Census worker sign: "Yes we can! 2010 census." (highly politicized Los Angeles office)

Ari Bloomekatz of the Los Angeles Times offers this blurb:

"The census is here!" shouted Esther Cepeda, manager of the local census office downtown. Music played and employees carried signs that read: "The census, coming to your neighborhood" and "Yes we can! 2010 census."

"Yes we can" was, of course, one of Barack Obama's campaign slogans, and he took it from the slogan "si se puede"; if there are Spanish-language versions of those signs it would almost certainly be translated into that phrase. While it's had other uses, that slogan was more recently used in support of illegal immigration at various marches. Is the Census Bureau supporting Obama's goals, or illegal immigration, or both? I suspect both, with L.A. City Councilman Jose Huizar telling the census workers:

"The groups who are most under-counted are the people who need our help the most,” he said, specifically referring to people who are homeless or immigrants or people of color. During the last census, Los Angeles missed out on about $200 million in funding because of under-counting, he said.

"Do we want that to happen again?" Huizar asked the crowd.

"No!" they responded.

Huizar also announced that census data collected by workers would be kept confidential and would not be given to immigration or police officials.

Mon, 04/06/2009 - 11:31 · · Importance: 4