Call for Census Boycott is Not Very
Smart
PHOENIX (By
Jon
Garrido, The Jon Garrido News Network) April 16, 2009
When I was very young, from my home
town of Superior, Arizona, a shopping trip
into downtown Phoenix not only was a
necessity, it was an exiting
adventure to
the big city. In the
early 50s, downtown
Phoenix was a exciting shopping
destination. There were shoppers everywhere going
in and out of downtown stories and we
looked similar to other
shoppers
Hispanic.
In those days, an unsaid truth was
downtown Phoenix was close to south
Phoenix and everyone knew the area south
of the Salt River was where all
Hispanics lived
all!
Even during the mid 80s to early 90s, it
seem we were the only Hispanics living
in the Pinnacle Peak area of north Scottsdale
and even fewer as we shopped and went to
church in Carefree at Our Lady of Joy.
Today, Hispanics are found throughout
the Phoenix area. We are as abundant as
all other populations and in some cases,
Hispanics are even more prevalent in key
areas of Phoenix.
When we were few, there were even
fewer Hispanic legislators and of more
importance, there were few Hispanic
businesses.
Today, Hispanic businesses are major
component of the economic engine of
Phoenix and even though our numbers are stagnant in
this declining economy as the
economy begins to return and exceed
where we once were, Hispanic businesses
will be ahead of the curve once again
to become a major component of the vitality
of Phoenix.
All of this has to do with growth of the
Phoenix Hispanic community which is the
same for most markets in the southern
half of the United States.
With more than 46
million people, Nuevo Hispania is the
27th-largest nation on Earth and the
fourth largest in the Western
Hemisphere. Its residents wield $1
trillion of buying power in the
marketplace. Even as the rest of the
economy contracts in the global
recession, Nuevo Hispania remains a
thriving, even booming, market thats
expected to grow by 48 percent in the
next four years.
And its not even a real country.
The imaginary Nuevo Hispania is
actually a substantial segment of the
U.S. population. Hispanics now account
for more than 17 percent of the U.S.
populace as the nations largest
minority group. And while other
demographic sectors are growing only
incrementally, the Hispanic population
is exploding: The Census Bureau projects
30 percent of Americans will be Hispanic
by 2050 and by 2097, 50% of all
Americans will be Hispanic.
The Hispanic markets growing clout
comes even as the recession takes a
harsh toll on Hispanic workers. The
elimination of tens of thousands of
construction jobs has hit the sector
particularly hard, sending the national
unemployment rate for Hispanic males to
11 percent.
For decades, businesses and cultural
institutions could afford to ignore the
Hispanic market. Now, they are chasing
it aggressively, because thats where
the money is.
That poses a big challenge.
Underrepresented for decades in U.S.
commerce and media, Hispanic Americans
long ago developed our own commercial,
cultural and media channels. And that
means companies and institutions cant
just throw open the doors and expect
Hispanics to come in.
Those companies and institutions must go
to the customer but first the size of
the customer base needs to be measured
and that means, the customer base needs
to be counted. Yes counted!
It is numbers that detail size and it is
growth projections that move markets
that creates jobs that provide income
and without income we have nothing.
Of equal importance, population numbers
are the only measurement gauge of
allocating federal money given to
cities and states and this is not just a
small of money. It is a substantial
allocation of federal monies to pay for
public works projects such as streets,
buildings, water and sewer to social,
medical, and education activities such as
medical care, schools and even numbers
have a
direct impact on immigration reform.
Yes ― immigration reform. Remember it is
the U.S. Congress that is responsible
for writing and approving legislation
and this specifically means
― immigration reform.
Federal funding and apportionment of
seats in the U.S. House of
Representatives are based on a Census of
the population every 10 years. Not
counting the estimated 12 million
immigrants who are here undocumented
would send less money to states and
cities that have large numbers of
undocumented residents and could shift
political clout elsewhere.
Two congressional seats are seen
coming to Arizona in the next round of
apportionment in 2010 with Phoenix
probably receive an additional
congressional seat.
All of this is predicated on growth of
Arizona's population and growth of
the Hispanic population within the City
of Phoenix is projected in
2010 to surpass 50% of the entire
population of the City of Phoenix.
This will be a significant milestone not
only as a symbolic event but will
clearly enhance ability of the
Phoenix Hispanic community to become the
major force in all that happens in Phoenix,
Arizona.
Some Hispanic advocacy groups are
calling for undocumented immigrants to
boycott the 2010 Census unless
immigration laws are changed. This move
for a boycott puts them at odds with leading immigrant
rights advocates and creates another
hurdle in the Census Bureau's quest to
count everyone in the USA.
The National Coalition of Hispanic
Clergy & Christian Leaders, a group that
says it represents 20,000 evangelical
churches in 34 states, issued a
statement this week urging undocumented
immigrants not to fill out Census forms
unless Congress passes "genuine
immigration reform."
Similar grass-roots campaigns are
unfolding in Arizona and New Mexico to
protest state and local crackdowns on
undocumented immigrants. Asking
immigrants to be counted without giving
them a chance to become legal residents
counters church teachings, says the Rev.
Miguel Rivera, president of the Hispanic
religious coalition.
When the Census counts growing numbers
of Hispanics, the counts are often used
to support crackdowns on undocumented
immigrants, he says. About 38% of the
churches' 3.4 million members are
undocumented, he says. The Census Bureau
does not ask people if they are here
undocumented.
"Our job is to count every single
person," says Raul Cisneros, Census
spokesman. "We are disappointed any
organization would urge anyone to not
participate in the 2010 Census."
"We know it will hurt a lot of cities,"
Rivera says.
That's the bargaining chip boycott
supporters are using to lobby lawmakers
to issue temporary work visas for
undocumented workers and give them a way
to become citizens.
The call for a boycott "may be
well-intended but misguided and
ultimately irresponsible," says Arturo
Vargas, executive director of the
National Association of Hispanic Elected
Officials and a member of a Census
advisory panel.
"There is a sense of desperation and
frustration among some immigrant rights
leaders" Congress has not taken action
on such issues, Vargas says. They should
give the new administration a chance, he
says.
That is not allaying concerns in states
that have imposed sanctions on employers
who hire undocumented immigrants or in
cities and counties that have given
police the power to enforce immigration
laws.
In Phoenix, Alfredo Gutierrez, host of a daily radio
program on a Spanish station, threaten a
Census boycott to protest crackdowns on
undocumented immigrants.
In Roswell, N.M., businessman Bobby
Villegas launched a campaign in February
to get undocumented workers to boycott
the Census. He's doing it as the city
nears 50,000 population, a mark that
would give it the government designation
as a metropolitan area, which puts
cities on the map for national marketers
and retailers.
"Are we going to bring more money in the
community so they can hire more
police officers who then will go out
after more undocumented?" Villegas asks.
The Roswell Hispano Chamber of Commerce
he helped found voiced support for the
Census, but "it's going to be very hard
to reach these individuals and say,
'Trust me,' " says Juan Oropesa,
executive director.
"Trust me" is not an easy sell in
Roswell nor in Phoenix and for that
matter, not in any city in the United
States, but trust is necessary because
living in America is all about the
numbers.
It is about the number who turn out to
vote, the number who buy consumer goods
and services and it is about the number
of our children who are educated and who are
our future.
Cutting off one's nose to show
opposition to the number counting is to
spite one's face. All Hispanics and in
particular, the undocumented, should embrace
the number counting for some day, not to far in
the future, Hispanics will no longer
have to hide in the shadows because it
will be the number counting that will
make us a political and economic force
to be reckoned with.
It will be our huge numbers that will
bring us out of the shadows into the
light of America.
Jon Garrido
