"Racial classification is as American as apple pie. Americans are constantly asked to identify themselves by race and ethnicity. These classifications, however, defy logic, lumping people with vastly different appearances, cultures, religions, and ethnicities into arbitrary categories. Yet they play a major, growing role in American life. Classified describes how the American system of racial classification has evolved via a combination of amateur anthropology and sociology, interest group lobbying, incompetence, inertia, lack of public oversight, and happenstance. Should the U.S. government classify people by race? Classified is a call for a drastic reduction in government-mandated use of racial classifications and argues in favor of the separation of race and state"--Jacket.
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