Tribes jump on census bandwagon

DENVER – The Chocktaw Nation missed out on many millions of dollars in federal aid for Covid-19 relief and other programs due to an undercount of tribal members in the U.S. 2010 Census, leadership said during a forum July 21 designed to encourage Indian country participation in the 2020 edition of the survey.

Speaking of “painful illustrations of what happens when a census doesn’t go well for a tribe ,” Choctaw Nation Chief Gary Batton’s executive communications officer said, “We’ve lost out on 10s and 10s of millions of dollars in state and federal aid, which would have come to us if the census count would have been more accurate.

“That gave us an excellent impetus and a reason for doing the best we could to get the 2020 Census organized on our end,” he said.

Like some of the other 574 federally recognized tribal governments, the Choctaw Nation is taking part in what the U.S. Census Bureau calls “count committees”, in which representatives of different government jurisdictions partner to promote citizen participation.

In the Choctaw case, this includes a tribal representative providing county and city officials information showing how much funding they failed to receive due to the fact that only 20 percent of the tribal nation’s 226,000 citizens were counted as members in the previous decennial census.

The Choctaw government conducted its own census for years before states got involved, showing that its members live in the 11,000 square miles and 11 counties under its jurisdiction in eastern Oklahoma, as well as elsewhere in all 50 U.S. states.

The federal CARES Act money to counter the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic provided the Choctaw Nation with $136 million that it is now administering, but another $100 million would have been available “if the 2010 census had been a more complete count for us,” the tribal government said.

Seeking to boost he 2020 headcount, the Choctaw Nation was prepared to spend $1 million on advertising the census when the survey launched in March, but the census-taking stalled out in three days, faced with the overwhelming demands of immediate pandemic protocols.

The tribal government only now is beginning to sponsor billboards, on-air, online, and on-the-ground events toward that end. It is mailing members asking them to complete a questionnaire about their census participation.

Enticement for answering is a top prize of $20,020 and 10 lesser rewards of $2,020 each. If an answer to the questionnaire shows the respondent didn’t take part in the census, the tribe sends another mailing to explain the importance of doing so.

The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians is another tribal nation with proactive census outreach. Chair Jamie Azure, who took part in the forum sponsored by the Denver Regional Office of the U.S. Census Bureau, lamented that his enrollment of more than 32,000 members also was undercounted in the 2010 survey.

Part of the reason is mistrust of federal and state agents engendered by “historical trauma” from colonization, he said. “This is the new age for sovereign nations; the numbers are just so important,” he proclaimed.

Since the pandemic has bogged down reservation census progress, his tribe formed a 100-percent tribal-member squad that sends enumerators door-to-door leaving census information bags.

To enhance trust, they dress in full protective gear and do not meet face-to-face with residents. Their activity is backed by explanatory broadcast and internet spots.

Turtle Mountain is rewarding census participants with prizes. At one event, more than 250 vehicles attended, driving by the tribal Sky Dancer Resort in Belcourt near the Canadian border in central North Dakota and picking up cash-value cards for participation in the national count.

“With Covid-19 and without a strong tax base, even shifting $15,000 into the census was a big decision,” Azure said. However, he added, “We will make those hard decisions. We understand how this is going to effect the next generation moving up behind us.”

When the Census Bureau contacted Apsaalooke performer Christian Parrish, better known as Supaman, to do a video song and dance spot supporting census participation, the hip-hop artist and Indian flute player forged the trending online virtual pow wow medium into a tool for the cause.

He promoted the tribal census response as a means to “holding the government accountable for the treaties we made,” and saying, “We need to do our part for our people.”

Five tribes in the 12-state Denver region of the Census Bureau remain to initiate census taker visits due to pandemic lockdown: Acoma, Ft. Mojave, Jicarilla, Northern Cheyenne, and Poaque.

Most of the Northern Great Plains Tribes have a participation rate to date that lags between 15 and 25 percent, compared to the national average of 63 percent.

This is the first nationwide population census in which surveys went to home address via the mail. It is the first time they could be answered via mail, phone or internet.  On Aug. 11, the region’s census takers will start going to the homes that have not responded.

They will wear masks, knock on doors, and step back to keep pandemic protocol of safe distancing between people, according to Regional Director Cathy Lacy. They will conduct census interviews with a handheld device, asking 10 questions in a 10-minute encounter, she said.

“We need to have an accurate number of the people living in that household,” she said, noting that the information collected is confidential.

“Schools, health facilities, public transportation, housing, roads, assistance — many of these are funded through federal dollars. If people think they are not affected by that once-in-a-decade count, if they look around, they should realize they are affected,” she said.

“I like to think of us as the truth tellers of the nation,” she concluded. “This is something we all need to do together and make sure all tribal nations are accurately counted.”

Opportunities to take advantage of census policy favoring the hiring of tribal residents on their own census tracts are still open for a brief period of time. Training for the temporary jobs is online.

 

(Contact Talli Nauman at talli.naman@gmail.com)

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