The FCC and Ajit Pai are Leaving Native American Reservations Behind
Despite Pai’s promise to get broadband to rural areas, Native American reservations still struggle to get basic Internet connections
The Senate Committee on Indian Affairs recently held a hearing addressing the technological disparities affecting Native American communities. Many indigenous people living on tribal lands in the United States are often located in rural areas without access to high-speed internet or even cell service. A year ago, Traci Morris, a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma and head of the American Indian Policy Institute at Arizona State University, told NPR that people living on tribal lands were the “least connected,” “underconnected,” and “underserved.”
I didn’t have to hear this on NPR to understand its truth. I grew up on the Northern Cheyenne reservation, a community where making a cellphone call or checking messages required driving to locations where I might pick up a spotty signal. I still remember all of the spots along the highway where I could check my voicemail messages or place phone calls.
Cellphones couldn’t access a signal almost anywhere on the reservation so residents often drove miles to…
