“Ongoing Erasure of AfroLatinos in Federal Education Data: Implications of OMB Directives & DOE Guidelines”

• In Event: Visualizing AfroLatinos/Black Latinos in Education Research: Illuminating Complex Inequities for Policy and Practice

Abstract

1. Objectives or purposes: Following the 1997 Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Directive 15 and 2005 Equal Employment Commission (EEOC), Department of Education (DOE) guidance created a directive based on the 1997 and the EEOC that created erasure of AfroLatinos in the aggregate. With the 2024 revisions, we are poised to see this erasure magnified. This paper connects the federal and state levels of institutional education data collection with a focus on the implications for education research. 2. Perspective(s) or theoretical framework:Drawing on Critical Race Theory, specifically Charles Mills’ (1997) inverted epistemologies, Omi and Winant’s (2015) racial project, Bashi’s (2013) ethnic project, Chávez Moreno (2023), and Hernandez’s (2022) Racial Innocence and Ayala’s (2023) work, we engage in excavating the ontologies and epistemologies that contribute to AfroLatino erasure. 3. Methods, techniques, or modes of inquiry: We employ a mixed methods approach that examines the guidance and directives at the OMB, EEOC and DOE. 4. Data sources, evidence, objects, or materials: We use archival data from the National Archives on the evolution of race and ethnicity concepts from the 1960s to the present in federal agencies. We also explore secondary data from the Census Bureau (e.g., American Community Survey, Decennial Census). 5. Results and/or substantiated conclusions or warrants for arguments/point of view: We find that initial directives and arguments about cost and burden to federal agencies through the Paperwork Reduction Act can be understood as a racist racial project and part of the racial contract. 6. Scientific or scholarly significance of the study or work: This study places racial formation and critical race theory into a productive discussion to illustrate how recently updated OMB 2024 guidelines will further entrench the erasure of AfroLatinos in education research (Irizarry, Cobb, Monk 2023).

Authors

• Yasmiyn Irizarry, University of Texas at Austin

• Joaquin Arguello, University of New Mexico