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This week, the Navajo Nation has extended the closure of tribal government offices and ordered residents to stay home for another three weeks as the number of coronavirus cases rises outside the reservation. In May the Navajo Nation had the highest per capita COVID-19 infection rate in the United States, outpacing hot spots like New York. Driving this alarming rate of infection was high poverty, lack of healthcare access, lack of access to clean water, and general neglect at the hands of the U.S. government.
Compounding these struggles, Native Americans (the Navajo especially) have been historically undercounted in the census–an issue that’s especially worrisome this census year at a time when indigenous communities need more federal representation.
Why This Matters: As Mother Jones explained in their recent piece, “for myriad reasons that ultimately boil down to the US government’s unwillingness to invest in the people whose resources it has squandered since the nation’s inception, Native Americans have been regularly undercounted ever since—more than any other ethnic group.” Undercounting people of color in this nation, unfortunately, occurs regularly and costs these communities precious dollars in funding for projects they desperately need (like schools and clean water infrastructure). The coronavirus presents an immense challenge to census workers who aren’t able to go door to door in rural areas, creating the likelihood that the communities who need government funding the most will not receive it.
Worth Noting: As Forbes wrote, there are advocacy groups who have expressed extreme concern around funding issues for the Census. Specifically, the Census Project estimates that there’s a $2 billion shortfall of budget needed to complete an accurate decennial census.
The Colorado River is drying up, millions are at risk of losing their water supply, and Indigenous communities are fighting to keep their water rights. The Western megadrought is taking its toll on American communities, but how did we get here? In his new film, River’s End: California’s Latest Water War, Jacob Morrison delves […]
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and HP just announced that they’re taking their friendship to the next level. The odd couple is teaming up and expanding their partnership to restore, protect, and improve the management of almost one million acres of forest. HP is pledging $80 million to forest conservation and restoration, and not stopping there […]
Researchers from the National University of Singapore used data from more than 1,000 twin siblings to evaluate their opinions about environmental policy. They found identical twins were more likely to have similar views on green policy than non-identical twins, suggesting that support for climate action may have a genetic component. Felix Tropf, a professor in […]
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