Pretty Soon We'll Just Need Two Boxes on the Census Form

According to a new study from the Pew Research Center, 14% of new marriages in the U.S. are interracial or interethnic. And the intermarriage rates are increasing, more than doubling from 1980 (6.7%) to 2008 (14.6%).

At the family level, 35% of all adults say they have an immediate family member or close relative who is married to someone of a different race. Again, increasing intermarriage is the trend with 26% of those ages 50 and over saying this and 41% of those under age 50 saying this.

This comes as no surprise to me, as noted here 16 months ago. I think this means that soon we will just need two boxes on the U.S. census form:

__ American
__ Not American

And don't be telling me it's Un-American to suggest such a thing. I'm ready to dispense with these old labels. But I'll give you ten years to get used to the idea, in time for the next census.