Caribbean-Americans move for US census recongition

Census Day took place on April 1, and to mark the occasion, over 60 Caribbean-American community leaders from across the United States met in Brooklyn, New York to push for greater political and socio-economic power in their adopted homelands. For these community leaders, recognition in the US census is a crucial step in achieving this.

Reva Sears, partnership coordinator of the New York/New Jersey Census, explained to the attendees that the census determines how $300 billion in federal aid will be spent each year, for the next decade. Other representatives emphasised that undercounting in the past had led to inadequate funds and resources for their districts and communities.

Felicia Persaud, founder of CaribID – an organisation that is pressing for Caribbean nationals counted through changes to the US census further explained: "if you don't fill out the census form you simply don't exist in America... If you want social services in your city, if you want sponsorship and advertising dollars, if you want investment or for your business to grow, everything we do starts with the census," she continued. "So it is important that we use all tools available – social networks, email signatures, word of mouth, organisations, parties, media, to share the message to ensure that come 2010 the Caribbean community gets its slice of the pie in terms of dollars and recognition on a national level."

Persaud and CaribID emphasise in particular that they want Caribbean nationals and those of Caribbean ancestry not to check any of the existing boxes like Hispanic origin when indicating their ancestry on question eight, and to instead write in their actual Caribbean country of origin or ancestry. Persaud also emphasises that the question of ancestry is being addressed quite separately from that of ethnic identification.

The next US census is set for April 1, 2010 and will be mailed to US households beginning next March.