Problematic: Census 2020

For the first time, the 2020 Census is a text field to write in your race! The checkboxes are still there and initially, some may find this to be a wonderful change. American citizens don't have to "fit" themselves into a box that is not a true description of who they really are. And that's good news, right? Well...it depends on how you look at it. Home DNA tests have armed people with a snapshot of their (predicted) genotypes. For some, this is a complete revelation. Can you imagine how many adoptees have learned for the first time in their lives that they aren't who they thought they were? Most assuredly, these individuals and others that have found their newly revealed genotype will have different answers than they had on the 2010 Census. 

Previous censuses had checkboxes that allowed the American government to collect the phenotypes of U.S. citizens. How gracious of our government to allow its citizens to place themselves in a category of boxes that didn't really reflect how diverse we really are. If the American government wants to collect the phenotypes of its citizens, why not ask that simple question? "What is your phenotype?" (A phenotype is "the set of observable characteristics of an individual resulting from the interaction of its genotype with the environment.") Most people want to know why the government even wants to know this information about its citizens. The answer is our traumatic history. The United States has a long history of abusing its own inhabitants. It started with the indigenous people of this continent and then moved on to slaves and then immigrants. The wealthy (typically) eurocentric have always found ways to misuse and abuse the less fortunate to their own greatest advantage. 

Why is this data even needed? An adequate explanation is given in the excerpt of the Census document posted:
"Ensure Equal Opportunity
Knowing the ethnic groups in a community in combination with information about housing, voting, language, employment, and education, helps government and communities enforce laws, regulations, and policies against discrimination based on national origin. For example, ancestry data are used to enforce nondiscrimination in education (including monitoring desegregation); to enforce nondiscrimination in employment by federal agencies, private employers, employment agencies, and labor organizations; and to enforce laws, regulations, and policies against discrimination in federal financial assistance (Civil Rights Act of 1964).
Understand Changes
 Knowing whether people from different backgrounds have the same opportunities in education, employment, voting, homeownership, and many other areas are of interest to researchers, advocacy groups, and policymakers. For example, ancestry data are used with age and language data to address language and cultural diversity needs in health care plans for the older population."
Excerpt of “Questions Planned for the 2020 Census and American Community Survey: Federal Legislative and Program Uses” document of the United States Census Bureau. March 2018,  https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/2020/operations/planned-questions-2020-acs.pdf. Accessed 27 Sep 2019

I predict that the data gathered from the 2020 Census is going to be the most ethnically diverse Census that has EVER been taken.