Copy the message below and paste it on the OMB site by clicking the button below, messages must be received by the OMB by 4/27:

I am writing with regard to initial proposals to revise OMB’s statistical standards for collecting and reporting race and ethnicity across federal agencies developed by an Interagency Technical Working Group. As you know, the initial proposals include combining Hispanic ethnicity and race into one question.

It is my belief that this will contribute to undercounts in the AfroLatino/a community. Imagine ten to twenty years from now.  Imagine that most Hispanics will check the box and even write in a detailed origin (e.g., Puerto Rican, Mexican, Honduran, etc.), but nothing else about their race? Are we to assume that they all occupy the same racial status for civil rights enforcement? This potential change in our data infrastructure could have far-reaching, enduring and damaging consequences on our ability to document and eliminate anti-Blackness in Latino/a communities across a variety of policy domains, including voting rights, housing, employment, education and health care access.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.