When the US Government rounded up
Japanese-Americans in 1942, they used the "supposedly
private" census data to tell the soldiers how many Japanese
lived on each block. Perhaps they didn't hand out these families'
census forms, but the data needed to put them into prison camps
certainly came from the "strictly confidential" census.
Don't participate in it, don't work for it, and don't fill it
out. Do not respond to census takers at your door. There is no
effective law against doing so; the maximum penalty is $100, no
jail, and it is VERY rarely enforced. The Constitution authorizes
them to count heads every ten years, not to ask how many
bathrooms you have and what racial group your ancestors are from.
An editorial in the Wall Street Journal of 8/8/89, page A10, "Honesty May Not Be Your Best Census Policy", by James Bovard, documents a few violations. The most obvious is that census data was used to round up the Japanese-Americans in 1942. "The Census Bureau provided the Army with a list of exactly how many Japanese-Americans lived in given neighborhoods, making it easy to round them up for internment during World War II. Census Bureau spokesman Ray Bancroft insists that this was not a breach of confidentiality because the bureau did not give out the names or exact addresses of Japanese-Americans. This is like someone claiming he bears no responsibility for setting loose on your block a wolf that just happened to gnaw on your leg -- simply because he didn't set the wolf free at your doorstep and tell the wolf to bite you personally."
Other cases occurred in Montgomery County, MD;
Pullman, Wash; Long Island Regional Planning Commission; and
Urbana, IL; where census data released on a 'block' basis is used
to check compliance with local building codes and zoning laws. A
block can have as few as 6 houses; the average is 14. This
clearly lets these governments pinpoint where to send their
inspectors to charge people with violations.
The IRS tried to use computer matching of census data and private mailing lists to track down people wno don't file income taxes, in 1983.
All of the above is from the article. The maximum penalties are from the Census Act itself, I think it's Title 12 of the US Code. You can find it in any law library or government depository library (e.g. your city library or large university library). If you look in the "US Code Annotated" books then you'll find the court cases about the Census Act listed too.
Ever hear of redlining? That's when a group of banks and insurance companies decide not to insure a given area, and not to issue loans for homes in that area, because the area is chiefly minority. How do they find this? Census tract data. Census tract data is also used by police departments to minority profile.
Census data can also be used to target illegal immigrant communities. Frankly, if you are an illegal immigrant, it is best not to have anything to do with any federal government official. You don't want to give the govenment a blueprint to your neighborhood where to look for immigrants.
Do I Even Legally Have To Answer The Census?
On March 28, 2000, US District Judge Melinda Harmon has granted a temporary restraining order against prosecution of any American who chooses not to answer questions other than the number of people living at their address. So at this point in time you are fully within your legal rights to refuse to answer any question except for the number of people in your home. You do not have to give your name, your ethnicity, your gender, your sexual orientation, or even whether or not you are a legal resident or citizen, or even whether you legally reside at the address.
Our advice to you, should a census taker actually come to your door, is to inform them that asking any other question other than the number of people in the home may be grounds for personal contempt of court, citing Judge Harmon's ruling, and that if they persist they may be subject to fines and imprisonment. Also inform a census taker that they are trespassing upon your property and must leave immediately or face arrest. They have no inherent right to be on your property, even though they are from the government.
Your Privacy is
NOT Protected
Kenneth Prewett, Director of the Bureau of the Census writes, ``Your privacy is protected by law (Title 13 of the United States Code), which also requires that you answer these questions", and `That law ensures that your information is only used for statistical purposes and that no unauthorized person can see your form or find out what you tell us - no other government agency, no court of law, NO ONE.'' Mr. Prewett is mistaken.
On November 26, 1941, Grace Tully (Franklin Roosevelt's secretary) told Henry Field (anthropologist and aide to Roosevelt) that the President was ordering him to produce, in the shortest time possible, the full names and addresses of each American-born and foreign-born Japanese listed by locality within each state. She told him to use the 1930 and 1940 census, according to the Report of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians; Joan Z. Bernstein, Chair; Personal Justice Denied; Washington, D.C.; ©1982; p.104-5. On February 19, 1942, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, authorizing the secretary of war to define military areas "from which any or all persons may be excluded as deemed necessary or desirable." The only significant opposition would come from the Quakers (Society of Friends) and the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union). As a result, thousands of Japanese-Americans were confined to concentration camps for the duration of World War II. The law ``ensures'' nothing. At any time, the census could be used to round up minorities, including blacks, Latinos, and any immigrants. Remember that the Japanese-Americans were largely CITIZENS of the U.S. It didn't matter.
However, recently Prewitt reversed himself at a Congressional hearing, admitting that information collected by the census can be shared with other govenrment agncies, under title 13.
He also admitted that for the first time, Social Security Numbers were asked for on the written forms only, FOR THE PURPOSE of TESTING American's responce to their privacy! In other words, the government wanted to know how many Americans would object to having their privacy invaded, and probably wanted to know how many knew that without a privacy act statement, they were not required to answer the SSN question ! WHY on earth, would they be doing such a test, if not only for the reason to help them make plans on how to invade more of our privacy, and how to take our right to it away?
What does the Constitution actually state about the Census?
The Constitution of the United States empowers Congress to conduct a census for the purpose of apportioning representation. There is nothing there which empowers them to demand answers to any questions they choose to ask. They have no right to ask you to enumerate what weapons you own or what illicit substances you consume and pretend that this would not be a violation of your constitution rights just because they won't divulge any individual answers.
This Constitution and the Laws made in Pursuance thereof...
shall be the supreme Law of the Land...all Judges shall be
bound thereby...any Thing...to the Contrary notwithstanding.
Article VI, Clause
2, of the Constitution of the United States of America (1789).
The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute,
though having the form and name of law, is in reality no law, but
is wholly void. Unconstitutional law bears no power to
enforce, it purports to settle as if it never existed, for
unconstitutionality dates from the enactment of such a law and
not such time as branded in an open court of law. It confers no
rights; it imposes no duties; affords no protection; it creates
no office; it is in legal contemplation, as inoperative as though
it had never been passed. No courts are bound to uphold it and no
persons are bound to obey it.
16 Am Jur 256.
The Fourth and Fifth Amendments were described in Boyd v.
United States, 116 U.S. 616, 630, as protection against all
governmental invasions ``of the sanctity of a man's home and
the privacies of life.'' We recently referred [381 U.S.
479, 485] in Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 656, to the Fourth
Amendment as creating a ``right to privacy, no less important
than any other right carefully and particularly reserved to the
people.''
GRISWOLD v.
CONNECTICUT, 381 U.S. 479 (1965)
"I hereby affirm that the provisions of Title 13 ``requiring'' me to disclose my race, personal financial data, birthdate, or any other personal, private information to the Bureau of the Census, an agency of the United States government; constitutes an unreasonable, unwarranted search of my person, house, papers, and/or effects; and a governmental invasion of the sanctity of my home and the privacies of life. As such, these provisions violate the Fourth Amendment of the US Constitution, and are thus wholly void and I am not bound to obey them.
I have completed the only those sections of the Census form pertaining to the Constitutionally-mandated actual enumeration, as follows:
I have thus fulfilled my obligation to the attainment of the actual enumeration of the populace of the United States.
Any fine or other sanction that is levied by any office or organization stemming from the unconstitutional provisions of Title 13 in connection with my response to this or any other Census-related questioning will be challenged in a court of law."
The homeless won't be counted well because sending in middleclass people scares them, and few homeless are willing to submit to an FBI check so they can work for the Census Bureau for a few weeks. Latino enumerators are required to pass an English literacy exam because the enumerator classes and administration forms are in English, even though the census forms themselves are available in Spanish. Census bureau outreach to schools has been botched by sending one lesson-plan packet to each school principal, none to teachers. The Census may mind it difficult to find individuals from conservative, patriot, or libertarian neighborhoods due to the very same FBI check. In fact, the FBI check for the paltry sum of money paid to Census takers seems like a bad deal to most.
Census used to seize your firearms? Lock up medical marijuana users? Convict you in tax court? Evict you?
We have already heard proposals to create
concentration camps for drug users and to seize all privately
owned semi-automatic weapons. There is simply no way to tell how
the answers that people supply today might be used against them
in the future. Tax returns have been held to be useable against
defendants in criminal cases. There is essentially no privacy
distinction between Census forms and IRS forms.
According to the General Accounting Office, one of the most frequent ways city governments use census information is to detect illegal two-family dwellings. An American Planning Association survey reported that housing code enforcement was a key benefit of census data for local governments. For instance, Montgomery County, Maryland, and Pullman, Washington, use census data on the nubmer of housing units in a structure to check compliance with zoning regulations. The Long Island Planning Board uses census "block counts ... to estimate the extent of illegal two-family home conversions," according to a June 27, 1986 board letter. Such "illegal" two-family dwellings are pervasive on Long Island, according to Anthony Downs of the Brookings Institution.
Such crackdowns are especially unfortunate because, as George Sternlieb of Rutgers University notes "The biggest source of good-size rental apartments in America is the illegal conversion of single-family houses." Census data help housing inspectors zero in on violators. Bruce Stoffel of the Community Services Department of the City of Urbana, Illinois, declared in an Aug 24, 1987 letter to the Census Bureau that he "routinely used census data to analyze the developmental stage of neighborhoods to determine the most appropriate public intervention strategies. Obviously, the people most likely to live in overcrowded situations are poor people, especially immigrants, who often cluster in the same neighborhood.
Housing codes have long been used as a means to "keep out undesirables" and to exclude waves of newcomers. William Tucker, author of the forthcoming "The Excluded Americans" notes: "code enforcement has always been a very counterproductive way of trying to help the poor. It usually sacrifices the adequate in favor of the ideal. The Census Bureau denies responsibility for the eviction of poor people because the bureau does not release the precise names and addresses of housing code violators. But as was the case with the Japanese internment camps, they are guilty just the same.
Religious Objections To The Census?
Oh Yes! The Bible states that the Israelites were ordered by Yahweh not to count the number of their inhabitants. There are some denominations that take this command literally. "Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel." "And Yahweh was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel." (I Chronicles 21:1 and 7)
Now, I understand that this is subject to differing interpretations. That the commandment was forbidden for the purposes of war, for Israel to count their own forces in comparison to the opposition's forces. That this was a single instance. What have you. Notwithstanding, if you are a believer in the Hebrew Scriptures you might want to consider whether the Census is a specific thing that you as a believer are commanded not to participate in.
Speak Out In Your Neighborhood Meetings
They have a publicity machine cranking up so there will probably be plenty of opportunities for freedom lovers to speak out on this issue. I encourage every candidate for office to take a stand now, while the Census is "newsworthy". You might call local radio station personalities and see if they will do a show about the Census (with you in the studio!). The morning commuter shows might be a good place, and the late night national and regional talk shows.
Since the census bureau only filed against one person in 1960 and one in 1970, and later dropped the charges, according to the mailout from the Committee for Census Privacy, the likelihood of prosecution over failure to answer the Census is minimal.
The platform says (in the Protection of Privacy plank):
So long as the National Census and all federal, state, and other government agencies' complilations of data on an individual continue to exist, they should be conducted only with the consent of the persons from whom the data is sought.
Unpaid Labor for Several Hours Work
One sixth of the population which will be required to complete the long forms are being asked to invest several hours of unpaid labor on behalf of the government which will then turn around and sell the results to private companies. Why should any Americans be forced to become market research subjects against their will and without compensation?
Date: Mon, 26 Mar 90 22:12:31 EST
From: alang@trashbin.MV.COM (Alan Groupe)
As we are now starting to receive our 1990 census forms, I thought some of you might like to know about the experience I had this time last year with a similar survey from the census bureau, called the American Housing Survey.
In April of 1989, Nancy Butter rang my doorbell and asked me to answer several questions about my house, my neighbors, my neighborhood, etc., under the guise of something called the American Housing Survey. I told her I was not interesting in participating and after a moderate length discussion on how important this was and how I would be throwing off all the statistics, she left me a 6 page brochure describing the survey and told me that I would be receiving a letter from the Regional Director, an Arthur G. Dukakis.
[As it turns out, Arthur IS related to Michael -- he's a cousin, I think.]
I received the following letter, dated April 17:
Dear Mr. Groupe:
We recently visited you and asked that you participate in the American Housing Survey. The U.S. Bureau of the Census is conducting this sur- vey in many metropolitan areas for the Department of Housing and Urban Development. This survey is conducted under the authority of Title 12, Section 1701Z-1 and 2g of the United States Code.
You indicated to the interviewer who visited you that you did not wish to participate in this survey. This survey is so important that we hope that a further explanation will cause you to reconsider your decision.
The primary purpose of the American Housing Survey is to provide cur- rent information on the size and composition of housing in your area. We ask questions about the housing people live in, the age of the buildings, the presence of selected facilities in your home, and the adequacy of neighborhood services.
In a society as complex as our, it is necessary that our nation's decision makers be as well informed as possible in order to make the decisions that affect the lives of us all. The job of the U.S. Bureau of the Census is to be provide [sic] our national and local government leaders, as well as our business leaders, with statistical information on various aspects of our society.
Any information provided for this survey is confidential, by law, under Title 13, Section 9a, United States Code. No information which would identify an individual will be released. Your answers will be used only to prepare statistical summaries. Our interviewers and out office staff have been sworn to confidentiality and I can assure you that the record of the U.S. Bureau of the Census is unblemished. You will, by participating make a valuable contribution to the knowledge of the nation's housing. In the future, when you see or hear housing statistics, you will know that you helped in the preparation of these figures. I trust that we can rely on you to help.
Our representatives will call on you again within the next few days.
Sincerely,
Arthur G. Dukakis
Regional Director
I responded with the following letter:
Dear Mr. Dukakis,
Recently, one of your field interviewers visited me and requested that I donate my time -- I presume that I'm paying her for hers -- to participate in the American Housing Survey. She then handed me a fact sheet so that I might know what this survey is about.
According to the fact sheet, this information will be used to assist the federal government in establishing a national housing policy. Since it is my fervent belief that the only proper housing policy would have no role for government, and since I do not believe that this is the type of policy the American Housing Survey is intended to engender, I could not in good conscience comply with your request.
You then sent me a letter asking me to reconsider, based on all the nice, wonderful things government does with all the information it collects. In your letter you stated, "In a society as complex as ours, it is necessary that our nation's decision makers be as well informed as possible in order to make the decisions that affect the lives of us all."
I couldn't disagree with you more. In a society as complex as ours, it is necessary that our nation's decision makers STOP MAKING SO MANY DECISIONS that affect the lives of us all.
In closing your letter to me you indicated that once again you would be sending an interviewer to talk to me. It angers me greatly that you are: 1) collecting data for an inappropriate purpose; 2) asking me to donate substantial amounts of my time to assist you (I remember the virtual novel your department asked me to fill out in 1980); 3) spending MY hard-earned money to do so; and 4) ignoring my wishes by sending out a second interviewer after I believe I made it clear that I did not wish to participate.
-- Alan Groupe | Data: (603) 672-9662
2 Great Brook Road | Cserve: 73607,2241
Milford, NH 03055 | uucp: decvax!ubbs-nh!trashbin!alang
(603) 672-9155 | alang@trashbin.mv.com
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 90 14:58:40 PDT
From: Ed Hall
My mother-in-law spent the war in a camp in Arkansas; my father-in-law fled with his family to central Utah, where he spent the war until he was old enough to enlist. They were both originally from the San Jose area. Unlike some Nisei, they've talked about their experiences with their children--and with their children-in-law. This sort of thing isn't a forgotten issue with us.
-Ed Hall
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