2020 Census

WHEREAS, Article I, Section 2 of the United States Constitution requires an actual enumeration of all persons residing in the country every ten years; and,  

WHEREAS, the results of the decennial census are used to determine apportionment of seats in the U.S. House of Representatives between the states as well as disbursement of over $600 Billion in federal program payments; and,  

WHEREAS, the current Administration plans to conduct a largely digital census despite failing to account for the effects of a digital census on the undercounting of communities of color, lack of testing, and questions around cyber security; and,  

WHEREAS, the Census Bureau has been without a permanent director since June 2017 to oversee the operations of the Bureau and preparations for the 2020 Census; and, 

WHEREAS, the Census Bureau has been underfunded since at least 2012 and such underfunding has caused the cancellation of necessary pre-testing of the questions, systems, and other aspects of the Census; and,  

WHEREAS, in March 2018 the NAACP filed a lawsuit against President Trump and officials of the U.S. Department of Commerce and the U.S. Census Bureau to compel the government to take all legal measures to ensure an accurate accounting of all persons during the upcoming decennial Census and elimination of the undercounting of communities of color; and,  

WHEREAS, days prior to the filing of the NAACP's lawsuit, the Commerce Department announced that it would add a Citizenship Question to the 2020 Census "short form" questionnaire for the first time in almost 70 years, without the proper review and testing.  

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that the NAACP continues to call on the United States Government and each State and Territory of the United States to deploy all resources necessary to ensure an accurate count in the 2020 Census and to eliminate the undercounting of communities of color; and,  

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the NAACP continues to call upon the Commerce Department to remove the problematic, untested, and unnecessary Citizenship Question that will certainly suppress participation in the Census in immigrant communities and communities of color; and,  

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that the NAACP and all of its Units will continue to use their resources to inform and prepare our members and our communities regarding the importance of census participation, and to equip them to advocate for appropriate funding and leadership within the Census Bureau.