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Black leaders urge guarantee for 2010 Census

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Community Colleges

COMPARTA ESTE CONTENIDO:

A coalition of black leaders met with Commerce Secretary Gary Locke, Dec. 16, to ensure that black communities are not under counted and that whites are not over counted in the 2010 Census.

In 2000 4.5 million people, mostly black and Hispanic, were undercounted, while 1.3 million, mostly white, were over counted due to many of them owning more than one house. Census results are used in redrawing political districts and in the allocation of more than $478 billion.

“We appreciate Secretary Locke sitting down with us,” said National Urban League president Marc Morial, who chairs the 2010 Census Advisory Committee, “There have been efforts to improve census counting but a lot more needs to be done so that we can be comfortable there is an accurate count.”

The coalition held a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C a few hours after the meeting. Among its leaders were: Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr.; Rev. Al Sharpton; Ben Jealous, president NAACP; Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus;  and Danny Bakewell, president; National Newspapers Association.

According to Bakewell, the lack of advertising budget for black and ethnic focused media is severely lacking. “There is an issue of trust in these communities” that prevents an accurate count Bakewell said. “There is no more trusted source of information for the black community than black news.”

Morial said that the coalition is dedicated to ensuring an accurate count of all ethnic groups and personally promised to reach out to Latino campaigns that have also been working to get information on the 2010 Census out in the community. Jackson noted the growing number of Afro Latinos in the necessity to work together in the effort.  

The Ya es Hora campaign kicked off its campaign to reach Latino groups in September, with support from the U.S. Census Bureau, the National Council of La Raza, and media giants Univision and impreMedia.

Another issue brought up by the group is the prison population. With 1.2 million of the nation’s 40 million blacks behind bars, Morial said the census has a “built-in undercount.” Prisoners are counted in the state in which they serve their time. According to Sharpton this takes monies away from the families and home communities of these prisoners.

Congress would have to write a law to change the practice or a court would have to rule that the practice violates the intent of the census. In previous cases judges have ruled in favor of counting people where they currently reside. Sharpton said the coalition would explore both options. 

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