Southland Indian Tribes Stand Up to Be Counted

Dennis Basquez hates to fill out forms. He was so wary of bureaucracy that he did not get a California driver’s license until the age of 37.

And like many Native Americans in California, Basquez ducked the 1990 U.S. census.

“I wouldn’t fill out the forms. I didn’t know what a census was. I thought the government was up to their tricks again,” said Basquez, a Soboba tribe member who lives on the Morongo Indian Reservation near Banning Pass.

Ten years later, as the 2000 census approaches, Basquez is among a new wave of American Indians who are determined to step forward and be counted this time.

Last week, tribal leaders from 19 California counties met in Palm Springs with census officials to discuss strategies for improving their counts.

The lengthy meetings at the Palm Springs Hilton had the air of strategy planning sessions among peers. It was a far cry from the census bureau’s earlier attempts to involve Native Americans, said John Reeder Jr., director of the bureau’s Los Angeles office.

“The attempts made in the 1970s were a big joke. Then in the ‘80s, the meetings were so confrontational because of the American Indians’ distrust of the federal government,” Reeder said. “But this time there’s more trust. We seem to be getting somewhere.”

Native Americans had the highest undercount of any group in the 1990 census. Government officials estimate an average 12% undercount of people on reservations, with two Southern California tribes not being counted at all. Indian leaders said the problem was as bad or worse in metropolitan areas such as Los Angeles County, which has the nation’s largest urban Native American population.

The reasons are as prosaic as old and incomplete address lists and as deep-seated as the tribal distrust of the government bred through generations of intolerance and abuse.

But a glittering Cabazon casino with an ever-full parking lot now sits on land where members of the Morongo band of Mission Indians hunted jack rabbits for dinner 15 years ago. Like many tribes, they became politically charged in their support of Proposition 5, the measure to legalize Indian gaming that was approved by voters last year but remains mired in the courts.

More than 95% of people on the reservation have registered to vote, many signing up for the first time to vote for Proposition 5--including 40-year-old Basquez.

“During the campaign on Proposition 5 we won so much more than just the proposition,” said Morongo tribal Chairwoman Mary Ann Martin Andreas. “There’s a little more confidence, a little more hope and just a smidgen more trust of the government. We understand the strength of numbers.”

Ron Andrade, director of the Los Angeles City-County Native American Indian Commission and a former census bureau employee, pounded home the importance of the census in securing federal funding and programs.

“The census 2000 numbers are the most crucial single thing done with the tribes,” he told a gathering Thursday in Palm Springs. “Everything emanates from these numbers, from schools to health benefits to the status of the lands.”

The federal government allocates money to states for Native Americans based on population. The money that would go to casino tribes that are now too wealthy to qualify for funding is diverted to poorer tribes in the state.

The state’s history of missions and the Gold Rush resulted in Native Americans losing land and being split and regrouped into new reservations. That led to confusion over tribal names, and to this day state officials do not have an accurate listing of all tribes.

“The undercount devastated our social programs in this state,” said Michelle Garcia, a member of the Native American commission. “For 10 years we’ve been just trying to struggle by. We’re looking at statistical extinction if we don’t aggressively get out there this time.”

During two days of meetings last week, tribe members learned how to fill out forms to reflect their Native American ethnicity, including instances of mixed heritage.

“It’s going to come down to ‘Are you Indian? Is this your culture?’ ” said Garcia, who has a Latino surname but more closely identifies herself with her mother’s Native American heritage. “When mixed bloods are forced to choose, they need to be aware that American Indian is only 1% of the general population and every person not counted affects funding.”

Census officials said they are trying to hire Native Americans as census takers on reservations, a strategy welcomed by tribal leaders.

“We’ve got to take it to the low grass-roots level down to someone who knows that so-and-so is living with so-and-so and who heads up the local bowling league,” Garcia said.

Andrade said the meetings left him with hope, although there are still cultural barriers to overcome, such as the planned census advertising blitz that is scheduled to start a few months before the April count.

“Our culture doesn’t like sweeps-week-type bombardment. Ours is a culture that values slowness and taking the time to gain trust,” he said. “But there comes a time when the tribal governments have to take their roles seriously. They have to work to get everyone counted regardless of what the census people do.”