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Native Americans In Texas Hope To Improve Census Count

Courtesy: nuifc.org

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. 

Credit Courtesy: nuifc.org
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Courtesy: nuifc.org
MEETING TO GET BETTER COUNT - The NUIFC held a meeting in San Antonio, Texas to get Native American groups to help increase participation in the 2020 U.S. Census.

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.

Chuck Smith brings more than 30 years' broadcast and media experience to Red River Radio. He began his career as a radio news reporter and transitioned to television journalism and newsmagazine production. Chuck studied mass communications at Southern Arkansas University in Magnolia and motion picture / television production at the University of California at Los Angeles. He has also taught writing for television at York Technical College in Rock Hill, South Carolina and video / film production at Centenary College of Louisiana, Shreveport.