Muncie Times, Muncie, Delaware County, 15 April 2009 — Page 34

Page 34 • The Muncie Times • April 16, 2009

continued from page 33 community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination, and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past, are real and must be addressed, not just with words, but with deeds, by investing in our schools and our communities; by enforcing our civil rights laws and ensuring fairness in our criminal justice system; by providing this generation with ladders of opportunity that were unavailable for previous generations.” We, the people, have the power to defuse the ticking time bomb and bring peace to the Bay Area and the nation. But until we win economic justice, explosions remain inevitable and imminent.

Various ethnic groups gear up to help make 2010 population count more accurate WASHINGTON, D.C.--The decades-old challenge of counting the United States population will be met by more than 1.000

News Briefs

national and local organizations gearing up for the U.S. 2010 Census. As partners, these groups will tailor messages to their members, particularly the underserved and hard-to-reach populations that being counted is empowering. Several hundred representatives from national and local, community and faithbased organizations, media, businesses and schools met in D.C. earlier last week for an exclusive briefing hosted by the Census Bureau. In addition to hearing discussions about the challenges and successes of past Census counts, the bureau launched its appeal to broaden its partnership base with groups that will raise awareness and encourage participation in the 2010 Census. Since 1990, the U.S. Census Bureau has engaged groups representing African Americans, Hispanics, Native Americans and Asians to put a familiar face to the massive number of heads to be counted. The challenge has been an enormous task because vast numbers of Americans have historically avoided the count. ‘"Our readers have to

get beyond fear,” said Karen Love, of the National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA), a trade association of more than 160 black-owned newspapers across the country. As a member of the media panel representing a diverse group of newspaper, radio, television and public relations firms, Love said a lot of work will need to be done to dispel the myths built around the census. “For years, the Native American community held on to its distrust of the government,” explained Jacqueline Johnson Pata, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians. “At the turn of the century, the government census taker determined whether Native Americans were civilized or uncivilized Americans,” Pata said, which in turn has led to a massive undercount of the country's tribal communities. In 2000, when the Census partnered with Native-American tribal leaders, it helped to engage more members on the ground. “Enumerators make the difference,” she said. “They are the people on the ground and the ones who the community knows and trusts^”

Hillary Shelton, Washington Bureau chief of the NAACP, announced the 100-year-old organizations partnership plans to engage its 2,200-mem-ber units across the country, including college campuses and prisons, to assure that African Americans are counted. “Most people get nervous when the government comes to collect information,” Shelton said. “Our objective is to help the Census Bureau get past these obstacles.” Richard Lee Snow, executive director, Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, has signed on as a partner for the 2010 census. Since 1790, a census has been conducted every 10 years to count every person residing in the United States. The count is constitutionally mandated to determine each state's congressional representation. In addition, federal funding for state and local programs is determined by the census. By March 2010, every U.S. household will receive a questionnaire and in cases where there has been no response, a census representative will call or visit. According to Census Bureau officials, the

2010 census will be different in one way. In past years, some households completed a short form, while others received a long form. In 2010, a short-form only census will be used to count all residents living in the United States, as well as ask for name, sex, age, date of birth, race, ethnicity, relationship and housing tenure, taking just minutes to complete. Wade Henderson, of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, said grassroots outreach civil rights organizations are using various methods to reach communities for the Digital Television Transmission conversion, to be completed in June. The same protocol, he said, will be applied to prepare communities for the census. The challenge he sees will be reaching those Americans who have been affected by the nation's financial crisis. “The economy has caused a high level of mobility and instability,” Henderson said. “With high unemployment and foreclosures, the census will have to be more aware of people now living in tent cities and others who have been displaced causing major population shifts.”