If the TN Legislature wanted to do some good

[The Rabbi]

This is a topic that has been eating at me for a while. While not strictly gun related (OK, not related at all) it is important.

I have a guest from Germany staying with me for sometime. In the course of things I have had to fill out various forms, etc. He was intrigued by the idea that the gov't here asks what your race is (the last time this happened was when I got a library card). In Germany it is illegal for the govt to ask for this information.
I thought: that makes perfect sense. What darn business is it of anybody's what race I am? And if I said "African American" what can anyone say to prove I am not African American? How do you define such a thing?
So my proposal is that Tennessee should be the first state (CA tried this and the measure failed) to ban asking for racial information on all gov't forms.

[enfield]

Have you tried simply not giving the information? I've never answered any nosy census questions and I'm still walking around free.

I agree that the race question is useless. "Race" doesn't denote skin color, eye color, height or weight, so it's useless for identification purposes. Most likely they're either (1) mindlessly gathering info they'll never use, because it's the way it's always been done or, (2) gathering info they can use to discriminate against someone.

[The Rabbi]

I regulalrly do not fill out those forms. That isnt enough. I am talking about an actual movement to enact legislation forbidding asking these questions.

The resistence comes, as you noted, from people with an entrenched interest in perpetuating racial conflict as a means to get more funding. They mask this as an attempt to right wrongs or something. In fact it makes any problem worse.