Washington D.C.- "If you're not counted, you don't count in America." This quote from the late Msgr. Geno C. Baroni is found in a letter sent to Congressional leaders, which asks for the addition of an ancestry question on the short-form of the forthcoming 2010 Census. Introducing a new legal basis for the inclusion of an ethnic ancestry question, the National Iranian American Council (NIAC) joined twelve other ethnic organizations to endorse the letter, principally sponsored by the Arab American Institute (AAI).

The letter, authored by a coalition of ethnic organizations, advocates, scholars, and practitioners known as the Ancestry Working Group (AWG), was addressed to Congressional authorizers overseeing the Census Bureau’s activities. Members of AWG, concerned with the precise measurement and tracking of different ethnic communities, drafted the letter as a response to the Census Bureau's recent announcement of its plans to recommend a short-form Census for 2010 that will collect data on race and Hispanic Origin only.

Previously drawing on arguments concerning testing flaws, universality drawbacks, race confusion, coverage concerns, civil rights tracking, and accurate ethnic representation, AWG’s recent letter adds a legal mandate to the list of reasons why the Census should not eliminate ethnic ancestry data. AWG argues in its letter that rolling back the ethnic information of those being surveyed would not only "diminish data sources and end longitudinal tracking of ethnic group participation in American society", but would also disregard a US Supreme Court's decision granting equal protection for all groups. It cites Shaare Tefila v. Cobb and Saint Francis College v. Al-Khazraji. (US Reports, 1987) cases in point. Instead of the current two part approach to self-identification, the group proposes a three-part question to include ancestry on the new short-form of the US Census.

As an organization concerned about the eradication of ethnic data collection from the Census, NIAC endorsed the letter along with numerous other organizations that understand the importance of accurate ethnic representation statistics. Among Other Iranian American groups participating in the coalition and partnering with NIAC to represent the Iranian-American voice is the Iranian American Political Action Committee (IAPAC).

Click here to learn more about the Ancestry Working Group.