Alan Jenkins

The use of racial categories should not be abolished, contends Alan Jenkins in the following viewpoint. He maintains that racial data collection provides the tools necessary to identify racial bias when it occurs. Racial statistics have, for example, helped to uncover patterns of discrimination in housing, employment, law enforcement, and health care. Civil rights laws would be impossible to enforce without accurate racial data, Jenkins points out. Moreover, America would not be able to track its progress in conquering racial discrimination without reliable information about the opportunities that are available to different racial groups. Jenkins, a former Justice Department attorney, is a program officer for Human Rights and International Cooperation at the Ford Foundation.

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1. According to studies cited by the author, how often do Latinos and...