Obama lists self as African-American

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WASHINGTON, April 2 (UPI) -- U.S. President Barack Obama listed himself as an African-American on the 2010 Census questionnaire, a White House spokesman said Friday.

Obama, the son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas, had the option of checking white, both black and white, or "some other race," but chose the category "Black, African Am., or Negro," The New York Times reported.

His Census choice mirrors statements he made in 2008 while running for president when he said he felt African-American was the most appropriate description of his racial make-up.

"For me, the term African-American really does fit," he said. "I'm African, I trace half of my heritage to Africa directly, and I'm American."

The U.S. Constitution requires a head count of every person living in the United States every 10 years. Any household that doesn't send back its census form by mail will be visited by a census taker starting in May.