Judy Scales-Trent

Some civil rights observers believe that adding a new multiracial category to U.S. census surveys will result in discrimination against minorities whose populations would therefore be under- counted. In the following viewpoint, Judy Scales-Trent disagrees with this argument. Although she questions the entire concept of government-created racial categories, she contends that the ethnic population count in itself does not prevent discrimination because the government can choose to ignore such statistics when deciding on civil rights policies. Scales-Trent is a law professor at the State University of New York in Buffalo and the author of Notes of a White Black Woman:Race, Color, Community.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Scales-Trent, how has the U.S. census created and re-created racial categories"
2. In the author’s opinion, what is strange about...