Six state and federally recognized tribes reside in the State of Texas including the Alabama-Coushatta, Kickapoo Traditional Tribe, Ysleta Del Sur Pueblo, Lipan Apache Tribe, Mount Tabor Indian Community, Texas Band of Yaqui Indians and the Miakan Garza Band of Coahuiltecans. Dozens more have been displaced from the state including the Kiowa, Comanche, Carizzo & Comecrudo, Caddo, and Tonkawa. Even more no longer exist after successful efforts by Texas to ethnically cleanse communities from the state and open the region to settlers.
Indigenous communities and stories represent the most underserved by journalists in Texas. In fact, for the last 50 years, the only stories major Texas newsrooms have bothered to look into primarily revolve around casinos and powwows. There has been almost no reporting done on the impact of COVID-19, on law enforcement relationships, climate change impacts, voting access, health care systems, politics, art, sex, or treaty rights to name a few.
For whatever reason, news organizations in Texas don’t report on Indigenous communities. The Texas Observer intends to be different.
