Tell the Census: It’s Time to Retire “Negro!”

Today is Census Day. If you haven’t already turned in your census form, please do. It’s a simple way to bring thousands of dollars to your community.

But we’re emailing you today for another reason as well — did you notice that the census uses the word “Negro” as one of the descriptions for Black people? We recently polled some ColorOfChange members to see what they thought about this. While some people find the term annoying or offensive, almost everyone agrees that it’s outdated and needs to be retired.¹

If you feel the same, there are two things you can do:

1. Click the link below to send a message to Robert Groves, head of the Census Bureau, telling him it’s time to retire “Negro” from the census form:http://www.colorofchange.org/census/negro/?id=2424-621901
2. Cross it out and send it in — if you still have your census form, cross out the word “Negro” before sending it back. That’s what some ColorOfChange members told us they are doing, and we think it’s a great idea.

The Census Bureau should know that this term is behind the times, and they’ve recently acknowledged as much. Last Friday, a caller listening to an interview with Census director Robert Groves complained about the use of “Negro,” saying it “really hurt my feelings” and seemed “racist.”²

Groves explained that the Census Bureau conducted a poll more than 10 years ago that led to “Negro” being included, but they neglected to do similar research during this past decade. Groves also speculated that in 2020 that word might disappear, but he didn’t commit to it. If you’d like to tell Groves that it should be gone, click the link below:

http://www.colorofchange.org/census/negro/?id=2424-621901

Above all, please do fill out and return the census. It’s a simple way to ensure that federal dollars due your community make it there. As you may know, many of our communities leave millions of dollars on the table due to census forms not being returned.

Thanks and Peace,

– James, Dani, William, Gabriel, Milton, Micah and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
April 1st, 2010

References:

1. Internal poll of ColorOfChange members shows over 70% think it is time to stop using the word “Negro” on the census.

2. “Census Bureau Director Apologizes For ‘Negro’ Category On Form,” March 26, The Huffington Post
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/148?akid=1417.63725.CwU3T5&t=6

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Jermyn Shannon- El

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