Race: No Place For Mankind

No Place For Mankind

Mahin Root's father is white; her mother is black. So when the 14-year-old girl tried to register this year as a junior at Page High School in Greensboro, N.C., she faced a problem: a form that asked her to specify her race. Instead of filling in the blank, she left the question unanswered. School officials politely suggested that she make a choice, since the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights requires all public school systems to submit racial data on their students. Mahin, who had attended private schools since moving to Greensboro in 1985, just as politely declined. She...

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