Native Population Vs Representation

The United States is currently home to almost 9 million Native Americans, meaning they make up a very significant amount of the US population. Although Western states have the highest density of Natives, there is still a significant amount of Alaskan and American Natives on the East Coast, with Alaska having the highest population of all states. Having a high population of Natives in one state leads to significant gains for the tribes in the state. For example, the first Alaskan representative was just elected to Congress. Despite these numbers, only 574 tribes are federally recognized, getting the rights they deserve from the federal government. Out of those 574 tribes, there are only 326 who have federally recognized “Indian Reservations”, meaning the rest of the tribes left out of that are suffering from lack of land and space that they have sovereignty over. This also leads to the fact that Aslakan and Native representation has dwindled in Congress, making decision-making in Natives' favor even more difficult. Federally and non-federally recognized tribes need to band together to support the whole Native community and fight for the positions and voice they deserve nationally to accurately represent the large number of Natives we have in our country.