… Native Americans make up less than 2% of the U.S. population and often are listed in datasets as “other” or denoted with an asterisk. Even when surveyed, the results can be considered statistically insignificant because the sample size isn’t large enough or the margin of error is too great to accurately reflect the population. …
Heather Shotton, co-editor of the book “Beyond the Asterisk,” argues that missing data and incomplete representations of Native Americans have been a part of U.S. history. Shotton, a citizen of Wichita and Affiliated Tribes in Oklahoma, said the “something else” label is a lazy way to represent groups that weren’t included in the graphic. “It speaks to how Indigenous people remain outside of the consciousness of everyday Americans and exist either in an elsewhere or in the past,” she said. CONTINUED
Cheyanne Mumphrey & Felicia Fonseca, Associated Press