Quantifying Injustice: America’s Inherent Racism Revealed and Promoted by the Census
While reading the Navarro article, I wondered why it was so important for the government to know about a Latino person’s race if they’ve already indicated that they have Hispanic Heritage. Then the answer came. Navarro states,
“How Latinos identify themselves — and how the census counts them — affects the political clout of Latinos and other minority groups. Some studies have found that African-Latinos tend to be significantly more supportive of government-sponsored health care and much less supportive of the death penalty than Latinos who identify as white, a rift that is also found in the broader white and black populations.”
How can we assign political clout to a region or people group based on their race? Is that not racist? Yet, if we consider the sordid history of racial tensions the United States, it is clear how such a correlation between race and political stance has been reached. Even with the increase in Irish and Jewish populations in the early 20th century, it was clear that a racial or ethnic identification other than white was a great way to ensure one’s own hardship as an American.
Now consider Navarro’s quote above. Why would African-Latinos sooner support government-sponsored healthcare than white Latinos? Well, American political issues are deeply entrenched in race and, simply put, people who do not identify as white have a harder time thriving in this country than those who do and would, therefore, be more likely to seek government assistance.
It is sad to say but further examination of the census and The American Community Survey reveals that they serve to further promote a system that is inherently racist and derisive. Unfortunately, the census’ place in quantifying injustice is so well established, that it is hard for us to separate from it. In the Rampell article, we see that even those like Daniel Webster who find The American Community Survey invasive, can’t break the mold and use the survey’s findings to project future needs for their populations. In a very antiquated way, the Census and the American Community survey’s use of a binary racial identification system completely ignores the fact that the issue of race should not be the most important determinant in the distribution of political power.
