Q. According to the Census Bureau, 2.4% of all Americans who filled out the 2000 census chose to check more than one box. This is really accurate isn't it?

A. Probably not. Some interracial families chose not to fill in race at all because they knew their numbers would be re-tabulated as only one of the minority races. Other people chose to choose all the races as a protest and some chose to pick American Indian alone as a protest.

Q. Now everyone will call us "multiracial," right?

A. No, the Census Bureau folks call us "people who check more than one box." Other "advocacy groups" didn't care if the proper name for our community appeared on the Census forms and gave the bureau their blessing to call us "people who check more than one box."

In their press conference on March 12, Claudette Bennett of the Census Bureau said, "The Census Bureau tried to stay away from the concept of 'multiracial' because there is no clear cut notion of what a multiracial community is." Maybe she has no idea. It is up to each of us to bring the name "multiracial" into common usage, as Project RACE has advocated since our founding in 1990, in response to the wishes of our members.

Q. There really wasn't any way to count us as multiracial people anyway, was there?

A. Sure there was. There could easily be a multiracial "umbrella" category with the ability to check as many races as apply under the umbrella. The "Asian" category has more specific under it, such as Chinese, Japanese, etc. and the "Hispanic" category allows for a person to indicate Puerto Rican, etc. Why can't the multiracial community have the same type of category?

Q. The government agencies will get 63 racial categories from the Census Bureau. Why will they re-tabulate the numbers?

A. So they can satisfy the other minority groups. Groups like the NAACP and Urban League were afraid they would lose numbers to the multiracial group, so they lobbied the Office of Management and Budget to re-tabulate our numbers. This is how it will work:

A person will never be counted in the majority group.
Example: You check white and black. You are re-tabulated as black.

A person will always be counted in the minority group with the largest population.
    (Note: The black population will always be the minority group
    with the largest population)

Example: You check black and Asian. You are re-tabulated as black.
Example: You check black, Asian, and American Indian. You are re-tabulated as black.

Do you see a pattern here?

Q. So, who cares about re-tabulation anyway? Somebody has to get the number.

A. We need to care very seriously about re-tabulation because it takes away all protection from discrimination for multiracial children and adults. Think about it. If a multiracial person is re-tabulated for "purposes of discrimination," they become one minority race. That is the race they may seek protection under for discrimination. They cannot seek protection if they are discriminated against because they are multiracial. They have no protection.

Q. How can the Department of Justice allow this to happen?

A. The Department of Justice approved the re-tabulation of "people who check more than one race" three days prior to President Clinton leaving office.

Q. Does this affect anything else?

A. Sure it does. It will have an affect on redistricting. Project RACE sent a letter to the Chief of the Voting Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division on March 8, 2001 regarding Public Law 94-171 and asking for a redrafting of redistricting without re-tabulation of the multiracial population. There are many ways this can be done, as Project RACE has illustrated.

Q. Will the federal agencies be able to "play with the numbers" because of this?

A. Of course they will. Resources will be directed whichever way they want by manipulating the racial numbers. In a March 14 story in The New York Times, officials at the Health and Human Services Department said they don't know whether they should plan to care for the 2.6 million people who identified themselves exclusively as American Indians or the 4.1 million people who said they were at least part Native American. Government agencies will misuse the multiracial numbers to their benefit.

Q. Why would the Census Bureau state that 5% of blacks considered themselves multiracial? If someone considers themselves multiracial, they don't consider themselves to be black, do they?

A. The government mentality is still to consider a multiracial person as black. The one-drop rule lives in Washington. Unfortunately, some members of the press buy the government line as gospel and report it just that way. Haya El Nasser, reported in USA Today, "Early numbers also show that about 5% of blacks identified themselves as multiracial." What the Census Bureau and Ms. El Nasser should have said was that 5% of people who checked "black" also checked at least a second box.

Q. How can the government take someone's "self-identification" of two or more races and turn it into one arbitrary race?

A. It defeats the purpose of self identification, doesn't it? Claudette Bennett of the Census Bureau said the data were collected with the concept of self-identification. Re-distribution of the multiracial numbers is unjust, immoral and we feel, illegal.

Q. Is the Census Bureau really going to call us "people who check more than one box"?

A. Yes, they refuse to use the term "multiracial." If you go to the Census Bureau Web site at www.census.gov, try searching for the following terms:

Multiracial
Biracial
Mixed-race

No documents will match your query. The Census Bureau does not recognize any of these terms.

Q. Why does the Census Bureau say "Everyone Counts!" if multiracial people don't count to them.

A. Multiracial people do count to the Census Bureau. We just count as one minority. They think that's fair. We don't.

Q. So all multiracial "activists" understand how the re-allocation of numbers is harmful to the multiracial community, right?

A. Apparently not. A woman named Beth Gray who writes book reviews for a Web site appeared on CNN representing the multiracial community. We can't speak to her credentials in the fight for the multiracial community because this is the first time we have seen her.

Hugh Price of The Urban League was on the same show. Mr. Price talked about the importance of looking at the public policy implications of checking multiple boxes, which is having the numbers re-allocated for purposes of discrimination. When Ms. Gray was asked if she agreed with that, she looked confused and said, "Um, I don't know. That may be true." Then she changed the subject.

Q. CNN also reported that lobbying by the multiracial community is the reason we still have racial categories. Is that true?

A. That's absurd. Project RACE has always said that we would prefer doing away with racial categories altogether, but while the federal government insists on collecting racial data, multiracial children and adults should be counted accurately. Also, the minority communities scream that they have to be able to prove racial discrimination. If there were no categories they simply could not prove discrimination.

Q. Niger Innis of the Congress of Racial Equality was also on the CNN show implying that their group had lobbied for and is in favor of a multiracial classification. Is that true?

A. It's news to us, but we're thrilled to hear Mr. Innis publicly announce that CORE is in favor of a multiracial classification. The Africana.com Web site states:

"In 1966 CORE endorsed the term Black Power, and by 1967 the word multiracial was no longer in the CORE constitution. Finally, in 1968, Roy Innis replaced Farmer as the national director, and Innis soon denied whites active membership in CORE and advocated black separatism."

CORE did not lobby in Washington during the 1993 or 1997 hearings and their advocacy for a multiracial classification is not mentioned on their Web site, in their press releases or in their major programs. No matter, we welcome them on board.

Q. The New York Times reported that the multiracial census count may affect federal programs and that the number of people covered under civil rights laws will increase because of the new choices. They say that this will result in claims that the country's minority population has been improperly inflated. Doesn't this put the multiracial community in a "damned if we do and damned if we don't" situation?

A. Yes.

Q. Is this fair?

A. No.

Q. Why did Claudette Bennett of the Census Bureau refer to "interracial unions" instead of "interracial marriages" in the recent news conference?

A. Maybe Ms. Bennett thinks people of different races don't actually marry.