Classified : the untold story of racial classification in America

A call for the separation of race and state, backed by a deep dive into the surreal world of racial classification in America. "The racial categories that the schools use are completely bonkers, an arbitrary mess mostly left over from the work of federal bureaucrats in the 1970s that can't withstand the slightest scrutiny.... Justice Samuel Alito raised this issue in [the Harvard affirmative action case], pretty clearly relying on the work of George Mason University professor David Bernstein, who eviscerated the categories in an amicus brief and has written a book on their origin and implications, The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America. " - National Review Americans have come to accept certain standard ethnic and racial classifications--Black, White, Asian American, Hispanic, and Native American--as if they are part of the natural order of things. In fact, they are the product ofregulations quietly enacted by federal bureaucrats in 1977. Where did these classifications come from? How are they defined? If someone's self-identification is disputed, how are they enforced? What should become of them in the future, with affirmative action preferences that rely on these classifications under legal threat, and the classifications themselves becoming increasingly incoherent after decades of large-scale immigration and increased interracial marriage? This book answers all those questions in a lively, well-researched, persuasive manner. A call for the separation of race and state, backed by a deep dive into the surreal world of racial classification in America. “The racial categories that the schools use are completely bonkers, an arbitrary mess mostly left over from the work of federal bureaucrats in the 1970s that can’t withstand the slightest scrutiny. The administrators who rely on these categories are beholden to senseless and unscientific distinctions—they aren’t even competent or rational racialists. Justice Samuel Alito raised this issue in the arguments, pretty clearly relying on the work of George Mason University professor David Bernstein, who eviscerated the categories in an amicus brief and has written a book on their origin and implications, Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America. ” – National Review Americans are understandably squeamish about official racial and ethnic classifications. Nevertheless, they are ubiquitous in American life. Applying for a job, mortgage, university admission, citizenship, government contracts, and much more involves checking a box stating whether one is Black, White, Asian, Hispanic, or Native American. While reviewing the surprising history of American racial classifications, Classified raises questions about the classifications’ coherence, logic, and fairness; for example: • Should Pakistani, Chinese, and Filipino Americans be in the same category despite their obvious differences in culture, appearance, religion, and more? • Why does the government not allow Americans to classify themselves as bi- or multi-racial? • How did the government decide that a dark-complexioned, burka-wearing Muslim Yemini should be classified as generically white, but a blond-haired, blue-eyed immigrant from Spain should be classified as Hispanic and treated as a member of a minority group? • Why does the government require biomedical researchers to classify study participants by the official racial categories, when the classifications have no scientific basis? In an increasingly diverse society with high rates of intergroup marriage, the American system of racial classification is getting even more arbitrary and absurd. With rising ethno-nationalism threatening democracy around the world, it’s also dangerous. Classified argues that the time has come to consider abolishing official racial classification and replace it with the separation of race and state. "Racial classification is as American as apple pie. Americans are constantly asked to identify themselves by race and ethnicity. These classifications, however, defy logic, lumping people with vastly different appearances, cultures, religions, and ethnicities into arbitrary categories. Yet they play a major, growing role in American life. Classified describes how the American system of racial classification has evolved via a combination of amateur anthropology and sociology, interest group lobbying, incompetence, inertia, lack of public oversight, and happenstance. Should the U.S. government classify people by race? Classified is a call for a drastic reduction in government-mandated use of racial classifications and argues in favor of the separation of race and state" -- Dust jacket