US mulls asking Black Americans in census if they are descendants of enslaved people: report

The United States is considering asking Black respondents the census if they are descendants of enslaved Americans, The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday. 

The Journal reported that the Biden administration is looking into how to differentiate Black descendants of enslaved people in the U.S. from those who families immigrated to the country more recently from sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean or other nations. 

Some Black Americans have argued that society views their experiences as the same as Black immigrants, who began more significantly moving to the U.S. in the past few decades, according to the Journal. 

The administration has also previously proposed combining questions about race and ethnicity and creating a category for people of North African or Middle Eastern origin. 

The Journal reported that the Office of Management and Budget is taking the lead on the potential change in how Black Americans identify themselves, and that the office declined to comment on its report. 

Some of the possible terms that have been discussed for Black individuals who are descendants of slavery are “American Descendants of Slavery,” “American Freedmen” and “Foundational Black Americans.” 

California became the first state in the country to require its agencies to allow employees to be able to mark that they are descendants of the formerly enslaved when employee data is collected. 

The consideration comes as the possibility of providing reparations to the descendants of enslaved people has moved into the national conversation in recent years. Some studies have found that Black individuals as a whole have less household wealth than white people in part as a lasting legacy of slavery. 

Racial justice groups urged President Biden to form a federal commission to study reparations for Black Americans last year.