Counting and classifying by race: The American debate

Abstract

Americans are racially classified literally from the cradle to the grave. Their race is recorded on their birth certificate, when they enroll in school, when they apply for a passport, when they apply for jobs, for mortgages, for university admittance, when they take part in medical experiments, when they are arrested for a crime, when they receive treatment at the hospital, and when they die. This is such a taken for granted part of everyday life that it becomes routine for most individuals, and sometimes it is done without the person being classified even knowing it is happening or being consulted. Thus a mother and father are asked their race and the race of their baby when a birth certificate is created at a hospital. But death certificates are most often filled out by funeral directors or hospital workers who “observe” the race of the dead body. Teachers often fill out forms observing the race of their students, and police judge the race of suspects and report it as they take crime reports from victims. The most attention Americans pay to this issue is every ten years when the census is taken and every American must report their race, and a national discussion about why we ask about race and whether we use the right categories occurs. But demographic and political changes have begun to highlight this issue and whether and how we classify people by race is increasingly being debated.