U.S. Census Bureau Director Robert Groves apologized on C-SPAN television for using the term "negro" to define African-Americans on the Census 2010 form. Groves explained that the use of "negro" on the form was designed to be as inclusive as possible and was not designed to be offensive.
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Sounds like some busy bodys got upset. I dread the day when they realize the United Negro College Fund is one of the best, well respected charities out there.
Groves has nothing to apologize for. The term African-Americans is misleading as a number of true Africans are Caucasian, Arab and other groups. The term Black may have been more appropriate. Otherwise you get into calling all the Caucasians by their ethic origins i.e. Irish-Americans, Scots-Americans, Romanian-Americans and so forth.
Recently, I found the 2010 Census form hanging on my door. As I began filling it out, I came across a dilemma. The U.S. government wants to know if my children are adopted or not and it wants to know what our races are. Being adopted myself, I had to put “Other” and “Don’t Know Adopted” for my race and “Other” and “Don’t Know” for my kids’ races.
Can you imagine not knowing your ethnicity, your race? Now imagine walking into a vital records office and asking the clerk for your original birth certificate only to be told “No, you can’t have it, it’s sealed.”
How about being presented with a “family history form” to fill out at every single doctor’s office visit and having to put “N/A Adopted” where life saving information should be?
Imagine being asked what your nationality is and having to respond with “I don’t know”.
It is time that the archaic practice of sealing and altering birth certificates of adopted persons stops.
Adoption is a 5 billion dollar, unregulated industry that profits from the sale and redistribution of children. It turns children into chattel who are re-labeled and sold as “blank slates”.
Genealogy, a modern-day fascination, cannot be enjoyed by adopted persons with sealed identities. Family trees are exclusive to the non-adopted persons in our society.
If adoption is truly to return to what is best for a child, then the rights of children to their biological identities should NEVER be violated. Every single judge that finalizes an adoption and orders a child’s birth certificate to be sealed should be ashamed of him/herself.
I’d really like to know how Uncle Sam wants adopted persons will sealed identities to answer the race question. Does the U.S. Government want us to lie or does it expect us to be psychic?