U.S. CENSUS IN TEXAS – Indigenous Americans make up less than two percent of the U.S. population. It's a historically-undercounted population that's often called 'invisible.' The upcoming 2020 census offers an opportunity to turn things around. Nearly 5 percent of American Indians in Texas were undercounted in 2010. The National Urban Indian Family Coalition met in San Antonio last Thursday to develop a message that encourages an accurate count of American Indians. Rio Fernandes is communications and projects director.
"One of the things we’re hoping to figure out is how to best distill this idea that as original people of this land, the people that were here from the very beginning, we have a right to be counted, " Fernandes explained. "We have a right to have a say in the conversation that’s going on that’s going to affect us for generations."
Fernandes says an undercount will only deflect policies and programs than would otherwise improve communities. Karla Aguilar is development director for American Indians in Texas at the Spanish Colonial Missions. That's one of the organizations that receives funding from NUIFC.
Aguilar says "Because of historical marginalization and isolation that exists across the United States of American Indians, there’s an almost unwillingness to fill out the census because people feel they aren’t seen anyways, and why am I going to bother."
Participants in last week’s meeting say an accurate count is vital to address issues like poverty, education, and housing inequality, which disproportionately affects the American Indian population.
