Last Reviewed: Feb. 11, 2009
Last Modified: Feb. 11, 2009
Content Source:
Office of Minority Health & Health Disparities (OMHD) |
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Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQs)
Listed below are categories of Frequently Asked
Questions that have been of recent interest to the public.
Our previous answers to these questions may address the subject
of your inquiry. If one of these categories appears
related to your inquiry please click it to determine if the
answer to your question is included. |
Q.
Where do your
racial/ethnic classifications come
from? |
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A. We understand that no racial or ethnic group
is homogenous -- each is made up of many sub-groups with unique
origins, beliefs, and health practices. We are planning to expand our
discussion of these sub-groups as we continue to develop our
content. |
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Neither OMHD nor the U.S. government "classifies"
Americans by race or ethnicity; individuals self-select into one or
more racial and ethnic categories that are provided as response
options (or written-in by the respondent) during surveys and other
administrative data collection activities. The racial and
ethnic categories we use to report choices made by individual
Americans were used by Census 2000 and were defined by the U.S.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) after years of study,
deliberation, and input from the public and public officials. It was
the best we (the Nation) could do collectively, given the
alternatives; and I'm sure that you and others will continue to
influence changes over time as we learn more from actual
experience using the current categories. |
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If you would like more information about these categories you can
view the Census 2000 publication "Overview
of Race and Hispanic Origin 2000".
For information on how, and for what purposes, the racial and
ethnic categories were established you can view the OMB
Bulletin 00-02 document, "Guidance
on Aggregation and Allocation of Data on Race for Use in Civil
Rights Monitoring and Enforcement". | |