Facebook Twitter Email
MARCH 14, 2001

Curtis Zunigha, a half American Indian and half White man, told the Associated Press on Tuesday that he chose being an American Indian out of fear.

"In my efforts preceding the census, I kept telling people to put down 'American Indian,' even if you are mixed race like I am," said Zunigha, who feared that his tribe would lose federal funding if there was an undercount from choosing more than one race. For the first time last year, the Census allowed respondents to identify themselves as belonging to more than one race.

Zunigha is the current director of the Delaware Tribe's Housing Authority in Bartlesville, Oklahoma.

Get the Story:
Multirace minorities struggle with classifications (AP 3/14)