Addressing the question of what race people will be considered if they check more than one racial category on census forms, the Clinton administration said Friday that those listing themselves as white and a minority-group member will be counted as a minority.
“The first allocation rule is that if you are white and anything else, you are allocated to the minority,” said Anita Hodgkiss, deputy assistant attorney general for civil rights.
The 2000 census is the first in which people may check more than one category under race, and guidelines issued by the Office of Management and Budget are designed to clarify the confusion sown by the administration’s decision in October to make this change.
The new policy was hailed at the time by groups representing parents of mixed-race children. But civil rights groups feared the new policy would reduce the number of people who are officially considered black, Asian or American Indian and would harm minorities when it came to enforcing civil rights and voting rights laws.
