Multiracial Leadership Statement July, 1997

Multiracial Leadership Statement
July, 1997
In Support of the Recommendations of
the Interagency Committee for the Review of the Racial and Ethnic Standards
to Revise OMB Statistical Directive 15
Announced July 9, 1997

     We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, support the historic preliminary Office of Management & Budget (OMB) recommendation to allow all Americans the ability to check more than one box when responding to the Race question on the upcoming 2000 Census.

-- We view this recommendation as a victory for Multiracial people.

-- We will continue to dialogue with the OMB as to the method to be used to actually tally these numbers.

-- We request that these numbers be tabulated and reported in a way that gives the same recognition to the group of persons who check more than one box as it does to the different monoracial groups.

-- To maintain consistency and respect for individuals who are both Hispanic and non- Hispanic, we believe that Directive 15 must include clear language that will allow for multiple checkoffs for this population as well.

-- Although we are pleased with the changes allowing persons to check more than one box, our endorsement should not be interpreted as opposition to a multiracial category that has sub-identifiers.

Endorsements as of August 4, 1997

AMEA-National
Biracial Family Network of Chicago, IL
Juanita Brooks, Ph.D., My Shoes Website
Getting Interracial Families Together (GIFT), Montclair, NJ
Harold Gate, Edgewater College Conference
Hapa Issues Forum
Interrace Haven/Love Sees No Color
Interracial Club of Buffalo (ICB), NY
Interracial Family Alliance (IFA) of Houston, TX
Interracial Family Circle of Washington D.C. (IFC)
I-Pride, SF Bay Area, CA
Mixed Initiative, Ann Arbor, MI
Multiracial Americans of Southern California (MASC), Los Angeles, CA
Multiracial Adults and Children of, MN
Rhode Island Multiracial Exchange (RIME)
Unity A Multiracial Social Group - Jacksonville, FL