Multiracial America

In class today, it was mentioned that the United States is a multi ethnic society. When discussing biological assimilation, it crossed my mind that in this modern day, some might consider themselves to be multi ethnic. I then recalled an article in the New York Times last Thursday (2/10). The article was entitled, "In a Multiracial Nation, Many Ways to Tally." Being in this class, I was intrigued.

The article described a university student, who is of Peruvian, Chinese, Irish, Shawnee, and Cherokee descent, who was listed as simply being "Hispanic" by the Department of Education, and "Asian" by the National Center for Health Statistics. The student in question labeled herself on her 2010 census form as being white, Hispanic, Asian, and Native American. The article also stated that the number of mixed-race Americans are rising due to increases of immigration and intermarriage. One in seven new marriages is now interracial or inter ethnic, according to the article.

While these marriages are happening more and more often, it is becoming a problem to measure the diversity of race and ethnicity. The article goes on to describe the different issues with measurement and why it is important.

This article really made me think about how difficult it must be to place yourself into an ethnic or racial category, when you are a mix of many different categories. This must confuse many other people, especially because we are asked to categorize ourselves so much. I now understand why there is the option for "other" on so many surveys, something that I had never really thought much of before. It does speak to how difficult it must be to the Federal government in ensuring that all ethnic groups, mixed or otherwise, has the same rights as everyone else.

Here is the article from the New York Times website if anyone is interested:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/10/us/10count.html?scp=5&sq=Multiracial%20Nation&st=cse

Staci Becker, Post 5