“The Office of Management and Budget on Thursday announced changed to how the federal government asks about people’s race and ethnicity, including the U.S. census. Under the new standards, scheduled to publish Friday, the government will collect race and ethnicity information using a question and will include a new Middle Eastern and North African category as a choice. The question measuring a respondent’s race or ethnicity will now will include seven broad categories: White, Hispanic or Latino, Black or African American, Asian, American Indian or Alaska Native, Middle Eastern or North African, and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. Under the previous standards, Hispanic or Latino ethnicity was measured in a question separate from the one on racial identity.”-By Nicole Chavez, CNN
In my personal opinion I do not see enough changes being made towards filling out applications that ask about race and ethnicity. The federal government interchanging race and ethnicity as it is same when in actuality they have different meanings. In the U.S. we define race as a group of people who share physical traits – such as skin color, hair texture or eye shape – based on some common ancestry. On the flip side, ethnicity refers to a group of people who share a common history and culture. It sometimes (but not always) correlates to national origin, that common ancestry is broadly related to geography.There isn’t even a category for multiracial individuals to check boxes for.
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