ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, July 21, 1996 TAG: 9607220095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Associated Press
Carrying signs that read ``I'm proud to be me'' and ``I'll choose my category,'' a group of multiracial Americans held a rally Saturday to press the government to introduce a multiracial category for the 2000 census.
``To be proud of both your ancestries, you need something like that. It's not anything we should be ashamed of,'' said Gwen Loftus. Loftus, an African-American married to a white man, had a ``Yes, I'm her mother'' sign on her daughter's stroller.
Multiracial groups have been lobbying the federal government for a change in racial categories that appear on official and unofficial forms.
Speakers at the rally, attended by about 200 people, complained that they are not treated equally.
``We stand for the struggle to gain acceptance for being honest about racial tolerance, racial acceptance, racial integration,'' said B.J. Winchester, president of the Unity Multiracial Social Group of Jacksonville, Fla.
Couples in interracial marriages complain that their mixed-race children have no appropriate category to check on many forms. They usually choose the ``other'' classification, if it exists, one that they think does not identify the children accurately.
Henry Robertson, who has a Japanese mother and a white father, said he supported the proposed change because it would solve the dilemma he has every time he is confronted with a form.
``I've had to fill out forms where they demand that you check the group you mostly identify with. ... I just check whatever I feel like that day,'' said Robertson, 25, a computer programmer. ``If some days I feel white, I check white. Other days, if I feel Asian, I check Asian.''
Others say a new category would eliminate the hurt they sometimes feel when forced to make the choice.
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