July 9, 2001
Ethnicity information at the Lab
In his June 28 letter to the Newsbulletin Chuck Montaño states, in part, "The Lab refuses to release ethnicity information on individuals ..." This is simply not true. I know from my own personal experience that ethnicity information does get released when it suits the Lab's own interest to do so. Back in the 1980s when I filled out and submitted the Lab's questionnaire on personal information, I did so with the understanding that the information I was supplying would be held in the strictest of confidence. That turned out not to be the case.
When I came to the questionnaire's section on ethnicity, I added and checked an additional box which I labeled "other." The next time the questionnaire came around it had me pigeonholed as "Caucasian." That time I added and checked a box labeled "none of the above" and sent it in. Again, I showed up as Caucasian on the following iteration of the questionnaire. So I finally checked off "African-American" in honor of a great-great grandmother of mine who was a mulatto woman ... that being the only "ethnicity" that I possess.
I don't really know whether or not that ancestor of mine actually had any African-American blood in her, as she could have been Andamanese or Melanesian, but the questionnaire didn't include a more appropriate choice so African-American was my best option. What I do know is that shortly thereafter I began receiving mailings from then African-American [Diversity Working Group] chairperson Betty Harris, inviting me to partake in one or another social function involving African-American employees at the Laboratory. And I have since received a nicely produced publication from the Lab's Diversity Office that actually lists my name as a bona fide African-American Laboratory employee.
So please be advised to not harbor any misconceptions that the Lab actually lives up to its promise of confidentiality; doing so will only lead to your personal disappointment.
--Robert R. Critchfield