Race, Politics, and the Census

By DAVID A. HOLLINGER

What distinctions among people in the United States really matter? The U.S. Census Bureau provides the official answer: Americans are white, black, Asian-American, American Indian, or Hawaiian and Pacific Islander, unless they are Hispanic, in which case they can also be any of the above. The census forms include dozens of questions about age, gender, household income, and a host of other aspects of an individual's life, but the survey leads off by asking respondents to locate themselves in