Insights

For the first time in 27 years, the US Census is changing how it categorizes people by race and ethnicity. But will the changes more appropriately capture the country’s diverse tapestry of people? Though federal officials are making changes to develop what they believe is a more accurate count of US residents who identify as “Hispanic or Latino” as well as “Middle Eastern and North African,” some advocates argue that the new approach misses the mark. The census, which is included in Article I of the Constitution of the United States, sends field representatives to peoples’ homes to ask questions about their households and collect demographic data. In-person data collection is supplemented with phone calls and mailed surveys. The Census Bureau also includes surveys that address specific issues such as health records, consumerism, or entrepreneurship. According to the bureau, “[t]he results of the census help determine how hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funding, including grants and support to states, counties and communities are spent every year for the next decade. It helps communities get [their] fair share for schools, hospitals, roads, and public works.” Additionally, census data are used by health justice organizations to gather vital information on underrecognized populations.

Therefore, the racial and ethnic categories included within census data are crucial for addressing the needs of different communities. However, since race is a social construct, and therefore malleable, the US Census has approached the race question differently over time.

Though the census is inherently scientific and political, for many, it can be personal too. In an Associated Press article, Meeta Anand, senior director for census & data equity at The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, said, “You can’t underestimate the emotional impact that this has on people.” Anand added, “It’s how we conceive ourselves as a society….You are seeing a desire for people to want to self-identity and be reflected in data so they can tell their own stories.” 

How Racial Categories Will Appear on the Next Census

There are two important changes concerning race and ethnicity that will appear in the next US Census, which will begin in 2030. They include:

• Combining Race and Ethnicity

Previous versions of the Census included a question on ethnicity (“Are you of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin?”) followed by a question on race (“What is your race?”). The separate questions could be confusing for Latinx respondents, who would often affirm their Latin ethnicity, but choose “Some other race” for the question on race or simply leave it blank. The race and ethnicity questions will now be combined into a single question: “What is your race and/or ethnicity?” This change will allow people to choose multiple categories across what have traditionally been considered races and ethnicities. For instance, someone could now simultaneously choose “White,” “Black,” “Native American” and “Hispanic or Latino.” The change is meant to encourage people who identify as “Hispanic or Latino” to more appropriately answer questions regarding race.

However, this new way of understanding race and ethnicity could lead to the erasure of the Afro-Latinx population. Tanya Katerí Hernández, writing for the Hill, says that while the revised question “is not technically naming Latino as a race,” “inserting ‘Hispanic/Latino’ as a category commensurate with ‘Black’…situates blackness as foreign to Latino identity.” Hernández also points out that the definition of “Black or African American” on the census form—which will now say “Individuals with origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa, including, for example, African American, Jamaican, Haitian, Nigerian, Ethiopian, and Somali”—further exacerbates the erasure of the Afro-Latinx community by excluding “majority Black nations in Latin America like the Dominican Republic and Cuba.” The revised questionnaire and examples to be included in the 2030 census, according to Hernández, further reinforces the concept that the “Black category is only meant for non-Latinos.”