Today I was filling out a work application, and it had the following two questions under "Additional Information":

What is your ethnicity? (Check one)

[ ] Hispanic or Latino [ ] Not Hispanic or Latino


What is your race? (Check one or more)

[ ] American Indian or Alaska Native. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America) and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.

[ ] Asian. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, the Philippine Islands, Thailand, and Vietnam.

[ ] Black or African American. A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa.

[ ] Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. A person having origins in any of the original peoples of Hawaii, Guam, Samoa, or other Pacific Islands.

[ ] White. A person having origins in any of the peoples of Europe, the Middle East, or North Africa.

How does anyone know how to fill out this form? And who wrote it and for what purpose? Why did they filter out Latino? If I check yes for Latino, can I skip the race section, or do I have to sub-identify as American Indian or white or whatever? What the hell is a "community attachment" and why is that only a relevant race indicator if I'm American Indian or Alaska Native? And why isn't there an "other" box? What if I'm from southern Africa, but I'm don't have origins in any of the "black racial groups" of Africa? Or even better, what if I am a black african, but my family moved to Egypt five generations ago? Am I black, or am I white if my family has been living in North Africa for a century and a half?

I distrusted census taking before I started reading this IBM book. Now I'm doubly suspicious of every question asked.