> Original Sender: infi.net!jsd (Dick Shovel, Ltd.)
>
> What follows are exerpts from an article written by Lawrence Wright and
> published in the 7.25.94 issue of the New Yorker:
This does not mean Americans do not know who they are. It more likely
means that the census interviewer is making a mistake. Seems like I read
about this in an ethnic diversity class assignment.
Census interviewers aren't exactly trained in phenotypical details. Many
Native folks have been described as Hispanic or Pacific Islander and vice
versa.
I think people know who they are, at least they know better than
census-takers. Let's not confuse 'ethnicity' with 'culture' and 'race'
because these things are too confusing anyway, and I have yet to
understand the point of spending all this energy drawing lines between
people, when people already know who they are!
-maggie