Book Forum 

# *Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America*

Published By Bombardier Books • 2022 

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Date and Time 

September 7, 2022 12 - 1:30 PM EDT 

Location 

Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 

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##### Featuring 

[![Media Name: bernstein.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/authors/crops/bernstein.jpg?itok=HXLynNcV)](/people/david-bernstein) 

[David E. Bernstein](/people/david-bernstein)

Adjunct Scholar, Cato Institute; Professor of Law, George Mason University Scalia School of Law

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](https://twitter.com/ProfDBernstein) 

![jane-coaston.jpg](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2022-08/jane-coaston.jpg?itok=3ilwb8m0) 

Jane Coaston 

Host, *The Argument*, *New York Times*

[ 

](https://twitter.com/janecoaston) 

![Robert Cottrol portrait](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2022-08/robert-cottrol.jpeg?itok=7o8EZsF8) 

Robert Cottrol 

Professor of Law, George Washington University Law School

[![Walter Olson](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/author_picture/public/2021-01/Walter%20Olson.jpg?itok=yhYxyT_7)](/people/walter-olson) 

[Walter Olson](/people/walter-olson)

Senior Fellow, Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies, Cato Institute

[ 

](mailto:wolson@cato.org) 

Racial classification is ubiquitous in American life. Job applications, university admissions, government contracts, and much more involve checking a box stating whether one is black, white, Asian, Hispanic, or Native American.

David Bernstein has written a surprising and revealing book on how these classifications came about, with the federal government playing a leading role. It asks:

- Should Pakistani, Chinese, and Filipino Americans be in the same category despite obvious differences in culture, appearance, religion, and more?
- Why does the government not allow Americans to classify themselves as biracial or multiracial?
- How did a dark-complexioned, burka-wearing Muslim Yemeni come to be classified as generically white while a blond-haired, blue-eyed newcomer is classified as minority if arriving from a country where Spanish is spoken?
- Why does the government require biomedical researchers to classify study participants by official racial categories that have no scientific basis?

Bernstein’s provocative book ends with a call for a separation of race and state. Commenting will be Jane Coaston, host of the *New York Times*’s podcast *The Argument*, and Prof. Robert Cottrol, a scholar of race and legal history at George Washington University Law School.

### Schedule

12:00 - 12:20 PM 

**Registration and Luncheon**

12:20 - 1:30 PM 

**Program**

![Classified Book Cover](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/promo_block_book_cover_1x/public/2022-08/classified-cover.jpeg?itok=JLDq09Fs) 

##### Featured Book 

### *[Classified: The Untold Story of Racial Classification in America](https://www.amazon.com/Classified-Untold-Racial-Classification-America/dp/1637581734/?tagc=catoinstitue-20)*

In an increasingly diverse society with high rates of intergroup marriage, the American system of racial classification is getting even more arbitrary and absurd. With rising ethno-nationalism threatening democracy around the world, it’s also dangerous. *Classified* argues that the time has come to consider abolishing official racial classification and replace it with the separation of race and state.

[Purchase Book](https://www.amazon.com/Classified-Untold-Racial-Classification-America/dp/1637581734/?tagc=catoinstitue-20) 

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