What’s the sense in the census? Purpose, questions, and #9

It’s been 10 years since we’ve participated in the US Census, and guess what…it’s time to do it again…

Ten years ago in the year 2000, I was still in college and I remember having a home visit from a census taker. I had not completed the form and did not prioritize doing so. The older gentleman sat down with me and we completed the form together. Although I understood the purpose (the census affects the numbers of seats your state occupies in the U.S. House of Representatives) of the census, at the time I felt as if it was almost an invasion of privacy! Do you remember the first time you completed a census form?

Ten years later, we are in the year 2010 and once again we are subject to report on ourselves. 10 questions must be answered in order to fulfill a promise of the Constitution and ensure that federal funds are allocated to communities that need, and deserve funding. Or at least this is what I would like to believe. :-)

The 10 questions on the census:

1.How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010?

2.Were there any additional people staying here April 1, 2010 that you did not include in Question 1?

3.Is this house, apartment, or mobile home: owned with mortgage, owned without mortgage, rented, occupied without rent?

4.What is your telephone number?

5.Please provide information for each person living here. Start with a person here who owns or rents this house, apartment, or mobile home. If the owner or renter lives somewhere else, start with any adult living here. This will be Person 1. What is Person 1's name?

6.What is Person 1's sex?

7.What is Person 1's age and Date of Birth?

8.Is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino or Spanish origin?

9.What is Person 1's race?

10.Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else?



Is there any question that you cannot answer?

In examining Question 9, according to 2010.census.gov this question has been, “Asked since 1790. Race is key to implementing many federal laws and is needed to monitor compliance with the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act. State governments use the data to determine congressional, state and local voting districts. Race data are also used to assess fairness of employment practices, to monitor racial disparities in characteristics such as health and education and to plan and obtain funds for public services.”

If we take a closer look at Question 9, many Caribbean- Americans feel as though they cannot answer this question. The choices “Black, African-American, or Negro” are not sufficient. As citizens of this country, we should all be represented and clearly there is no place for clear representation for Caribbean-Americans on the census; unless one checks the box for “Some other race.” Truly, how American is that?