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.
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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.
CityLab caught up with Garza, and three other women involved with the project—Connie Razza, director of policy and research at Demos, Arisha Hatch, managing director of Color of Change, and Shanthony Exum, who designed the Black Census project website—for a conversation.