Data scarcity is the principal barrier to anti-racism policy in Latin America

Evidence

The main barrier to development of strategies and policies designed to combat racial discrimination against nonwhite Latin Americans is the absence of information on these groups. Indeed data are lacking in several domains. Most significant is the deficiency of upto-date official statistics regarding the demographic and socioeconomic situations of racial and ethnic groups in most Latin American countries… The lack of official information is exacerbated by the inadequacy and scarcity of academic research on the contemporary situation of black populations in Latin America. — David Theo Goldberg, John Solomos, A Companion to Racial and Ethnic Studies, 3604

Categorization

• QUESTION: The absence of official statistics on race is itself a form of institutional white supremacy — worth interrogating who benefits from this data void and why it has persisted.