Alex Fryer, writing for The Seattle Times:
"Beginning today, state and local lawmakers are prohibited from using the term "Oriental" in statutes, codes, rules and regulations. Instead, officials must use "Asian" to describe people of Asian descent."
An even better idea would be to get government out of the business of classifying people by "race" altogether. Ward Connerly and the American Civil Rights Coalition recently qualified the Racial Privacy Initiative (RPI) for the March 2004 ballot in California. The RPI:
"bans the state from classifying people according to race, ethnicity, color or national origin. By helping California government stop obsessing about race, RPI will unite us to create a colorblind state for our children and grandchildren, one that is more respectful of the inherently private and complex nature of racial identity."
As a member of the steering committee and a vocal supporter of the RPI, I've issued the following statement: http://www.multiracial.com/abolitionist/word/landrith3.html. It's time to start the deconstruction of this oppressive scheme of classifying people by arbitrary and politically charged classifications. California is first in 2004. Success there will mean that we will move onto other states. Anyone wishing to endorse the RPI can do so at: http://www.acrc1.org.