Are we really going to sit back and ignore the Census? Why do I need to fill this out? Doesn’t the government already know all they need to know about me? Do I really need to give them all my personal information? What will this do for me and my family?
I will be the first to admit that many of these questions came out of my mouth in the past. I used to do like many of you. Totally ignore the census, mostly out of fear. I didn’t want the government in my business. I didn’t want Uncle Sam to know anything extra about me. Little did I know, everytime I did that, I would be hurting people in my community. People that I may know and love. I realized that through the census the government makes a lot of important decisions. Choices that affect me and every other person living below the poverty line.
What is the Census?
To be plain, the census is a count of all the people in the U.S. and territories. It is actually part of our Constitution that every ten years we must count how many people are living in the United States of America. Data from the census helps small business owners with important stats and numbers which they may use to tailor their business around the demographic of their community.
Don’t throw it away, fill it out
Getting an accurate count of how many people are in your house, how many in your city, your state, and our country, determines which schools get funding, and which ones don’t. Which schools get needed upgrades. What cities get raises for their civil service workers, and what cities lose workers due to cutbacks. We think these things don’t affect us until we go to drop our babies off at Head Start and no teachers are there, and the lights are turned off. We don’t care about the Census until we are about to get our lights cut off and we have to go to United Way, Dhhs, or Community Action Agency. The last thing you wanna hear in that situation is; we ran out of funding.
Don’t just think about yourself. Think about 33,000 citizens of Jackson Michigan. Some doing well, living off a generation of hard work. Others struggling to survive the effects of systematic oppression. Think about the programs which support our mental health community, our children’s programs, and our shelters. It takes less than 10 minutes to complete and you’ve done your part in being a COMMUNITY SOLDIER!
I am a community soldier fighting against all injustices, all forms of discrimination, advocating for those who can't speak for themselves. I am a father, a husband, and brother to all!
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Community Soldier 