But even a skillful Democratic gerrymander dedicated to minority empowerment eventually collides against the obdurate fact that undercounted minorities tend not to vote. Not surprisingly, census critics explain the causes of the undercount in terms of what they think the bureau ought to have been doing. Print them in languages other than English. Tell la migra to back off during census season. Ensure the confidentiality of census data.
Numbers are important.
Yet rather than confront the genuine social and political problems of the disadvantaged, we have all but convinced ourselves that tweaking population totals at the margins will result in minority empowerment. The results show the causes of the undercount to be more complex and daunting than many had supposed. For example, virtually all of these studies indicate that among minorities distrust of government is only one factor in their reluctance to fill in forms. Another powerful factor is distrust of one's neighbors. But among Korean immigrants another cause of underreporting the number of people in apartments is their reluctance to reveal overcrowded living conditions.