A Race To Know

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, History, Documentary

4.7 • 15K Ratings

🗓️ 2 April 2020

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For nearly as long as there has been a United States there has been a census, it is in some ways how we know ourselves. And in every single census there has been at least one question about race. The evolution of these questions and the fight over asking them is at the heart of the American story. This week, how race has played a central role in who is counted-in America.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Ramteen Arableui.
0:03.4	I'm Randab de Fette.
0:05.2	And on this episode of Thru Line from NPR, the Census and Race.
0:10.4	Sorry, okay.
0:11.4	Okay, so we're opening the Census.
0:14.5	Did you start opening it already?
0:16.3	I thought we were going to do a 321 situation.
0:18.4	This year, most of us will receive an envelope in the mail addressed from the US Census Bureau.
0:23.7	I'm opening my...
0:25.3	Slowly pictureally.
0:29.7	I think I might have gone a paper cut.
0:33.1	On the cover of the envelope, there's a message in all caps, bold, in English and Spanish.
0:39.3	It reads, your response is required by law.
0:43.7	So we're looking at the form here.
0:46.4	Inside, there are a few pages containing a handful of questions asking about the number
0:51.2	of people living in our homes.
0:53.1	There are ages and sex, whether the home is rented or not.
0:56.8	And...
0:57.8	What is this person's race?
1:00.8	What is our race?
1:02.4	Well, I always choose other.
1:06.2	And I write in Middle Eastern because something doesn't sit well when I have to choose
	...

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