Think Elections Are Controversial? Try the Census

Think Elections Are Controversial? Try the Census

Capitol Weekly, 6.7.18
In the 2020 census, people will first be asked their race and then if they are of Hispanic origin. While it is correct that Hispanic people can be black, white, or of any race, many people nonetheless think of the term Hispanic as a race. Because of that in the race question, Hispanics sometimes check “some other race” rather than white or black. “As a result, census statistics will continue to roil the public discussion of diversity, by exaggerating white decline and the imminence of a majority-minority United States,” Richard Alba, a sociology professor at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, wrote in a recent Washington Post article.