A Lack of Census Consensus

Yesterday (Wednesday, July 14), I got a phone call from Senator Bayh's DC office, which really surprised me. Unfortunately, I was just heading into another meeting, so I couldn't ask her any questions. I did try calling back later throughout the day, but thus far, I haven't been able to reach her.

On another topic, though, I had a visitor at my house that same evening. Apparently, the Census Bureau was not satisfied by my answers on my survey. Basically, I gave them a headcount, which is what the census is for, and told them that the rest of the information wasn't any of their business. (I didn't phrase it quite that bluntly, but I did draw lots of big X's throughout the rest of the survey.)

I'm going to state what information I was provided by the census taker. I didn't research all the laws on this subject, but I have read a number of articles regarding whether or not the questions are constitutional. Unfortunately, I'm no expert here, so I'm only going to summarize what information I was given.

The man who stopped by gave me a sheet, which read, "You are required by law to provide the information requested." And here are the laws the sheet listed that apply to the survey, in brief.

1. Your privacy is protected.


2. The government can ask you whatever they want, except questions regarding religion (although interpretation of that law is open to debate).


3. Failure to answer can result in a $100 fine. Lying can get you up to $500.

But here's the problem. Based on every reason I got for giving answers to questions, they're asking the wrong questions. For example, based on our conversation, I gathered that the larger the Hispanic population, then the more money schools could receive for teaching English as a second language. However, the questions don't address how well someone knows English. Wouldn't schools be better able to give a headcount indicating how many students they have that struggle with English?

Furthermore, you can check all the boxes under the race category with which you identify yourself. So if you had a great-grandma from China, but everyone else in the family was European, you could still mark Chinese as an option. Is that misleading? Personally, in a scenario like that, I think it is. But it's OK for the census. And I know I could get flack for this, but President Obama only checked the box for "Black, African American, or Negro." He didn't check the box for "White," even though his mother is white.(Click here for article.) So what's really the point of the question? Why even ask?

Around the same time as our original census survey came to us, we had to fill out similar questions regarding race for the school system. That really infuriated me, so I decided to call the Indiana Department of Education (DOE) to state my concerns. I asked the representative there how I’m supposed to teach my children to see beyond the color of a person’s skin if we keep sticking it in front of them. I’d also heard from school workers (not our school system) that on some paperwork they fill out, they had been told by the administrators to check a minority box, even when it didn’t apply at times, so that the school would get extra money. Again, if the whole process is about money and people are lying about it, then there’s no value to asking the question. And the lady at the DOE agreed on both counts.

Then in May, an incident occurred in California, as some teenage boys were sent home for wearing American flags and colors during Cinco de Mayo celebrations. (Click here for article.)

So why is it that we can’t be Americans first? I’m proud of my heritage, but first and foremost, I’m American. However, my family comes from a German-Swiss background. But I still want to be called an American, and if people want specifics, I’m an American of German and Swiss descent.

Now back to the census taker. Of all the parts of the census, this one doesn't make any sense to me at all. This census counts everyone, US citizen or not, including someone in the US with a student visa. In fact, he told me that the only people you don't count are the foreign travelers who are here short term, which he defined as having a two-week visa. As a result, depending upon the location of illegal immigrants or long-term visitors in the US, your counts by city could be dramatically skewed, thus affecting lines drawn for voting purposes. But I doubt that anyone would use such information for personal political gain (dripping with sarcasm).

I'll give the census guy credit, though. He was considerate, despite all my questions, and even made a few statements that I could agree with wholeheartedly. Eventually, though, he conceded that he could just write down that I refused to answer certain questions.

And when I couldn't find an option in the race category for American, that's exactly what I did.