Dear Mr. Ramirez and Ms. Shin:

Attached is our letter requesting coding  of census data for Descendants of Africans Enslaved in the United States

It is our understanding that there is an on-going process for evaluating how people identify themselves to make the census as accurate as possible, reflecting how people self-identify. 

We appreciate that since, over the last 30 years, there has been recognition of the ethnic identity of descendants of Africans enslaved in the United States.  

We look forward to not only working with you to capture more accurate information for the 2020 census but also to working with OMB to have an ethnic category for descendants of Africans enslaved in the United States added to the guidelines on collecting racial and ethnic data.

Again, Thank you for all your work and effort in this area.