Highbrow Magazine - 2020 census https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/2020-census en Why Controversy Has Often Loomed Large in the History of the U.S. Census https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10696-why-controversy-has-often-loomed-large-history-us-census <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 06/17/2020 - 06:03</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1census.jpg?itok=mNh5o1KL"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1census.jpg?itok=mNh5o1KL" width="381" height="480" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>The 2020 U.S. Census is underway and in full swing. In the middle of March, right during the unfortunate uptick of the coronavirus pandemic, the U.S. Census Bureau began its efforts to conduct a headcount of all residents of the nation.</p> <p> </p> <p>Usually with a timeframe of approximately four months to allow people to respond to the questionnaire, the bureau has now <a href="https://2020census.gov/en/news-events/operational-adjustments-covid-19.html?cid=23764:census%20deadline:sem.ga:p:dm:en:&amp;utm_source=sem.ga&amp;utm_medium=p&amp;utm_campaign=dm:en&amp;utm_content=23764&amp;utm_term=census%20deadline" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">revised</a> its schedule to accommodate the ongoing health crisis, extending the response deadline as far back as October. This year also marks the first time that the population headcount will be based almost entirely online, so that respondents will be able to submit their answers through the internet rather than by mail, thus allowing for a reduction of the usual Census agents that would normally go door to door to update records or collect this vital information (although this ground force will still be strategically <a href="https://www.aarp.org/politics-society/government-elections/info-2020/census-coronavirus.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">deployed</a>, as necessary). This means that most of us don’t have an excuse not to respond to this year’s Census in one form or another, and the importance of doing so cannot be overstated.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Census is mandated by the U.S. Constitution, established by the Founding Fathers as an important facet of a working democracy. The first Census was conducted soon after the birth of the nation, when in 1790 federal Marshalls mounted their horses and fanned out throughout the newly formed United States of America to tally up its population (just short of 4 million people at the time, although George Washington and Thomas Jefferson apparently <a href="https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/overview/1790.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">doubted</a> the accuracy of this count and estimated the number of people to be much higher). Since that first mounted expedition, the federal government stages and launches its decennial population count, with many hiccups along the way and with questions that sometimes changed to reflect the panorama of the time.</p> <p> </p> <p>For example, the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/how-the-census-changed-america" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">1880</a> Census, in addition to the usual headcount, also requested information on the type of soil and terrain of the land, whether it was hilly and if the soil was alluvial or clay. Native Americans were not counted at all until 1870—what that really means is that there was no count at all for Native American peoples in U.S. territory for the first 100 years of the nation’s history.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2census.jpg" style="height:338px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>The word “Negro” was <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2013/02/25/172885551/no-more-negro-for-census-bureau-forms-and-surveys" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">dropped</a> from the race/ethnicity category beginning just with this most recent 2020 Census, after having been on the form since at least 1950 to accommodate an older cohort of African-Americans who self-identified as “Negro.” From 1920 to 1940, Asian-Indians were <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/02/25/the-changing-categories-the-u-s-has-used-to-measure-race" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">categorized</a> as “Hindus” regardless of their religion. And a 1902 <a href="https://www.archives.gov/research/census/native-americans/1885-1940.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">directive</a> instructed agents taking Census data from Native tribes to assign women and children the surname of the husband or father even though this is not the way many Native nations assign names, and to translate animal names to English but to avoid “foolish, cumbersome, or uncouth translations which would handicap a self-respecting person.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Yet, the worth and value of the Census is paramount. One of the most well-known uses of the Census is to establish the number of congressional seats in the U.S. House of Representatives. At its core, being a tally of persons living in the country, the Census serves as the official federal count for each state and district, thus determining how many representatives a state sends to Congress; to this day, the number of seats each state holds in the House depends entirely on Census results.</p> <p> </p> <p>But the Census has many other applications, and the data it provides is as rich as its history. To have an accurate population count is essential not only to determine the number of representatives sent to the lower house of Congress, but also for a myriad of other things that may not be readily apparent. For instance, Congress also uses population counts to determine federal grants, aid, and other government-provided funds to congressional districts. In other words, it helps determine how much federal money is given to states to help fund hospitals, schools, community colleges, etc.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Census can even be used to establish officially recognized Native American tribes. During the 1970s, for example, Census <a href="https://rewire.news/article/2019/12/09/paper-genocide-the-erasure-of-native-people-in-census-counts/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">counts</a> played a key role in establishing the sovereignty of the Mashpee Wampanoag tribe in Massachusetts, when they were asked to prove that they were a culturally unified people when the Census data proved inconclusive. At the time, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1978/01/07/archives/indians-lose-in-court-in-fight-to-gain-land-jury-says-mashpee-group.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">jury</a> found that the Mashpee were not really native, a decision that was eventually overturned in 2007, when the Mashpee were finally afforded the title of federally recognized tribe which, among other things, secured them with a land trust and native nation sovereignty. In 2018, the U.S. government <a href="https://www.courthousenews.com/native-tribe-could-lose-reservation-land-under-new-trump-administration-guideline/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">questioned</a> the tribe’s land trust by citing the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934,  and as recent as March of this year, the Trump administration informed the Mashpee people that the government would revoke the tribe’s reservation status (although a judge was not <a href="https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/05/20/youre-gonna-have-a-lot-trouble-judge-tra.asp" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">pleased</a> by this turn of events and the case is currently pending). And all this because of inaccurate Census data. </p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3census.jpg" style="height:412px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>This question of race, ethnicity, and origins has always been a thorny point throughout the history of the Census, least of all because its job is to basically identify any person who count as “people.” The <a href="https://userpages.umbc.edu/~bouton/History407/SlaveStats.htm" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">first</a> Census of 1790 counted a total of about 700,000 slaves in the U.S., or about 18 percent of the population. In the South alone, 34 percent of the Southern population were slaves. But by then, the Three-Fifths Compromise had been reached three years prior during the U.S. Constitutional Convention—the same convention that eventually led to the drafting of the Constitution—to appease the Northern states which argued that the high number of slaves would give Southern states unfair legislative control, and so that the Southern states, in turn, would not bemoan any taxes related to population count. And so that first Census asked each household only five things: number of white males 16 or older; number of white males under 16; number of white females; any other free peoples; and number of slaves. In fact, the same article of the Constitution that <a href="https://www.census.gov/history/pdf/Article_1_Section_2.pdf" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">establishes</a> the Census as law (Article I, Section 2, Clause 3), also establishes the three-fifths count of non-free persons. </p> <p> </p> <p>Meanwhile, the government’s first <a href="https://www.prb.org/us-census-and-hispanics/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">attempt</a> to count its Hispanic population came in 1930, when it added a “Mexican” category to that year’s Census. It was the first and only time that the Census included this question. It decided to drop it from future forms for many reasons, but also partly because the Mexican government itself complained about the bias of this question, given that the entire Southwest used to be part of Mexico and the United States had agreed to treat residents there as citizens.</p> <p> </p> <p>It must also be noted that Puerto Ricans had <a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/puerto-rico-history-and-heritage-13990189/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">received</a> U.S. citizenship in 1917, which meant that actual American citizens from Puerto Rico only had the option of choosing “Mexican” if they wanted to be categorized correctly as being of Hispanic origin. It wasn’t until 1970 when the Census included questions about ethnicity and place of origin again, now expanded to broader categories. This time around, this question still made a bit of a <a href="https://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2010/03/03/census-history-counting-hispanics-2/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">mess</a> but for different reasons. In an ironic flop, during this 1970 Census, hundreds of thousands of people living in the Southern and Central regions of the United States misidentified themselves as South or Central American in the ethnicity category. Interestingly enough, later research found that the total data reported by the Census was still about 500,000 less than the estimated number of Hispanic-Americans in the country, even though over 1 million of the responses collected had not come from actual Hispanic-Americans, but from those in the Central and Southern United States who had mistakenly self-identified. Before this, the government simply categorized the Hispanic population as <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2017/08/03/541142339/heres-why-the-census-started-counting-latinos-and-how-that-could-change-in-2020" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">white</a>.</p> <p> </p> <p>The need to properly categorize the subpopulations of the country is important beyond the simple desire of knowing our demographics. This is because different populations in any given part of the country have different needs, and an accurate count can help to ensure that the appropriate federal assistance is being given, or at least proportionally distributed to meet the necessities of a subpopulation. For example, Native American youth faces a higher rate of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6708a1.htm" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">suicide</a> and <a href="https://americanaddictioncenters.org/rehab-guide/addiction-statistics/native-americans" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">substance</a> abuse than any other racial or ethnic group in the U.S., and an accurate count of a reservation’s adolescents can help tribal leaders and Congress implement effective policies to combat this crisis, perhaps by funding mental health programs or providing substance abuse counseling and rehabilitation centers.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/4census.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Similarly, a correct Census count of persons who have English limited proficiency in a congressional district can even help <a href="https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census/about/voting-rights/voting-rights-determination-file.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">ensure</a> that there are enough interpreters and language assistance during elections and at voting sites, in an attempt to protect citizens’ right to vote and ensure that they are all given sufficient information to make informed decisions in a language they speak or understand.</p> <p> </p> <p>This is why minority leaders have urged the subpopulations of the country not to  discard the importance of the Census, encouraging them to take its completion seriously. Although this is easier said than done given that, especially in minority populations, there is a spread of misinformation about the Census and a general mistrust of the government. Mistrust is one of reasons the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/07/06/politics/census-citizenship-question-donald-trump-administration/index.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">citizenship</a> question had been such a point of contention when the Trump administration announced its plan to include it on this year’s Census. It was first posed as a way to help enforce the Voting Rights Act, under the guise that having a count of actual voting-age citizens would help the Department of Justice oversee any districts that may be tempted to disenfranchise minorities. (In a way, the Census does help enforce the Voting Rights Act—see above about language assistance at the voting booth).</p> <p> </p> <p>When that rationale failed to convince the courts given the administration’s history of overexaggerating voter-fraud conspiracies, the Trump White House then floated a myriad of other possible reasons for wanting to include the citizenship question on the Census, one of them being <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-census-redistricting-insight/republicans-want-census-data-on-citizenship-for-redistricting-idUSKCN1RK18D" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">districting</a> based on citizenship. Basically, the Census data would open the possibility of drawing congressional districts based on the population count of eligible voters.</p> <p> </p> <p>Experts were quick to criticize this strategy, noting that the drawing of districts based on voting-age citizens would be <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/30/us/census-citizenship-question-hofeller.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">advantageous</a> to Republicans and non-Hispanic whites. This is a conclusion that the GOP’s own master strategist Thomas Hofeller arrived at during his 2015 study of gerrymandering which, in a bonkers turn of events, we only know about because his estranged daughter found thumb drives with her father’s work after he died and provided them to Common Cause, which <a href="https://www.commoncause.org/page/read-the-gops-plan-to-supercharge-gerrymandering-with-a-census-citizenship-question/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">challenged</a> the citizenship question in federal court citing Hofeller’s own study. But alas, the Constitution may prohibit this anyway, as it calls for a democracy that represents all its people, including those who may not be able to cast a ballot as is the case for children, green-card holders, and some felons, for example.</p> <p> </p> <p>Activists also argued that inclusion of the citizenship question would discourage immigrants from responding to the Census. This is because while undocumented immigrants may not be drawn to taking the Census themselves, there are many immigrant household in which an undocumented alien may live. In other words, it would have discouraged documented immigrants and citizens alike to respond to the Census if an undocumented immigrant resides in their household, fearing retaliation from the government and immigration agencies.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/6census.jpg" style="height:473px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>And this fear is not unfounded. Census data is supposed to be completely confidential, and it is never to be shared with other government agencies, except as applicable and compartmentalized for official and legal purposes. But the Census Bureau was finally forced to admit that it had played a role in the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II.</p> <p> </p> <p>In 2000, after a study uncovered proof of the Census Bureau’s complicity, the agency recognized its participation and issued an <a href="https://www.census.gov/dmd/www/9-19.htm" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">apology</a>, in which then Census Bureau Director Kenneth Prewitt acknowledged that the bureau’s staff had proactively cooperated with internment efforts.</p> <p> </p> <p>Incidentally, Mr. Prewitt has been a vocal <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/07/06/739227590/former-census-director-citizenship-question-to-hurt-2020-accuracy" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">critic</a> of the citizenship question being included on this year’s Census based, in part, to this misuse of power back in the 1940s. A follow-up study in 2007 revealed that the bureau had provided microdata to the Secret Service, including individual Japanese-Americans’ names and addresses. There are some technicalities here; for example, the sharing of this information was <em>technically</em> made legal under the emergency provisions of the Second Powers Act of 1942. But its participation still contradicted the bureau’s own promises printed on their form:</p> <p> </p> <p>“Only sworn census employees will see your statements. Data collected will be used solely for preparing statistical information concerning the Nation’s population, resources, and business activities. Your Census Reports Cannot Be Used for Purposes of Taxation, Regulation, or Investigation.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Normal privacy protections have been reinstated, of course, and other restrictions have since been put in place. But it isn’t hard to understand why immigrants may have misgivings about sharing such personal information with a government agency, especially since these “protections” can easily be rescinded, say, by an executive order establishing a state of emergency (although one would hope that such an action would be challenged in the courts, just as the citizenship question was). </p> <p> </p> <p>Thankfully, there is no citizenship question on this year’s Census. Instead, the questions on the form are the <a href="https://2020census.gov/en/about-questions.html?cid=20007:%2Brespond%20%2Bcensus:sem.ga:p:dm:en:&amp;utm_source=sem.ga&amp;utm_medium=p&amp;utm_campaign=dm:en&amp;utm_content=20007&amp;utm_term=%2Brespond%20%2Bcensus" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">standard</a> fare in attempt to accurately identify the country’s demographics. There is also a myriad of ways in which to respond to the Census, including online, by mail, and even by phone, in 13 different languages. The Census is more than just a headcount; it is a vital tool that is used to create policies that directly affect all of us and to ensure that enough federal funding is allocated appropriately.</p> <p> </p> <p><em>For more information on how to respond to the 2020 Census, you can <a href="https://2020census.gov/en/ways-to-respond.html" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">visit</a> the Bureau’s official site. </em></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>Angelo Franco is</em> Highbrow Magazine’s <em>chief features writer.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>For Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Image Sources:</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--Coffee (<a href="https://pixabay.com/illustrations/word-cloud-census-population-data-3269304/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline">Pixabay</a>, Creative Commons)                 </em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--DonkeyHote (</em><a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/donkeyhotey/24208842140" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Flickr</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)                     </em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--Defense Department (</em><a href="https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/603726/face-of-defense-native-american-vietnam-vet-takes-spiritual-path/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Creative Commons</em></a><em>)</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--</em><u><em> </em></u><a href="https://www.flickr.com/people/fdrlibrary/" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>FDR Presidential Library</em></a><em> c/o: Dwight Hammack, U.S. Bureau of the Census</em><em>, </em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census#/media/File:1940_Census_-_Fairbanks,_Alaska.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikipedia.org</em></a><em>)</em></p> <p> </p> <p><em>--</em><u><em> </em></u><em> </em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._National_Archives_and_Records_Administration" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline" title="en:U.S. National Archives and Records Administration"><em>U.S. National Archives and Records Administration</em></a><em> (</em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Census#/media/File:Card_puncher_-_NARA_-_513295.jpg" style="color:#0563c1; text-decoration:underline"><em>Wikipedia.org</em></a><em>, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p> </p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-census-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the U.S. Census</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/thomas-hoffeler" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Thomas Hoffeler</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/census-bureau" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Census Bureau</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/hispanics" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hispanics</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-americans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">African Americans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/constitution" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">the constitution</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/immigrants" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">immigrants</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/citizenship" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">citizenship</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/trump-administration" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">trump administration</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-census" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2020 census</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Angelo Franco</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 17 Jun 2020 10:03:04 +0000 tara 9624 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10696-why-controversy-has-often-loomed-large-history-us-census#comments Native Americans in New York Fear Another Census Undercount https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10448-native-americans-new-york-fear-another-census-undercount <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Fri, 03/13/2020 - 07:07</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1nativescensus.jpg?itok=Hv37ltjN"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/1nativescensus.jpg?itok=Hv37ltjN" width="480" height="321" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p>The decennial Census is an exercise in counting every single resident of the United States of America, but the tragic irony of the process is that it routinely undercounts the very people who first called this continent home. Native Americans, who now make up about 1 percent of New York State’s population, worry that it may happen again this year, perpetuating the official apathy to their people that they have come to expect from the federal government.</p> <p> </p> <p>About 194,000 New Yorkers identify as American Indian or Alaska Native, according to U.S. Census population estimates as of July 1, 2019, although that number could very well be low given undercounting issues. More than half of that state population lives in New York City, comprising one of, if not the largest, urban Native American populations across the country.</p> <p> </p> <p>As with many other segments of the population, Native Americans are considered “hard-to-count” – a term used for those groups of people where the rate of initial self-response to the Census was below 73 percent in the 2010 Census. That status stems from various factors including income levels, geographical distribution, language diversity, and of course, their complicated relationship with the federal government.</p> <p> </p> <p>The 2020 count, which begins Thursday, March 12, will be additionally complicated by its heavy reliance on a digital questionnaire, which requires internet infrastructure that is not as readily available in rural parts of the state and on reservations. There are 10 American Indian territories in New York.</p> <p> </p> <p>There’s much at stake if there’s an undercount. Census data determines the redrawing of federal, state, and local electoral districts and the number of seats New York is allocated in the House of Representatives, and it forms the basis for the distributions of many billions of dollars in federal aid for everything from infrastructure projects to education and healthcare services. Inaccurate data could mean underfunding of programs for the most underserved populations, including food stamps and housing vouchers.</p> <p> </p> <p>In 2010, nationwide, American Indians and Alaska Natives living on reservations were undercounted by 4.9 percent; for those living outside of reservations, the statistical error was close to zero, according to U.S. Census Bureau <a href="https://www.census.gov/newsroom/releases/archives/2010_census/cb12-95.html">estimates from 2012</a>. But that overall undercount was far higher than for other populations. There was a 2.1 percent undercount of the black population and 1.5% for Hispanics, while non-Hispanic whites were overcounted by 0.8 percent, according to the Census Bureau.</p> <p> </p> <p>The Census Bureau has acknowledged the challenges of reaching Native Americans and has been working to ensure an accurate count. “With the Native American community, that's something we work on throughout the decade,” said Jeff Behler, director for the U.S. Census Bureau's New York Regional Office.</p> <p> </p> <p>Behler laid out the procedures necessary for better counting Native Americans, particularly those who live on tribal lands and reservations. “We always follow the protocol as defined by the tribe itself,” he said. Coordinating with tribal leadership, the bureau could choose several ways of conducting the Census including hand-delivering census questionnaires or sending an enumerator to go door-to-door, instead of mailing out questionnaires.</p> <p> </p> <p>The bureau also typically hires people who live on tribal land to act as enumerators that can personally reach and count the residents of the land. The bureau has also partnered with 1,500 specialists across the country who are direct representatives to communities, which includes tribal partnership specialists.</p> <p> </p> <p>As with efforts at the state and city level, the U.S. Census Bureau is focused on encouraging Native Americans to self-respond, which yields the most accurate data. For that, Behler said, the most important step has been educating and enlisting tribal leaders who can then spread the message to their people about the importance of filling out the Census and press tribal resources into that effort. For instance, the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe, located in Akwesasne by the border with Canada, will use a community center to help their members fill out the Census online, he said.</p> <p> </p> <p>“We have this saying that the Census is a national event, but in order to be successful, it has to be conducted at the local level,” Behler said. “We have to make this their Census, and we certainly understand we need their input in order to do that.”</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/2nativescensus.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>“When it's coming from that trusted voice, it penetrates so much deeper,” he added. “We certainly understand that the message can be the same, but it's the messenger that sometimes is the most important thing. The Census Bureau knows we are not necessarily the best messenger.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Tribal members seem to agree. “There has been, and there still is some apprehension amongst our own community members to participate in any type of processes that are external in nature, specifically those that come from the federal government, given our history and our relationship,” said Brendan White, communications director for the Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe and a member of its Census-focused Tribal Complete Count Committee, in an interview. The committee has been disseminating information about the Census through radio and print ads, signs, newsletters, and even distributing tote bags (after the state’s recent plastic bag ban went into effect) to try to drive home the message that filling out the Census is in the best interest of tribal members.</p> <p> </p> <p>“We are trying to dispel any myths that people have and to assure them that the information that's being collected by the Census Bureau is solely to count the population in the households that exist to ensure that we receive the federal funding that we need to meet the growing needs of our community,” he said. “One thing that is helping us in getting that message across is that we are ensuring that the federal government fulfills its fiduciary responsibility to Indian country...because we drive on these roads, we utilize healthcare services, we have kids who are going to college that need scholarships. And just like any other community, we have our own natural events that require an emergency response and a lot of our services are dependent on federal funding.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Much of the effort is driven by the tribe itself, with assistance from the Native American Rights Fund and the National Congress of American Indians, which launched its own <a href="http://www.ncai.org/initiatives/indian-country-counts">nationwide initiative</a>.</p> <p> </p> <p>New York State has yet to take any specific measures to conduct outreach among Native Americans. Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced a $70 million effort that includes $20 million in direct funding for community-based organizations and advocates that can reach hard-to-count populations. But while the state has been soliciting applications for that $20 million, it has yet to be released and it’s unclear if any groups that directly serve Native American populations will receive any funding.</p> <p> </p> <p>A spokesperson for the Department of State simply referred <em>Gotham Gazette</em> to Behler’s office for comment, while emphasizing that the state’s effort is directed at all New Yorkers that live in hard-to-count communities. Most of New York’s Indian territories are located in the western part of the state, with other territories in central and northern regions.</p> <p> </p> <p>New York City, on the other hand, has already awarded $19 million to community-based organizations conducting Census outreach, as part of a $40 million city effort to increase the count. Among those organizations is American Indian Community House, which received a $50,000 grant to do its work.</p> <p> </p> <p>Melissa Oakes, executive director of AICH, was disappointed, though. AICH has partnered with two other organizations to create a “consortium,” she said, to count Native Americans. The funding they received was half of what they sought. “That says a lot about how important our data matters, but that’s the reality of what we have to deal with,” she said.</p> <p> </p> <p>Oakes, who is Mohawk, said the U.S. Census Bureau seems to have a particular blind spot when it comes to Native Americans living in urban centers like New York City, where the population is spread out across the five boroughs. “We're the most underrepresented and underfunded, and it's almost like an erasure of urban Natives,” she said. “It's like, unless you're on the reservation, they don't want to deal with us. And I think it's irresponsible and neglectful.”</p> <p> </p> <p>AICH, which based in downtown Manhattan and represents members of 72 different tribes, is taking various steps to reach the city’s Native American population, adding a Census outreach element to cultural events. Through June, they are hosting bi-weekly “maker sessions,” workshops to draw New Yorkers with a native background to train them and others in producing native art. Attendees will be asked to fill out pledge cards saying they will fill out the Census, or will be aided in completing the Census once it launches.</p> <p> </p> <p>AICH also hosts various trainings on social justice and civil rights issues. Those will involve a Census component as well. They plan to organize monthly brunches for tribal elders, with a focus on the Census. AICH will also have a weeks-long art installation at Governor’s Island on the Native American community, with several related programs that will emphasize the importance of the Census. And they’ll also dedicate staff to help people fill out the Census at various street fairs over the spring and summer.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/3nativescensus.jpg" style="height:400px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>One of the issues AICH faces, Oakes said, is a massive loss of funding from the federal government, which has left the organization struggling to keep a permanent home while looking for more physical locations to conduct Census operations. She is hoping the city can offer a vacant space to create a community center.</p> <p> </p> <p>“They do it for a lot of other communities, and I don't understand why the original people of the territory of the land are being ignored,” Oakes said. “It's almost like they need to unlearn how to treat us...It's like a conditioning. They're conditioned to just ignore us or erase us or shove us under the carpet like we don’t exist.”</p> <p> </p> <p>The city has been focused on increasing the initial self-response rate to the Census, which for the five boroughs was 62 perent in 2010, compared to the national average of 76 percent; the Census Bureau projects New York’s self-response rate to fall as low as 58 percent this that broadly apply to the Census process, including “apathy, privacy concerns, fear of repercussions, and general distrust of government.” City officials say organizations like AICH are the best messengers to prevent that.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Funding an organization like American Indian Community House is very, very important to us because we know that American Indian Community House has a unique blend of cultural programming, linguistic competence, and also direct social service provisions that enables them to really potentially be very effective in ensuring that the Native population is participating in the Census,” said Amit Bagga, deputy director of NYC Census 2020, a city-government office set up by Mayor Bill de Blasio.</p> <p> </p> <p>Bagga added, “This is the first and only time in New York City's history that the city has ever constructed a program such as this. There have never been any public dollars that have been put into this type of community engagement and civic engagement, particularly for Native communities.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p><strong><em>Samar Khurshid is a senior reporter at</em> Gotham Gazette.</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>This article was originally published on March 9, 2020 in the </em></strong><a href="https://www.gothamgazette.com/state/9189-goverment-conditioned-ignore-or-erase-us-native-americans-in-new-york-2020-census-undercount"><strong><em>Gotham Gazette</em></strong></a><strong><em>. </em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong><em>© 2020 Citizens Union Foundation 501(c)3, All rights reserved | Citizens Union Foundation Privacy Policy | All work on GothamGazette.com is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.</em></strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Highbrow Magazine</strong></p> <p> </p> <p><strong> Image Sources:</strong></p> <p><em>--</em><a href="https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/realitycheck/nativeamericans/blog?page=14"><em>Pete Souza</em></a><em> (Whitehouse.gov, Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--</em><a href="https://www.defense.gov/Explore/News/Article/Article/603726/face-of-defense-native-american-vietnam-vet-takes-spiritual-path/"><em>Defense Department</em></a><em> (Creative Commons)</em></p> <p><em>--</em><a href="https://www.picpedia.org/highway-signs/c/census-bureau.html"><em>N. Youngson</em></a><em> (Creative Commons)</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/indian-americans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Indian Americans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/native-americans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Native Americans</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/census-0" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">census</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-census" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2020 census</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/indian-tribes" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">indian tribes</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/native-american-populations" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">native american populations</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/new-york-state" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">new york state</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Samar Khurshid</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Fri, 13 Mar 2020 11:07:10 +0000 tara 9414 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/10448-native-americans-new-york-fear-another-census-undercount#comments Minority Groups Risk Undercount as 2020 Census Approaches https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/8629-minority-groups-risk-undercount-census-approaches <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Sun, 11/05/2017 - 16:27</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2population.jpg?itok=2FQD_8A1"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/2population.jpg?itok=2FQD_8A1" width="480" height="360" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://asianjournal.com/news/as-2020-census-approaches-minority-groups-risk-undercount/">Asian Journal</a> and republished by our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/10/as-2020-census-approaches-minority-groups-risk-undercount.php">New America Media</a></strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>Lack of preparation and appropriations have already put the upcoming decennial 2020 Census at risk of an inaccurate count. With less than three of years to go, advocates are making the public aware of the consequences.</p> <p> </p> <p>While the census looks to find population changes and other information of who makes up the United States, it more importantly uses the derived data to address the nation’s needs, like determining representation of each area in the U.S. House of Representatives.</p> <p> </p> <p>As previously reported, more than $600 billion is allocated through federal programs based on census data. Among the many programs dependent on the census are those regarding education, assistance for veterans, hospitals, and transportation.</p> <p> </p> <p>With the census date set at April 1, 2020, the U.S Census Bureau has been hit hard with challenges — such as the resignation of its director and improper funding — which have initiated a detrimental domino effect on needed preparations and tests.</p> <p> </p> <p>For example, the upcoming census will be the first to be taken online, but lack of testing makes the census vulnerable to an inaccurate count.</p> <p> </p> <p>The 2020 Census has already been listed by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) as a “high risk” federal program in its 2017 High Risk Report.</p> <p> </p> <p>The result? Derailments of important tests and resources, including the measurement element of the dress rehearsal (the only way of evaluation), and assessment strategies of communications, outreach, and partnership programs.</p> <p> </p> <p>Most likely to feel the repercussions are minority groups and general populations living in hard-to-count areas, say advocates.</p> <p> </p> <p>California, a state with many diverse communities has already seen groups go underrepresented in previous censuses, and advocates say the risk of them being missed in the next one are still disproportionately high.</p> <p> </p> <p>“In order for California to receive its fair share of federal funding and political representation, the census bureau must accurately count all of our state’s residences,” said Dr. John Dobard, manager of Political Voice, Advancement Project California.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>Distrust and the digital divide</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>Distrust of the government with personal information, along with the evident digital divide, are key concerns of advocates from across minority groups.</p> <p> </p> <p>Ofelia Medina, Director of State Civic Engagement Policy for the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO), found this especially true in the Latino community, which makes up 39 percent of the Californian population.</p> <p> </p> <p><img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/3population_0.jpg" style="height:434px; width:623px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>“It’s going to be really difficult to make sure that they do [participate in the census] when they might not have even dial-up at home,” said Medina, stating that many in California do not have access to internet service.</p> <p> </p> <p>While libraries and internet cafes may provide internet access, Medina admits that the census might not be much of a priority that people would go out of their way to these places to fill out the census.</p> <p> </p> <p>The increasing climate of fear incited by rhetoric on immigration enforcement has further been discouraging in communities of color when it comes to participating in programs involving government contact.</p> <p> </p> <p>“It’s definitely been something we’ve been seeing in the last couple of months,” said Medina referring to recent issues like the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).</p> <p> </p> <p>This is also true in Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities where approximately 1.3 million are undocumented, according to Stewart Kwoh, Founding President and Executive Director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, Los Angeles (AAJC).</p> <p> </p> <p>“They don’t want anybody, including their own family members, to know often times,” said Kwoh.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>‘Statistical genocide’</strong></p> <p> </p> <p>According to the California Department of Finance, 20.5 percent of Californians live in hard-to-count areas, or communities at high risks of not being fully counted as designated by the U.S. Census Bureau. Ten of the 50 hard-to-count counties in the nation are in California, accounting for an estimated 8.4 million people.</p> <p> </p> <p>Furthermore, one in three (34.3 percent) of Hispanics in California live in hard-to-count areas. For Asian Americans, it is one out of every five (19 percent).</p> <p> </p> <p>Especially at risk of being undercounted are California’s more than 2.5 million children who would thus be beneficiaries of data derived allocations after the census.</p> <p> </p> <p>“The greatest amount of children that will not be counted are the children that are being born right now, up until 2020,” said Medina.</p> <p> </p> <p>Of the top 100 places with the highest percent of children living in hard-to-count areas, 16 are in California — Black and Hispanic children hold highest net undercounts.</p> <p> </p> <p>Medina stressed that in California specifically, the last 2010 Census significantly undercounted Latino children.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Nationwide, about 400,000 under the age of five were not counted in the census. About 113,000 of them were from California,” said Medina.</p> <p> </p> <p>These undercounts come not only from Los Angeles County, but from counties of Orange, San Diego, Riverside, Santa Clara, San Bernardino, and Alameda, added Medina.</p> <p> </p> <p>For Native American communities, the issue of being undercounted is one of identity. During the 2000 Census, a number of tribes in the San Diego County were recorded at zero.</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://asianjournal.com/news/as-2020-census-approaches-minority-groups-risk-undercount/">Asian Journal</a> and republished by our content partner <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2017/10/as-2020-census-approaches-minority-groups-risk-undercount.php">New America Media</a></strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2020-census" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2020 census</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/us-population" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">u.s. population</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/minorities" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">minorities</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Rae Ann Varona</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Sun, 05 Nov 2017 21:27:43 +0000 tara 7797 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/8629-minority-groups-risk-undercount-census-approaches#comments