Politics of Race and Ethnicity
1 total work
The movement to add a multiracial category to the 2000 U.S. Census provoked unprecedented debates about race. The effort made for strange bedfellows. Republicans like House Speaker Newt Gingrich and affirmative action opponent Ward Connerly took up the multiracial cause. Civil rights leaders opposed them, warning that the movement could dilute the census count of traditional minority groups. The activists themselves - a loose confederation of organizations, many led by the white mothers of interracial children - wanted recognition. What they got was the transformation of racial politics in America. Kim Williams' "Mark One or More" is the compelling account of how this small movement sparked a big change, and a moving call to reassess the meaning of racial identity in American life.