It's good practice to begin by stating the obvious. When it comes to the forthcoming decennial census this much is obvious: Counting people is not an exact science.
With that said we can move on to the issues of concern. Depending on your particular perspective the rest of this conversation can splinter into many discussions. But the one thing we can agree on is that we'd like for the census to be as accurate as possible. The differences will come in the definition of accurate.
The main and most contentious issue is whether the intent of the census is to count all people who live within the boundaries of the United States, or to count only citizens and documented residents. It's no small thing.
The national director of the census, Robert Groves, visited this week the areas that have historically fallen through the proverbial census cracks. He went to the areas along the U.S.-Mexico border known ascolonias. These are mostly unincorporated settlements populated by people who have little or no formal education, who have little understanding of the English language and who for those same reasons fall by the decennial count wayside. Many if not most of the colonia residents are undocumented and they have a reflexive fear of anything that hints at being official. They're afraid that by answering the census questionnaires they will be turned over to immigration.
I'll state the obvious once again, so as to save time and effort (I know what some of you are thinking): All those folks I just described should either learn English or be deported.
No. It's not that easy. The census should be neutral in that respect, if nothing else for health concerns. Epidemics don't ask for green cards. And for educational issues as well, the children of the colonias will form part of our future work force. We ignore them at our own peril.
I'm saying nothing new. In fact, by his presence at the colonias this week Groves signaled the need to ensure that people who live in those settlements are counted. There are plans for a media campaign to urge people to participate in the count. And that'll probably do some good. But I'm concerned the effort won't be enough. Access to colonias is rough; there are few paved roads. The language barriers are important; census counters should be required to speak Spanish if they're assigned to the colonias.
Most people from the colonias live below the poverty threshold, which is $22,050 a year for a family of four. If they're not counted they will not exist in the public eye. If we don't see them we need not justify our ignoring them; it's all rather convenient. But we do it, again, at our own peril.
Some will argue whether counting every person in the country was the intent of the Founding Fathers. I'll quote Benjamin Franklin in that respect: "A little neglect may breed great mischief."
vlanda@sbcglobal.net
