California advocates continue the fight for better health data on Indigenous communities

Pedro, the coordinator of the Indigenous interpreters program at Comunidades Indígenas en liderazgo (CIELO), began her speech in Akateko, one of the thousands of indigenous languages spoken in California. The room was quiet after she spoke.

“Did anyone understand me?” she asked in English. Most of the people in the audience said “no.”

The point Pedro made appeared to resonate with the other panelists: Indigenous people with roots in Latin America are often considered Latinos in government surveys, erasing their identities and, in turn, ignoring that they may have different health needs.