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Articles on Alaska Natives

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Census takers went door to door in 2020, as in past years, seeking to make the count as accurate as possible. AP Photo/John Raoux

2020 census miscounted Americans – 4 questions answered

When the Census Bureau’s count of the population is inaccurate, it affects representation and government spending. Correcting errors isn’t always allowed.
Community members from Utqiagvik, Alaska, look to open water from the edge of shorefast sea ice. Matthew Druckenmiller

2021 Arctic Report Card reveals a (human) story of cascading disruptions, extreme events and global connections

Sea ice is thinning at an alarming rate. Snow is shifting to rain. And humans worldwide are increasingly feeling the impact of what happens in the seemingly distant Arctic.
The Denali Highway as it crosses the Susitna River. Joe Sohm/Visions of America/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Infrastructure bill passed by Congress promises billions for bridge repair – rural Alaska shows the growing need as temperatures rise

Alaska is warming faster than any other U.S. state, and that’s causing problems, a team of bridge engineers and social scientists explains. The infrastructure bill in Congress would offer some help.
A portion of a map that erases the borders Colonial powers drew, and shows instead the Indigenous territories, treaties and languages of North America. Native Land Digital

Land acknowledgments meant to honor Indigenous people too often do the opposite – erasing American Indians and sanitizing history instead

Land acknowledgments state that activities are taking place on land previously owned by Indigenous peoples. They’re popular – but they may harm more than they heal, say three anthropologists.
Community groups, like this one in Phoenix, have been working to get people of color to contribute their information to the census. AP Photo/Terry Tang

Shortened census count will hurt communities of color

The census will likely count fewer Black Americans, Indigenous peoples, Asian Americans and Americans of Hispanic or Latino origin than there actually are.
Johnnie Henry, president of the Navajo Nation’s Church Rock chapter house community center, hauls drinking water to neighbors in Gallup, N.M., May 7, 2020. AP Photo/Morgan Lee

Native American tribes’ pandemic response is hamstrung by many inequities

Many Native American tribes are reporting high COVID-19 infection rates. State and federal agencies are impeding tribes’ efforts to handle the pandemic themselves.
Leaders of the Tlingit and Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska voted to postpone the 85th Annual Tribal Assembly because of the pandemic. Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska

Tribal leaders face great need and don’t have enough resources to respond to the coronavirus pandemic

American Indians and Alaska Natives are the most impoverished and marginalized group in the US. Tribes are working to protect their people from the coronavirus, but they have few resources to do so.
2016’s warm winter meant not enough snow for the start of the Iditarod sled dog race in Anchorage, so it was brought by train from 360 miles north. AP/Rachel D'Oro

In Alaska, everyone’s grappling with climate change

For everyone from traditional hunters to the military, the National Park Service to the oil industry, climate change is the new reality in Alaska. Government, residents and businesses are all trying to adapt.

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