It was one of my greatest honors, to have Mixed Race Studies pick up my review— because they do some serious work on the topic. In my film review, I quoted an article which I had read at the same website about the insanity of the Race question on the 2010 US census. The article was by a scholar,   Steven Riley  who wrote an analysis of stresses those identifying as Mixed Race, felt in filling out Box 9 of the United States census. He describes people agonizing about accurately portraying their racial identity. Riley states, unabashed, “For those who desire to portray their ‘accurate racial’ identity, I have news for you — ‘racial accuracy’ is an oxymoron. ‘Race’ as a biological, or anthropological construct is an utter fallacy.” I smiled — being well heeled in science, applauding him.

But, it was my experience of being “socially distant “ or down, out, and quarantined in Mill Valley, CA these past three weeks that brought Riley’s words back to me. It is very different to be quarantined in Mill Valley rather being so on the Southside or the Westside of Chicago’s Black or Spanish speaking community. Despite my being Black, my safety in the hood of my current seaside Northern California hometown, is rarely in question. Well, there is the occasional a Coyote looking for food, a mean wild turkey, or an encroaching wild fire. That’s not to say that racism is not endemic in this, my current town, its just the apparent economic privilege mutes its overt manifestations.

So, fill out your census. Because, when you don’t have many resources and support systems, shades of gray and brown quickly go to stark contrast of Black and White. There is no doubt in those situations that being Black or White has something more to do with Green and Gold than ones personal struggles with their identity. Fill out your household’s census online because it is the only way your elected officials can attempt to apportion resources to diminish the harm of both racism and rank capitalism during the current pandemic threat. Fill out the 2020 US Census as an act of love in the time of the CoVID19 pandemic.