44 percent happened in 2020, while the other 55 percent occurred in 2021.
“It’s been two years of people constantly worrying about their safety, and that takes a large mental toll on people—in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of people losing their jobs or having less access to services, this sentiment hasn’t stopped,” Richard Lee, the Senior Vice President of The Korean American Association of Great New York (KAAGNY), remarked.
However, according to Paul Mak, the director of The Brooklyn Chinese American Association (BCA), the numbers that are reported are most likely inaccurate and lower than the actual number of people who have been harassed because many AAPI do not report incidents to the police or other institutions that keep track of the numbers.
“There is a misconception that the Asian hate crimes have slowed down because people no longer see it on TV or in the newspaper. However, we always consider it two types of crimes against Asians. The first is the major cases you’d see on the news. Even though we may see less of that, the day-to-day struggles and harassment are still happening in Asian communities all over the city,” Mak said.
Anti-Asian hate crimes began to increase across the country during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. An analysis by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism found that in 2020, anti-Asian hate crimes in the U.S. rose by 150 percent. However, 2021’s analysis revealed that hate crimes increased by 339 percent last year compared to 2020. The violence was even worse in New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. And according to a preliminary police report in San Francisco, anti-Asian hate crimes increased more than any other category of hate crime last year. A National Report conducted by Stop AAPI Hate—an organization formed in response to the increase in anti-Asian attacks—looked at all hate incidents recorded from March 19, 2020, until September 30, 2021. The data shows the same trend: Of the over 10,000 discriminatory incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate, 44 percent happened in 2020, while the other 55 percent occurred in 2021.
“It’s been two years of people constantly worrying about their safety, and that takes a large mental toll on people—in the middle of a pandemic, in the middle of people losing their jobs or having less access to services, this sentiment hasn’t stopped,” Richard Lee, the Senior Vice President of The Korean American Association of Great New York (KAAGNY), remarked.
However, according to Paul Mak, the director of The Brooklyn Chinese American Association (BCA), the numbers that are reported are most likely inaccurate and lower than the actual number of people who have been harassed because many AAPI do not report incidents to the police or other institutions that keep track of the numbers.
“There is a misconception that the Asian hate crimes have slowed down because people no longer see it on TV or in the newspaper. However, we always consider it two types of crimes against Asians. The first is the major cases you’d see on the news. Even though we may see less of that, the day-to-day struggles and harassment are still happening in Asian communities all over the city,” Mak said.
Lee understands that there may still be people nervous about coming forward, especially if they don’t speak the language or are undocumented. However, that’s why nonprofits like KAAGNY and BCA are vital to the community because someone who has been attacked or harassed can report the incident to one of these organizations. They can provide translators, assist in reporting, or report the incident anonymously.
“The city also has to make it easier for individuals to report and let them know that it is safe to do so, that they don’t need to worry about being scrutinized or asked for documents. They need to make it a public safety approach and ensure that individuals are willing and able to report in a way that is easy and language accessible,” Lee said.
Paul Mak explained that, for victims of a crime, there is a victim compensation program offered by the State of New York. By going to the Office of Victim Services on NY.gov, you can see an array of services that you may be eligible for, depending on the crime that was committed. Some of these services include payment of medical bills, lost wages, and even counseling expenses. And more information can be provided if you contact nonprofits like BCA and KAAGNY, who can help put you in touch with the proper connections and see which services you may be eligible for.
“We started a reporting hotline to assist people in providing crime prevention and victim services. People do not want to go through the hassle of making a police report, but they would still like to find out if they could be compensated for being a victim of a crime. For those victims who are injured, the victim compensation fund will cover their medical expenses, reimburse them for lost wages, and assist them in getting disability services. To get compensation, they will need to make an official report, so we will provide a translator and a case manager to work with them step by step, hoping that at the end of it, justice will be served,” Mak informed.
Richard Lee also had some advice for non-AAPI who want to get involved and help but are not sure how to be an effective ally.
“Something really helpful is when bystanders are willing to step in, not saying that people should get involved if it is an altercation, but willing to defend against inaction when they see it, either verbally or on social media or by reporting it to the police as a witness—whatever people are willing to do to be proactive in helping people who are being attacked—I think every little bit helps,” Lee concluded. Of course, this doesn’t solve everything, and at the end of the day, AAPI are still severely impacted, exhausted, and fed up with both the vicious attacks and the ongoing harassment. However, by reporting incidents that take place—no matter the size or scale—we may be able to help prevent others in the future. And by seeking help from institutions that are here to serve us if something does happen, the AAPI community may be able to feel a bit more at ease.
Writer/Reporter Sophia Benz