I thought I had seen it all—until today. I was looking at a customer form for a company online. They were genuinely concerned about pronouns to be used on government and private racial and ethnic form. There it was—MULTI-HYPHENATED person. Is this yet another new term for multiracial?

The government is very concerned with appropriate language for different groups now, especially since President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris took office. Harris is Black and South Asian, and she prefers to identify as such, instead of biracial or multiracial. We have written several times to Harris because we need specific language for people who choose to use it. We completely understand that Harris uses Black primarily for political reasons, but what about the rest of us?

The Census Bureau refers to us as “two or more races.” They allow us to check more than one race, but not to use the language preferred by our own community—biracial or multiracial. We have written to President Biden about the problem with no reply. We can only be successful if we let Washington know how we feel.