Finally, Filipinos will appear as a separate race category in the US 2010 national census.
On November 28, during a partnership program between The National Federation of Filipino American Associations and the US Bureau of Census, it was announced that
Filipinos in the United States have been generically labeled as “Asians” in the past. Indeed, there is strength in numbers. And the figures continue to increase.
According to the US Census Bureau’s website, “Race is key to implanting many federal laws and is needed to monitor compliance with the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act.”
Being recognized as a separate race category is of paramount importance in assessing fairness of employment practices, monitoring racial disparities in characteristics such as health and education and for planning and obtaining funds for public services, the website further elaborates.
This is not just a breakthrough for the Fil-Am community, but also for other Asian ethnicities who have also been recognized and given their own separate race categories. “Asian” has now been broken down to eight ethnicities — Asian Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Guamanian/Chamorro Vietnamese, Samoan and “Other Asian.”
“In the US 2000 census, 3.6 percent, or about 10.2 million, of the 281.4 million US citizens reported themselves to be Asian,” reports Inquirer.net.
“Statistics from the Commission on Filipinos Overseas (CFO) showed that as of December 2000, there were about 2.14 million Filipinos in the US, with no data on who are actual US citizens. The number is broken down into 1.8 permanent residents, about 59,800 temporary residents, and about 278,000 irregular residents,” the report added.
Globally, Filipinos are highly regarded and valued for being hardworking, dedicated and disciplined when it comes to their work ethics, regardless of job position. Many of our kababayans readily sacrifice fulfilling their own dreams and desires in their homeland to work overseas and become better providers for their families.
It is indeed an act worthy of merit. Being afforded a separate race category here in America will, hopefully, be the beginning of our just rewards. (AJPress)
( www.asianjournal.com )
( Published December 19, 2009 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. A12 )
