FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 1, 2020
Civil Rights Groups Get Out the Count with Asian Americans Amid COVID-19 Quarantine
Asian Americans Advancing Justice Focuses for Census Day on April 1st
Chicago, IL – Asian Americans Advancing Justice, an affiliation of five Asian American civil rights organizations, is pushing for an accurate count of the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander communities amid the disruption to census activities caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The groups have turned their efforts to a more digital strategy, using PSAs, viral videos, and social media to entice individuals to fill out the 2020 Census.
In the civil and human rights space, April 1st is not April Fool’s Day. It’s Census Day, a national day to remind everyone who hasn’t filled out their census to go online, fill out the form, or respond via phone to the decennial census.
“For a community that includes undocumented immigrants and individuals in mixed-status households, we know some are still hesitant about completing the census so we are doing all we can to give them reassurance that we are here to support them through our census hotline, census pledge, and numerous resources on the website,” says Terry Ao Minnis, senior director of census and voting programs for Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC.
Asian Americans Advancing Justice launched the CountUsIn2020.org website one year ago as the central hub for Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander individuals, and organizations in communities across the nation. The website has resources in 23 different languages from factsheets and PSAs to webinars and toolkits to help people understand the importance of the census and locally help our communities be counted fairly and accurately.
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Our Senior Chicago Organizer Mansi Kathuria spoke with the Chicago Reader about why it is critical for the South Asian community to be counted in the 2020 Census: “Our entire ability to have representation hinges on this.”
Read MoreMansi Kathuria spoke with ABC7 about our census outreach and how it will be affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.
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Throughout March, everyone in the U.S. will be receiving an invitation in the mail to participate in the census, which can be completed by phone, by mail, or online at my2020census.gov. It is absolutely critical for our communities to be fully counted so we receive the resources and representation we need.
Will you pledge to complete the census and help your communities get counted?
