It’s Indigenous People’s Day! While the holiday highlights the history and culture of the Indigenous people, Native American communities are facing serious problems in their communities that many people are unaware of. On Native Reservations, the COVID-19 crisis is hitting hard, and could be having long-lasting impacts culturally and economically.
Many tribes have taken on a great deal of the responsibilities that state or federal governments would typically take care of, like law enforcement and social services. Rather than using tax money for those programs, revenue from tourism and the casino industry kept them up and running, according to an article from the Harvard Gazette.
Now, as social distancing and other preventative measures to keep the virus out of those communities, casinos are closing and nobody is visiting – taking away the revenue of the tribes and, in turn, the funding for their necessary operations.
At the same time, distance learning means that kids are learning digitally from home – something that means families are reliant on access to technology and internet access, which many families do not have.
As a recent article from the Capitol Journal explains, schools on reservations are working to get students more consistent access to internet and technology like Chromebooks, but the struggle to adapt to the current situation is hard on students, teachers, and families.
The virus itself is taking a huge toll on the Native American population; the hospitals are unable to provide the medical care necessary for a health crisis this severe, facing shortages of medical equipment and a lack of funding.
According to the New York Times, the infection rates for patients of the Indian Healthcare Fund is currently at about 14 percent – nearly three times higher than the current national average – and this is just one example. Across the country, reservations are facing significantly higher infection rates compared to the rest of their states.
Even before the pandemic, the medical systems in place were failing the people living on reservations, with death rates for preventable diseases being three to five times higher in states with hospitals run by the Indian Health Fund.
Enter the pandemic, and the need for medical supplies and medical professionals meant that hospitals are facing severe shortages, making the populations even more vulnerable.
So with the hospitals in need of extra funding for medical expenses to keep up with the influx of COVID patients, the school system in need of extra funding for technology and extra support for distance learning, and the funding low as a result of low tourism, reservations are struggling.
The fight with COVID-19 is not over, and it certainly is not an equal struggle across the board. Economic, social, and political imbalances of power are tilting the odds out of favor for Native Americans, and we need to be talking about it.
Native Americans have historically had their struggles and hardships ignored and erased from history; on Indigenous People’s Day, a holiday designed specifically to shine a light on the strength of these communities, let’s not turn a blind eye.