This one from The New York Daily News doesn't get the blood boiling so much as it just seems odd.
On the 2010 Census, one of the boxes checked for race is classified as Negro.
Question No. 9 on this year's census form asks about race, with one of the answers listed as "black, African-Am. or Negro."
Census Bureau spokesman Jack Martin said the use of "Negro" was intended as a term of inclusion.
"Many older African-Americans identified themselves that way, and many still do," he said. "Those who identify themselves as Negroes need to be included."
The form was also approved by Congress more than a year ago, and the word has appeared on past forms.
Inclusion is cool and appreciated, but this seems to overdo it a bit. Again, the Buzz hackles aren't so much raised, it just seems like a really outmoded classification that doesn't do anything more than "Black" or "African-American" already do. This is tantamount to having "Special Needs", "Handicapped" and "Retarded" on an official document. Sure, the latter used to be perfectly acceptable, but now it's not only negatively loaded, it's a term that doesn't have any particular distinction.
Not hackled; just puzzled. What's your take?
