Having a Complete Count is a Social Justice Issue
A message from Dr. Khyati Joshi from the Institute for Teaching Diversity and Social Justice (IDSJ) newsletter. Subscribe to the email newsletter.
Be counted! That’s my message to you about the U.S. Census. Once every ten years, participating in the U.S. Census and counting everyone in your household is a critical civic responsibility that will shape your community – including school and public health resources – for the next decade.
The story of the Census tells us a lot about the country, and is one of the most critical civic responsibilities we all have. I have been involved in Census education since Census 2000. This year, I have the honor of serving as Co-Chair of the Complete Count Committee for Passaic County, NJ. Here’s how the Census impacts us through the past, the present, and the future.
The Past
An enumeration of the population sounds benign; but at different points in our history, the census has been weaponized to marginalize different populations. An enumeration of the population shows how the country is evolving demographically, and those who hold dominant identities can become terrified when they conflate evolving, heterogeneous demographics with a threat to their social and structural power.
The Immigration Act of 1924, for instance, all but closed the door on immigration. For 40 years after the laws was passed, the U.S. allowed immigration rates of only 2% of the population entering – and they based it on the 1890 Census. Congress could have tied admission standards to the 1920 Census, but its goal was to limit the number of southern and eastern Europeans entering the United States; by using a 30-year-old standard from 1890, Congress could radically limit immigration from places like Italy (which decreased 90% from pre-1924 rates) but not places like England (which suffered only a 19% reduction in immigration opportunity).
Much more recently, the current Administration wanted to add a “citizenship question” to the 2020 Census. The Census is supposed to count everyone, regardless of citizenship, and asking respondents’ citizenship would prompt fears of deportation and result in much lower reporting by immigrants, both those with citizenship and without. Even though the Bureau is prohibited by law from sharing identifiable data with any other entity – meaning the threat of being deported for responding to the Census was not real – an under-count of certain ethnic communities would have negative effects lasting a decade, from lower representation in Congress to less Title I funding for schools. Even though the “citizenship question” was defeated in Court, immigrant communities remain hard to count in part because of the fear generated by that public debate.
The Present
I want to implore everyone to complete the census, which can be done online this year. Please visit https:/my2020census.gov/ to complete your census.
It takes just minutes to complete the census and ensure you are counted in your community and for your community. These could be the most consequential few minutes you spend in the next decade. Please join me in being counted and sharing on social media that you responded to the census. Positive social pressure can be a powerful persuasive tool, and we want to encourage everyone to be counted.
The Future
Taking the census is an act of shaping the future. Congress uses Census data to apportion hundreds of billions of dollars in federal funds, and states use it to allocate political power by drawing Congressional and legislative districts. The Bureau says it best on its website:
Think of your morning commute: Census results influence highway planning and construction, as well as grants for buses, subways, and other public transit systems.
Or think of your local schools: Census results help determine how money is allocated for the Head Start program and for grants that support teachers and special education.
The list goes on, including programs to support rural areas, to restore wildlife, to prevent child abuse, to prepare for wildfires, and to provide housing assistance for older adults.
Recommended Resources
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Any conversation about congressional district lines should include gerrymandering. Fivethirtyeight, the data-driven news site, released a phenomenal series of podcasts on gerrymandering a few years ago, along with interactive graphics and articles on the subject.
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