Question

Categorizations of race and ethnicity have changed since we began conducting the U.S. Census (which occurs every ten years and has many purposes). White and Negro were early categories, but today Americans can choose from multiple categories, including Native American, Inuit, Hispanic, Asian and so on. And, you can choose more than one ethnic/racial category, reflecting the multiracial character of the population. In December 2013, the Census Bureau at the request of the White House proposed adding a new racial category to the 2020 Census for people from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) who have until this point been classified as “white.” An article in The Washington Post (https://www.washingtonnpost.com/local/socialissues/a-proposal-to-add-a-us-census-category-for-people-of-middle-eastern-descent-makes-some-uneasy/2016 expressed alarm that this classification comes at a time of rising Islamophobia. Since the article appeared we have seen attempts to exclude individuals from selected predominantly Muslim countries from coming to the United States. Similarly, we have seen increased deportations of Hispanic immigrants (putting aside the question of their legal status). In fact, a decision about whether to deport “the Dreamers,” who are the children of immigrants who came to this country when they were children is pending in the Congress. The Census is an attempt to quantify and categorize who lives in the United States and has legitimate goals. Some activist groups, however, see potential problems if individuals provide this information asking will those who identify themselves as MENA (or Hispanic, Latino, Chicano) be profiled and placed under surveillance. Based on what we have discussed on racism, persecution of “the other,” and even historical examples, such as the Holocaust, what is your opinion of this proposed change to the Census? Using your sociological imagination, examine the political and social context and the implications of this change for individuals.

Answer 1

There is a fear that whether US is focusing on ethnic cleansing in the name of security measures. It reminds one who knows history of Hitler who thought that only white skin is best and the rest should be holocausted. Modern American Rulers have openly announced this cleansing even before they got into power and it was one of their resolution to eliminate all those who are not white from the equation.
US had developed many terrorist groups across the globe to fight former Soviet Union. Now, they are paying the price and this is not a statement to support terrorism but to prove that one will reap what one had sown. Branding people as terrorist or gangster just because one of them did that in the past, it's called prejudice and stereotyping.
US is still believing that they could survive by eliminating all the other racial groups from the country and that's a huge misunderstanding. The country will be brought to a standstill if it keeps doing this ethnic cleansing because most of the basic services are done by the immigrants from other countries. Look at the software and space field, people from other nations are working there predominantly.
Every individual is different and not everyone is a terrorist. So US might need to reconsider it's stand otherwise, it is pouring more oil in the fire and spread hatred. Us is still acting like selfish child that doesn't want to grow. This needs to change and only then the world may have peace.