LOCALIZE IT: US contemplates new race, ethnicity categories

EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS:

The U.S. government is contemplating revising race and ethnicity categories used for the once-a-decade census and other data gathering surveys. Changes haven't been made to the categories since 1997.

The proposed changes have fueled editorials, think tank essays and more than 4,600 written comments by individuals to the U.S. government in what is almost a Rorschach test for how Americans identify themselves.

Among other things, the proposals would create a new category for people of Middle Eastern and North African descent, also known by the acronym MENA, who are now classified as white but say they have been routinely undercounted. They also would combine the race and ethnic origin questions into a single query because some advocates say the current method of asking about race and separately about ethnic origin often confuses Hispanic respondents.

The White House’s Office of Management and Budget is set to decide on new classifications next year and is hosting three virtual town halls on the subject this week.

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FIND AP’S STORY HERE

US government ponders the meaning of race and ethnicity

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LISTEN

The Office of Management and Budget, along with a working group of federal agencies, is hosting three town hall meetings this week on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Listen to the participants who may come from your state or city. The town hall meetings will be streamed on the website of the Office of Management and Budget's interagency working group that is hammering out the standards, here: https://spd15revision.gov/content/spd15revision/en.html.

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READ

More than 4,600 people from across the U.S. have submitted public comments to the White House's Office of Management and Budget. Though there are thousands of submissions, a search tool can allow you to narrow down comments from your state or city so you can see what people from your area are saying about the proposals. The comments can be found here: https://www.regulations.gov/document/OMB-2023-0001-0001/comment?postedDateFrom=2023-03-07&postedDateTo=2023-03-13

You can also read in more detail what the proposed changes are in the Federal Register notice, here: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/01/27/2023-01635/initial-proposals-for-updating-ombs-race-and-ethnicity-statistical-standards

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TAKE YOUR REPORTING FURTHER

— Talk to leaders of the communities in your area that are most likely to be impacted by revisions to the categories — Hispanics and people of Middle Eastern and North African descent. Find out if they believe the proposed changes will give their communities better representation. Ask them for specific examples, say, with the redrawing of political districts or education funding, of how their communities have been underrepresented with the current categories.

— Interview Hispanic residents of your community to find out how they identify themselves and whether the new categories meet their needs. Look for a connection between Hispanic identity and checked boxes of “some other race” or more than one race in your community. Compare how many people checked “some other race” in the 2010 census with numbers from the 2020 census. If there is a noticeable rise, reach out to demographers or city planners to find out why.

The 2020 census figures can be found here: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/rdo/summary-files.html.

The 2010 census figures can be found here: https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/guidance/2010/2010-data-products-at-a-glance.html.

The latest data on Hispanic identity, as well as country of origin, can be found on the Census Bureau's American Community website, here: https://data.census.gov/table?q=hispanic&tid=ACSDT5Y2020.B03001.

— Check to see how many people with MENA ancestry are in your community. The data broken down by country of origin can be found on the American Community Survey website, here: https://data.census.gov/table?q=ancestry&tid=ACSDT5Y2021.B04006.

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Localize It is an occasional feature produced by The Associated Press for its customers’ use. Questions can be directed to Katie Oyan at koyan@ap.org.

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Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at @MikeSchneiderAP