New federal data collection rules may further obscure the economic conditions of Native Americans, exacerbating existing challenges in gathering accurate information about this population. The Office of Management and Budget’s updated guidelines for collecting race and ethnicity data on federal forms could disproportionately affect American Indians and Alaska Natives, potentially rendering them invisible in crucial datasets.
Robert Maxim, a research fellow at the Brookings Institution and citizen of the Mashpee Wampanoag, highlights that up to 60% of people who identify as American Indian/Alaska Native also select another racial category on federal forms. This often results in their responses being categorized as “two or more races,” effectively erasing their Native identity from the data.
The issue is further complicated by the federal government’s trust and treaty obligations to tribal nations. Eric Henson from the Harvard Project on Indigenous Governance and Development emphasizes that data deficiencies undermine the government’s ability to fulfill these obligations, which include providing healthcare, education, and other essential services.
Casey Lozar of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve’s Center for Indian Country Development notes that while useful information can be extracted from federal datasets, it requires significant effort and capacity to make it usable for decision-makers and researchers.
Experts suggest that a standalone question about Indigenous identity, similar to those used in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, could better reflect how Native people see themselves and improve data accuracy. This change could potentially lead to more precise federal resource allocation and a better understanding of economic conditions for Native Americans.
See “Gathering data on Native people is tricky. New federal rules won’t help.” (July 5, 2024)
