What Else the Census Bureau Can Learn From Us

Millions of dollars in advertising have taught us what the Census Bureau stands to learn from our forms: our races, genders, ages, geographic areas and housing arrangements. But what about the people who refuse to fill out the 2010 Census? What can the government learn from them?

Every time I climb into my beaten-up Ford Taurus and turn the dial to a talk radio station, I'm met with a cheerful voice requesting that I fill out my survey. It's no surprise that virtually every day, I hear some Census Bureau spokesperson extol the virtues of "every voice being counted;" to date, the Bureau's spent $133 million in census advertising. And for good reason — as President Obama wrote this week, filling out the Census guarantees that communities "receive adequate funding for schools, hospitals, senior centers and other public works projects."

But for some Americans, these promises are empty. For anyone who's felt disenfranchised by the political system, Census Bureau advertisements can seem laughable, even disingenuous. (For example, 22 percent of U.S.-born Hispanics don't have definite plans to fill out their paperwork this year, and only 57 percent believe the Census is good for their community.) This vicious cycle leads to undercounting the people who need help the most.

Calvin Stewart, an alderman in Rolling Fork, Mississippi, has encountered his fair share of distrust of the Census from town members. "They say, 'If we get counted, what is it going to matter?'" a frustrated Stewart told the New York Times. "That's the morale around here. No one cares."

The Census Bureau's response to these and other frustrations has been to emphasize the importance of the Census even further. Such a reaction would be understandable if the Bureau was trying to counter misperceptions about the Census — that the information gathered from the surveys wouldn't be kept private, for example, or that the forms are just a large-scale government conspiracy to catch poor people carrying out illegal activities (a real fear in Rolling Fork, according to Stewart).

When Americans express a genuine belief, however, that the Census won't alleviate their abject poverty or end the political and economic disenfranchisement they feel tangibly each day, the correct Census Bureau response isn't propaganda — it's open ears and an open mind. Poor Americans know Washington's game — when the government wants something, suddenly, the promises of a better future abound. But for the other 364 days of the year, nothing changes, and no one seems to care about improving the lot of low-income Americans.

That's not to say that people shouldn't fill out the Census this year and ensure that the breakdown of national demographics is as accurate as possible. But in turn, the Census Bureau — and other governmental agencies, for that matter — should commit to paying more attention to low-income Americans. They could begin by actually listening to people's complaints instead of shouting over them. It'd be a good start.

Photo credit: The White House