To: Secretary Wilbur Ross
Dear Secretary Ross,
At the end of March 2018, the Department of Commerce will make an important decision regarding the 2020 Census. You have a great opportunity to encourage unity and reduce the division of Americans by race and ethnicity.
Recently we read an article co-authored by Meese and Gonzalez published in the Wall Street Journal on February 28, 2018. The article in our view wisely proposed that the 2020 Census do away with pan-ethnic group designations altogether and “count instead those inhabitants who identify with descent communities from specific countries.” The article also proposed only asking questions about national descent, and going back only as far as grandparents “because by the third generation and certainly the fourth, the mix of ethnicities is extensive.” Such revisions “would indicate that the census and the government are not interested in group characteristics in the third generation and beyond.” It would also be consistent with censuses in the early 20th century, when there was a high percentage of Americans of foreign birth, and the Census asked questions about origin and citizenship– the latter being considered for reintroduction in 2020. The article further urged President Trump to issue an executive order directing the OMB to rescind the 1977 directive (and a 1997 revision thereof) and the Census Bureau to abandon pan-ethnic categories in favor of a question about national origin—either fill-in-the-blank or a box for virtually every country in the world, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. The order should further instruct all federal agencies to root out the collection of this faux data—which are collected internally throughout the executive branch. Moreover, by federal policy and regulation, states and government contractors are compelled to collect such information.
We agree with this proposal in principle. Our only reservation is that for the second generation immigrants, who are born and raised in the United States, with very little difference from the general public in terms of values, language and culture, and in general, are well assimilated in local communities, it is appropriate to give such persons the option of voluntarily revealing their ethnic origins. Thus, ethnic origin would only be traced back to parents rather than to grandparents as proposed.
This great country is being torn apart by identity politics. it is the time to get it right, including in the 2020 Census. You have great opportunity to let America get a fresh start. Let us work together–One America, One Dream.
Sincerely yours,
Asian American for Equal Rights