Since the televised Olympics, we've been inundated by commercials on TV telling us we have to fill out our census information and send it in. Lots of federal funding relies on this information and they use it for everything from gerrymandering the congressional districts to determining which areas need new elementary schools.
I know these forms come once every 10 years, I know I've filled them out in the past, but really, I've slept since then.
I don't know what I expected, but the form was delivered in yesterday's mail. After all the emails and Facebook posts where people got into heated discussions about the insulting race questions, I expected something more invasive. I even got an email encouraging me to mark #9 as "other" and fill in American as my answer.
I cracked the seal on the envelope this morning, and fortified with a cup of Constant Comment hot tea, I picked up my pen. I am a rule follower, not a rule breaker. Give me a nice set of guidelines or procedures and that's something I will cling to. You want to count my household every ten years? I'm in.
I filled in our names, phone number and answered two questions about ancestry. That's it. I flipped it over twice reading the whole folded out form looking for the parts that got everyone online wired up. Nothing. It's just "are you white, Hispanic, native American?" Regardless what you choose to select, you can fill out additional information. So if you object to the Caucasian label (and really, who doesn't?) you can fill out a line that allows you to call yourself whatever you want to call yourself.
Me? I thought about putting "other" and then filling in American because that is truly how I think of myself. But it might be a little easier to run some of those demographic surveys with the data if they know I'm a white chick going on 50. Just sayin'.
--Sandee Wagner
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8 comments:
lol I thought the same thing. We already got ours and sent it in weeks ago. I thought it pretty straight forward. I wasn't offended. But we're all people, right? A label is just that, a word. I don't really care what they call me. :D
Why would you object to being called Caucasian?
Ash,
It just seemed like there was a lot of fuss over nothing. I'm not offended.
Emm,
My biggest complaint is that I can hardly spell Caucasian. I like the old days when I could say "white" without offending anyone. Now, I guess I should insist on "of European Extraction", but that makes me sound vaguely liquid. spw
LOL, Liquid White Chick of European Extraction.
I haven't gotten my census forms yet -- but I also haven't picked up my mail this week. I'm a rule-follower like you, so I'll fill it out and send it straight back.
What I really object to is how many mega-bucks they're spending on advertising the census. Holy cats, folks, $100-million-plus for commercials when our country's in the financial state it is??? And in some places, they're making census workers deliver the forms to each and every household instead of mailing them. Puh-leeze.
Marilyn,
I was betting that the advertising was done as public service announcements. My friend said that I was "some kind of Asian". The type is caulk. Caulk-Asian. That's pasty white for sure. spw
Caulk-Asian. LoL. You always make me laugh.
So does my brother, so you're in good company.
Susan,
I gotta meet your family one day. I need some closer relatives. spw
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