The 2010 census will provide a clear and detailed picture of the nation, and Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islanders are making sure they are well represented in that portrait.

Sacramento State’s Polynesian Connection Club hosted the Census Awareness Forum with the slogan “Get Counted.” Around 400 members of the Polynesian community from San Francisco, East Bay and Sacramento came to the University Union Ballroom today.

Liz Lynn, co-chair of the Sacramento Pacific Islander Leadership Forum, said the main goal of the event was to encourage people to be equally represented.

“This is the ultimate opportunity for Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders in Sacramento and the state of California to “Get Counted’,” Lynn said.

Robert Groves, director of the United States Census Bureau, encouraged people to take the simple and safe steps of answering 10 questions in order to be counted in the census.

“The founding fathers called for a census every 10 years, and as individual residents, there is rarely something we can do to help the deficit,” Groves said.

After his speech, Groves answered questions from the audience about the census process and addressed the issue of the immigration department gathering information from the census about illegal immigrants.

“Employees of the Census Bureau take an oath that they will not supply information to anyone outside of the bureau,” Groves said.

U.S. Congressman Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, D-American Samoa, addressed the audience and called for action during this year’s census process.”To make this idea of fair representation true to our nation’s leaders in Washington, D.C., we have to participate in this years census,” Faleomavaega said.

Faleomavaega also said that in the 2000 census, only around 800,000 Pacific Islanders were recognized in the U.S. In 2007, that number reached 1 million and Faleomavaega predicted an increase to 2 million in this year’s census. In Sacramento, about 3,800 Pacific Islanders were recognized in the 2000 census.

A phrase spoken by Faleomavaega was one of the lasting points of the day.

“If we’re not at the table, then we’re going to be on the menu,” Faleomavaega said.

Ricky Alejandro can be reached at [email protected].