By Aaron Nicodemus, Standard-Times staff writer
NEW BEDFORD -- What does it mean to be Cape Verdean? It is a question that goes deeper than skin color, one that addresses culture, language, and a sense of attachment to a chain of faraway African islands.
But none of these things are measured in Census 2000. The census short form, sent to five out of six people, has no specific category for Cape Verdeans, and those who claim Cape Verdean ancestry are left to decide what census category they fit into.
Some chose black. Some chose white. Some chose a category called "other," and then write in Cape Verdean.
The result is a huge question of where the SouthCoast's large Cape Verdean population fits into the recently released census figures. Most argue that Cape Verdeans make up the lion's share of the census racial group "other," of which the census counted 8,915 people in New Bedford in Census 2000.
The long form, mailed to one in six households in America, asks for residents' ancestry. On this form the number of residents writing in Cape Verdean will be counted. This Long Form information will be made public in December.
Until then, much of the Cape Verdean population will remain hidden in the "other" race category.
"'Other' has no face," said Jose F. Ramos, of the Cape Verdean Cultural Conference. "If there was a category of 'Cape Verdean' on the census, the issue of black and white would go away."
He said the city of New Bedford could address the issue by having its own census, one in which Cape Verdean is listed as a racial group. "The city should care, because the city is the ultimate winner or loser of federal funds for servicing this community," he said.
Even within the Cape Verdean community, the issue of race can be problematic.
"I can always start an argument in my family with whether we're black or white," said Dorothy Lopes of New Bedford, whose mother was Portuguese and whose father was Cape Verdean. "Some people in the same family consider themselves different things. I have no problem saying I'm black, but some people in my own family have a problem with that."
Jack DeSousa of Dartmouth, playing a game of cards at the Bisca Tournament Club in the city's South Central neighborhood, said Cape Verdeans are "a combination of Europe and Africa. We're a mixed people. Whites, blacks, Creoles, all mixed together."
Part of this difficulty in classifying Cape Verdeans by race, according to Mr. Ramos, is that in Cape Verde, your skin color is not what defines you.
"It goes from blue eyes and blond hair to dark skin and curly hair," he said of Cape Verdeans in Cape Verde. "There, we talk about which island we are from, and which class. Skin color is not the issue. Here, it is."
But on the U.S. census short form, race is defined in terms of black and white -- and Hispanic, and Asian, and American Indian. Without a specific category of "Cape Verdean," a significant and large population in the SouthCoast is spread among various racial classifications. Some Cape Verdeans, like Mr. DeSousa and Ms. Lopes, define themselves as black. Others check "Other" and write in Cape Verdean. And some Cape Verdeans classify themselves as white.
Mr. Ramos said the lack of a distinct category might have dissuaded some Cape Verdeans from filling out the census form, as their race was not listed. The cultural conference made every effort, through radio advertisements and visits to social events, to encourage Cape Verdeans to fill out the census despite the lack of a Cape Verdean category.
"They've never accepted Cape Verdean as a nationality," said Bernadino "Butch" Silva of New Bedford. "We've been fighting for that right for years. We've petitioned for it. But we still don't have it on the census."
The counting of Cape Verdeans has meaning beyond New Bedford. Other SouthCoast communities with a significant number of residents classifying themselves as "other" in Census 2000 were Wareham (5 percent), Dartmouth (5 percent) and Fall River (1 percent). Arguably, many of those "other" are Cape Verdean.
The census counted only 92 residents in Freetown under the "other" category, which is odd because the town has a long-established Cape Verdean community. But then again, many in Freetown wonder how they lost 50 residents over the past decade.
Adonis Ferreira is the cultural affairs coordinator for the city's Department of Human Services. He says the city has never been able to accurately tally the city's Cape Verdean population. "It all depends on how people choose to self-identify," he said. "It's not classified as a race, it's an ethnicity." He says some in the Cape Verdean community estimate that 12 to 15 percent of the city's population is Cape Verdean. But those numbers are not reflected in the census. "The population is kind of left out," he said.
What is the importance of getting an accurate count of Cape Verdeans living in New Bedford? Mr. Ferreira said some state and federal funding depends on minority counts, and knowing the size of the Cape Verdean population might help the city obtain such funding. "It's also important just so we have a good idea of what our city looks like," he said. "Knowing the size of our Cape Verdean population helps to create an identity, helps to promote those ties between the city and the Cape Verdean islands."
Mr. Ferreira is working with the city's Office for Equal Opportunity to create a city census that would get an accurate count of the city's Cape Verdean population.
But the national census, with its insistence on categorizing people in distinct racial categories, rubs some Cape Verdeans the wrong way. "A lot of people will say, 'You will not name me, I will identify myself and no one else will," said Ms. Lopes. "As far as the census goes, Cape Verdeans are going to be wherever they want to be. This question of race, it's a perception that people have of one race being better than another. If you ask me, maybe the census should just count 'the human race,' and leave it at that."
Posted: Tue 31 May 2005 23:13 Post subject: Cape Verdeans
I note tht those black-identified folks who say that being mistaken for black by strangers is reason enough to change one's identity, don't dare to say that to Latinos and Arabs. The latter two groups have looks just as varied as those of the Cape Verdeans.
Posted: Thu 02 Jun 2005 23:38 Post subject: Cape Verdeans and the Census (articles)
Per G-Man's post -- Aaron Nicodemus, Standard-Times staff writer, interviewing Freetown, Conn., Cape Verdeans wrote:
But the national census, with its insistence on categorizing people in distinct racial categories, rubs some Cape Verdeans the wrong way. "A lot of people will say, 'You will not name me, I will identify myself and no one else will," said Ms. Lopes. "As far as the census goes, Cape Verdeans are going to be wherever they want to be. This question of race, it's a perception that people have of one race being better than another. If you ask me, maybe the census should just count 'the human race,' and leave it at that."
I couldn't agree more with this Ms. Lopes. The "races" were named for the purpose of making them "different" (i.e., unlike, unequal) so that one can be perceived "being better than another."
Conversely, the benefit of reducing the dismal "race count" to one human race is this banishment of mystical "group difference."
If Civil Rights grievance hustlers were serious about racial equality they would work night and day to banish mystical "different races." One human race plainly does it. But instead, they do the opposite. What does this tell us?
George
Joined: 27 Nov 2004 {Posts: 46 } Location: Soon to be in Europe
Posted: Fri 03 Jun 2005 15:17 Post subject:
Some thoughts......................
Try this for ironies: trailer park "whites" who actually feel that they are part of a master group. College-educated, upper-middle "blacks" who actually feel that they are victims. The presence of the "black"/"white" schism guarantees this for the foreseeable future in the United States.
What a waste.....here we have people who are materially better off than 98% of the planet's population who feel, because of their "race", as though they are persecuted.
What a waste.......here we have people who should be questioning things like the refusal of Congress to raise the ridiculously low minimum wage who feel that, because of their "race", they are somehow "in charge of America".
I'll let the reader guess which of these above groups of geniuses are "white" and which of them ar "black".
Cape Verdeans certainly have their work cut out for them: they have a choice of joining one of the above two groups. Insofar as George's portrayal of the "race" huslters as, well, "race" huslters.......
I always hark back to Frederick Forsyth's, Odessa File. In the book, Forsyth describes Nazi SS guards, fearful of having to actually DO something (like fight), instead devoting themselves to herding miserable, starving groups of Jewish prisoners across the countryside (as part of their "official duties"). As in the case of the SS, "race" hustlers have "perfectly good reasons" ("racial" justice) for continuing to herd "race" consciousness before the North American people.
Charles Byrd long ago had suggested the concept of helping people because of economic need. Period. Somehow this does not square greatly with "race" hustling.
Lastly, I believe that North Americans (and perhaps people in general) do not attach as much disgust to "racism" and/or "race"-based antipathy as is necessary. Since I have been 21 years of age, I have always looked at it as on the same level as marrying one's sister or female infanticide: things that the human race should have outgrown years ago.
Joined: 16 Jun 2005 {Posts: 110 } Location: chicago
Posted: Fri 08 Jul 2005 17:24 Post subject:
I'm from Boston, MA there is a large Cape Verdean community. they are mixed with black/white just like us. people always assume I'm cape verdean we look the same ..I dated a cape Verdean and she had white skin with long straight brown hair. when I first met her I thought she was puerto rican.. it's hard to tell who's american,cape verdean latino etc.. we are all one in the same, just from different parts of the world.
I know most people here are advocates of Multiracialism or Mulattoism (i'm sure neither is probably a real word), however I dont see what the problem is.
Why is everyone shocked that Cape Verdeans are choosing different racial categories in America? Didn't they also do this in their home country? Why exactly would anybody be shocked to go to another country and find people of different "races"?
Joined: 19 Jun 2005 {Posts: 49 } Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posted: Fri 08 Jul 2005 21:02 Post subject:
girlfromthenc wrote:
I know most people here are advocates of Multiracialism or Mulattoism (i'm sure neither is probably a real word), however I dont see what the problem is.
Why is everyone shocked that Cape Verdeans are choosing different racial categories in America? Didn't they also do this in their home country? Why exactly would anybody be shocked to go to another country and find people of different "races"?
As long as the United States is buried in a quagmire of racial classification that drives socioeconomic depression, the affinitive desires of all who seek a vertical identity will be squelched by the unbridled ignorance of their oppressors.
I know most people here are advocates of Multiracialism or Mulattoism (i'm sure neither is probably a real word), however I dont see what the problem is.
Why is everyone shocked that Cape Verdeans are choosing different racial categories in America? Didn't they also do this in their home country? Why exactly would anybody be shocked to go to another country and find people of different "races"?
As the articles suggest, the bulk of these people are not from Cape Verde, but are Cape Verdean Americans, many of whom have roots in this country that go back at least two generations.
The category that some members in the Cape Verdean community want is a seperate Cape Verdean category. In other words an ethnic category that distinguishes those who wish to be from African Americans, whites and Hispanics.
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