Commentary: Census building

By Natalia Yarbrough

He is the 44th president of the United States. He is the first African-American to be elected into the coveted office at the White House. He is Chicago native, Barack Obama.

But some critics are angered and question President Obama’s filing of the 2010 census. On the document, he checked “African-American/Black/Negro” as the predominate race that he identifies himself as.

“I self-identify as an African-American. That’s how I am treated and that’s how I am viewed. And I am proud of it,” Obama said in his famous race speech.

Many multiracial Americans were upset that he did not acknowledge his other race: Caucasian.

I, hailing from a multiracial mother (white and Hispanic) and a black father, did not have an issue with Obama’s answer to his ethnicity on the census.

According to the Census Bureau in 2009, 12.3 percent of Americans are, or marked, “African-American/Black/Negro” on their census. That being said, I feel fully confident that our president is not the only multiracial American who identifies as black.

The census is supposed to be confidential. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, “Title 13 of the U.S. Code protects the confidentiality of all your information. Violating this law is a crime with severe penalties.” If this is true, then why should the president’s ethnicity even be an issue? According to the title 13 of the U.S. Code, we shouldn't’t even know what he marked.

When I first heard about this I thought: "Are they mad because he didn’t acknowledge that he was more than one race, or because he didn’t say he was white?”

When I think of these questions it makes me wonder what kind of a country we live in. This is America. This is the free country, this is the land of opportunity. We are supposed to be past the days of judging people by the color of their skin rather than the content of their character.

When I use to take tests in school I would ask the teacher what race to mark, because I am multiracial. I would always get this “One Drop Rule” answer. The teacher would say: 'If you have one drop of African-American blood, you mark African-American.' I didn’t understand it, I just did it. Now if I am filling out paperwork I mark “other” or “two or more races.”

I use to live in Aurora, Ill. I went to a school that had six African-American kids, including myself. Although I had some friends, I didn't have a lot. Most of the kids didn’t talk to me because my skin was darker than theirs. I didn’t really understand race. All I knew was I was black, and I didn’t like it.

When I was 10 I moved to the South Side of Chicago. I couldn’t wait to start going to my new school, a school with no Mexican, Asian or Caucasian kids. I thought “they’re all going to be like me.”

On the first day of school, I was late and when I walked in everyone was staring at me. During lunch no one wanted to talk to me. They said I was stuck up and thought that I was better than them because I was light-skinned, had long hair and spoke properly. I was officially the only “white girl” in the school.

I’ve lived on the South Side of Chicago for seven years now, and I am still considered white. People look at me and assume “she can’t dance because she is white” or “she can’t fight, because she is white.” I use to wish that I was one or the other. Now I am happy that I am mixed. I love all sides of my family. I like fried chicken, tacos and pizza because although I acknowledge my other races, it does not make me who I am. Whether I am black, white, yellow, pink or blue, I am an American, and I’m proud of it!

Natalia Yarbrough is enrolled in a GED program.