Accurate census count important to US Guyanese

Apr 11, 2010 Letters

Dear Editor,
I am writing to urge Guyanese and other Caribbean Americans to please return their census forms so they can be counted. So far, the Census Bureau is reporting only a 20% to 30% rate of return for various communities in the NY area.
This could lead to a severe undercount of the population hurting the state badly with allocation of resources, representation in Congress, electing the President, and more importantly hurting communities where Guyanese are settled with the right amount of resources.
The US Constitution mandates that there be a population count every ten years. Every resident must fill out a census form and return it to the government. The forms were due the first week in April. If the form is not returned, the government will send someone to the home to obtain basic information about the number of people residing there according to age, gender, race, etc.
The government does not want to know about peoples’ personal lifestyle. It just wants to establish an accurate count of the number of people living in a residence. Everyone must provide the information regardless of immigration status – citizen, residence, illegal, and visitors living in the country. The information provided on the form is strictly confidential and will not be used against anyone even if the person is illegal. The census does not ask about immigration status –To not fill out and return the form is against the law that can subject the person to severe penalties. If the form has not been returned as yet, then one should do so now.
An accurate census count is extremely important to the Guyanese community, especially those in Queens where the community has been without a political representative of its own although there is an estimated quarter million with most concentrated in the greater Richmond Hill area. If the count among Guyanese in the greater Richmond Hill area is sizeable (about 200,000), it is quite possible that the boundaries of a legislative district could be drawn up to have a Guyanese or South Asian elected to office in the city or state legislature.
The census is taken every ten years for the purpose of redrawing districts to allow more minorities to become elected to office.
The Guyanese and South Asian people are a minority in the area. It is time for them to have one of their own become elected to office because those who are currently elected do not adequately service the communities.
In addition to obtaining a count of the population for redistricting of legislative seats and electing the President by the Electoral College, the census enables government to allocate resources to communities. The higher the count, the greater the resources and the number of seats allotted to the communities. Every year, the Federal Government allocates more than $400 billion in grants to states and communities for development based on census data. A community could get up to $50,000 over ten years per person. This is money the community can use for development for better schools, parks, centres, etc. So if one person is not counted, the community loses $50K. There is no way of correcting the uncounted until the next census ten years later.
Guyanese were severely undercounted in the 1990 and 2000 censuses because they faced a number of problems such as fear of immigration status, illegal housing, confusion surrounding ethnicity, etc. It is the responsibility of all to fill and return the form as we stand to benefit in maximizing the count of our people in the community where we live.
An accurate census count is essential for us to have a fair share of resources for our neighbourhoods.
Vishnu Bisram

Latest News

Accurate census count important to US Guyanese

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 20th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Windies break home Test drought with 201-run win over Bangladesh

President Ali sees sports as ‘centrepiece’ of...

Amazon Warriors trounce Qalandars in opener

Shepherd excited for IPL journey with RCB

Romeo Hunter snares Sub-Junior and Open gold and...

Rockstone inaugural Street Classic Championship...

Features/Columnists

A psychological profile of a control freak

Rising Gun Crimes in the Caribbean: Urgent Action required by all

The ends are what matter, according to Dr. Jagdeo

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]

Accurate census count important to US Guyanese

Share this:

Related

Similar Articles

The Glenn Lall Show | November, 20th, 2024

Follow on Tik Tok @Glennlall

THE BLUNT OF THE DAY

Sports

Features/Columnists

Publisher’s Note

Weekend Cartoon

Bridge Watch

Demerara Harbour Bridge

> Berbice Bridge […]