Or, at least the part counted in the latest Census.

In a story about the inappropriate and often ridiculous comments made about Olympian Gabby Douglas, CNN’s Erin Burnett mentioned that the last U.S. Census had an option under “Race” for people to check off “Some Other Race.”

Big deal, right? So what?

But here is where it gets interesting.

According to Burnett, the people who put the Census forms together considered removing that option.  They didn’t think many people would check it.

It was the third most often checked box in that section!

Third!

I suppose the mundane explanation for this is that we are a nation of such mixed heritage that a lot of people with, say, an Hispanic father and Asian mother check this box rather than choose one parent’s ethnicity over another’s.

I prefer to think of it as a long overdue rebellion against the things that separate us.

There’s a picture that’s been making the rounds on Facebook of a T-shirt with Census-type checkboxes.  It lists the usual:  Asian, White, African American,  Hispanic, Native American.  They’re all crossed out, and at the bottom, there’s a write-in candidate checked off:  Human!

I like to think that a lot of the people who checked “Some Other Race” on the Census this time around did so because they have realized all these labels just divide us.  They’re sick of it, and they’re checking “Some Other Race” because they identify as Human.

If somebody has come up with data that disproves Erin Burnett’s statement and my interpretation, don’t tell me.  This is one of those things that ought to be true.  If you can endorse Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy, you can let me have this one.