Native Americans fret as report card released on 2020 census

Source: Associated Press

Native Americans fret as report card released on 2020 census

By FELICIA FONSECA and MIKE SCHNEIDER
March 9, 2022

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Plans for the 2020 census were set well in advance to ensure Native Americans living on reservations were counted more accurately than during the 2010 census, when almost 5% of the population was missed.

COVID-19, politics and an ever-changing deadline that cut the decennial count short weren’t in those plans.

Instead of canvassing neighborhoods and setting up at huge events like the Gathering of Nations in New Mexico, advocates turned to phone banking, dropped off promotional material at entrances to tribal lands that were closed to visitors and tried to entice people to fill out the census with sacks of flour and potatoes at roadside stands.

Despite a well-financed campaign, Native Americans expect those living on about 300 reservations across the U.S. to be undercounted again. They’ll find out Thursday just how good a job the Census Bureau believes it did in counting every U.S. resident during the 2020 census when the statistical agency releases two reports assessing the national count based on race, Hispanic origin, sex and age.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/covid-health-race-and-ethnicity-racial-injustice-native-americans-3f68d4d1e2b6c70223e99452a1a43be1