The Race Box Dilemma

Throughout our lifetime, we fill out and answer hundreds of applications, surveys, and tests. No matter the content of the questionnaires, there are always the basic questions that ask about your personal information. One of those questions may ask what your ethnicity/race is. If you are not of mixed race, choosing what ethnicity you are is probably not something you think twice about as you try and answer as quickly as possible. When I come across the “what is your ethnicity” question, I grunt at least once or twice, knowing what is to come next. Even in 2020, many questionnaires may not give me the option to choose more than one answer.

Many people may think just choose one, who cares. Right? Well, from my perspective, when I am not given the option to choose both Caucasian and African American, I feel a rush of immediate guilt. Since I cannot choose both, I must choose one-one ethnicity, one parent, and one identity with to associate. How do you choose just one if you are both? My heart feels heavy when I’m put in that situation. I feel like I’m betraying one side of my family if I choose to select only one option. Again, I reiterate, you may think this is silly, but I want to mention perspective to you again. I am a huge family person. I love every single person in my family, everyone from my mother’s side to my father’s side alike. Choosing one ethnicity over another is like saying I love or appreciate one side of my family more than the other, and that just does not sit well with me. My mother confessed to me that not being able to choose more than one ethnicity on a questionnaire bothered her as well. My mother saw this fault as one of society’s. The lack of options were a reflection of the notion that interracial families did not exist, that they were not considered, or that they were irrelevant to the community. So, whenever I see this question on a survey, test, or application, and it asks me to choose one ethnicity, I choose both anyways. I will not deny either part of me, either family, or either parent due to the ignorant wording of a question.

So, listen. I was almost done with this post, but alas, this issue of choosing one race or another will be in our little blended lives for a very long time (hopefully that is not true, but one can only hope). I remembered that recently my father received a call from those people, the ones from the census bureau, who take surveys of the lives of wonderful Americans over the phone. The man on the other end began to ask my father standard questions about his occupation, income, place of residence, blah blah blah. Then, the ethnicity/race question came into play. He asked my father what his ethnicity was. He said African American. He asked my father what my mother’s ethnicity was. He said Italian. He then asked my father, “What do you wanna call the kids?”

Let’s just say that my mother was P-I-S-S-E-D. My dad wasn’t too upset about it, but mama bear came out quick, swift, and fierce, “What do you want to call the kids?” she repeated (Soulja Boy voice). “Get his information. His name. First AND Last. What do you wanna call the kids. Pff. Did he not receive sensitivity training?” She had a point. In 2020, there are still individuals who choose to create “check one that may apply” above the race/ethnicity question on a form. It’s time we recognize that not everyone falls under one box. If you are multiracial and you come across this question, do me a favor, choose all that apply. Don’t settle for just one and certainly don’t settle for “other”.