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Too bad the Census does not send forms to POBs.
Folks with P.O. Boxes won't get Census Forms in Mail (http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/89558322.html - broken link)
Census forms can only be sent to an actual living quarter, where you sleep. If a Census worker found that you did "live" in your POB for more than 1/2 a year, by a personal visit for verification, you would get your form sent to that address.
I once visited a mailbox for verification of home occupants, but instead only found that a horse lived there. The address was deleted from the Census roster. It's true! The actual owners were eventually going to build a house, according to a neighbor who I needed to proxy my findings.
on race it actually said "black, african-american, or negro". Umm, aren't they all the same thing? For Asian, why did they list so many versions of Asian but only one catagory for white? Perhaps I should have checked "other" and listed French/Indian (native American). What about white: English, Scottish, Irish, French, Italian, German, etc.? No, whites aren't important in the census. Only other races and cultures are important. All it should have said is "Are you a legal American citizen, yes or no". If yes, continue to next question. If no, stop and mail form back.
I can't remember what the last census said for black folk. Only that this year, someone felt it was...uh necessary, to make sure Negro was included, since, duh, people from that generation, wouldn't know what black and african american meant, although these same people, lived during the 60's, 70's, 80's etc. I just think cuz Obama was in office, someone thought it would be hilarious to notate that. Hell, why not just include "colored" to make sure everyone knew what to put! Why do we need a racial class anyway?
I can't remember what the last census said for black folk. Only that this year, someone felt it was...uh necessary, to make sure Negro was included, since, duh, people from that generation, wouldn't know what black and african american meant, although these same people, lived during the 60's, 70's, 80's etc. I just think cuz Obama was in office, someone thought it would be hilarious to notate that. Hell, why not just include "colored" to make sure everyone knew what to put! Why do we need a racial class anyway?
An oxymoron in this day and age of supposed "equal opportunity".
Race is not supposed to matter yet it's on almost all forms you fill in.
I always check "other" and do not fill in the blank..figure I'll leave them wondering.
I can't remember what the last census said for black folk. Only that this year, someone felt it was...uh necessary, to make sure Negro was included, since, duh, people from that generation, wouldn't know what black and african american meant, although these same people, lived during the 60's, 70's, 80's etc. I just think cuz Obama was in office, someone thought it would be hilarious to notate that.
No need to try and remember what was asked - see: 2000 Census Questions and Instructions (http://usa.ipums.org/usa/voliii/inst2000.shtml - broken link)
And here's the question:
6. What is this person's race? Mark [X] one or more races to indicate what this person considers himself/herself to be.
O White
O Black, African Am., or Negro
O American Indian or Alaska Native - Print name of enrolled or principal tribe.
O Asian Indian
O Chinese
O Filipino
O Japanese
O Korean
O Vietnamese
O Other Asian - Print race.
________________________________
O Native Hawaiian
O Guamanian or Chamorro
O Samoan
O Other Pacific Islander - Print race.
________________________________
O Some other race - Print race.
________________________________
I've underlined a key part of the question, but to highlight it further (so as to increase understanding), the reason "Negro" was included on the 2000 Census and again on this year's Census was that there are some people who self-identify as being Negro. I suspect that the numbers identifying themselves as such have gone down over the years, and that the Census Bureau will at some point drop "Negro" from the question.
Census officials say they included the term because more than 56,000 respondents in 2000 wrote in the term on the 2000 Census. Including the category makes the forms faster to count.
One last point. On the 1990 Census, the choice was Black or Negro (no African American), and the same was true in 1980; on the 1970 Census, the choice was Negro or Black (listing Negro first); as recently as the 1960 Census, the only option was Negro.
Do the Hispanic's get a special grant or something.....I always wanted to know the meaning of this on Government Forms?
What race are you?
The Hispanics of course will pick White....because that is the only one that fits their race in the descriptions that are listed.
Then they want your phone number......and ask you do you rent or own your home
What the hell all off these questions have to do with the census count?
Don't know why the separate hispanic question...but not all hispanics will pick white. You do know that there are millions of black hispanics, don't you?
As far as the phone number, it's primarily so the bureau can perform quality control over the census takers. They will be verifying 10% of all the questionnaires the census takers turn in--to make sure the census takers aren't fabricating info and to make sure the census takers are treating people like human beings and threatening them with something ridiculous like the FBI if people don't cooperate.
You have real heartburn over the census, one of the few actual constitutional actions taken by our government? Make a phone number up. The census takers are trained and told repeatedly to record what people say. If someone looks as white as Caspar the Ghost and tells the taker they are black, they put it down. Tell them your phone number is 555-1234, they'll put it down.
The ownership question is one that's been on the census for decades and decades. And they aren't asking anything more than can be found in public records anyway (Now, as to why they don't avail themselves of that, I don't know. People would gritch about the government supercomputer snooping then, I guess.), including whether you own your place or not.
I'm a Census Worker again this time around, as I worked the last one, too. This time they sent my fingerprints to the FBI before being allowed to work, which with all of the fraud about, I think that was a wise idea.
It's firmly ingrained in the trainings that no one deviates from their job's script. Continuity brings the truest results. It's an absolute for certain about whatever the Census Worker is told they must write on the form. No Census Worker is allowed to change the obvious vs what's said or to assume anything. That's why they must read the highlighted bold script on each form to the person answering the questions and also in a certain order, to eliminate missing information from skipping around. Even the matter of sex must be verbally verified. You'll note that this year they removed the household income and number of rooms, including bathrooms which I thought interesting the last Census. They do keep trimming that form.
As for using public records, come on just how many of them out there are completely true? The information must come from the individual to get the best information for a true Census. Only someone actually living at the address would know if they had other people really living there over half a year, any length of stay or if taken in a homeless person with no address on April 1st, the cut off date used. The Census basis is to find all residents for the most exact count of truths possible to be of any real value from the results. Thus all of the precautions to find everyone and the cross referencing for fraud and duplications. The more lies, the more need for another to verify and repair to find the truth. Please remember the goal is what is important. Even if you don't care about proper representation at any government level, schools, roads, or emergency assistance, don't you at least want a band-aid, or a plate of food in the event of a true disaster? I do!
I did (enumerate) some addresses (no names are on the forms, only codes plus the address) in my own neighborhood of which I've lived the past 30 years. I could have filled out many of the forms myself with my own self obtained information, but wouldn't as I swore to uphold the rules of my job. If I couldn't get information from anyone in the household 15 or older in age, I could get a neighbor to proxy the form with the best information that they could provide. But that is a last step, only taken after numerous tries or a refusal from an actual resident. (We are not allowed to turn in a refusal unless all else fails. If we do so, another worker will just try again, thus using more government money. So id someone lies or refuses information, we working just get paid more from those old tax dollars. So please don't complain about your taxes if you don't comply with the law. Then again I do love the paychecks that I work so hard to get by doing my job honestly.) Thus in answer to the question as to why the Census Worker must ask a resident: If you want reliable and truthful information, you go to the horses mouth, isn't that the saying?
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Why do we need a racial class anyway?
