Count on Your Census

We launched this podcast to tell the story of the 2020 Census. It starts with the U.S. Census Bureau and its unassailable role in collecting population data and ends, until next decade, with the just deployment of federal funding and political representation. Census data paints a portrait of a changing America and directs us in how to meet their specific needs and circumstances. In our final episode, Advancing Justice-AAJC President John C. Yang reflects on the Census 2020 experience, from anti-immigrant power grabs by then President Trump to the pandemic that devastated communities already at risk of being undercounted. John shares his vision for Census 2030, from greater data disaggregation to the depoliticization of the process. John gives credit where credit is due. He applauds the Census Bureau’s devoted civil servants, teachers, librarians, on-the-ground nonprofits and his many partners in a growing civil rights movement. As we wrap season 2 of “Count on Your Census,” John C. Yang encourages us all to remain engaged from participating in local elections to redistricting. This is how democracy rises.

Census 2020 is about to have its moment. Our nation’s most complex peacetime mobilization has survived both a global pandemic and a former president bent on undermining its mission. In a matter of weeks, the U.S. Census Bureau will release state by state population data to determine how 435 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives are apportioned among 50 states. And then comes redistricting, the process of redrawing district lines within states to recalibrate where power lies for the next 10 years. Justin Levitt, Constitutional Law Scholar and Professor at Loyola Law School, sheds light on how consequential redistricting is, how to have a voice in it, and what can be done to ensure a robust, accurate, and inclusive count in 2030. Plus, he provides a glimpse into the origins of gerrymandering, a bit of constitutional history that resonates in 2021.

Arturo Vargas was not surprised when then President Trump sought to manipulate the 2020 Census for partisan advantage. As CEO of the NALEO (National Association of Latino and Elected Officials) Educational Fund, he saw it as another scheme to disenfranchise undocumented immigrants and other people of color from receiving the federal resources and political representation that the Constitution mandates and the U.S. Census generates. That is why he partnered with allied civil rights organizations, as he has through 3 previous Decennial Censuses, to ensure a full and accurate count. Arturo is heartened that census advocacy actually expanded in the face of a deadly pandemic. He expects the civil rights network that came together for the census to stay engaged through apportionment and redistricting. And he is encouraged by a new generation of young people who understand the importance of engaging in civic life — the key to tackling systemic racism and creating the lasting legacy of transformational change.

It takes years of planning and many experts to design our nation’s Decennial Census. Leaders from multiple sectors, convened by the US Census Bureau, provide guidance on how to craft a survey that will deliver a complete count of our entire population. This process requires Task Forces on technology, messaging, undercounted communities and even preparedness for natural disasters. In 2020, those disasters, from hurricanes to wildfires and an unprecedented, deadly and mismanaged pandemic, devastated the very communities the census seeks to count. Dr. Allison Plyer, Chief Demographer at the Data Center, discusses natural disasters, climate change, roadblocks to economic recovery and insights for a better plan in 2030.

The U.S. Census produces our nation’s most complete database of information about American households and communities. Racial and ethnic classifications on the census are vital to developing a full picture of America and to ensure that federal resources and representation are equitably apportioned. But what do we know about the census in other countries? What kind of data is collected and how is it used? In this episode, we speak with two census scholars for answers. Dr. Melissa Nobles and Dr. Debra Thompson, professors of Political Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and McGill University respectively, explain how censuses operate in Brazil, Canada, and the UK. We all rely on an accurate count for a functioning government. But our varied histories with racial inclusion, exclusion, and democracy are important stories well worth telling.

When the founding framers mandated a Census in the U.S. Constitution, their vision was to generate a database of information about American households and the communities where they lived. That population data, first collected by marshals, now by enumerators, remains the foundation of federal decision making, determining how federal resources are disbursed and political power is apportioned. Dan Bouk, a historian of data and bureaucracies, walks us through the enactment of Article 1, Section 2 of the Constitution, the system of white supremacy that was embedded in it, and the transformative role of the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s in the evolution of a more just Decennial US Census. 

From the national elections to the decennial census, 2020 has provided a masterclass in how antagonistic messengers use social media platforms to spread misinformation and disinformation. These messages, communicated from fringe blogs, the dark web, and the social media ecosystem are not only difficult to track and quantify, but they pose a significant threat to democracy. Cristina López Guevara guides us through a conversation about this dilemma. And she explains how Data and Society, a nonprofit research organization, monitors, contextualizes and analyzes these trends. We all have accountability, as media consumers, to anticipate, intervene, and prevent the amplification of misinformation.

When it comes to the Decennial Census, there is no such thing as too much data. It is only when Asian American Pacific Islander data sets are disaggregated that entire communities become visible and significant inequities within those subgroups are revealed. It takes this level of detail to guide government, schools and health providers in serving each community effectively. And disaggregation disrupts the model minority myth and the perception of AAPIs as a monolith. Anna Byon, Education Policy Manager for the Southeast Asian Resource Action Center, explains how breaking down data sets makes the unseen seen and creates the environment needed for a just distribution of resources and political power.

The 2020 Census deadline has passed and the national election is over, but the journey for justice is far from done. Our most celebrated civil rights organizations, which have long championed the voting protections and rights of Black, Asian, and Latino Americans, are fully engaged in the fray. They are countering, in both state and federal courts, the outgoing administration’s relentless campaign to minimize access, by non-white people, to complete census data and representation in the apportionment and redistricting process. The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund’s Leah Aden walks us through the impact of exclusion at all levels of civic life. This is a call to action for our collective future and the future of democracy.

Who is being undercounted in the 2020 Census in your community? It turns out that the Trump Administration’s relentless efforts to exclude undocumented immigrants from the count includes refugees, often our bravest, and most vulnerable neighbors. Their journey to reach our shores is fraught with danger and once here, they confront an unknown language and culture. Community-based organizations become their literal lifelines, connecting them to resources, from schools to housing to job opportunities. Andrew Trumball tells the story of The Burmese Rohingya Community of Wisconsin and how it champions a growing refugee population, including their inclusion in our Decennial Census. Inclusion is how we are all seen and heard.