The U.S. Census has habitually miscounted, misunderstood, and misrepresented the marginalized sub-groups of our nation's population. This has commonly resulted in insufficient funding for schools in already struggling communities and a lack of governmental representation for those who seem to need most desperately to be represented.
How do 2010 census employees plan to do better this time around? In short: they don't. So, I am reaching out to you.
The 2010 census is incredibly important. This is THE headcount of the United States. If you're not counted, you don't count. Have you ever wondered why schools in the suburbs have all those books & nice computers & wut-nots? Well, this is part of the reason! The census is like the elementary test scores used to determine how many new prison cells will be needed. Except, this is positive. This decides how much money should be poured into your neighborhood. So if you're letting your distant relatives and old friends stay at your place until they get on their feet, make sure they are counted. If you know James doesn't have a place to stay and he just strolls the neighboorhood shoveling, chipping ice, and cleaning garages for a few dollars, the next time you see him - you make sure he fills out a census form.
This is one of the few opportunities we have to make things right (or at least better). If we make it difficult to make our situation better it wont make census employees work any harder next time. All we will be doing is verifying what was already presumed about our community which lead to the poor predicament in which we find ourselves today. Also, it only comes around once every ten years so its not as simple as saying, "I'll do it next time". You may not be around next time and you have a chance to make a difference now.
Peace,
Proverb
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