NCBCP Headlines
Black coalition pushes for 'unified' 2010 Census tally
By Haya El Nasser
USA TODAY
Jan 12, 2010
The campaign to get blacks to participate in the 2010 Census has forged an unprecedented bond between two groups that have not traditionally shared common goals: African Americans and black immigrants.
Civil rights organizations and advocates for the growing Caribbean and African immigrant population are setting aside differences and have formed the Unity Diaspora Coalition to push all blacks to fill out the federal forms. They vow to keep the coalition alive well beyond this year's Census — through the midterm elections, redistricting battles and all the way to the 2020 Census.
"We need the numbers," says Benjamin Afrifa, chairman and CEO of the African Federation, a group he founded in 2005. "The 2010 Census is an opportunity for us to go out there, mobilize the community. … We realize that we cannot do this in isolation."
