Latinos need to take time for Census

It’s good to hear a few religious leaders talking some sense these days.

The subject in question is the Census for 2010. The U.S. Census Bureau is having to cope with the usual problems in getting the growing Latino population to take the study seriously.

THOSE PROBLEMS ARE being multiplied by some Latino activists who are threatening to use the Census to play politics with immigration reform.

So it was good to learn that Esperanza, the largest faith-based Evangelical network that reaches out to Latinos, had its leaders in Washington, trying to urge people to fill out the Census form when it shows up in their mailboxes next spring.

And if it turns out that a Census Bureau worker shows up at their front door to ask a few questions, sicc’ing the family dog on him (or her) likely is not the best option.

Now I can appreciate the thought that went into those people who want to play politics with the Census. They’re concerned that Congress will ignore immigration reform. Or, worse yet, they will pass some lame proposal that does nothing to improve the current confusion that exists from federal immigration laws, and try to make it seem like a significant boost for Latinos.

I SHARE THAT same fear at times, even though President Barack Obama claims he wants to have Congress do something later this year.

But I can’t see how “taking down” the Census would do any good.

For what I expect to happen as a result of the 2010 Census (which makes an effort to count as accurately as possible the number of people living in the United States on April 1, 2010) is that a total Latino population figure will be produced that verifies all the unofficial figures that we have been hearing in recent years.

In 2000, the Census told us that Latinos made up about 12 percent of the population, and shortly thereafter surpassed the African-American population. Various estimates tell us that we reached levels of 15 to 16 percent in 2008, and that the figure is continuing to rise (although some nativists like to push the theory that the current economic struggles are causing significant numbers of Latinos to “go home”).

I DOUBT THE Census next year will show the United States at a 20 percent Latino population. But it could be close.

That thought astounds me, in a sense. We are close to the point where one of every five people in this country will be Latino. We’ve reached the point where it is getting absurd to use the word “minority” to describe the Latino population.

But if people start ignoring the Census, we will short-change that figure. It will almost be like we’re offering aid and comfort to the nativists who are determined to make short shrift of our presence in this nation.

I’d hate to see that happen.

THAT WAS ALSO the attitude expressed by Esperanza officials in the District of Columbia.

Not that the group isn’t concerned about immigration reform. Their website (http://www.esperanza.us/) includes portions that make it easy for people to sign a letter via their computers that will be presented to Obama when he speaks to the group’s conference, which ends Friday.

That letter says that true immigration reform cannot wait any longer, and that a good part of the reason why the problem has become so severe is because it was ignored by Congress and the president in the past.

If anything, I also think that undercutting the Census Bureau count of Latinos could wind up hurting the immigration reform movement.

WHAT ULTIMATELY IS going to persuade a majority of Congress to approve changes in federal law that create reasonable means for controlling who can get into the United States is a show of political force.

That means votes.

Political people who in recent years have supported measures meant to alter immigration laws by increasing the number of deportations did so largely because they perceived that to be the mood of their constituents back home.

They felt there weren’t enough Latinos in the country to care about their hostile actions.

BUT A LARGER count would literally be a show of force, so to speak. Latinos exist in great numbers, and often take an interest in this issue even if their own families are so well established that they are full-fledged U.S. citizens because we realize that many non-Latinos are too clueless to figure out who is, and isn’t, a citizen.

Cooperating with the Census literally becomes a means for flexing our collective muscle, which ultimately is how we will be taken seriously in this nation in the 21st Century.

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