Anthropologists Recommend 'Race' Be Scrapped

"Press Release/OMB 15

For information, call

Mary Margaret Overbey

(703) 528-1902, ext 3006

September 8, 1997

For Immediate Release

AAA recommends 'race' be scrapped; suggests new government categories.

ARLINGTON, VA--The US Government should phase out use of the term 'rac' in the collection of federal data because the concept has no scientific just)fication in human biology, according to a skatement released today by the American Anthropological Association (AAA).

Instead of race, ethnic categories which better reflect the diversity of the US population should be used. The AAA statement includes five recommendations for changes in the way the government collects information about its citizens. It addresses the federal Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Directive 15, which designates racial and ethnic categories used in the US census and in innumerable other public and private research projects.

'There are many misunderstandings associated with notions of race and ethnicity. The AAA advocates a more scientific and realistic approach to how the federal government categorizes Americans, and thus how Americans identify themselves,' said Mary Margaret Overbey, Ph.D., AAA Director of Government Relations. 'The proposed Directive 15 revisions are not sign)ficantly different from 20 years ago. Should Americans still be characterized in the same way for the new millennium and beyond?' "