SIPA’s Joel Jacinto emphasizes on being counted
LOS ANGELES – Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa urged all residents of Los Angeles especially Asians and Pacific Islanders to participate in the 2010 Census.
"I’m here to urge all of you to join in the efforts to ensure that every Angeleno is counted in the 2010 census," said Villaraigosa during a press conference at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center last week. "There’s too much at stake to not participate."
The Mayor flanked by Asian American and Pacific Islander leaders said the city lost out on $200 million dollars from the federal government because of under-counting especially in the minority communities and that the money could have helped fund health services, build schools and other community services in Los Angeles.
An official from a Thai organization estimated that the last census undercounted Asians by at least 30 percent. She said 1.5 million Asians were not counted.
Villaraigosa added that the census form is easy to complete.
He also reassured those people afraid to fill out the form because of worries of deportation or having the information used against them that the census is completely safe and the information is not given to any other government agencies.
Filipinos and the Census
Joel Jacinto of Search to Involve Pilipino Americans said Filipinos were undercounted by at least 20 to 30 percent in the last census in 2000.
He said the last census counted that there were 2.5 million Filipinos living in the US. He estimates about as much as 800,000 Filipinos were not counted.
"We always complain that we are undercounted and that we are the largest Asian and Pacific Islander ethnic group in the US but the census doesn’t show it, well, here’s an opportunity to realize what we think is true that Filipinos are a huge population," said Jacinto, who is working with other APIA communities to educate its members about the census.
Jacinto stressed again that the census determines the amount of money and other resources that is given to the community.
"By not participating will only hurt us more," he said. "We’ll lose resources that can possibly go to our community and not just the Filipino community but the schools, policing and the districts that we live in."
He said Filipinos especially the undocumented or those who are here illegally do have a legitimate concern that the census could be used against them but he also stressed that the census is completely safe.
"The census is a necessary part in our empowerment process," he said. "It is illegal to use the information gathered for the census to use it for any other type of purposes whether immigration or law enforcement… so our message to our kababayans is that we need to participate because there is so much at stake in terms of what services and resources come back to the Filipino and Fil-Am community."
( Publsihed February 6, 2010 in Asian Journal Los Angeles p. A6 )
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