Tootsie Tonasket Perplexed By Ethnic/Race Inquisition From The Government

Yesterday I heard from Tootsie Tonasket, aka Princess Thunder Rump of the Tonasket Tribe in Washington.

Tootsie was all perplexed due to a form sent home from her boy's grade school, wanting Tootsie to divulge the racial/ethnic identity of her boy.

A couple days ago I blogged about being perplexed about this very same subject, after I saw the questions being asked on the Federal 2010 Census.

Apparently the federal government is forcing these same type questions to be asked on the state level, via schools, regarding enrolled students.

At the top of the Inquisition form it says, "New federal requirements state that "Unknown" "Multiracial" and "Not Provided" are no longer valid responses to ethnicity or race identification questions. If parents, guardians, or students do not provide ethnicity and race information, districts are responsible for assigning categories based on observation or prior ethnicity and race data."

Next, the form says, "Please identify the ethnicity and race of the student by answering BOTH questions."

Question 1 asks, "Is your child of Hispanic or Latino origin?"

Question 2 asks, "What race(s) do you consider your child? (check all that apply)."

Why is this data being collected? And am I the only one who thinks it not only bizarre, but is sort of, well, I don't know, un-American? Not to mention seemingly racist?

I could see this sort of form being sent out had the Nazis won WWII, collecting this type information so they knew who to send to what Concentration Camp.

But this is America. The great melting pot. What possible valid reason does the government have to be asking such questions?

As for what perplexed Tootsie Tonasket. The form Tootsie received had a long list of Washington American Indian or Alaskan Native tribes to choose from to identify race, under the #2 Race Question. The Tonasket Tribe is not on the list. But the Jamestown Tribe is on the list. I've never heard of the Jamestown Tribe of Washington.

So, what is Tootsie to do? I guess check "Other Washington Indian."

But, how could the state disrespect the famous Tonasket Tribe like this? And since Tootsie's boy is not a full-blooded Tonasket Indian, how is she to properly identify him? It's all very perplexing to poor ol' long suffering Tootsie. She's always afraid she's going to get in trouble for something. And so now she's afraid the feds will be after her for not properly revealing the ethnic/race identity of her boy.

I can't help but wonder, did Hitler and the Nazi thugs send out forms like this to help them identify the Jews, Gypsies and others they wanted to do harm? The Nazis made the Jews and others wear Identity Patches. Is that is what is next?

I'm just as perplexed as Tootsie.