Page 6
Spilyay Tymoo, Warm Springs, Oregon
September 9, 2020
Census in Indian Country hindered by virus
Every decade, American
Indians are routinely
undercounted by the U.S.
Census Bureau’s nationwide
effort to tally everyone
within the country’s borders.
At stake are millions of fed-
eral dollars for tribal com-
munity programs.
To prevent under-count-
ing this year, millions of
dollars are being spent pro-
moting participation in the
2020 Census.
For Oregon a major point
of focus is the historically
undercounted
Native
population.
However, the Covid-19
outbreak is making it more
difficult to accurately survey
Indian Country, where the
Census
Bureau
has
struggled in the past.
The curtain rose—then
because of the covid virus
quickly fell—on a kickoff
gala on the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs
Reservation, March 12.
Planned weeks in ad-
vance by census officials
and the media, the gala was
to be the centerpiece of ef-
forts to engage reservation
residents and push them to-
ward greater participation
than was seen in the 2010
Census, which, like previous
population counts, suffered
an undercount of American
Indian and Alaska Natives.
A taco lunch was pro-
vided, as well as a children’s
mini powwow.
An esteemed tribal elder
and veteran was Oregon’s
first 2020 Census partici-
pant.
Speeches by tribal offi-
cials urged the importance
of the census to Native
people.
Yet the night before, Or-
egon Gov. Kate Brown an-
nounced limits on crowd
sizes at organized events as
the state addressed steadily
increasing cases of Covid-
19.
Jaylyn Suppah, a com-
munity planner for the
Court reviewing planned early end to census
A federal judge in Cali-
fornia has temporarily
blocked the effort to cut
short the 2020 census,
which critics say is an at-
tempt to undercount com-
munities of color.
U.S. District Judge
Lucy Koh in the North-
ern District of California
issued the order in re-
sponse to a challenge by a
coalition of civil rights,
local government and
Native American groups,
which filed an emergency
request as part of a fed-
eral lawsuit.
Koh ruled that the or-
der is needed because the
challengers are likely to
suffer “irreparable harm”
from a truncated census
count.
The census results are
used to determine the dis-
tribution of political rep-
resentation and federal
funding among states and
local communities for the
next decade.
“Because the decennial
census is at issue here, an
inaccurate count would
not be remedied for another
decade, which would affect
the distribution of federal
and state funding, the de-
ployment of services, and
the allocation of local re-
sources for a decade,” the
judge wrote.
The order is expected to
remain in effect until a court
hearing on September 17,
when the coalition will argue
for census counting to con-
tinue through the end of
October, as the Census Bu-
reau initially planned.
“To cease census opera-
tions earlier than set out in
the Bureau’s own Covid-19
census plan with full
awareness that tribal na-
tions,
the
most
undercounted population
in the 2010 census, are also
the
most
impacted
coronavirus demographic,
is a breach of the govern-
mental relationship that ex-
ists between the federal
government and tribal na-
tions,” said Stephen Roe
Lewis, governor of the
Gila River Indian Commu-
nity in Arizona.
“This federal govern-
ment would knowingly be
ensuring that much-
needed tribal programs
would be significantly cut
because of the conditions
created by the pandemic
and the interruption of
census operations,” he
added.
The Census Bureau
originally had planned to
extend the count through
October to make up for
delays caused by Covid-
19. After publicly sup-
porting the timeline exten-
sion, the administration in
August suddenly moved
up the date to the end of
September.
“Today’s ruling buys
the census some precious
and indispensable time by
barring the administration
from shutting down the
count while the federal
courts are still consider-
ing our request for relief,”
said Thomas Wolf, a se-
nior counsel at the
Brennan Center for Jus-
tice, who is helping to rep-
resent the plaintiffs.
tribe’s health and human
ser vices branch, was
charged with making sure
the census kickoff had
plenty of food for attend-
ees.
At the onset, she figured
nearly 100 people showed
up at the Warm Springs
Agency Longhouse.
“We just finished out the
day and we kind of just
started looking at the pro-
tocol Gov. Brown put out,”
Ms. Suppah said. “It was an
all-day event, so people
came and went. It wasn’t
crowded or anything.”
But afterward, the pan-
demic slammed the brakes
on what was to be an ag-
gressive, far-reaching effort
to count more Native
Americans and to prevent
a repeat of the 2010
undercount.
As of August 31, the
Warm Springs reservation
had a self-response rate of
40.2 percent.
While that’s better than
its final 2010 rate of 35.8
percent, it’s well below that
of Oregon (67.9 percent)
and still not as high as cen-
sus officials want.
In 1990, the undercount
for American Indian/
Alaska Natives nationwide
was more than 12 percent,
while in 2010, that figure
was 4.9 percent.
At a 2018 hearing, U.S.
Sen. Tom Udall of New
Resolution of Tribal Council
Road projects
2020-2024
Whereas the Tribal
Council is the governing
body of the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs
Reservation of Oregon;
and
Whereas the Bureau of
Indian Affairs and the
Warm Springs Tribe have
recognized the need to sub-
mit the priority list for the
Tribal Transportation Im-
provement Program (TIP)
for the Indian Reservation
Road projects for the fiscal
years 2020, 2021, 2022,
2023 and 2024, and Tribal
Council approval of the
TIP by resolution is re-
quired for BIA funding; and
Whereas the BIA re-
quires a Tribal Council reso-
lution to submit the TIP for
Indian Reservation Road
(IRR) projects for fiscal
years 2020, 2021, 2022,
2023 and 2024 accordingly,
the projects are listed (ex-
hibit A to the resolution) in
order of priority to use
funding when it becomes
available. These projects are
listed with the estimated
funding amounts; and
Whereas the road de-
sign and construction pro-
jected listed are an integral
part of the future of Warm
Springs housing plans, school
bus routes and transportation
system; and
Whereas these projects
have been designated as part
of the BIA roads inventory
and the BIA has identified
the funding source for the
design and construction of
these projects will be through
the Indian Reser vation
Roads program under the
Tribal Transportation Pro-
gram under the Moving
Ahead for Progress in the
Twenty-First Century Act,
administered by the Federal
Highways Administration;
and
Whereas the War m
Springs Planning Depart-
ment and the BIA estimate
that the cost to design and
construct these projects is
approximately $9,999,800;
that an actual cost proposal
will be negotiated for the
purpose of entering into a
contract between the BIA
and Tribe; and for which
Advanced Payment Schedule
process for funding shall be
requested; and
Whereas the War m
Springs Planning Depart-
ment has been designated the
Transportation Planner for
the Warm Springs Reserva-
tion, and the Planning De-
partment shall be respon-
sible to ensure that the good
of the public is ser ved
through responsible engi-
neering and construction;
and
Whereas these projects
can best be expedited and
accomplished by the Tribe,
and through, Planning De-
partment acting pursuant to
a Public Law 93-638 con-
tract with the BIA by utiliz-
ing materials located on the
Warm Springs Reservation
and in close proximity to the
projects; and
Whereas construction
of these road projects will
require the Tribe to grant
rights of way across tribally
owned trust land; and
Whereas the Tribal
Council believes that the
process of obtaining the nec-
essary rights of way across
Tribal land to construct the
road projects should be fa-
cilitated and expedited; and
Whereas in order to fa-
cilitate the granting of rights
of way to construct these
projects the Tribal Council
wishes to authorize and del-
egate to the Chairman, or
Vice Chairman, and the Sec-
Mexico told the Senate
Committee on Indian Af-
fairs that the federal gov-
ernment spends $3,000 per
person in his state, meaning
significant losses for tribes
when reservation residents
go uncounted.
In Oregon, the state has
provided $7.7 million for
2020 Census education and
outreach, in hopes of secur-
ing those federal dollars.
Jaylyn found her role
shifted from event catering
to census activities coordi-
nator.
With the slate of origi-
nally scheduled census ac-
tivities canceled, she’s shifted
to more pandemic-friendly
events.
These have included
drive-through census events
across the reservation. By
her estimate, at least 180
people took part in those ac-
tivities, out of the 3,330 resi-
dents who live on the reser-
vation. This year census
questionnaires can be com-
pleted online, but that won’t
be a great help in Indian
Country, Jaylyn said.
“When we’re expecting
folks to be counted online,
it’s really hard,” she said.
“You have folks who don’t
use the internet or have ac-
cess to the internet. It’s not
our strong suit.”
Services many Americans
take for granted—like wi-fi
access, cell phone coverage,
and computers—are often
lacking in Indian Country.
The U.S. Census Bureau
reports that just over half
of reservation homes have
computers connected to
high-speed internet service.
Coordinators
were
handed some jarring news
early this month when bu-
reau officials announced that
an extended data collection
and self-response deadline
of October 31 was being
shifted to the end of Sep-
tember.
Jeanette Durán Pacheco,
media specialist for the Cen-
sus Bureau’s Los Angeles Re-
gional Office, says the bureau
is adding employees, training
sessions, and awards to mo-
tivate enumerators “who
maximize hours worked.”
“We will improve the
speed of our count without
sacrificing completeness,”
Durán Pacheco said.
Some aren’t as upbeat.
“Moving the deadline
sooner only continues to dis-
enfranchise our communi-
ties from being counted,”
said William Miller, a
Blackfoot and Cherokee In-
dian who works with the Or-
egon Complete Count Com-
mittee on Indian Affairs.
“These efforts will only
continue to increase the risk
of an undercount, which
will require our communi-
ties having to wait until 2030
to be accurately accounted
for.”
Enumerators trained in
social distancing and
equipped with personal pro-
tective equipment have
been sent out to visit the
homes of residents who
haven’t self-reported.
“We must do everything
within our power to success-
fully, meaningfully and fruit-
fully engage our community
to ensure a full count,” Mr.
Miller said.
While census workers
race to beat the clock, sev-
eral civil rights groups have
filed a federal lawsuit against
the current administration,
arguing that the truncated
timeline violates the
Constitution’s Enumeration
Clause, which requires an
actual count of all persons
living in the United States.
Additionally, 20 U.S.
Senators have signed a let-
ter to the U.S. Census Bu-
reau and the U.S. Depart-
ment of Commerce, urging
them to honor their original
field data collection deadline
of October 31, to ensure an
accurate count for Indian
Country and the Native
Hawaiian community.
retary-Treasurer CEO the
authority to execute any and
all rights of way across tribal
land required to construct
the road projects subject to
the approval of the Secre-
tary (BIA); now therefore
Be it resolved by the
Twenty-Eighth Tribal Coun-
cil of the Confederated
Tribes of Warm Springs,
pursuant to Article V, Sec-
tion l(a) and (d) of the Tribal
Constitution and By-Laws,
that the Tribal Council re-
quest a contract under au-
thority of the Public Law
93-638, to design and con-
struct the road projects
hereby designated as the
Tribal TIP for fiscal years
2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and
2024; and
Be it further resolved
that the Secretary-Treasurer
CEO or their authorized des-
ignee, is hereby authorized
to make application for, ne-
gotiate and execute said con-
tract and any amendments
thereto, on behalf of the
Tribe; and
Be it further resolved
that this authorization and
cost estimate shall remain in
full force and effect until
otherwise updated, amended
or rescinded by subsequent
Tribal Council resolution;
and
Be it further resolved
Tribal Council requests that
the BIA secure the necessary
rights-of-way for the use of
the individually and/or trib-
ally owned lands required to
construct the road projects;
and
Be it further resolved
the Tribal Council Chairman
or Vice Chairman and Sec-
retary-Treasurer CEO are
hereby authorized to ex-
ecute any and all rights-of-
way documents on behalf of
the Tribe that may be re-
quired to construct the
projects listed in this resolu-
tion subject to the approval
of the Secretary (BIA); and
Be it further resolved
the Tribal Council hereby re-
serves the right to negotiate
any compensation for the
rights of way across tribal
land authorized by this reso-
lution and required by any
of the roads projects. Reso-
lution no. 12,702.
Dave McMechan/Spilyay
Entrance sign at the Warm Springs Academy.