April 30, 2020 | Alisha Saxena | UC San Diego
When the initial word of the Coronavirus entered the news cycles, I remember being not too bothered by it, thinking that a quick cure would be developed to reduce the number of cases. Two weeks later, I was moving out of my dorm and was just shocked at how the tables had turned. As an advisor for the Student Organized Voter Access Committee on our campus, my mind immediately jumped to the Census; I was concerned about the deep impacts the Census count would likely face with the wildfire-like spread of this disease. I wasn’t really sure how to assist the Census efforts from the comforts of my home.
Luckily, the UC Student Association was ready to mobilize student activists. A call for Census Outreach Interns was released on Instagram, and I immediately jumped at the opportunity. Since I couldn’t engage in field work or organize on-campus events to promote the census, this was the best way I figured I could get involved to assist the suffering Census efforts. When I was delivered an infographic from UCSA, which contained practically all the need-to-know information about the census, I began doing my social media outreach. Not only did I focus on communicating with as many accounts as I could, but I was also focused on identifying pages that were makeshifting as online resource centers for hard-to-reach, vulnerable, or underrepresented communities. At first, I was only hearing silence in return, but luckily, others were willing to collaborate; I began to see this online network light up, where students were helping other students to spread the word about this undervalued, under marketed form. It was inspiring to see that, even while quarantining and being away from the “action,” I could still make a difference with the assistance of the UC Student Association. It was uplifting.
In my typical fashion, I want to end this testimony of mine by speaking a little bit about the Census. The Census happens every ten years, and its purpose is to determine an accurate nation and state population count, so that federal funds, resources, and seats in the House of Representatives can be allocated accordingly. Though President Trump attempted to add a citizenship question, you should know that the form is anonymous and that it does NOT ask you if you are a US Citizen. Everyone is supposed to be counted, from infants to the elderly to undocumented students. If you are a college student who lived on-campus at some point during this academic year, please do NOT fill out the census- your campus will do that for you. If you want to be a census advocate, share materials from the UC Student Association on your Instagram stories, text family and friends, and post on community boards! To fill out the census, you can go to https://my2020census.gov.