Counting Cultural Diversity

Last Friday, April 16 2010, was the final deadline for Americans to return their census forms. Although final mail participation rates – the percentage of forms mailed back by households excluding those returned by the postal service for being undeliverable – will not be available until early May, they will be eagerly anticipated by the Census Bureau and likely to cause either significant celebration or upset.

This is because mail participation rates will indicate whether or not the most far-reaching and targeted census campaign to date has been a success. More than a dozen independent agencies were drafted in this year to help reach specific communities, while ethnic organizations and community institutions like local churches were enlisted to encourage participation amongst populations generally reluctant to involve themselves with federal government.

Furthermore, the 2010 campaign has been running in 28 languages, up 11 on the last census. Respondents could answer questionnaires in one of 6 languages (English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Chinese, Russian) or receive over-the-phone help in 59 languages. Since many individuals never even open census envelopes, volunteer groups have been going door-to-door across the country working to convince non-English speakers and the undocumented that their voices count.

These measures reflect a newfound sensitivity to the limitations of a one-size-fits-all census model, and wider political acceptance of the changing, varied nature of the communities who populate and uphold the United States.

The country is a melting pot of immigrant communities who all deserve to be heard. Traditionally many of these individuals were ‘uncountable’ - non-English speakers, the undocumented, inhabitants of illegal living arrangements, individuals of no fixed abode – however it is not only socially just but politically essential to seek their census responses. For example, it is estimated by Pricewaterhouse Coopers that following the last census, the state of California lost out on more that $1.5 billion in federal funding due to unaccounted for Californians.

So far figures look bleak for the Census Bureau, despite their best efforts at inclusivity. As of early Friday the mail participation rate was 68% meaning that 1 in 3 Americans had failed to return their questionnaire on time (although more are expected to arrive).

These preliminary results beg the question of how else immigrant voices, and their concerns, can be accounted for. One route is through arts and the media. To this end, last week The Opportunity Agenda hosted an Arts, Culture & Media 2010 forum focusing on the artistic contributions immigrants make to US culture. The panelists, including director Mira Nair, activists Chung-Wha Hong and Frank Sharry, spoke incisively and passionately about the difficulties faced by immigrants and cultural representations made of their experiences. If the Census can’t be counted on to accurately reflect the lives of immigrants in the United States, then it is even more important to pay attention to the cultural products from these communities that can.

Continue the conversation here.