Director Of Census 2000 Speaks Essay, Research Paper

“Let’s take a minute to think about how America lives,” Dr. Kenneth

Prewitt, director of Census 2000, said to a gathering of students at Boston

University today.

“We have people living in igloos, houseboats, tree houses and cabins in

the woods,” Prewitt said. “America is not a neat little row of urban houses.”

“The census is two things: a count and assigning geography,” Prewitt

explained. “The purpose of the census is to let the government know where

people are.”

At its peak, Census 2000 will be the third largest advertiser in the United

States. It has poured millions into making sure people know its out there

and also making sure that people acknowledge they must respond. However,

there are several demographic groups, such as Native Americans and Latinos

that are difficult to reach

Prewitt blames two things for an undercount: attitude and demographics.

Demographically, residents who do not live in one place, such as traveling

salesmen who primarily live out of a suitcase, are undercounted along with

people who have no where to live at all. Likewise, Native Americans have

been previously undercounted because the isolation of reservations makes it

difficult and expensive for the Census Bureau to get a count.

Attitudinal problems affect people who fear the government, such as illegal

aliens, and people who dislike the government.

“We’re trying to talk the country into responding and fulfilling their civic

responsibility,” Prewitt said, given the sharp decline in citizen response

since the censuses of 1960 and 1970.

Census 2000 is not just the government’s scientific exercise or collecting

data to redistribute funds and power; this year, the Census Bureau is in

partnership with 90,000 community leaders across the country, and the Bureau

and the community are sharing the responsibility of getting the right numbers

in responses. Prewitt admitted that management is more complicated, but local

leadership may get responses from difficult to reach demographic and racial

groups.

Census 2000 is also different because it is controversial. It is the first

census in American history that gives people the opportunity to identify

themselves specifically and multiracially. Prewitt maintained that, given

the racial tensions that still exist in America, geographically detailed

racial data is important to defending against discrimination. Racial data

will also help reform race-based social policy.