I've never had to fill out a form where I had to declare my ethnicity. So this all seems rather bizarre to me.
Declaring Ethnicity
- Thread starter Tiberius Jim
- Start date
I've worked with several charities and often one of the conditions of their receiving funding is that they ask their clients to fill out an optional questionnaire to determine which demographics their clients fall into. At the very least they will ask you to ticky box your gender, age group, and ethnicity, while some go further and also ask about household income, employment status, and so on. These questionnaires are optional and in my experience the majority of people don't mind filling them in at least partially. It's s way of clarifying whether the funding is helping the intended target demographic group(s).
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Pretty much any interaction you have with the state here they will ask for your self-defined ethnicity for 'diversity monitoring' purposes. When you hear those stats about disparity in stop-and-search powers between ethnicities and so on, that's where the data comes from. It's also recorded on all crime reports, witness statements, traffic tickets, etc. etc.
It's not mandatory to answer, of course, there is a 'not stated' option, but broadly it has good intentions behind it - to monitor disparity in state interaction with the populace in the wake of the Stephen Lawrence enquiry. I long for a day when it isn't necessary, but today it still is.
Other statistics it's useful for are related to income inequality, job discrimination, etc. While it might seem distinguishing by race might lead to discrimination, not counting officially race at all is a good way for those who are going to discriminate to hide their discrimination. It's a lot harder to show system-wide discrimination without numbers showing discrimination.
One thing I have noticed is that "Two or more races" as an option is becoming much more common on forms. It used to be I had to choose either "White", "American Indian/Alaskan Native", or "Other." Neither of the first two completely describes me, and the last is somewhat dehumanizing.
Another time when it is a common and important question is when it comes to medical forms. I have a very rare (but completely benign) condition that unfortunately presents a lot like breast cancer. When I first went to Beth Israel Breast Center for treatment, they wanted a comprehensive ethnic history from me, because breast cancer is so much more prevalent among people of some ethnicities. A lot of diseases with strong genetic components are like that.
Another time when it is a common and important question is when it comes to medical forms. I have a very rare (but completely benign) condition that unfortunately presents a lot like breast cancer. When I first went to Beth Israel Breast Center for treatment, they wanted a comprehensive ethnic history from me, because breast cancer is so much more prevalent among people of some ethnicities. A lot of diseases with strong genetic components are like that.
I know one guy who is mixed with three races he will put a check on White, Asian, and Latino. I remember at one job i put a check on the box on other. I put down Tatar to which I am of that ethnicity. Nobody seem to know who or what a Tatar is in the United States. I suppose you could put a check on the box that says White, but what if your a Siberian Tatar you may have Asian features does one put a mark on the Asian/Pacific Islander box?
We're all pinkskins to the Andorians anyway
Speak for yourself.
This 'brown-skin' is very happy with who he is, especially in a society that views 'pink-skins' as the epitome of beauty. (The same people who gave Andorians the racist and partial idea that humans are only of one look). It's like some outside the US who see 'Americans' as white individuals and non-white folks as separate; I had to correct someone on that when I was in Singapore, IIRC.I wonder if the Andorians were created by non-white folk if humans would be seen as 'brown-skins' instead?
Sidenote: I think ethnicity and race have been used interchangeably so far. And, I'm guilty of doing this myself.
I gave the early example of the 'Blasian' couple, who called their little girls 'Blasian' to help them appreciate their mixed-race. However, if we were to look at their ethnicity....it would be Kenyan/Korean. And, with the OP, since the little one coming soon will have the ethnicity of half-Vietnamese and whatever ethnicity the father identifies as.
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We're all pinkskins to the Andorians anyway
Speak for yourself.
I wonder if the Andorians were created by non-white folk if humans would be seen as 'brown-skins' instead?
Did it ever occur to you that maybe instead of it being racism on the part of the makers of the show that they were intending to show that Shran was in fact racist and shortsighted himself because he assumed that all humans would look like the first (and only for some time) two humans he encountered, Archer and Trip? I mean, he goes on calling them by a racial slur throughout the rest of the series even after coming to respect them, so it's not as if they were concealing the fact that he was supposed to be portrayed as kind of racist dick.
I'm sure the director of The Andorian Incident, Roxann Dawson, is well aware that humans aren't all "pinkskins" and probably would have said something if she thought the intent was to seriously suggest that they were. Showing a racist character doesn't necessarily mean you support or agree with their racism. Also, if Shran had started calling Hoshi or Travis racist epithets based on their skin color it could be racially insensitive in a real world sense in a way calling a white character would not, don't you think?
ETA: Also, mari wasn't "speaking for herself" or expressing her own beliefs, she was simply quoting the show, jokingly.
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A
Amaris
Guest
I usually check the "white," "very white," or "color of this document" box.
I brought this up with my wife tonight and she had some of the same points as many of you with "they would check both boxes" or the fact that some forms have a "mixed ethnicity" option. We both agreed that relegating them to use an "Other" box is a pretty crappy alternative. On paper it's easy to just check whatever set of boxes fits, but online many times you're stuck with drop downs or radio buttons that only allow one choice.
It was also brought up above that he or she could simply state which of the two they identify with more, and I wonder how they would come to such a decision. If they decide to identify more towards one I feel like they would be ignoring the other. I would think there would be a way to identify as both instead of having to choose sides, as that seems like it would be quite the internal struggle.
It was also brought up above that he or she could simply state which of the two they identify with more, and I wonder how they would come to such a decision. If they decide to identify more towards one I feel like they would be ignoring the other. I would think there would be a way to identify as both instead of having to choose sides, as that seems like it would be quite the internal struggle.
I quite agree - monitoring diversity is a necessity when diversity in practise cannot be assumed. I have had people grumble a bit when asked about it, but usually when I explain the reason people are almost always on board with the idea. I don't think I've ever had someone use the 'refused' or 'not stated' box. I think it's one of those things where some people would rather we 'ignore' race entirely but, as you say, that just allows discriminatory practices to hide.
Well, back in the day, we used to say "there is only one race-- the human race." There's that whole thing about judging people by the content of their character rather than the color of their skin; we look forward to a world, hopefully, where things like skin color, sex, height, weight, or whatever, don't matter at all. The purpose of these demographic checkboxes is to prevent discrimination and promote inclusiveness, which is a good thing, but one also has to wonder to what extent it validates and perpetuates separatism.
And it's important to realise how grounded in white privilege that approach was. Those who weren't born into the ethnicity our society considers the default don't get the chance to 'not see race' because it inescapably affects their lives from cradle to grave. Diversity isn't going to happen by some gradual osmosis toward a common acceptance, we have demonstrated again and again that we have to actively strive for and monitor it. The Stephen Lawrence Enquiry was our big awakening in terms of public policy on the issue, and popularised the concept of institutional racism where systems set up for one group inadvertently disadvantaged others, and a lack of diversity within public bodies leading to a lack of diversity in the external actions of those bodies (creating a feedback loop in which they became even less internally diverse).
I need a "reflects back all light particles" box. I'm so pale I can't find foundation cream or face powder light enough for my skin tone.
I like to check, Whiter than sour cream.
I completed one with the Cornish option a couple of months ago, at the Westcountry Show. The questionnaire was about the Devon and Cornwall Police force. First time I'd come across the Cornish option. I asked them to mark me down as Lancastrian.
Meh. I mean, it can be difficult sometimes, but especially since there are so many mixed people these days, it's not really the most trying of internal struggles. I've had more traumatizing internal struggles over what to order in a restaurant. Though I do like the imagery of a little white chick and a little Ojibwe chick battling inside me. They're battling with Scrabble, though, because I'm an intellectual snob.
Or maybe paintball.
The only problem I had was that looking as white as I do, for a time I struggled to identify with my Indian half. Not because I didn't personally identify with it, but because it almost felt unfair to Indians. I saw the kind of abuse my mother and brother received for the sin of black hair and dark olive skin, and I heard all the obnoxious white people who were "one sixteenth Apache," or whose great great great grandmother was a Cherokee Princess, and I didn't want to be one of them. Plus, I could give J and macloudt a run for their money on whiteness! So I just felt a bit ethnicity-less.
It was hardly an identity crisis, though. I think you're worrying too much. Your kid is going to go through things far more trying than being mixed race -- everybody does. Give her love and support, and she'll have the tools to cope.
I would pick "So white that I couldn't tan even when poked by a cattle prod" or even "Whiter than the guy in that Weird Al video about nerds."
So what time period, exactly, did this remind you of when you woke up this morning? Hard to keep up.
