Black Americans Should Be Allowed to Be Counted as Citizens on the US Census

Blacks should be allowed to state they are citizens of this country on the Census.  The false belief that a Black American would be intimidated by a citizen question is ridiculous and racist.  Black Americans have been citizens of this country for over 150 years.  Black Americans have lived in this country’s borders since before it was a country- meaning prior to 1776.  The first US Census was conducted in 1790.  Blacks were present and counted.  In 1790, the free Black comprised of approximately 7.9% of the Black population.[i]  Black slaves showed a population count of 697,624. In total the combined free and slave Black population consisted of 757,181 persons or 19% of the US population. Thus, there has been a significant total Black population from the Census’ very beginning. The majority of Black Americans come from these populations meaning we have been born in the country, and therefore citizens, since colonial times. In fact, according the Census between 1790 and 1970, most Blacks were native born. [ii]  That fact more than likely remains true today. The Civil War ended over 150 years ago so the entire Black American population from these lines have been citizens since the passage of the 14th Amendment due to natural birth.  Therefore, there is no reason for Black Americans and their families, who have been citizens via natural birth in this country for hundreds of years, to be afraid of a citizenship question.  Indeed, I would guess that Black Americans are happy to be officially called citizens for once in this country’s history.  Given the large numbers of citizens in our population, the result will most likely show that Black Americans have some of the highest rates of citizenship in this country.  For most Black neighborhoods, the US Census (the Census and its companion American Community Survey) is a document that only ratifies every messed-up racist stereotype about Blacks- poverty, lack of education, joblessness, single parent families, never to be assimilated, etc.[iii]  Even Blacks that can fill out the forms are grouped in with the other Blacks, resulting in Census information where everyone is poor who lives in a Black community.  It has caused real problems within the Black community among Blacks.  The Census has never been a document that is fun for Blacks- even today it is a document that does more than just provide a count for House votes, the Electoral College and government funding. The inclusion of the racial category questions, which are purely demographic unless one is still championing the 3/5 rule, negates any arguments to limit the Census’ function as merely a tool for providing numbers for votes and money. Currently the racial laws governing the Census provide for every Hispanic, North African and Middle Eastern to be counted as Whites resulting in a race paradigm where American Blacks are being increasingly racially isolated both here and globally.[iv] Every ten years I read endless articles reporting how poor and crime-filled my neighborhood is.  All statistics on the web regarding demographics, which are not positive, cite to the Census and information reported by the US Census Bureau.  Yet we still fill it out.  It is a document that records our presence. Blacks want to be counted in this country despite that this country has never provided Black Americans with the luxury of making up our racial or economic backgrounds as the “immigrant experience” champions.  It is about time that one question be positive for us.  The citizenship question will allow the Census to be a document that records the demographics of not just slaves, ex-slaves, or poverty stricken peoples but of citizens.[v]

[i] Carter Godwin Woodson and Charles H. Wesley, “The Negro In Our History”, The Associated Publisher, Inc., 12^th edition, 1972, p. 245; US Department of Commerce, “Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970”, Series A 91-104, Population by Sex and Race: 1790 – 1970, fn. 2, Bureau of the Census, 1975.
[ii]US Department of Commerce, “Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970”, See e.g., Series A 105-118: Foreign Born population by sex and race: 1850 to 1970, Bureau of the Census, 1975.
[iii] I am referring to both the Census and American Community Survey. The US Census Bureau produces demographic and numeric data from both the US Census and American Community Survey. The short form is the Census document which asks for name, number of persons living in unit, demographic race information and age. The American Community Survey and other data tables collects long form type information (e.g. employment, migration, educational attainment, veteran status, income, number of children, foreign birth, etc.) The American Community Survey eliminated the need for a decennial census long form in 2010. (https://factfinder.census.gov) Both sets of information are often presented together, i.e. citysearch, realtor.com, US Census Factfinder, and all websites containing demographic information.
[iv]The statement that the Hispanics and MENA are people of color is flat out lie. According the US Census, Middle Easterners and North Africans are categorically “White alone” https://www.census.gov/topics/population/race/about.html. On the 2010 Census, the majority of Hispanics (53%) self-reported as “White alone” even though the race laws do not specifically provide for their inclusion in the White race. Hispanic is an ethnicity under the Census- not a race. They choose which race they belong to on the Census. Only 2.5% of Hispanics identified as “Black or African American” racial persons in the 2010 Census. Even less at 1.4% identified as person of the “American Indian or Alaskan Native race”. 36.7% self-reported as “Some other race” which was “Mexican”, “Cuban”, “Puerto Rican” and “Spaniard”- not Black or any color. US Census; see also US Department of Commerce Economics and Statistics Administration, “Overview of Race and Hispanic Origin: 2010, 2010 Census Brief”, Issued March 2011, US Census Bureau, 2011. The only people of color according to the US Census, which defines its racial categories as generally reflecting a social definition of race recognized in this country, are Blacks and Asians. All of the politician know this because are looking the racial demographic data for their own political purposes and every ten years ratify these racist and ridiculous race categories. So when they say “people of color” are afraid of the citizenship question, what they mean is Blacks and Asians are. Blacks are not afraid of that question. This has not been an honest discussion since the 1997 Executive Order allowing Hispanics to pass themselves in the White race. Unfortunately the liberal position has been one of dishonesty and Black manipulation.
[v]The Census’ main concern regarding the American Black race has been one of slave management and later one of providing the necessary “facts” to justify Black exploitation and suppression- both financially and politically. The technical term is “denominator” data for multiple measures such as property values, insurance rates, etc. For example, every Census from 1790 until 1860 classified Blacks as either slave or free. See chart in Woodson and Wesley, supra, https://www.census.gov/history/www/through_the_decades/overview/1790.html; Historical Statistics of the United States, Series 119-134 and Series 91-104.(In 1790, all racial categories were classifies as free or slave). Another example is the 3/5 compromise of 1787 where Congress determined Black slaves would be counted as 3/5 of a person in order to limit Southern voting power. The number that determined a State’s total population for these purposes originated from the Census count- hence the original need to include race at all on the Census short form and the free/slave designations. Since emancipation, the Census has focused on our poverty, ensuring our racial isolation, etc. as I discuss above. As citizens we are free Blacks and should, for once, be counted as just citizens.