Every 10 years the United States government undertakes the arduous task of counting every man, woman and child, and local leaders want to ensure that everyone does in fact get counted.
But for some, the Census 2010 count is more than just about the local allocation of federal funds and the redistricting of congressional lines for representation in Congress. Some immigrant groups want to see their place of origin listed on the Census 2010 and future census forms to get a more accurate count of just how many of their compatriots live in the United States.
“We don’t have any numbers for our community,” said Felicia Persaud, the founder of CaribID2010, a Jackson Heights organization whose objective is to have the Census Bureau add a Caribbean American and/or West Indian category to the decennial Census forms. “When it comes to business we just don’t show up on the radar. We don’t have the numbers to substantiate our reality.”
Persaud’s aim, to have Caribbean nationals counted so that their spending power and voting patterns can be measured, took a step forward with the introduction of a bill on April 24 by Caribbean American Congressmember, Yvette D. Clarke of New York’s 11th Congressional District. Persaud said the Congressmember understood the inclusion of the category wouldn’t happen for the Census 2010 form but that “she’s trying to create momentum in the community so that they can respond to the form because they don’t see themselves on the form.”
“We feel that it’s a start. We feel it’s an opportunity to get the word out to the community,” Persaud said. “We needed to start the legislative battle now because we know it takes that long for it to happen.”
According to officials at the Census Bureau, currently ethnic groups that seek classification will not be able to get a specific category for the Census 2010 because the contents of the 10 question form have been finalized. They would need to lobby the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), which sets up the racial and ethnic classifications used by government agencies, and work towards the 2020 census.
However, officials said that groups can write in their racial or ethnic identification in the Census 2010 form – the shortest form in the history of the census since 1790 – because the American Community Survey (ACS), a long form survey that will be mailed to 250,000 different households every month for the next 10 years, will have a section about ethnic ancestry.
“The ACS will be collected every month and will have more timely information. The decision makers will still use it for the same purpose as the census,” said Stephen Buckner, a spokesperson for the 2010 Census. “It’s a moving picture of America instead of a once-a-decade snapshot. It’s a dramatic improvement in the way we gather statistics.”
Buckner acknowledged that many people are unaware that they might get two forms, the Census 2010 short form and the ACS long form. He said that the Census Bureau will include this information in the introductory letter mailed to the approximately 130 million households that will get the Census 2010 form in March 2010 for the April 1, 2010 deadline.
In the meantime, CaribID2010 has begun to tell people to write in their country of origin in question eight, which asks about Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin. She said that in the past people of Caribbean/West Indian descent would check African American or Asian American but “both these groups don’t think we matter.”
“It’s been years of frustration as a person in media, as a person who runs her own business to justify the numbers,” said Persaud. “It makes you feel like you don’t exist in this country. Our votes are dismissed. Our spending is dismissed. People thin we just show up for carnival and then after carnival we just go home.”
