2020 was a tumultuous year, beginning with the earth being on fire, including much of the African continent, the Amazon rainforest forest and portions of Alaska. The recession finally became apparent when the wage stagnation and the stinginess of major employers finally collapsed on itself. People could no longer afford to pretend like everything was normal, even if they whipped out a credit card. Still reeling, people were notified of the pandemic that had actually been occurring since 2019; in the United States, people were just beginning to take precautions at the end of March, beginning of April. The nation moved into racial unrest because unsurprisingly, people were just not as excited about being oppressed as they used to be. According to the minds of the dominant narrative, people were apparently quite happy to be oppressed many years before, but now there was suddenly a problem with it—ignoring centuries of commentary to the contrary. Amidst all of this, the census was scheduled to be taken.
The census was enshrined in the Constitution, which is ironic because there are several practices “enshrined” that are not manifested in reality. Because it originated in 1810, yes, slaves were counted. Plantation owners could get special consideration because the population count began with slaves incorporated into the national population—and the infamous “founding fathers” owned slaves, so they were looking out for themselves when crafting the Constitution. Ironically, the prison wardens of the present day did a better job of making sure that every one of their populations was counted than most real estate holders because, after all, they are required to know how many people are there. The origins also explain how policies could be crafted that continue to include slavery, which is also included in the Constitution.
This year is particularly crucial because of the elections at stake. Even racist origins do not negate that the census guides decisions for voting districts. If voter turnout and percentages need to be determined, then the nation has to have an accurate population count. Otherwise, people will continue to believe that everything works having missed complete segments of the population, as well as understanding how many people are employed versus unemployed during a recession. While voting is considered enshrined in the Constitution, most of the disenfranchised will probably roll their eyes. Nobody voted for displacement or discrimination, or any of the atrocities committed against us—that is, once we were allowed to participate. Another constitutional right is the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In theory, if one perceives that being alive is the ultimate pursuit of happiness, then people being gunned down in the street because somebody thinks they twitched funny would be a direct violation of that right. Therefore, the fact that the census is “enshrined” in the Constitution does not mean that it is going to be respected by anyone, including it citizenry.