◼A petition for the US Census to officially include the question, "Do you also consider yourself to be Slavic?" In the annual survey to help provide more accurate representation of the Slavic communities within the United States. Incorporating a question about Slavic identity would achieve several goals. First, it would provide a clearer picture of the demographic makeup of the United States, recognizing its ethnic diversities. Second, it would allow American Slavs to access resources more attuned to their specific needs, from language assistance in public services to cultural and educational programs. Finally, it would empower Slavic-Americans with greater visibility and voice, celebrating their contributions to America's cultural mosaic. We in the United States prides itself ourselves on being a melting pot, so it is only fitting that we reflect this diversity accurately.

🔸The US Census conducts numerous surveys of the people in the US and these surveys can include everything from education, income, housing, education, transportation, etc... One of the most common surveys is called, the American Community Survey of (ACS).  The ACS official designation (under Ancestry) for the Slavic communities is ACS code #178, which reflects that 1.4% of the US population identifies as Slavic. The problem here is that the 1.4% number was calculated only by the percentage of participants who manually chose to write or type this answer. When looking at the percentages of respondents who manually wrote or typed that they identify as as a person from a nation/country that is Traditionally Slavic (one of the 13 Slavic Nations/countries) the total percentage increased to roughly 6%. Mind you, many of these countries that are traditionally recognized as Slavic also include many native people who are not ethnically Slavic, such as Baltic, Finnish, Buyrat, Tatar, etc.... Even still, the percentage of people who identity as Slavic should still be alot higher than 1.4%. 

🔸An organization called, the Coalition of Communities of Color caught my eye when they published an article in 2018 called, "The Slavic Community in Multnomah County: An Unsettling Profile." The article reflected a national deficiency of data regarding the communities that identify as one of the Slavic Nations and also appeared to highlight how the local Slavic communities in their area have disproportionately less access to jobs, education, and employment than previously believed. While I feel the organization had a bit of trouble accurately defining the various Slavic communities (Traditionally, the 13 different countries that fall under the Eastern, Southern, and Western Slavic groups), they did bring up a good point that data pertaining to the Slavic communities in the US is lacking, as well as proper representation. There are numerous articles online that discuss Slavophobia and its relevance today, but many lack proper statics that can be weighed by academia. 

🔸Many people in the US never heard of the word Slavic or know much about the different Slavic cultures or communities. As such, this has led to the reinforcement of stereotypes, cultural invisibility, misinformation, and even viewing the history of the Slavic American communities as irrelevant or "not really American history or un-american." Especially now, when terms like Communism and un-American are regaining popularity.

🔸The US National Library of Medicine (NIH) estimates there are over 263 million Slavic people in the world or roughly  3.16% of the world population. However other sources, such as Youngstown State University, Encyclopedia Britannica (what you find with a quick google search) place the population of Slavic people between 300 million to 360 million or roughly 4.5% of the world population. It is the largest population in both Europe and Central Asia. 

◼My goal for this petition is simply to request the US Census to look into this discrepancy and provide an option (in the form of a question) for members of the Slavic communities to chose if they also identify as Slavic.  In doing so, this will provide better and more accurate data that can be used by academia, the local communities, organizations, and government stake holders to better understand the needs of the Slavic communities.