Imagine the U.S. without race.

If you find this difficult, it may be because of the significance race has played in America’s history.

Race remains relevant in modern society via the census. Every 10 years, the U.S. census releases statistics reporting on the racial identifications of Americans. For many, identifying as a race on the census is a symbol of culture and pride.

Americans should stop using race to identify people, as race should no longer serve a purpose in the census. No matter how many changes are made, race will never be able to correctly label and identify the full spectrum of human diversity.

The concept of race was introduced to the U.S. by the census in 1790. The census is a method of population tracking legally mandated by the constitution and originally set to determine taxation and apportionment of congressional seats. The first census only identified three racial categories: free white people, all other free persons, and enslaved people.

Detailed representation was never considered during the first censuses. Enslaved people were counted as three-fifths of a person as part of a compromise reached between the free states and slave-holding states. Native Americans were not counted on a census until 1900.

In more recent times, the U.S. has attempted to use race as a more accurate measure of demographics. Despite many attempts at increasing inclusivity by adding and altering racial categories, race continues to be an incorrect form of categorization.

What makes racial identification ineffective are the overly broad terms used to describe large and diverse groups of people.

The two original identifications — white and Black — identify people solely based on skin color. Both identifications ignore more specific ethnic traits. For these reasons, racial categories have become problematic and confusing.

White identification in the U.S. is not limited to Americans of European descent. Arab Americans, Jewish Americans, Turkish Americans, Iranian Americans, Armenian Americans, and some Latin Americans fit in the white category.

These groups vary significantly in origin and ethnicity. Despite being labeled white, many of the groups do not fit under the conventions and physical characteristics that are associated with whiteness.

Black identification is equally confusing. Generational separation caused enslaved Afro-Americans to lose touch with their cultures in West Africa, thus creating a subculture within the Black race.

These Black Americans differ greatly from the recent immigrant populations arriving from Africa, the Caribbean, and other parts of the world. Africa is the most genetically diverse continent, yet the multitude of genetically and culturally diverse ethnic groups are all placed under the label Black.

More recent additions to the census have added more confusion, such as the label Asian.

The Asian identification encompasses all people originating from Asia, the largest and most populated continent home to an entire subcontinent. This identification allows people who differ in every trait imaginable to check the same box. Even some of the groups identified as white are from the Asian continent.

With all the complexities that come from racial identification, it is time that we recognize race as ineffective and incorrect human categorization.

We should focus on ethno-cultural traits that people inherit and bring to the melting pot.