Censuship by Q. Reyes – Artistic Warfare #45

October 18, 2009 Q. Reyes 0 Comments

The U.S. Census is coming up in 2010 and it seems as if this time it’s going to be more important than ever before. I never really understood what the Census was about until recently. I always thought it was just a measuring tool to give us cool statistics.

What I’ve learned is that the Census is actually mandated by the U.S. Constitution and that you are required by law to participate. I had no clue that participation was mandatory, but I don’t feel band since a lot of people don’t know this anyway.

What worries me about the Census coming up is that a lot of undocumented immigrants are afraid to fill it out. The problem is that the Federal Government uses this Census data to distribute Congressional seats to states and funnel federal funds to state and local areas.

Can’t blame undocumented workers for their fear of what may happen if they provide information to the government. If I were undocumented, I’d feel the same way. This is a deeper issue than it seems off the top, since undocumented workers are not only Mexican. There are Asian and African and European and many other immigrants that will be also deeply affected by the outcome of the 2010 Census.

We all know that education is key, but beyond the information, whom do you educate? I’m sure there will be plenty of campaigns targeting the undocumented immigrants, but another sure way to get the point across is to also target their children. I know for a fact that kids in many Latino homes translate and give advice to their parents regarding dealings with government, translations, etc. By educating the children regarding the Census, a lot of headway will be made into providing accurate information and appeasing fears.

Another concern I have are the right-wing movements out there attempting to pump even more fear into the undocumented immigrants and trying to get them to not be counted. There are threats out there from not only racist people, but from people in immigrant communities as well. Some go as far as calling for a boycott of the Census until immigration reform is on the table. This is not a good idea, since the Census is coming up soon and true immigration reform has no end date in sight.

There’s also the Vitter-Bennett Amendment (google it) that proposes to exclude undocumented immigrants from being counted in the 2010 Census with the purpose of apportioning Congressional seats. This is a very, very dangerous amendment that has to be voted down.

The truth is I’m no activist, and I probably won’t do much more than write this article and educate my family and friends about this issue. Let someone know about this. I hope that fairness prevails in the end.