The United States Census Bureau will host a special Seminar in honor of Caribbean American Heritage Month, today. The Seminar will include a by-invitation only briefing for Caribbean-American leaders on progress and planning for census 2020; as well as a webinar on how to access current census data open to all at NOON today.
The invite only briefing will focus on the ongoing research on race and ethnicity. Dr. Claire A. Nelson, President and Founder of the Institute of Caribbean Studies, states that, “There are many challenges of counting as Caribbean. For one, who are we counting? First generation? Second generation? Foreign Born? A second and possibly more important issue, is that we cannot ignore one of the most important questions in the American policy dialogue — race and ethnicity. The need to ensure an equal opportunity American dream requires that the government take into account how we count as Americans by race and ethnicity.
Palash Ghosh stated in his article “Caribbean-Americans: An Invisible Minority Seeking Identity And Affirmation that “in an increasingly racially diverse United States, Caribbean migrants and Americans of Caribbean descent are without an official means of classification and are frequently dismissed as a marketplace or voting bloc. Frequently lumped in as “African-Americans” or ‘Black Americans’, Caribbeans actually comprise a diverse array of cultures, races, religions and languages unto themselves and differ in many ways from ‘mainstream’ African-Americans.”
“This issue of counting race – Blacks in particular, is also a challenge for African immigrants and Afro-Latino and other Black immigrants born in Europe, who don’t see themselves as African American, says Dr. Claire A. Nelson, who was herself a NATIONAL PROFILE PARTNER of the Census 2010 and who as a member of the National Coaltion on Black Civic Participation is part of a steering committee to create a Working Group on Black 2.0 Complete Black Count 2020.
The current research of the Census Bureau is on how to improve the accuracy and reliability of its race and ethnicity data, through changes in how it asks the race question; as 2nother key problem with the current process (mandated by Congress) is that a growing percentage of Americans don’t select a race category provided on the form. A decision based on the research being done about the race category will be made by Congress in 2016.
The Webinar scheduled for today at NOON seeks to build a mutually beneficial relationship between Caribbean-Americans and the Census Department.
To participate in Webinar on How to Access Census Data, please follow these instructions:
Webex:
1. Go to https://census.webex.com/census/j.php?ED=264495202&UID=0&RT=MiMxMQ%3D%3D
2. If requested, enter your name and email address.
3. If a password is required, enter the meeting password: (This meeting does not require a password.)
4. Click “Join”.
Call-in toll-free number (Verizon): 1-866-524-2659 (US)
Attendee access code: 628 783 7
ABOUT ICS
The Institute of Caribbean Studies (ICS) is a non-partisan, non-profit 501 (c)(3) organization established in 1993 dedicated to education, advocacy and action on issues that impact on Caribbean Americans.The purpose of the Institute is to provide a forum for the public and private sector, the non-government organization community, scholars and others interested in promoting a dialogue and to assist in the execution of actions that result from that dialogue.ICS has become leading community think-do tank in the Caribbean diaspora in the US. ICS is the architect and campaign chair of National Caribbean American Heritage Month, executive producer of the National Caribbean American Heritage Awards since 1994, Convenor of the Invest Caribbean Business Leaders Dialogue since 1999, and the Caribbean Futures Initiative established in 2007.
