'Neither black nor white.'

Ebony, Nov, 1996 by Lisa Jones Townsel

A major controversy has exploded over the demand for a new census category for African-Americans who say they are neither Black nor White.

Within recent months, the "Neither Black nor White" faction has marched on Washington D.C., and filled letters to the editor pages, sharing personal perspective on the issue. The highly sensitive subject has also triggered lively debates on the Internet.

A number of celebrities have joined the debate. Among them are three-time amateur golf champ-turned-pro Tiger Woods who says he is 90 percent Oriental; actresses Halle Berry and Salli Richardson who say they are Black; singer Mariah Carey who say she is Black, Venezuelan and Irish; and the former Miss USA, Chelsi Smith who describes herself as half Black and half White.

Some multiracial people who claim they are a voiceless, powerless few, say they are tired of feeling obligated to side with one racial group over another "when they are neither Black nor White, but, in many cases, products of both." Therefore, they have staged a national campaign to convince the Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to add a multiracial category to the existing census form in time for the 2000 Census. (The OMB will not make a decision on this issue until mid-1997.) Proponents of the new category say the current form, which includes designations for White, Black, Asian or Pacific Islander, American Indian or Alaskan Native or Hispanic origin doesn't reflect the nations increasingly diverse mixed-race population.

Many leaders in the Black community are outraged. The proposed category, they say, could threaten affirmative action and other civil rights-driven proms since data collected through the census are used in monitoring areas such as employment, voting rights, housing and mortgage lending. Moreover, if mixed-race people who regularly choose Black on the census form now choose the new designation, it is feared that Black economic, social and political power will be seriously diluted and that the establishment of a new category could create a privileged "Colored society" similar to what existed in the old South Africa.

"It would seem to me that to create another category of people who will fit at another rung just below that of White people, means creating another group to continue in the oppression of people of African ancestry in this country," says Leonard G. Dunston, president of the National Association of Black Social Workers Inc.

Dunston sees the need of multiracials to create their own political bloc as an unfortunate attempt to find a home, a safe haven - something he says they once enjoyed as a part of the Black community. "In the society in which I grew up, we had all color schemes within the African community. Some who were almost as White as White can get, yet they still identified with their African heritage, to the darkest skin among us," he explains.

Many Blacks also argue that it's difficult to determine who is multiracial in the first place since many, if not all, modern-day African-Americans are a mixture of African, Native American and European ancestry. This new multiracial category, they say, could open the door for just about anyone to begin to mark the new designation - further diminishing the political and economic power of Blacks and other minorities.

Kathy Russell, co-author of The Color Complex: The Politics of Skin Color Among African-Americans, supports multiracials' right for a new category, but she has her reservations. "For so long Black folks have said that White folks have been naming us. When we decided to call ourselves African-Americans, that's what we wanted to be called. So I feel that people of mixed heritage deserve a choice," she says. "But this is where it gets really tricky because we're all of mixed heritage, so where do you draw the line?"

Russell says she is also aware of the impact a new census category will have on the Black community. "Being a Black person in this country, I feel that ultimately [the new category] will hurt me," she says. "As African-Americans, we have been struggling to make gains. This [new category] could be a setback and because of that, a lot of people are reluctant to embrace it. It makes sense because if someone marks multiracial on an application, that can set up a system of discrimination against Blacks because multiracial means at least you have something else in you and, in many peoples eyes, that's better than Black."

That line of reasoning, some Black leaders say, is what led to the deep, racial divides in South Africa, and they strongly believe that the establishment of a multiracial category could lead to a South African "Colored" society in the U.S. "It's almost analogous to the South African classifications," says Dunston. "The most recent election shows that those who categorized themselves as being Colored were not supportive of President Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress. They voted overwhelmingly for DeKlerk. I believe we are at risk of having another group who does not want to identify with any thing that's considered African, now aligning itself with White people who will continue to develop oppressive public policies that are not positive in their impact on the African community in this country."