KeghartFor as long as I can remember, the one question I could never answer was “How many Armenians are there in the City/in the State/in the Country [pick one]?” (All right, there have been thousands of questions, but let’s get on with it.)
For as long as I can remember, the one question I could never answer was “How many Armenians are there in the City/in the State/in the Country [pick one]?” (All right, there have been thousands of questions, but let’s get on with it.)
There are only ten questions in this year’s Form–which is a compromise between those who wanted as much information as possible about the make-up of the country and those who feared government’s intrusion in the lives of the people. Of course, there may have been people who don’t want the truth.
Thus, there is only one question that can help determine how many Armenians are in the country. “Question 9” is comprised of three sub-questions, and it is the third that will enable Armenians “to be counted.” Question 9 is about the “race” of the person/family, and the third category asks: “Some other race.” It permits the writing-in of “Armenian.”
True, Armenians aren’t a race, technically, but if enough Armenians say so, it is hoped that the number-crunchers will, at least, report that there are “x number of people calling themselves Armenian” in the country.
There was an attempt to get a question asking the language spoken in the home, but that was refused after a long debate.
Many ethnic groups are being contacted and urged by their leaders with the same aim–”how many of us are there?” They (usually representing the so-called “minorities”) see the accuracy of the numbers as a means of getting more city/state/federal money plowed into their communities. Question 9 shows how successfully their “spokesmen” have influenced the compilers of the Census Form. Armenians have no spokesmen who could have influenced the question to make it easy/obvious how to answer. So, “race” it has to be.
The Official date of the Census is April 1.
As a caution, remember it is the individual (for himself or his family) who has to fill in the Form. No one who comes to the door will do that. So, be warned. If anyone does come to the door, he will be carrying proper identification and may visit only to ensure that a Form was received or to learn why a Form was not returned.
Keghart
Keghart