The Case for a Black Census

The U.S. Census already undercounts people of color and low-income households. Concerns about privacy and various logistical barriers keep many of these populations from being able to participate in the national headcount. And the administration’s recent decision to add an untested question about citizenship to the 2020 census—ostensibly to enforce voting rights—is likely to worsen that problem. According to a Brookings Institution estimate, 24 million people would likely opt out of the next decennial Census survey, spooked by the possibility that their names and addresses may be shared with the Department of Justice. (While there are rules that restrict how information gathered by the Census is shared with other agencies, for vulnerable groups the risk may seem too great.)

Against this backdrop comes the Black Census Project—a new initiative of the the Black Futures Lab, an organization founded by Alicia Garza of Black Lives Matter to harness the political power of black communities in America. Their new project seeks to start that off by compiling a detailed snapshot of black life.