Anecdote 1
When I was president of DeVry Institute of Technology at Dallas, the system headquarters asked us to submit a government-required demographic profile of our faculty (
à propos equal employment opportunity matters).
One attribute was "race", and at that time, the official government choices were roughly:
• White
• Black or negro
• Asian
• American Indian
• Pacific Islander
• Spanish surnamed
A while later, my boss (if the DeVry system of colleges had been a university, which it now considers itself, he would have been the chancellor) asked how the demographic survey was going.
"Not too well", I said. "Dean Alvarez (the dean of Engineering, of 'Castilian' Spanish ancestry) had until now thought he was white."
As to myself
My "race" (to the extent that the attribute has any meaning) is best considered mostly
Caucasian. Of course, the (reflective) color of my skin varies from place to place, and from time to time. Crudely, it is overall sort of pink.
I am also native American, having been born in Cincinnati. But of course I am not (to any extent I am aware of) of American Indian (that is to say, American Aboriginal) background.
Carla is sometimes asked if she is [N]ative American. She says, "Oh, yes", she having been born in Blackwell, Oklahoma. "And my race is partly American Indian." (She is a card-carryin' Cherokee.)
Anecdote 2
At one time, I was involved in preparing applications for cellular system licenses. During part of that period, the Federal Communications Commission's procedure for deciding which applicant got the license for particular service area was based on a random lottery, except that there was a built in "advantage" to "members of minority groups", which was defined on the basis of "race".
The intent was of course to give an enhanced opportunity to those who, as a "class", have been disadvantaged as to economic opportunity.
I always encouraged my applicants to apply for that preference, stating that their race was "black".
A staffer at the FCC said to me, "I was reviewing an application the other day from a client of yours, who applied for an advantage on the grounds that he was black. I know him, and he certainly isn't 'black' ".
They were probably both in the Cosmos Club.
I said, "Which FCC criterion for being qualified as 'black' does he not meet?"
There were of course no such criteria. In fact, the possibility of establishing such, suggested by some, was considered repugnant, reminiscent of the work by the Third Reich to establish objective criteria for being "Aryan".
I continued, "Must the applicant have a broad nose and dark kinky hair—like Barry Manilow?"
There were no further difficulties of that sort.
The "advantage" on the basis of "race" was later removed by action of the U.S. Congress.
I believe that the license in question was awarded (by lottery) to a "black" billionaire, the owner of a large print and broadcast media empire.
Best regards,
Doug