WEST PALM BEACH, Fla--Every time I've had cases in a predominantly Black area I've been switched the next day. I'm a Black guy. Obviously Black people will be more comfortable talking to Black people and I'm able to get a LOT of cases done. I'm sure white enumerators have an easier time with white people... I speak Spanish so I'm able to get a lot of cases done with Spanish people as well... That's just the reality of the situation, and it's annoying that everybody is so weird about it.
Anyway I've had TWO days in the "hood" and after each day of doing 25/30 cases in eight hours they switched my area. Kinda weird. When they assigned me to a racist area, I called the census office and told them to assign me somewhere else. I told them to send me to the Black parts of town where white enumerators don't want to go.
The supervisor told me that "they don't know" what race the people are in a certain area. Well, obviously, I know but y'all live here and you should know Black areas and white areas...Why are we pretending these places in the South aren't semi-segregated? This is what I wanted to say.
If you're a white woman working the census in the hood, Black people don't want you to get snatched up, but they are seriously wondering what a white woman is doing out knocking on doors in the hood. Think about what these people see when they see you... privilege--this is what they see. ... You might get robbed because you’re in the hood (this applies to everyone that’s not from this place), but you won’t get lynched for being white in the hood--BUT I could get lynched for being Black in some backwards ass racist town.
LOUISIANA BACKWOODS--I was also on a travel team and drove from Florida to Louisiana to work for a week. My hotel was in Alexandria, Louisiana. Basically, I drove out to the backwoods in some small racist town. It was really what I would imagine the backwoods to look like. There were signs that said "Danger bomb testing zone" which was creepy as well. I drove past a cluster of houses with Trump flags and signs and lots of Blue Lives Matter signs. I would park my car pretty far from a house just in case I needed to get out of there.
First guy was an old guy on a tractor who looked like he had to be at least 90. He was really nice to me and gave me directions. The next house I went to the woman came out and looked like she was in shock. I gave my whole spiel about the census but she didn't believe it and asked to see my badge. She apologized for asking to see my badge and said she asked to see my badge because I was Black and she was uncomfortable speaking to me... She was weirdly polite but clearly hadn't interacted with a Black person or seen a Black person in the area. I could tell I should be careful and probably not stick around too long at any of the houses.
Next house had a super long driveway. I stopped pretty far from the house after the last interaction I had. I get out the car and yelled that I'm doing the census. Woman yells that they did it. I start probing because sometimes people did it wrong.
Man opens the door to come outside and yells, "OFF THE PROPERTY." I start to say something and he cuts me off, "OFF THE PROPERTY NOW." I get back to my car and get out of there. He was inside when I was talking to his wife so he didn't hear anything, he just saw a Black man on his property and got mad.
I'm rattled because while I've experienced racism, I used to live abroad and never got treated that way. I haven't gotten used to being treated like this. In March 2020 I moved back to the U.S. from South America and hadn't interacted with many people in this country. It made me question how people in 2020 still can feel this way about me because of my skin color. I've heard it before, but this really bothered me because it was really in my face, the guy wouldn't even talk to me...
I went to the next house and the guy came out and talked to me. I asked him if I should be in this area of the country and he just told me to be careful. After that I left. I called the census office the next day and asked them to change my zone. I thought maybe it would be unprofessional, but I told the office I wasn't going to the backwoods out in Louisiana for one more day, and they switched my cases. I told them the name of the town and said that part of town is known to be like that. ---------------------------------
But it wasn't always horrible. One day I was lost and needed to do the census for an entire dead-end block. Some people saw me wandering and asked me what type of information I needed. They start telling me about all the neighbors, they were super nice and helped me complete like four cases!
Somewhere in the conversation one of the guys ends up mentioning he voted for Trump. He pointed to this huge Trump flag in his front yard that I hadn't noticed... He complained about how he gives all this money to Trump but Trump hasn't done anything for them. I just keep silent because I'm surprised at their friendliness.
While bad and annoying things did happen like people following me around neighborhoods, I did also have nice little harmless interactions with a diverse group of people. It gave me encouragement and hope that a person's mind can change. People were positive and encouraged me to be safe!
--Anonymous