One of the most critical issues
that we don't pay attention to is the census.
The census delivers financial resources
and political power, but only to those who are counted.
Often, the communities that are undercounted
either don't receive the information,
don't trust the information,
and if you're not included, you do not count.
After I did not become governor in 2018,
my responsibility that I thought was to think about
what work would I have done, had I been the governor?
[soft acoustic guitar music]
- Yeah! [laughing]
- Well done.
In that 10-day period between Election Day
and what I call my non-concession day,
I was talking to my youngest sister about my ideas.
I began Fair Count in 2019
because when I became Democratic leader in Georgia in 2010,
I realized how woefully undercounted our state was.
Particularly, communities of color and rural communities
were left out of the story.
[laughing]
- Hold on, the bus is stopped.
[laughing]
So Fair Count is an extraordinary organism.
We are reaching out through technology.
One of the issues for the 2020 census
is that 80% of it will be done online.
In Georgia we have, unfortunately, wide swaths
of our state that do not have access to broadband
or the internet.
So instead of bemoaning that, we have installed the internet
in 150 locations across the state of Georgia.
Not just the internet, but we've also given access to tablets
and to computers to make sure
that people can fill out the census,
but can also just come back to those community centers
and learn to be connected.
Columbus, Georgia, is the largest city
in the southwest region,
but it's also one of the poorest areas in the state.
It has the highest undercount.
That's because it's both largely African American,
largely rural, and largely poor.
If you want money for foster care or Pell Grants,
if you think your kid's school is overcrowded,
almost every one of the issues
that we're deeply concerned about
is affected by the finances that come from the census.
- A lot of Black people don't understand
how important it is.
You know, a lot of us are afraid to take the census
for one reason or another,
afraid of being exposed,
or you may have some criminal history,
or what have you.
But that's not even what the census is about.
The census is strictly to count
the number of people in America.
- When we think about the census,
it's about money and power.
On the power side, the political power of America
is determined through the census.
Voting is how you decide who you want,
but the census decides the choices you get to have,
and in my mind, we have to connect those dots
because as long as we keep them separate,
we lose the ability to effectively have a democracy
that reflects the people of Georgia.
Georgia used to be a strongly majority-white state,
but as of today, it's about 54% white,
about 32% African American,
9.5% percent Latino,
and about 4.5% percent Asian Pacific Islander.
That is very different.
But if those populations do not have an opportunity
to elect leadership that either looks like them
or shares their values,
then they will never get access to the power
that comes along with being able to vote.
It's also your state legislative districts,
your city council, your county commission,
as small as your school board districts.
The lines that draw the boundaries of political power
are decided by the census.
Cuthbert, Georgia, is an area of the state
that is economically depressed
and that still has a population
that deserves resources and deserves services.
But if we aren't there, if we don't do our work,
it's highly likely that, once again,
Cuthbert would be ignored and overlooked.
- Oh, man, Fair Count is awesome.
They came out, first they contacted me via phone.
They showed me videos of statistics numbers.
I was actually surprised at the staggering numbers
of people who weren't counted,
and I'm thinking, ok, we're functioning
with who has been counted.
What could we do if we get another 25 or 30%
of that number up?
I don't think in the past they have put the importance
of the census in the right terminology,
where it's exciting, where it's important.
I think it's downplayed, period.
- I don't really deal with the census
because of the history that I know about Cuthbert,
and being that my family was Black Panther,
and knowing that the history of Black people
is just getting to know who in your house,
in your business, when they're not helping at all.
It's just putting the police on you more.
It's just causing more problems than fixing any.
'Cause I don't see any fixing.
- What she's saying is 100% correct,
but the thing is, what she said
in the beginning of her statement
is we haven't been heard.
We haven't been validated.
- Any information in the census is actually confidential
for 72 years.
There is no citizenship question.
Filling out the census does not put your family in danger,
but if you're really worried,
if you fill out the census online, on paper,
or by phone, if you get it done ahead of time,
they will not send anyone to your door.
So get it done, believe it's safe.
- Once our people start to understand that
and understand that their participation
in the census will get them more funding
from the federal government,
then maybe they would change the way
that they look at it.
- We're actually hoping that this year,
we're able to, you know, kind of put a little
muscle behind the purpose
and get a lot of people who wouldn't regularly,
you know, pay it attention to come out and register.
I mean it's the barbershop,
so, you know, we're gonna get everybody.
We're gonna get everybody.
At some point or another, we'll get everyone.
- My passion is driven by my fundamental belief
in our country and my belief in our people
and the fact that we should have the ability
to create the future we want.
But you can't create that future if you cannot be seen
and if you cannot be heard.
I can make certain people are heard
if we protect the right to vote,
and I can make sure they're seen
if we have a fair count,
and if we do those two things
through a fair fight and a fair count,
we will have a fair America.
- [Group Leaders] Who counts?
- [Crowd] I count!
- [Group Leaders] Who counts?
- [Crowd] I count!
- [Group Leaders] Who counts?
- [Crowd] I count!
- [Group Leaders] Who counts?
- [Crowd] I count!
- [Group Leaders] Who counts?
- [Crowd] I count!
[cheers]