At th link you provide it is said:
Why Does Father’s Race Say African?
1. The U.S. has a Standard Birth Certificate form that they encourage states to use.
2. FWIW, I think constitutionally Feds probably can’t MAKE states use this,
As I said classifications in Hawaii did NOT conform with those of any other state because of the Asian, Japanese, Polynesian and native Hawaiian mixes. The father’s country could be used for classification if he was a race other than white!
“The father’s country could be used for classification if he was a race other than white!”
If “national origin” is interpreted to mean COUNTRY, I concur. But the quote you originally provided explicitly states:
“Classification of the child’s race or national origin for statistical purposes is based on the race or national origin of the parents. The categories are “White,” “Black,” “American Indian,” “Chinese,” “Japanese,” “Hawaiian,” “Filipino,” “Other Asian or Pacific Islander,” and “Other” races.”
The categories listed codify what was meant by national origin: e.g., Chinese, Japanese, Filipino. African was NOT listed as a possibility. As my old link suggested, AFRICAN does not answer the question of race OR color since Africa is a continent of many races and colors. “Negro” was the most straight-forward way of answering the question in 1961.
“It was not until the late 1960s that black (or Black) gained its present status as a self-chosen ethnonym with strong connotations of racial pride, replacing the then-current Negro among Blacks and non-Blacks alike with remarkable speed.” http://www.answers.com/topic/black