by Bruno Gaston
ATLANTA – New York-based afrolatin@ forum released three video PSA’s encouraging members of the US Afro-Latino community to identify with both their African and Latino heritage when filling out the 2010 Census form. afrolatin@ forum, is a research and resource center focusing on Black Latinos in the United States.
Executive Director, Miriam Jiménez Román issued a press release this week urging Afro-Latinos in the US to “Check Both!/¡Chequea las dos!” referring to question 8 (Hispanic Origin) and question 9 (race) in the 2010 Census form.
At the end of each bilingual video, the phrase is heard while a Census form is shown with a hand checking the last box on question 8 and writing in different countries in Latin America. A similar scene with the hand checking the box marked “black” on question 9 follows.
“This is all about visibility. The primary target is, of course, the Afro-Latino community,” Jiménez Román said. “The video spots are intended to encourage folk to embrace their Blackness as well as their ethnicity.” “A secondary consideration is letting everybody know that Afro-Latinos exist.”
The move comes as several immigrant and minority groups living and working in the United States are stepping up efforts to get their numbers counted by the U.S. Census Bureau in hopes of gaining more visibility and better access to $400 billion in federal funding.
The US Census Bureau said Hispanic numbers surpassed blacks by roughly one million people in 2001, but a growing trend of self-identity amongst Afro-Latinos places a unique focus on America’s largest minority group. Many Afro-Latinos living in the U.S. feel invisible within the Hispanic community in the US and their countries of origin. Gilberto Amaya, who is the Washington D.C. representative for the Central American Black Organization says that their presence is being abused to swell the numbers.
“If you look at the whole Hispanic agenda led by the elite here in the US, we are supposed to be a part of that population,” he said. “When it comes to the benefits and access, you don’t see the Afro-Descendant population represented there.”
Caribbean-Americans are lauding the effort and expect the response from the PSAs to enhance their national campaign for Census recognition. The president and co-founder of the Institute of Caribbean Studies, Dr. Claire Nelson says both campaigns serve a mutual purpose.
“The only difference is one question, but the end result is the same with perhaps the exception of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic” she said. “The key is making sure the Census coding recognizes the data and Caribbean-Americans are told to fill in their country of birth or ancestry after checking the box marked “Some other Race” in question 9.”
The US Census Bureau kicked off its efforts this month. Census Day is on April 1st.
Watch the Public Service Announcement, www.sflcn.com/multimedia.php?id=gDWynucWGaM
For more information on this campaign, contact Miriam Jiménez-Román, 718-638-7751 [email protected]
