Uforia, Univision’s Latin music multimedia channel, launched a Spanish-language census “anthem” today to persuade U.S. Latinos to participate in the decennial count.
The song’s theme centers on the importance of participating in the census, despite the fear of many Latinos to engage with government. “Who said fear?” begin the song’s lyrics, recapturing a common Mexican phrase used to denote courage.
“Let’s go forward, if it’s with you I’m first in line,” it continues. “No matter what people say, I do dare.” The song’s name, “Count With Me,” is the same as Univision’s campaign for census participation, which in five days between March 17 and 22 aired 169 public service announcements on the issue.
Latino groups, businesses and activists have pushed for aggressive census participation, as Latinos have historically been undercounted. An undercount can mean deficits in political representation and federal services for a decade, as the federal government uses the census to apportion House districts and federal funding.
Today, April 1st is officially Census Day, but the count — the first online census in history — has been active since March 12. Many Latino activists fear that Latinos, especially the undocumented or those living in mixed migratory status households, might choose to forego census participation out of fear of interacting with an administration that’s pushed hard-line immigration policies.
They say the Trump administration’s attempt to add a citizenship question increased those fears, despite the fact that the question was not added to the 2020 census. But the Census Bureau and community activists have pushed back on that notion, as census information, by law, cannot be used against respondents in any way.
“Cuenta Conmigo’s” lyrics reflect that sentiment. “I’m not interested knowing where you came from, neither the past nor what you did,” says the song.
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