[statecom] Report of the Racial Distribution of the General Population of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the 2008-2010 State Committee Session

[Jamie O'Keefe]

Report of the Racial Distribution of the General Population of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
For the 2008-2010 State Committee Session
Provided by James O'Keefe, Membership Director, Green-Rainbow Party

According to the GRP By-laws Section 8.5.3:

"By the end of March in every even year, the State Committee shall receive a
report of the racial distribution of the general population of the Commonwealth
of Massachusetts, including estimated percentages of uncounted individuals and
undercounted segments."

This document is that report.

This report is based on the U.S. Census Bureau's State and County
QuickFacts, 2006 estimate found at:

   http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/25000.html

It is likely that the U.S. Census Bureau's numbers are conservative
and may underestimate the percentages of uncounted individuals and
undercounted segments as specified in the GRP By-laws.  It likely
undercounts the percentage of the Massachusetts population who are
immigrants, a significant percentage of whom are people of color.

The U.S. Census Bureau's report does state that people of color
currently officially make up about 20% of the state's population.
This figure is up from 15.55% in 2000 and is broken down as such:

 4.8% Asian;
 6.9% Black/African American;
 7.9% Latino/a;
 0.3% Native American

Additionally, 1.3% reported two or more races.  80.0% of the official
Massachusetts population is non-Latino whites.

GRP By-laws Section 8.5.3 also states:

"The state committee shall take the figure, contained in this report, for the
percentage of the population that are people of color and add 5% to this amount.
The result of this addition shall be known as the diversity goal for
the purposes of
these bylaws. The value of the diversity goal for the year 2002 shall be 25%."

Based on these figures and our by-laws, the diversity goal for the
2008-2010 State Committee session should be 25%.