It could have been 'historic teaching moment,' writes Gregory Rodriguez
(NEWSER) - When Barack Obama sat down to fill out his census form, he checked off one race: black. And as one of the most famous mixed-race people in the world, "he missed an opportunity," writes Gregory Rodriguez for the Los Angeles Times . In the 20th century, the idea of racial purity seeped into our legal system, with some states passing laws "codifying the 'one-drop rule,' which held that anyone with the slightest hint of African ancestry would be considered black." We've come a long way, and beginning in 2000, the Census Bureau adopted a "check-all-races-that-apply" approach. And many are doing so. More»