Existing comment:
Should a question of race remain part of the US Census?
Yes. "We live, unconscionably, in a society in which an individual's chances of being healthy and wealthy are still primarily based on skin color. Until the day when racial distinctions are no longer made in access to good schools, jobs and healthy living conditions, our society, which purports to be just one, needs the Census and other mechanisms to track racial differences and the political-economic consequences of maintaining a racially stratified system."
-- Alan Goodman, anthropologist, Hampshire College
No. "As long as government continues to invade Americans' privacy by asking them to identify their race, we will continue to segregate Americans, and sap the strength of people on both sides of the line. We cannot erase America's racial lines until people know that skin color cannot play a role in public life. And as long as government keeps asking people about their race, Americans will always suspect that race plays a role."
-- Ward Connerly, chairman, American Civil Rights Institute
"If African Americans are 12 percent of the population but only 5 percent of college entrants or 1 percent of the nation's business leaders, they are under-represented in these areas, indicating the possibility of discrimination. TO track the patterns and dynamics of under-representation among minority groups, the nation needs a denominator -- that is, the percentage of the total population that African Americans represent. The Census establishes this denominator."
-- Kenneth Prewitt, former director, US Census Bureau |