Racial Term on 2010 Census Raises Questions

Question 9 is the question of race on Census 2010 and there's 14 categories to choose from. There's even a box for "other" where you can write in your race.  But it's the Black, African American category that has some wondering because the third racial descriptor is the term "Negro."

Austinite Henry Hubbard says the term is outdated and he doesn't like it because of it's association to racial segregation and further back slavery.

"I stopped and checked it out. I didn't even think they'd have that on a form but they did."

James Kuykendall was also shocked.

"'Negro' is something they used back at that time in the '40's and '30.'s Back then we were struggling and that word meant struggle from where you heard it from."

Gabriel Perales with the US Census Bureau says their goal is to get an accurate reflection of people living across the county. He says the Bureau consults groups like the NAACP on a national level to make sure they get as many people as possible counted without offending the very people they're polling. He adds, there's even that catch-all "other" category.

"Ultimately if that term or those terms we have on our form don't fit one individual it's self-identification," said Perales.  "You can write in whatever it is that's going to identify you."

After the Civil Rights Movement, terms like black and African American became more common, and some see the term "Negro" as a way, perhaps, much older African Americans might identify themselves.

In fact in the 2000 census, Perales says the term "Negro" was also on the form and people actually checked the "other" box and wrote the word in.

"We had over 56,000 people write in the term "Negro" so we really take into account the write-ins we got in 2000."

Still for Henry Hubbard and James Kuykendall, they say while some might chose the word Negro that wasn't and will never be the way they fill out their census forms.

2010 Census forms are due April 1st.

For questions or comments about this story, email james.irby@foxtv.com