For the first time in 27 years, the U.S. government is changing how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity, according to the Associated Press, an effort that federal officials believe will more accurately count residents who identify as Hispanic and those of Middle Eastern and North African heritage.
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.”
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.
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.”
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 as 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.
