NABJ: 2010 Census will show that US "on path to becoming majority minority nation"

The National Association of Black Journalists put out this press release. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will address the group, which is the "largest organization of journalists of color," at their annual convention. Below is a snippet from the press release...

Commerce Secretary Locke to Discuss First “Majority Minority” Census at Black Journalists’ Convention

2010 Census to Highlight the Growing Influence of Minorities in the U.S.

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) welcomes Commerce Secretary Gary Locke to its annual convention to discuss the ramifications of one of the most important censuses in U.S. history. The 2010 census will show that the country is on a path to becoming a majority minority nation. This unparalleled historic event will have wide-ranging implications including the impact on minority political power.

“Gary Locke has been charged with overseeing the counting of people in the United States at a crucial moment in our lifetime,” said NABJ President Barbara Ciara. “With this census, the evolving melting pot of our country reaches a new chapter, and minority voices will be strengthened as a result.”

Secretary Locke will lead a plenary, “The 2010 Census and a Majority Minority Nation,” on Friday, August. 7 at the Tampa Convention Center. This plenary will give NABJ convention attendees a first-hand opportunity to analyze this historic event with ideas for coverage on the Web, how to find and use census data, tools you can use to see how neighborhoods have changed and will change in the future and new ideas that will arise from the census.

“The census is about power and money,” said Bobbi Bowman, the 2009 Ida B. Wells Award-recipient and diversity director at the American Society of News Editors (ASNE). “The more people a state has, the more political power it gets.”

Governors and mayors across the U.S. will want to ensure that everyone is counted, including undocumented immigrants, in order to ensure more federal funds and, with them, political power.