Changing how U.S. forms ask about race and ethnicity is complicated. Here's why

A complicated process of reviewing the federal government's standards for data about race and ethnicity has resurfaced a thorny conversation about how to categorize people's identities. (FotografiaBasica via Getty Images)

The first changes in more than a quarter-century to how the U.S. government can ask about your race and ethnicity may be coming to census forms and federal surveys.

And the Biden administration's revival of this long-awaited review of federal standards on racial and ethnic data has resurfaced a thorny conversation about how to categorize people's identities and the ever-shifting sociopolitical constructs that are race and ethnicity.