Census to Test Removing the Term "Negro" from Form

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: In The News

(CBS/iStockphoto)

News that the U.S. Census Bureau was allowing people to identify themselves as "Negro" on 2010 Census forms generated anger this week from people who say the term is offensive.

Now the Census Bureau says it is embedding a test in the 2010 Census that "will measure the effect of removing the term 'Negro' on reports about a person's racial identity." The test will be used to inform changes to the 2020 Census and other future surveys.

In a section asking people to describe themselves, the 2010 Census form includes a box that can be checked next to the words "negro," "African American" and "black."

In a press release Friday, the Census Bureau noted that "In the 2000 Census, more than 50,000 persons chose to write down explicitly that they identified themselves as 'Negro.'" That did not include the people who checked the box "Black, African Am., or Negro."

The bureau has said it had decided to include "Negro" as an option because a number of older African-Americans self-identify as such, and it wanted to make sure they were counted.

But many complained that "Negro" is an outdated and derogatory term.

"The fact that it's 2010 and they're still putting 'negro,' I am a little offended," Secaucus, N.J., resident Dawud Ingram told WCBS-TV. "African Americans haven't been going by the term 'negro' for decades now. It's really confusing."

A Census public information officer told USA Today that the term has been on Census forms since at least 1950.

Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
Follow on Twitter »

13 Comments Have Your Say
Email Story Send to a Friend
Share This Tell Your Friends
Tweet This Tweet This
More Share It

Add a Comment

See all 13 Comments


by Janae29 March 17, 2010 7:51 AM EDT: I will mark my form with race as "HUMAN" I am part of the human race and that is all they need to know!; Reply to this comment


by cidaia January 9, 2010 11:58 AM EST: The term African-American is offensive.

If they get to choose the term they find least offensive, and they choose to be categorized by origin rather than by race, why can't I?

I am, after all, a descendant from Ellis Island immigrants. My people came here after slavery was outlawed. We did not own slaves or benefit from the exploitation of slaves. Yet, I have always been willing to let myself be lumped in with the whites who really did those things, because I always understood being an American to mean working toward a better future, not fixating on re-doing the past til you like how it came out.; Reply to this comment


by midlclass January 9, 2010 10:13 AM EST: they should leave the word negro in the census. it is a good reminder of how we once treated a fellow human being. because of the color of there skin. and i disagree with it being defined as discribing a race. from what i have seen it is from the french to discribe the color black. even on modern labels of items that are black in color, you will see the word negro in french or spanish. other than that the race question is just a way to find out the nations demographics.; Reply to this comment


by stormerF2 January 9, 2010 8:21 AM EST: How Stupid can we get? Negro describes a race,not a Color.Maybe we should just call negros non-white,or off-white.would that appease all the bed wetters?Maybe we should stop using the word Hispanic and just use the word Brownie instead. The Democrats already have decided to not use illegal,Terrorist,or at War with Muslim extremists.; Reply to this comment


by kansas1946 January 8, 2010 9:53 PM EST: What a lot of silliness. ""...all sound and fury, signifying nothing."

There is nothing offensive about the work negro. It is a race classification, just as mogoloid and caucasion. It denotes physical characteristics of different races. Now the REAL question is, why is race even an issue in the census. They shouldn't be asking any questions about race. The census is just to count folks living in America. Period.; Reply to this comment


by libftw January 8, 2010 8:03 PM EST: I wish they would test removing race from the census. It's only there to keep track of the plantation anyway. Just another tool for the establishment to use to divide and conquer.; Reply to this comment


by Berkeley-SkirtLifter January 8, 2010 7:03 PM EST: Weird. Labels and their connotations.

For a long time, I called my girl friend 'my little dumpling'. She thought it was cute. Months later a friend asked me why I called her 'dumpling'. I said because she's a soft, plump, doughy, white chick that tastes good. She heard the explanation and I was ... well ... how do I say ... not gettin' any for a few weeks.

A negative connotation got attached and forevermore 'dumpling' is out.

It doesn't matter the label, someday a derogatory implication gets attached to the most innocent label and BAM, it's no longer PC, no longer allowed to be a proud member of the lexicon.

The next word to suffer this fate is currently a politically correct label, that is the preferred label, of the folks under the umbrella of the label. Can you guess what it is?

?

?

It's 'gay'. Gay is the preferred label to members of this group. But, and this is a big but, teenagers use this term to describe anything negative. Anything bad is 'gay' to a teenager (this is true in my neck of the woods).

Soon this term will soon fall from grace. A once PC label, now a derogatory, inflammatory epithet. 'plutoed' from lexicon. banished. demoted.

The trick is for my little dumpling to thicken her skin a little, I love her the way she is, and I miss calling her dumpling.; Reply to this comment


by NYPD1966 January 8, 2010 6:45 PM EST: what about the UNCF..negro college fund..maybe change it to the UAACF..i still havent seen any TV shows raing money for the Asian college fund. or the Eskimo college fund...or the Latino college fund. Hmmm.; Reply to this comment

by ToolMangler1 January 8, 2010 3:59 PM EST

You can call an American-African, Black. But you can't call him Negro which is Spanish for "Black'....... WOW!!!!! talk about 'Ego'...

I call them 'American-African' because I qualify as am "American-Indian and consider myself "American" first "Indian second.

But when the question is asked, I will say "White" because I am more white than anything else.
Look at your ancestry and see what you really are. If you don't admit to what you really are, "WHY NOT".

Reply to this comment


by hpruden212 January 8, 2010 4:53 PM EST: Wow - as a pround of member of the Cree Nation - I am a Native person frist and second....period. Perhap you should learn some history or our peoples struggle with the American people!!!!


by Berkeley-SkirtLifter January 8, 2010 6:29 PM EST: ""I am a Native person frist and second....period.""

That's why sports betting is so popular...two completely different perspectives.


by Constitionalist January 8, 2010 3:47 PM EST: How about all us "white" folk? Perhaps I am offended that I cannot identify myself the way I wish to. But that's okay, offending "white" people doesn't matter. Here's a novel idea, why not have people identify as dead or not dead. That way nobody is discriminated against based on age, race or gender. Of course the zombie demographic might get pi$$ed.; Reply to this comment