Skip to content
Advertisement

Next Census could see changes for majority Black communities

Advertisement

On July 4, 1776, the population of what would become the United States was just 2.5 million. Today our nation’s population is estimated at more than 300 million.

Next year—as it’s done every 10 years, per constitutional declaration—the country will attempt to get an accurate count of all U.S. residents. This decennial census data is used to determine the shape of our local communities: our representation in Congress; how government funds are spent for roads; what’s needed for local schools; the future of our hospitals; and more.

An accurate count is important. But some Blacks may ignore the paperwork, not wanting to deal with the government. Some non-citizens will refuse to respond to the count, for fear of retribution.

The Carol H. Williams Advertising agency (CHWA), with offices in Oakland, Chicago, New York and Detroit, is the only African-American partner in an integrated team of more than a dozen agencies hired to spread the word throughout the country on the importance of the 2020 Census.

Multiple agencies were hired by VMLY&R, a global, full-service marketing agency. CHWA is responsible for all the buying and contracting directly with African-American, Sub-Saharan, African and Caribbean media vendors.

According to a Census Bureau report, the initial 2010 mail return rates showed that 60 percent of Blacks returned the initial questionnaires within 19 days of the questionnaire’s mailing. Final mail return rates rose to 70 percent for Blacks by September, after the Bureau’s Non Response Follow Up visits and replacement mailings.

According to the report “Householders identifying their race as White were the most likely to participate, having a final mail return rate of approximately 83 percent.”

More than 47 percent of L.A. County residents identify as Hispanic or Latino. We may never know if that is an accurate percentage.

Some believe that such a question is intended to deprive non-citizens of political representation. They believe that the census should be a count of “residents” not “citizens.”

According to Article 1, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution “Representatives and direct taxes shall be apportioned among the several states which may be included within this Union, according to their respective numbers…”

The Supreme Court of the United Stated (SCOTUS), in last Thursday’s decision, temporarily prevented the Department of Commerce from adding a citizenship question to the 2020 census. They sent the case back to the lower courts for further consideration.

The Trump administration had hoped the justices would rule in its favor, so the printing of census questionnaires could begin the first day of July.

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion of the high court’s majority for the Department of Commerce v New York case: “Neither respondents nor my colleagues have been able to identify any relevant, judicially manageable limits on the Secretary’s decision to put a core demographic question back on the census.”

The opinion also said “the evidence tells a story that does not match the explanation the [Commerce] Secretary gave for his decision.”

Many expressed a sigh of relief at the ruling, while others were cautiously optimistic.

“This leaves a lot of questions open,” Bruce Mirken, spokesman for the Greenlining Institute, a multi-ethnic public policy, research and advocacy organization said. “Certainly, we don’t have a definitive sense right now.”

The clock is ticking on the timeline to print the questionnaires, but the SCOTUS won’t be back in session until October. This has made things complicated for the Trump administration.

In a June 27th tweet Trump said he asked his lawyers if they can

Advertisement

Latest