ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, March 12, 1997 TAG: 9703120061
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-10 EDITION: METRO
Ethnicity is often overemphasized, but the census question about national ancestry does provide useful data.
THE U.S. CENSUS long form - the one sent to every sixth household, from which nationwide totals are then projected - costs $300 million, not to mention the time it takes for respondents to fill it out.
But if Congress is in a mood to pare it, one question that likely won't go is No. 13, which asks for national-ethnic ancestry. It is from this question, for example, that we know the five ancestries most claimed by Americans are at least some German (23 percent), some Irish (16 percent), some English (13 percent), some African-American (10 percent) and some Italian (6 percent).
The ancestry question likely won't be deleted, reports The Christian Science Monitor, because dozens of ethnic American groups have joined forces to ensure that it will be asked again. They're allied with a group of House and Senate members, from both sides of the aisle, who've introduced a resolution to ensure that the question remains.
Ethnic consciousness is often too much with us. Overdone, it can be limiting to those within an ethnic community, threatening to those who're excluded. That the ancestry question is believed to be so important could be regarded as a sad commentary on contemporary American life.
On the other hand, the fact of ethnic consciousness in America won't vanish by pretending it doesn't exist. That those united in their support of the question are so varied an ethnic assortment could be regarded as a happy commentary on contemporary American life.
In the end, our vote is for keeping the question. It provides useful, reliable, unbiased information that's unavailable anywhere else. The route to the solution of problems, ethnic or otherwise, is the path of more knowledge, not less.
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