What

The US government is asking do race and ethnicity mean?the nation’s racial and ethnic categories for the first time since 1997. There’s a lot to consider.

Nyhiem Way is weary of people conflating African American and Black. Shalini Parekh wants a way for South Asian people to identify themselves differently than East Asians with roots in places like China or Japan. And Byron Haskins wants the U.S. to toss racial and ethnic labels altogether.

“When you set up categories that are used to place people in boxes, sometime you miss the truth of them,” said Haskins, who describes himself as African American.

Some Black Americans want their ancestors’ enslavement recognized in how they are identified. Some Jewish people believe their identity should be seen as its own ethnic category and not only a religion. The idea of revising categories for

See RACE page 2

Xernona Clayton (center), Atlanta mayor Andre Dickens(right) and statue sculptor Ed Dwight as the statue of Xernona Clayton is unveiled in Downtown Atlanta, Georgia on Wednesday, March 8, 2023.

Way, Parekh and Haskins’ voices are among more than 4,600 comments pending before the Biden administration as it contemplates updating