Congressman Dwight Evans (D-PA) and Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-IL) led a letter from 45 Congressional Black Caucus members seeking answers from the Census Bureau on the apparent undercount of African Americans in the 2020 census.
Evans said, “Census data plays an enormous but often silent role in Americans’ daily lives, informing legislative representation and the distribution of hundreds of billions of federal dollars and other resources each year. A Census that does not accurately represent Black communities robs them of their equal share of federal resources in education, health care, housing, nutrition assistance, and many other areas — perpetuating systemic racism.”
“Preliminary independent research estimates indicate that the Black population was undercounted during the 2020 Census at a rate nearly three times as high as the previous 2010 Census. Particularly concerning is the finding that Black children may have been undercounted in 2020 at a rate nearly ten times higher than in 2010.”
Underwood said, “Everyone deserves to be counted in the Census; funding for community services including schools, roads, and emergency response depends on an accurate count. The likely undercount of Black Americans in the 2020 Census is alarming and it needs to be corrected. I look forward to working with the Administration and my Congressional Black Caucus colleagues to rectify this as soon as possible.”
The 45 CBC members requested a response as soon as possible, as well as a full briefing from Census Bureau Director Robert Santos.
The letter’s full text, including the names of all 45 signers, is available at is.gd/censusletter or https://evans.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/letter-census-bureau
Original source can be found here.
