To: United States Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Census Bureau, The United States House of Representatives, and The United States Senate
Add" African American Descendants of Chattel Slavery" to 2020 Census
The descendants of American chattel slavery are a unique ethnic group that need to be acknowledged and included in the origin stories of all Americans in the coming census. This category will aid in the just distribution of resources to the those descendants whose ancestors were enslaved and robbed of inter-generational wealth and thus of full American citizenship.
Why is this important?
The 2020 Census is offering Black and White respondents the opportunity to answer the question, "Where are you from?", giving a country of origin. This option is confusing to and exclusive of African Americans who are the Descendants of Chattel Slavery (DoCS).
We are born and bred American originals, a unique ethnic identity of people who descend from the unique American institution of chattel slavery. African American DoCS need to be especially included in the 2020 U.S. Census to aid in the just distribution of resources to a group of people still suffering the affects of being property for centuries and excluded from wealth generation after enslavement.
This category will give clarity to millions, including the the following respondents in this NPR interview regarding the 2020 Census:
"Where are you from from?"
Still, Greer says she's planning to write down "Black American" for her origins.
"I consider myself a 'J.B.,' which is 'just black,' " she says. "When people ask you where you're from, and I say, 'Oh, you know, New York, Philly, Chicago, Baltimore,' it's like, 'No, but where are you from from?' "
Many African-Americans who have roots in the U.S. going back centuries to ancestors forced upon these shores as enslaved people cannot answer that question.
"If we're really honest with what hundreds of years of U.S. chattel slavery really meant," Greer says, "many people had to walk miles and across countries before they were shipped off."
The enslavement of hundreds of thousands of African people in the U.S. cut ties to home countries for their descendants, including Chris Owens, a project engineer for an energy consulting firm based in New York City.
Raised in St. Louis, Owens says for most of his life, questions about his race were straightforward.
"Either you're black or you're white, at least where I'm from," he says.
But after moving to Boston and later New York, he says he has been asked whether he is of Haitian or Jamaican descent.
"That's even caused me to try to figure out which island I was from," Owens says.
He has just over two years to keep digging into family history for an answer before the 2020 census forms come out. For now, though, if you ask him about his origins, he says he's sticking with "American."
https://www.npr.org/2018/03/13/593272215/for-the-first-time-2020-census-will-ask-black-americans-about-their-exact-origin
We are born and bred American originals, a unique ethnic identity of people who descend from the unique American institution of chattel slavery. African American DoCS need to be especially included in the 2020 U.S. Census to aid in the just distribution of resources to a group of people still suffering the affects of being property for centuries and excluded from wealth generation after enslavement.
This category will give clarity to millions, including the the following respondents in this NPR interview regarding the 2020 Census:
"Where are you from from?"
Still, Greer says she's planning to write down "Black American" for her origins.
"I consider myself a 'J.B.,' which is 'just black,' " she says. "When people ask you where you're from, and I say, 'Oh, you know, New York, Philly, Chicago, Baltimore,' it's like, 'No, but where are you from from?' "
Many African-Americans who have roots in the U.S. going back centuries to ancestors forced upon these shores as enslaved people cannot answer that question.
"If we're really honest with what hundreds of years of U.S. chattel slavery really meant," Greer says, "many people had to walk miles and across countries before they were shipped off."
The enslavement of hundreds of thousands of African people in the U.S. cut ties to home countries for their descendants, including Chris Owens, a project engineer for an energy consulting firm based in New York City.
Raised in St. Louis, Owens says for most of his life, questions about his race were straightforward.
"Either you're black or you're white, at least where I'm from," he says.
But after moving to Boston and later New York, he says he has been asked whether he is of Haitian or Jamaican descent.
"That's even caused me to try to figure out which island I was from," Owens says.
He has just over two years to keep digging into family history for an answer before the 2020 census forms come out. For now, though, if you ask him about his origins, he says he's sticking with "American."
https://www.npr.org/2018/03/13/593272215/for-the-first-time-2020-census-will-ask-black-americans-about-their-exact-origin