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Events • September 7, 2022 

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

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.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). 

##### 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

[ 

](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)