Get Counted
4/24/20 - The U.S. Census is underway and - if you just started snoozing, gently nudge yourself awake. This once-a-decade opportunity to be counted. Why? As Jeri Green of the National Urban League tells us, the Census is used to determine everything from how Congressional seats states get to federal funding for student loans, and much more. And now you complete it online. It's especially important for people from marginalized communities to get counted. Go to My2020Census.gov to fill out the quick and easy from and tell your besties!
Transcript below.
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CREDITS
Producer: Gina Delvac
Hosts: Aminatou Sow & Ann Friedman
Theme song: Call Your Girlfriend by Robyn
Composer: Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs.
Producer: Jordan Bailey
Visual Creative Director: Kenesha Sneed
Merch Director: Caroline Knowles
Editorial Assistant: Laura Bertocci
Design Assistant: Brijae Morris
Ad sales: Midroll
TRANSCRIPT: GET COUNTED
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Aminatou: Welcome to Call Your Girlfriend.
Ann: A podcast for long-distance besties everywhere.
Aminatou: I'm Aminatou Sow.
Ann: I'm Ann Friedman.
Aminatou: Hi Ann.
Ann: Hi Aminatou. [Laughs] What are we talking about today? What is on our agenda today?
Aminatou: Well today we are talking about why the census is really, really, really, really important.
[Theme Song]
Aminatou: [Yawns]
Ann: What do we even say? I'm truly like there's everything and nothing to say.
Aminatou: You know, every time I get a really bad attitude about pandemic I really have to remind myself that I am not suffering at all. And that's not to say that it's not hard and it's not awful or to minimize just the existential dread of it all but perspective, man, it's important.
Ann: You know we're doing the like check in on each other, how are you doing? But in fact just kind of end up on the phone or staring at each other's faces going [Sighs]
Aminatou: That was me and my therapist on Zoom yesterday. [Laughs] Where Ann he let out a sigh so big I thought it was me at first. Like how are you doing over there? And it just, I don't know, shout-out to the mental health professionals.
(2:05)
Ann: Ugh, essential workers.
Aminatou: I know. Could you imagine if it were your job to just deal with everyone else's anxiety about the thing they're most anxious about? I don't think I could do it so it's . . .
Ann: Oh no way.
Aminatou: It's a lot. I love my therapist. He's the best.
Ann: Oh, what are we talking about today? What is on our agenda today?
Aminatou: Wow. Today we are talking about why the census is really, really, really important.
Ann: Oh my god, yet another really, really, really important thing in this moment full of important things. [Laughs]
Aminatou: I mean the most compelling PSA I've seen in the last couple of months was Cardi B forcing everyone to do their census because as she very importantly notes it helps determine the number of representatives that each state gets and how we allocate all of the billions of federal dollars and Cardi said you do not want to be undercounted. So consider me counted.
Ann: Right. I mean and this is also something we know from previous censuses -- censii? Censuses? Censei? From previous censuses we know that certain populations are more likely to be undercounted which serves the political aims of people who are already disproportionately in power and so it is no surprise that in 2020 the census is facing more challenges than even in previous years when certain people were likely to be undercounted.
Aminatou: Right. There's so much misinformation about the census on social media and off social media. Coronavirus obviously made it really hard to tell were census workers going to be able to do their job properly? What happened to all the people who left town and didn't fill out their census forms? All that stuff was a mess. And it's a really important function of government but because of politics it also means that, you know, some people get more excited than other people depending on how the census shakes out.
(4:05)
Ann: Ugh, okay. So we are here for a couple of reasons. One is to ask that everyone fill out your census forms and all your info online if you are in the United States and to talk about it with your friends. Ask your friends if they've done their census reporting yet. Maybe put it on your social media if that's a thing you do. It's all at my2020census.gov. We would all do well to be encouraging each other to get counted.
Aminatou: Right. You should look in your -- if you're at your house you should look in your mailbox and there is probably all the information you need to fill out your census. And if you are not at your house because you left or for various other reasons you can still do the census online without the special codes that you need. So just go to my2020census.gov.
Ann: We also have a special treat in today's episode which is our beloved producer Jordan Bailey . . .
Aminatou: Yes!
Ann: I know, we love Jordan. She talked to Jeri Green who's a census expert and a senior adviser at the National Urban League about all of this stuff. And I have to say it sounds like we are talking about a kind of very boring government forms and checkboxes thing but it is a fascinating conversation about the ways the census is super-political.
[Interview Starts]
Jordan: Jeri thank you so much for being on Call Your Girlfriend.
Jeri: Thank you Jordan for inviting me to join you on this podcast.
Jordan: Let's just start with a little bit of history. I'd love for you to tell me exactly what the census is and why do we do it and why it's important.
Jeri: Well the census is a once-a-decade enumeration, a snapshot of all of the people, everyone who resides in the United States, of who they are, what their racial characteristics are and sex. There are only nine questions on the census questionnaire and so it's a snapshot of America to give us an indication of who we are and also to determine how to allocate federal funding, how to protect our civil rights, and how to ensure that we're represented, have political representative government in the halls of congress.
(6:20)
Jordan: Can you just explain a little bit more about why the census is so important? Like what is the link between counting all the people in the United States and federal funding and civil rights? How do those two things work together?
Jeri: The census is about money, power, and representation. As it relates to federal funding in fiscal year '17 or we can just say 2017 the George Washington Institute of Public Policy which has done a great deal of research on the connect between federal funding and the census estimated that about 1.5 trillion dollars each year is allocated to states and local governments, businesses and households, as a result of the census count. We also know that these programs are for things like healthy baby programs, WIC, TANF, rural housing development, Medicaid, school loans and school lunches, Pell grants, National Direct Student Loans. It's for metro and subways and things like that. There's no aspect of our society that isn't touched by census funding in particular.
As it relates to political process and representation the seats in the House of Representatives and the electoral college, and we know how that went last time in 2016, but those seats are based on census data. And as it relates to power communities are empowered by their vote and full representation in the political process. The enforcement of civil and voting rights laws are based on census data. Housing -- how housing discrimination is measured, all those things. Criminal and victimization, that data comes as a result of a lot of our census data.
(8:20)
So because of all of these issues affecting representation, power, resources, and democracies we all need to be concerned about getting a strong and accurate count in our populations in this 2020 census.
Jordan: Can you talk a little bit more about which groups in the United States are hardest to count and sort of some of the ways that census workers try to get those people counted?
Jeri: Sure. I hate to refer to the term hard to count because it sounds like, you know, we're putting the blame on populations.
Jordan: Right.
Jeri: And that's just not the case because there's a history of distrust in this country around the treatment of certain individuals and it creates cause for distrust and fear oftentimes and it's something that stakeholders like the organization that I work for, the National Urban League, is out trying to combat these fears and distrust. But fear and distrust is a big issue for communities of color. People who are renters are hard to count if you will. Being in a transient nature, moving constantly whether you're staying with an auntie sometimes or elsewhere, that's a problem. Households that have large families or blended families. Sometimes people forget often to count the children. In fact for the black population for the last census seven out of ten young children between the ages of zero and four were completely omitted from the 2010 census.
(10:00)
Jordan: Wow.
Jeri: Yeah, that's an incredible number. College students who lives off of campus. The digitally-disconnected. This time around we're very concerned about people who don't have access to Internet or broadband capabilities. The homeless, the poor, and people who have low English-speaking proficiency. Immigrants in particular too are very difficult to count out of fear.
Jordan: Can you just remind us why it matters that these groups sometimes get undercounted? What are the repercussions of being undercounted in the census?
Jeri: The repercussions of being undercounted means that your community and that the diversity of the nation's population is not reflected. That they are underrepresented in the political processes, the democracy of this nation. The census is the cornerstone of democracy in this country and without a diverse and representative snapshot of who resides here and what those needs are you're left out.
From a financial standpoint it's estimated that anywhere between two and three thousand dollars per person is lost for, you know, in undercounted communities. And so if you multiply that in a household times a whole decade you can kind of see the significance of an undercount.
(11:45)
Critical services, the very services that many of our communities need. We need healthy baby programs. We need affordable housing. We need student loans and Pell grants. We need better, improved roads. All those things are missed if you're undercounted. The money does not follow the need. That 1.5 trillion dollars follows the count so if you're not counted you don't get those services. You don't get those funding. And this is not welfare. This is money that taxpayers have paid. You've already paid this so it's not like it's a handout. These are programs and services that rightfully every person in this country should benefit from.
Jordan: You've talked a little bit about the coronavirus and how that is impacting the 2020 census but I understand there are some other sort of unique challenges that the 2020 census is facing that are new from years prior. So can you talk a little bit about what the other challenges are in the count accuracy this year?
Jeri: Sure. We have issues related to the digital divide, as I mentioned earlier particularly affecting rural communities who don't have broadband access. This is new for this census. We have -- we have really an increased climate of fear of government and distrust which has come from the highest office in this land where communities are disparate and there's divisive political rhetoric that's coming from the White House regarding immigrants who are here, people who are here who may not be documented, or in general communities of color.
You can look at the daily coronavirus White House briefings and see how this plays out in terms of vitriolic rhetoric from the Commander in Chief. We have -- so we have this politicization of the census as well. We have disinformation campaigns. We have social media where we know there are groups out there who are trolling social media pages and putting out incorrect misinformation to discourage census participation within communities of color. Sometimes these things will say "Oh, coronavirus is in full effect and the census has been canceled" and that's nothing further from the truth. This census will take place this year, it's ongoing right now, but there are all kinds of things to discourage participation that we're seeing that's new as well.
(14:30)
Jordan: Are there ways you found -- and groups like the one that you work for -- are there ways that people are trying to combat these challenges? Particularly the online misinformation.
Jeri: Yes, there are. And the most important thing is first of all we have to normalize the census. We are putting a tremendous amount of information on the website, YouTube, and other places to ensure that the public has at its fingertips accurate information about the census. All of us. There's a coalition of census stakeholders and civil rights groups who are putting their own organizations on the line and standing in the gap to be trusted voices in meeting people where they are. That's what the National Urban League is doing with its 90 affiliates. We reach two million people each year providing housing programs, job development, and so forth and we're using those opportunities to educate the public about the importance of the census.
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(18:30)
Jordan: We know that last summer there was a big debate about adding a citizenship question to the census, that the Trump administration was trying to add a question about citizenship to the 2020 census. And the question didn't get added but I understand that people are still worried that that will impact the census count. Can you talk a little bit about that, about that question and about the ways that it might still impact the census even though it's not actually on there?
Jeri: Yes. That citizenship question really, you know, while we were meeting organizations out here who were planning outreach activities and messaging for communities to educate them about the importance of the census, and then here comes this citizenship question that the Trump administration put forward. Secretary Ross in conjunction with Attorney General Barr concocted this plan. The census is heavily researched all decade long to find the most optimal questionnaire they can provide to the residents of this country and this test was just haphazardly thrown out there. It wasn't tested. And it asked individuals point blank are you a citizen or not? And if you are a citizen what is your status? On what basis are you living in this country?
(19:50)
And it just sent a shockwave across not only undocumented communities but families across the country of immigrants who feared the census bureau, this was not only a tool to perhaps share this information with law enforcement, homeland security, and ICE, but also to deny a large segment of the people who live here in this country a right to services and programs, federal programs. And that was -- the ripple effect of that is still being felt. The Supreme Court ruled last year, last summer, that this citizenship question was unconstitutional and that it was designed for political purposes to suppress the political power and voting rights of particularly the Hispanic population and would not -- should not and would not be added to the census questionnaire.
However the fear lingers. We're still getting, when we go out to communities and talk about the importance of the census, we always end up in a dialogue about the citizenship question. So we're combating it still. We're still fighting the aftereffects of that ill-designed and ill-placed question that was scrapped by the Supreme Court.
Jordan: Yeah. And are there other ways that this administration is mishandling the census? I feel like I read or I know I read in a couple of places that there was maybe not as much funding for the census count this year and that there's some concern about lack of adequate testing for new technologies. Can you talk a little bit about those things and other ways the Trump administration may be mishandling the 2020 census?
(21:40)
Jeri: Sure. Throughout the decade of the Republican congress there has been census budget insecurity. There has been little funding and little room to fully test census operations. Typically there are three for instance dress rehearsals in years ending in eight. Because of underfunding the census was only able to do one test and this really does complicate the census process and operations when you can only do one test.
So outreach, the hiring of partnership specialists who are the lifeline between the census bureau and communities and hard-to-count communities in particular, the hiring of partnership specialists was delayed. There were all kinds of consequences as a result of the budget insecurity that the census bureau has experienced for most of this decade and it has had devastating effects in terms of the efficiency of the census and its operations in many cases.
One of the things that the administration and the Republican party is doing as well is as it relates to misinformation and disinformation one of the things is they had a fake census questionnaire that they put out there which ended up being an RNC or Republican National Committee fundraiser.
Jordan: Oh gosh.
Jeri: But instead this is the official census. This is the official census and it looked like a census questionnaire and it was actually a fundraiser for the RNC.
Jordan: Oh my goodness.
Jeri: Yes, and so there was a great deal of attention to that a couple of months ago and stakeholders like the National Urban League and others have fought against this and tried to calm our communities that this is not a census. This is not an official census and it was something that was developed for political purposes to further the efforts of the Republican Party this election cycle.
Jordan: That seems -- is that not illegal? That seems illegal.
(23:50)
Jeri: Yes, many people believe that it is illegal but yes it was a bold and brazen effort once again just like the citizenship question to misinform populations and misrepresent intentions as it relates to the census.
Jordan: Wow, that's absurd. [Laughs]
Jeri: It is.
Jordan: And we talked about it a little bit before but I'm just curious if you could talk a little bit about the ways you think coronavirus and the current pandemic we're experiencing, how you think that might affect the 2020 census.
Jeri: The census is a celebration of this country. It should be. And it's a time for people to become civically engaged in the democratic process so it's a cause for celebration. And it's just unfortunate that today of all days census day is overshadowed by the horrible concerns and fears that we have with respect to coronavirus. So all of these public engagement things that would've been face-to-face where you would see your council member or your governor or someone, your ward captain out there, all of those things have been eliminated. As it relates to the census bureau right now it's about getting the count and the census bureau has to interface with the public to get those forms in if they're not going online. And so they have suspended the enumeration of all campus college kids. The enumeration of the homeless has been suspended and we're also worried about in rural communities whether it's on American Indian reservations or in rural black communities of color across the south those operations where the census bureau would deliver census questionnaires to these rural communities that do not have Internet access nor do they have mailboxes to receive mail that operation has been delayed indefinitely as well. So this is going to have an impact on the count.
(25:55)
Jordan: Absolutely. For any of our listeners who aren't already census workers or engaged in this issue as activists how can they help? How can we be a part of making sure that this year's census gets the most accurate count that it can?
Jeri: Well the important -- one of the important things is it's so good that the census is now online so you don't have to leave your home. You can self-distance yourself and fill out that form online. Go to my2020census.gov and go there and fill out your form. We need to tell people, everyone we meet, family members and so forth, that you can do this. This is important. And that's what, you know, our communities and people who are not involved in the census can do. You can fill out your form online and take your receipt and share it because when you hit that send button online you will get a census confirmation that you've participated. You can take a picture of that and send it to your network, to your family members, and encourage them to count everyone including the babies whether they're foster children, adopted children, you know? Cousins, unrelated family members. We can remind our own families to do that.
It's really going to be a little tough because schools are very important too and teachers could play a role but the schools are closing down and this environment that we have now is really impacting that. But each person can take personal responsibility and tell people to go online. It's simple and easy and safe.
Jordan: What is the final deadline for filling out your census form? Is it did you say August 14th, is that right?
(27:50)
Jeri: It was August 14th and the census bureau has pushed it back another two weeks. Now I must say that many stakeholders, some elected officials, are asking the census bureau to really take a comprehensive look at this and stop doing this piecemeal every two weeks we get pushed back and so it's very possible that the deadline could extend. We're just monitoring the situation. But for right now at least until the end of August you can go online and fill out your form.
Jordan: Gotcha.
Jeri: But we want people to do it. If you do it now no one will knock at your door. If you wait until August you will get a knock. Well we don't know about this coronavirus but the chances of you being undercounted increase exponentially the longer you wait so go online now and fill out the form. Don't wait until August, do it now.
Jordan: Got it. Okay, well thank you so much Jeri for being on Call Your Girlfriend and thank you for teaching us about the census.
Jeri: Well thank you so much and take care everybody. Sanitize and self-respond.
Jordan: Yes we will.
[Interview Ends]
Aminatou: Wow Jordan and Jeri that makes me really happy. Make sure to get counted everyone.
Ann: Yes, my2020census.gov and we'll see you on the Internet.
Aminatou: See you on the Internet boo-boo. You can find us many places on the Internet: callyourgirlfriend.com, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, we're on all your favs. Subscribe, rate, review, you know the drill. You can call us back, leave a voicemail at 714-681-2943. That's 714-681-CYGF. You can email us at callyrgf@gmail.com. We're on Instagram and Twitter at @callyrgf and you can buy our book Big Friendship anywhere you buy books. Our theme song is by Robyn, original music composed by Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs. Our logos are by Kenesha Sneed. We have editorial support from Laura Bertocci. Our producer is Jordan Bailey. This podcast is produced by Gina Delvac.