By TaRessa Stovall

When today’s history is written, how will black America be portrayed? The historic election of our first black President is a phenomenal milestone to be celebrated. Others are thrilled that Caressa Cameron recently became the eighth black Miss America, and that the New Orleans Saints football team, symbolizing the struggles and potential rise of the Crescent City, won the Super Bowl for the first time.

When today’s history is written, where will you be? The late Alex Haley’s observation that “History is written by the winners” should inspire us to make sure we’re not left out of current history in the upcoming U.S. Census. Learning how Census data is used to allocate funding and other resources, along with voting and civil rights, should motivate us to make sure that we are accurately represented for the first time in our nation’s history.

Historically, the Census has failed to fully count blacks and other people of color, at great cost to those communities. In the 2000 Census, for example, an incredible 628,000 blacks and a total of 1 million people of color were not counted. In contrast, the 2000 Census double-counted the non-Latino white population by approximately 2.2 million, which resulted in those communities receiving additional funding and government representation. Communities that were undercounted in 2000 lost more than $4.1 billion dollars in federal and local funding.

New Partnerships

To build on the momentum that helped elect President Obama, and to ensure that blacks and other people of color are accurately and fairly counted, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund is partnering with the NAACP, the National Urban League and the National Coalition on Black Participation, Inc., to raise awareness through Count on Change 2010.

Information is power, and there is no advantage to being left out. Just as your vote is your voice, your participation in the Census is the key to unlocking vital resources and helping to protect your rights. Each person’s participation in the 2010 Census is needed to ensure equal access to federal and state funding in their community, and the enforcement of civil rights laws for all. Census information is used to enforce and monitor compliance with our nation’s civil rights laws, including the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Each person must participate in the Census to ensure equal opportunity.

History is also being made by diverse groups who are driven by the urgency of a correct count to join forces as never before. According to a January 12 story in USA Today, “Civil rights organizations and advocates for the growing Caribbean and African immigrant population are setting aside differences and have formed the Unity Diaspora Coalition to push all blacks to fill out the federal forms. They vow to keep the coalition alive well beyond this year’s Census — through the midterm elections, redistricting battles and all the way to the 2020 Census.”

Do the Math

When considering whether to take part in the Census, here are a few numbers to keep in mind:

10 Minutes: The new Census form, which is shorter than ever, should take only 10 minutes to complete. All information is completely confidential and is not shared with any government or law enforcement agencies.

$435 Billion: Census data are used to distribute more than $435 billion in federal funds each year.

$4.1 Billion: The amount states lost because of the 2000 Census undercount. California lost $1.5 billion, and Texas lost $1 billion, for example. Major cities lost millions as well: Los Angeles lost $583.9 million in federal funding; Brooklyn, NY lost $268.5 million; and Atlanta, GA lost $50.2 million.

Vulnerable populations are at special risk of being undercounted: 645,000 residents, nearly half of them black, were displaced by Hurricane Katrina and may not be counted because of that displacement.

10 percent of African Americans and 8 percent of Latinos are at risk of losing their homes because of foreclosure, increasing the chance that they’ll be missed in the Census.

25 percent of all blacks live below the federal poverty level—about twice the national rate. More than a third of all black children live in poverty. Historically, people living below the poverty line have been undercounted by the Census.

2.5 million Americans are incarcerated. African Americans are 7 times more likely to be incarcerated than whites, and when prisoners are counted as residents of their institution rather than their home community, the dollars and political clout go to the area where the prisons are located.

It is estimated that the 2000 Census missed 628,000 African Americans—a number roughly equal to the African-American population of Tennessee. The 2000 Census also missed 248,000 Latinos; 22,000 Native Americans living away from reservations; and 13,000 Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders.

The Census Impact on Funding for Governmental Services

Look around your community and consider what you would do without the following services. Federal and local governments use Census information to distribute over $400 billion dollars every year—$4 trillion over ten years—in much-needed aid to local educational, employment, housing, agricultural, health care, and veterans services, including:

• Medicaid
• Emergency Food & Shelter Services
• Head Start (a program that provides comprehensive education, health, nutrition, and parent involvement services to low-income children and families)
• Education Programs for Low-Income Children
• Childcare for Families at Risk of Welfare Dependency
• Special Education (programs that provide grants for infants and families with disabilities)
• Empowerment zone economic development (programs that pr ovide tax incentives to stimulate job growth, promote economic development and create affordable housing in distressed communities)
• Employment Services
• Foster Care
• Nutrition Services
• Women, Infants & Children (WIC) Food Grants
• HIV Emergency Relief Project Grants

Census data are also used to plan the location of critical social services, including schools, roads, hospitals, and childcare and senior citizen centers.

Black History from the Census Bureau

In recognition of African-American History Month, consider these facts from the Census Bureau (keep in mind that they’re based on data from the 2000 Census, which was incomplete):

• As of July 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that the nation’s black population (including those of one or more races) was 41.1 million.
• Data from the American Community Survey shows that 38 percent of Mississippi’s population identified itself as black, which was higher than any other state. Blacks also made up more than a quarter of the population in Louisiana (32 percent), Georgia (31 percent), Maryland (30 percent), South Carolina (29 percent), and Alabama (27 percent). They comprise 56 percent of the population in the District of Columbia.
• The number of Black voters increased from the 2004 to 2008 presidential elections by approximately 2.1 million. Overall, 65 percent of registered Black voters participated in the 2008 elections, an increase of approximately 5 percent over 2004.
• According to the 2002 Economic Census, New York led all states with 129,329 Black-owned firms . New York City alone accounted for 98,080 of this total!

When the numbers are counted from this year’s Census, will you be represented? Will your community receive the resources it deserves? Will your household be represented and your rights protected?

The actions we take today inform the history of tomorrow. We cannot afford to be undercounted again in 2010. Visit Count on Change 2010 to learn more.

TaRessa Stovall is Managing Editor of TheDefendersOnline.