Black People : 50 Folks In One Bedroom Afraid to Fill out Census

[medusanegrita]

When I was a teen, I lived in a house that had at most about 7 or 8 people in a one bedroom, 4 rooms total. There were about 3 or 4 adults, and about 3 or 4 children. That's nothing new in my family, we are poor and have always stacked up like that. Several times we had 4-6 people in a 3 room shotgun.

Betta believe, if a census was conducted about that time, some of us didn't get counted because it was illegal or against the ordinance to have that many people in such a small quarters.

So I understand the fear. And if you are an illegal immigrant, perhaps staying with legal relative in the in the US, they may have the same or similar fear about filling out the US census.

This needs to be addressed, and it needs to be addressed on the level that they can understand. Some folks don't want to do this because they think it encourages overcrowding, but it doesn't. What's done is done.

How do you address it and get people to fill census? Make it known that private and personal information on the census is to remain PRIVATE AND PERSONAL FOR AT LEAST 72 YEARS. That means it doesn't matter how many is shacking up in a house or apartment, how much child support you are running away from, whether or not you not illegal, or a wanted criminal, a fugitive, a hide-away-refugee - anybody that is looking for you or trying to track you down CAN NOT use the census to get any information about you.

That's what people really want to hear and if they can believe that, they will fill out the census and give an accurate count the number of representative that each state needs.

Census mail results could be trouble for 5 states

Five states — New York, California, Texas, Arizona and Florida — are perilously close to losing out on congressional seats because of lackluster participation in the U.S. census.

Responses from these states raise a red flag because of their higher shares of residents who are Latinos. The Census Bureau has said one of its main concerns is whether tensions over immigration will discourage Latinos, and particularly illegal immigrants, from participating in the government count. That issue returned to the forefront after Arizona passed a tough immigration enforcement bill.

Latino residents represent a predominant share of the population growth in New York, California, Texas, Arizona and Florida, making up more than 50 percent of total growth since 2000. As a result, those states could face big losses if there isn't full cooperation when the Census Bureau on Saturday begins knocking on the doors of those who did not respond by mail.

Of the five states on the cusp, the biggest potential losers are California and New York, which could have a net loss of one and two House seats, respectively. Texas may end up gaining just three House seats instead of four.

{It was} noted the non-respondents {to the census} were disproportionately low-income, lesser-educated or renters.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100428/ap_on_go_ot/us_census_mail_response