I have read and re-read the "Hell No, we won't go", to the subject of the Census. I have a different prospective, maybe because I am older. Once upon a time, I was younger, all my relatives lived, and told the family history stories. But I did not pay attention to Family History. I was very young. Slowly, the "Story Tellers" grew old, and they died, one by one. Until one day, the "Story Tellers of Family Knowledge", were all gone. I had not paid attention to their stories, I expected them to be there forever. With the "Family Historians" gone, what am I left with, to try and trace my roots? Only Public Records. Through the Insight of the 1926 Census Records, I see my Grandfathers name, as Head of Household, his wife and children (my Father, also) named. I search for Heritage, I know there is a smitten of Cherokee. The 1926 shows the neighbors, I reconize Family members, living in close proximity. If you evade the Census, you erase your existence in this world, for your family who follows you, searching for you. I am not a shill. I do not have a web site. I am only telling you as I have experienced it. One and 1/2 years ago, I contacted the V.A. and asked for a reprint of the metals my Father received in WWII, the answer arrived today, 1 and 1/2 years later. All answers, are not immediate.,Yet, my Father's participation in WWII, still exists, because of statics. His existence as a human, is recorded, and I can see his history. If you shirk from all record, then, you will fade into oblivion.

-- When the (F@milystorytellersare.gone), March 16, 2000

Answers

When the Family story tellers are gone,

Now, 80 years later, the records of everything and anything are so recorded, the chances of "any nuance" of our society being lost are surprising slim.

Should we live long enough, I believe we will be surprised and shocked at how much info is recorded, cataloged, cross-referenced and the such, wait and see.

Don't be so concerned about history being lost, be concerned about how much history is being "gathered".

Just my "two cents" worth.

-- Michael (michaelteever@buffalo.com), March 16, 2000.

No offense...but roots roots roots are for people who, in my humble opinion, hanem't done enough in their OWN lives!!!

Be productive and happy NOW, what's the difference what happened in the past. Anyway, soon they'll be some nice MANDATORY genetic tests you can take that will tell you all about your family history, especially all the things your ancestors died of.

-- IN (IN@dot.com), March 16, 2000.

I have never appeared in a City Directory. I never submitted my 1980 census. Help! I do not exist!

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), March 16, 2000.

Legal censius is find. Only name date and house members nothing else!

-- ET (bneville@zebra.net), March 16, 2000.

Paranoia? I think not.

An invasive census is a symptom of an invasive government. Folks have had just about their fill of it, and a census protest is an easy way to make one's feelings clear.

-- Uncle Deedah (unkeed@yahoo.com), March 17, 2000.

I wish I could sign on to the sentiment of the US Census being about family and human history. It really isn't. You're own choice to participate, of course, for whatever reason. Oh...I got the long form which I will hold for awhile to laugh at, but will not complete. Look real closely at the black box on the front of the envelope that says:

YOUR RESPONSE IS REQUIRED BY LAW

Does that seems like an agency that is concerned about your family history? Human history?

That which is not forbidden is mandatory.

-She in the sheet, upon the hilltop...

-- Donna (moment@home.com), March 17, 2000.

Oh I might add, along with my Uncle, that they are going to need a hell of a lot of "census police". People will refuse to submit to the black box, bold face tyranny.

Hi Uncle, Lovely....((((Uncle))))

-- Donna (moment@home.com), March 17, 2000.

And finally, cos the family history thing is dear to my heart,...don't look to the government to keep your family stories,...keep them yourself, talk to your family members...write down the stories that have previously only been TOLD. Human beings are about "their stories".

The cultural anthropologist, Gregory Bateson, was once asked if he thought that AI,...artificial intelligence was possible for computers? He responded like this: "When they make a computer that when asked a yes-or-no-question says: That reminds me of a story....they'll be close."

-She in the sheets, upon the hilltop...

-- Donna (moment@home.com), March 17, 2000.

"YOUR RESPONSE IS REQUIRED BY LAW " f**k 'em !!

-- kermie (kermitrbt@aol.com), March 17, 2000.

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX THU MARCH 15 2000 20:58:01 ET XXXXX

REPORT: CENSUS BUREAU LINKED TO WWII INTERNMENT OF JAPANESE-AMERICANS

The NEW YORK TIMES is reporting in Friday editions that "[t]wo scholars say in a new research paper that despite earlier denials, the Census Bureau was deeply involved in the roundup and internment of Japanese-Americans at the onset of U.S. entry into World War II."

According to TIMES' scribe Steven Holmes, the Census Buerau helped identify "concentrations of people of Japanese ancestry in geographic units as small as city blocks."

The bureau is said to have given vital statistics -- including age, sex, citizenship and country of birth -- on only Japanese-Americans to the War Department (now known as the Defense Department).

The research paper cited is entitled "After Pearl Harbor: The Proper Role of Population Data Systems in Time of War" and was written by Margo Anderson, a history professor at the University of Wisconsin (Milwaukee) and William Seltzer, a statistician and demographer at Fordham University.

It will be released next week in Los Angeles at the annual Population Association of America meeting.

Japanese-Americans have long suspected that the Census Bureau played a prominent role in the relocation of 120,000 residents of Japanese ancestry to detention camps.

Former California congressman Norman Mineta, who spent time in a Wyoming detention center tells the paper:

"We've always suspected this. After all, they are the keeper of this kind of information."

Writes Holmes:

"The Census Bureau often boasted that its conduct in the relocation of Japanese-Americans had been its finest hour because it resisted pressure to provide explicit data to the War and Justice Departments. But Census Bureau officials do not dispute the findings of the paper."

Developing...

-- yeah right (fill@it.in), March 17, 2000.