Refusing to state a race made marriage legally impossible in Virginia.

Evidence

When the couple asked if there was a way to apply without identifying a race, they were told that their only option was to select “Other.” “I didn’t want to pick ‘Other,’ ” Ramkishun would recall. “I’ve been having to pick ‘Other’ all my life. None of it defines who I am.” Because she and her fiancé refused to click on a race category, the computer system couldn’t process their license application. They could not get married without specifying their race. — Nikole Hannah-Jones et al., The 1619 Project, 195

Categorization

• QUESTION: Ramkishun’s ‘None of it defines who I am’ — worth chasing how multiracial and diaspora individuals experience bureaucratic racial categories as misrecognition.
• SHARE: Would interest anyone working on forms design or civic tech — ‘Other’ as a coerced identity category with legal consequences.