追踪联邦意见征集档案的倡导者表示，一场关于2030年人口普查是否应停止询问种族和族裔问题的争论已吸引了超过10万条公众意见。
A fight over whether the 2030 Census should stop asking about race and ethnicity has drawn more than 100,000 public comments, according to advocates tracking the federal docket. Why it matters:
为什么重要：正值美国种族日益多元化之际，这一改变可能会削弱美国最完整的种族全景——这些数据被用于民权执法和选区重划。
The change could weaken the nation's most complete snapshot of race — data used in civil rights enforcement and redistricting — just as America grows more multiracial. Catch up quick:
快速回顾：人口普查局在9月提议，在每十年一次的人口普查中停止询问美国人的种族和族裔。
The Census Bureau proposed in September to stop asking Americans about their race and ethnicity on the once-a-decade census.
- 人口普查局表示，更简短的表格可以鼓励更多人回复，同时更多地利用现有政府记录将减少询问某些问题的必要性。
• The Census Bureau says a shorter form could encourage more people to respond, while greater use of existing government records would reduce the need to ask certain questions.
- 该提议不会终结联邦种族数据：人口普查局可以从政府记录和其他来源获取人口统计数据，并在美国社区调查（ACS）和其他调查中询问种族和族裔。
• The proposal wouldn't end federal race data: Census could obtain demographic data from government records and other sources and ask about race and ethnicity on the American Community Survey (ACS) and other surveys.
- 但民权倡导者表示，这将赋予联邦政府更多权力来决定人们的种族和族裔，而不是由受访者自己决定，从而导致数据不准确。
• But civil rights advocates say that would give the federal government more power to determine people's race and ethnicity, rather than the respondents, leading to inaccurate data.
现状：人口普查局将意见征集截止日期从10月13日延长至11月2日。
State of play: Census extended the comment deadline from Oct. 13 to Nov. 2.
- 对截至10月16日已发布的52,424条意见的一项外部分析发现，86%的人反对整体提议，88%的人涉及取消种族和族裔问题。
• An outside analysis of 52,424 published comments through Oct. 16 found 86% opposed the overall proposal, while 88% addressed removing race and ethnicity questions.
- 本周，一份引用Regulations.gov的倡导警报称，该档案的提交量已突破10万条。
• This week, an advocacy alert citing Regulations.gov said the docket had topped 108,000 submissions.
- 这些意见不应被视为调查或民调，但它们表明，那些有强烈意愿发表意见的人倾向于持反对态度。
• These comments are not meant to be treated like a survey or poll, but show that people who feel strongly enough to comment tend to be opposed.
各方言论：北卡罗来纳州计数联盟执行主任斯泰西·卡尔利斯表示：“如果你曾为政治地图而战，或者解释过为什么种族或数据很重要……至关重要的是，你要告诉人口普查局，失去这些信息对你的工作和社区意味着什么。”
What they're saying: "If you've ever fought for political maps or explained why race or data matters...it is vital that you tell the Census Bureau what losing that information is going to mean to your work and to your community," said NC Counts Coalition executive director Stacey Carless.
宏观背景：自1790年以来的历次十年一次人口普查中，种族都以某种形式出现过，但美国人的自我认同方式已经发生了巨大变化。
The big picture: Race has appeared in some form in every decennial census since 1790, but how Americans identify themselves has changed dramatically.
- 报告两个或多个种族的美国人数量从2010年的900万（占2.9%）上升到2020年的3380万（占10.2%）。
• The number of Americans reporting two or more races rose from 9 million, or 2.9%, in 2010 to 33.8 million, or 10.2%, in 2020.
- 人口普查局表示，除了人口结构的变化外，问题设计、编码和处理方面的改进也占了这一增长的很大一部分。
• Census says improvements in question design, coding and processing accounted for a substantial share of that increase, along with demographic change. The bottom line:
核心底线：人口普查局尚未解释如何在不要求美国人自我识别的情况下产生详细的种族人口统计数据。
The Census Bureau hasn't explained how it would produce detailed racial population counts without asking Americans to identify themselves.
- 该机构在使用行政数据时，已经结合了来自政府和其他记录的信息来确定人们的种族和族裔。
• The agency already combines information from government and other records to determine people's race and ethnicity when working with administrative data.
- 但其提议并未说明该系统是否会取代2030年人口普查中人们自己的回答。
• But its proposal doesn't say whether that system would replace people's own answers in the 2030 Census.