Recently while driving across the barren plains from California to Oklahoma, I was reminded of how vast America is. It is easy to forget this when you are a California resident accustomed to the hustle and bustle of urban life. While nearly 39.1 percent of the population of America huddles along the coasts, millions of people live in rural areas across the United States. Along Interstate 40, there are long stretches where no towns or gas stations can be seen for miles. Being from a densely populated beach town in California, it was fascinating to be so seemingly isolated.  

However, these lands are not at all isolated. Along the way, we passed by many reservations and areas with predominantly Native American populations. As we neared closer to the region between Arizona and New Mexico where much of the Navajo Nation resides, billboards lined freeways advertising “traditional Native American” attire for sale and various attractions to visit. These so-called Native American sites and souvenir shops exemplified the assumption that many non-Indigenous people have about Indigenous culture: that Native American people and their culture are somehow static in time, left behind in the censored chapters of American history. Instead, Native Americans are an ever-changing group of people who make up nearly 2 percent of the population in America. 

The majority of society has failed to understand the culture and the history of Indigenous people.  Many people remain unaware of the various social challenges they face, such as the limited amount of affordable housing, the inaccessibility of food, severe health conditions and much more. One challenge that was particularly apparent during my journey was the extensive food deserts that plague the rural parts of the country. Along the sides of the highway where Native Americans reside, there were countless fast-food restaurants, but not a grocery store or supermarket in sight. This prompted my further investigation into food insecurity that minority groups experience. 

Across the 27,000 square miles where the Navajo people live, there are only 13 grocery stores in the area. To put this into perspective, 27,000 miles is larger than West Virginia, a state that has over 2,000 grocery stores.  Unsurprisingly, Feeding America found that one out of every four Indigenous people face food insecurity compared to the national average of one out of every nine non-Indigenous Americans. Additionally, Native American households are four hundred times more likely to report not having enough to eat than other U.S households. This statistic- along with the fact that Native Americans are said to experience some of the highest rates of poverty in the country— paints a bleak picture for these communities.

The prevalence of food insecurity among Native American communities reveals an ugly truth about the systemic racism that these groups of people face. In the 1800s, white agencies began moving Native Americans to reservations and were supposed to provide Natives with resources to be able to farm and produce their own food. However, this promise was never upheld and Native Americans continue to suffer because of it. The federal government established the Dawes Act in 1887 which divided up Indigenous land for each Native American and then sold the rest. This act was also the first major effort to assimilate Native Americans into white America. Instead of providing the basics for Native Americans to be self-sufficient, government policies in the 1900s continued to leave these populations dependent on government social programs and assistance. The long history of food insecurity and other social issues that Native Americans still experience today can be traced back to the false promises and blatant mistreatment at the hands of the federal government.

Additionally, despite making up a significant portion of the people who require federal assistance with food programs, the USDA does not include Native Americans as an independent group to be studied or recognized when examining food insecurity. Instead, Native Americans are lumped in with the “other group, non Hispanic”. This group is continuously left out or ignored by the federal government, which inherently leads to exclusion in other areas of social and political life. How are Native Americans supposed to enact change for their communities when they are unable to have their basic needs met? 

In an effort to combat some of the issues related to food insecurity among Native Americans, the government created various social programs. One of these programs was the Food Distribution Program on Indian Reservations (FDPIR), in which the government sends food to local Indian Tribal Organizations (ITOs) to then distribute to the eligible residents. Despite its efforts, the FDPIR has had significant issues relating to the nutritional value of the foods being sent to the reservations and the cultural appropriateness of the food. Native Americans are predisposed to diet-related illnesses such as diabetes, which they suffer from at a rate twice that of their white counterparts. Because of this fact, packaged and highly processed foods that come from the FDPIR program are not conducive to better health or quality of life among Native American communities. 

Additionally, these groups have stressed that they lack traditional, culturally appropriate food. There have been concerns about the nutritional value and costs associated with more traditional foods such as bison meat and blue cornmeal. However, these concerns come from the federal social program organizers, not the Native American communities themselves. Noting the shift from traditional foods to the highly processed government-provided foods, epidemiologist Amanda Fretts from the University of Washington states, “Nearly 50 years ago, heart disease was virtually unheard of in the Indian community, but rates of the disease are now double the general population.” Claiming that culturally appropriate traditional foods are not as nutritional negates the many years of better health among Native Americans before the federal food program efforts. 

 The presence of food deserts, areas where people have limited access to a variety of healthful foods, coupled with the inadequate support provided by the government exacerbates health issues among Native American populations. Type 2 diabetes and obesity are some of the most prevalent health issues among these communities, which can have detrimental effects, such as  heart disease. The high fat and carbohydrate contents in both the fast food restaurants nearby the reservations and the government-provided food has continuously harmful effects on the longevity and healthiness of the communities.

Many Indigenous advocates and organizations have made efforts to curb some of the food insecurity these communities face by implementing projects of their own. For example, initiatives made by Project Grow encourage Native American communities to grow their own gardens and provide resources to do so. This allows for communities to have sustainable, local and nutritious food supplemented with the other government programs. It also promotes a sense of self-reliance and community by working together towards a goal of more healthful living. Even though many Native American communities had little control over the areas they were forced to move to, they continue to show their resilience and adaptability to various issues. 

The food security issue has been a problem for decades now, yet it has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic. At the beginning of the pandemic when there was a race to stock up on groceries in case people weren't able to go back out, grocery stores and supermarkets were stripped. Valarie Blue Bird Jernigan, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, stated that during the height of the pandemic many people were “driving two hours to get to a place where there’s bare and empty shelves.” It was hard enough for these communities to buy healthy groceries when there was no pandemic, yet such conditions continuously made it more difficult. The pandemic also caused a surge in applicants for federal food programs, with a 10 percent increase among the Native American population. Some Indigenous groups were highly affected by the pandemic and saw a 50 percent increase in federal food program recipients. 

In an attempt to meet some of the increased food demands among Native American populations, other programs have been created by Indigenous leaders in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Seeds and Sheep, created by members of Utah’s Diné Bikéyah, is a program in which seeds and sheep sourced by Native producers are given out to Native families who are “interested in expanding their food sovereignty” free of charge. Cynthia Wilson, one of the main creators of this project, states that, “This program will help restore our self-sufficient food systems and economy and rebuild our relationships with the earth for overall health and wellness.” Projects like these reflect the sense of adaptability and resilience of the Native American people.  

In addition to food insecurity during the pandemic, many reservations suffered from some of the highest rates of mortality and infection of COVID-19. Researchers suggested that Native Americans were dying at twice the rate of the rest of the American population during the height of the pandemic. This is not surprising considering the various health conditions many Native Americans have and the limited housing that makes isolation from other sick individuals nearly impossible. With greater risk of death and infection for elders, COVID-19 also posed a significant problem for maintaining Native American culture which is traditionally maintained by the eldest members in their communities. Along with the risk of disease and death, the pandemic became a fight for Indigenous communities to save their culture and traditional ways of life.   

We as a society should continue to stay vigilant when it comes to understanding various issues that minority groups may be facing. Being aware is the first step towards becoming advocates and allies for groups that are continuously underserved and left out. We should continue to work towards an equitable America, which can only happen when we acknowledge the systemic issues that disproportionately affect minority groups, especially Native Americans. There have been numerous initiatives made by Indigenous leaders to remedy some of the most pertinent issues that these communities are facing. These include projects to reduce food insecurity such as Project Grow, programs to promote Native American voting rights through the Native American Rights Fund, organizations that provide affordable healthcare such as the Yellowhawk Tribal Center and many more. Instead of trying to solve Native Americans’ social issues from the outside, we should continue to find ways to support Indigenous leaders who can enact change from the inside. Adequate funding and culturally appropriate resources should be provided to Native American communities in order for them to facilitate change on their own terms.