State's American Indians weigh issues

CHAPEL HILL -- Twenty American Indian tribal leaders are meeting here this week to tackle issues confronting their communities around the state.

The leaders, members of the N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs, spoke Wednesday about their work to improve access to education, reduce health disparities, encourage economic development and preserve cultural identity. The American Indian Center at UNC-Chapel Hill organized the workshop.

Rebekah Revels, an executive assistant at the commission and a former Miss North Carolina, said she is concerned about the dropout rate among American Indians.

During the 2006-07 school year, the dropout rate for American Indian high school students in North Carolina was 7.7 percent, higher than the overall rate of 5.2 percent, according to data from the State Board of Education.

Revels said mentoring programs could inspire teenagers to stay in school and help first-generation college students navigate the application and financial-aid process.

"It's up to other people in the community to show them that path," she said.

Greg Richardson, executive director of the commission, said it is difficult to collect health data on American Indians because their racial identities are often miscoded in statistics reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other health agencies.

"If we're going to prove our needs -- in terms of the rate of diabetes in the state -- we have to have data," he said.

Shelia Wilson, a member of the Sappony tribe, said that when she visited her sister in intensive care at Duke Hospital in 2006, a hospital worker greeted her in Spanish by saying, "Hola, senorita."

"They think they know what you are," Wilson said.

Ruth Revels, a member of the Guilford Native American Association, said one of the most difficult problems American Indians face is that they are divided into tribes that do not always trust each other.

"There's no one Indian leader in this country that everyone's going to rally behind like they did Martin Luther King," she said. But, she said, "we're working it out."

The N.C. Commission of Indian Affairs was established by the General Assembly as an advocacy agency for the state's native American population. The commission is made up of state officials and 19 representatives of American Indian communities, who are selected by their tribes or organizations.

Nearly 100,000 American Indians live in North Carolina, according to the 2000 census. The state recognizes eight distinct tribes.