Relative Something

And you thought I was worked up yesterday! Last evening I found the census form had arrived in the mail and made sure to pull it from the abyss of untended household piles and opened it up to be filled out right away. More and more in the 5th and 6th decades of life I am finding myself uncomfortable being counted as a member of a larger group that includes vocal members whose beliefs and behaviors I find offensive. Sometimes it is as extreme as the group called human beings. We are all human, but the behaviors of some can be so despicable that I find myself preferring something from the animal kingdom. There are even a few versions of tree that would suit me more.

I have also found discomfort with being grouped in categories for spiritual belief and for being male. Now the census has me feeling distinctly uncomfortable declaring my race as white. When they can claim that for the purposes of this census, hispanic or latino is not a race, and then on the following question ask what race a person is, it seems to me to reveal how ridiculously made up the social construct of race really is. Maybe it’s a way to manipulate statistics to the number of non-white races so they won’t officially outnumber the white population in the eyes of those with the power of making the rules.

Since race is defined by law, the definition can be changed to suit whatever purposes are desired. What percentage of African heritage would define me as “black”? Is it the same percentage of Anglo heritage would define an Africa American person as “white”? The history of the American legal system would reveal that it hasn’t been a balanced formula. If the court was petitioned by an individual desiring to be classified as “white,” the definition was allowed to be morphed to continue to exclude whomever those in power chose, and white people were always the ones in power.

Logic would have it that the collection of racial data is justified, and for righteous reasons. How can we help people of non-white races if we don’t know how many people that is and where they are located? One example of the folly of that logic is the results achieved by affirmative action to level the playing field for women and people of color seeking employment. It hasn’t equitably increased the number of people of color getting hired. There was some increase in white women entering the workforce, but they have yet to earn equal pay.

I posit that there is no need to even ask the question about identity of race. It is unnecessary. You don’t need to ask. We are all members of the human race and have the same needs for food, shelter, transportation, education, and health care. Count us, and then serve the public.

I don’t like the simple fact that there is a comparison between white and non-white races. The distinction is racist in the first place. It is all so stupid. I’d rather be a tree.