Racial classification is ubiquitous in American life. Job applications, university admissions, government contracts, and much more involve checking a box stating whether one is black, white, Asian, Hispanic, or Native American.

David Bernstein has written a surprising and revealing book on how these classifications came about, with the federal government playing a leading role. It asks:

Should Pakistani, Chinese, and Filipino Americans be in the same category despite obvious differences in culture, appearance, religion, and more?
Why does the government not allow Americans to classify themselves as biracial or multiracial?
How did a dark‐complexioned, burka‐wearing Muslim Yemeni come to be classified as generically white while a blond‐haired, blue‐eyed newcomer is classified as minority if arriving from a country where Spanish is spoken?
Why does the government require biomedical researchers to classify study participants by official racial categories that have no scientific basis?

Bernstein’s provocative book ends with a call for a separation of race and state. Commenting will be Jane Coaston, host of the New York Times’s podcast The Argument, and Prof. Robert Cottrol, a scholar of race and legal history at George Washington University Law School.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America 01:08:29 Share

Cato Event Podcast

Shownotes Transcript

Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America