Assemblymember James Ramos has a persistent memory from his childhood in San Bernardino County. A teacher at his elementary school played a drum song and asked students to stand up if they were Native American and interpret the song for the class. “That’s not our culture,” Ramos told his teacher. He grew up on the San Manuel Indian Reservation as a member of the Serrano/Cahuilla tribe, which uses gourd rattles, not drums, for music, he said. “Well, sit down,” he recalled the teacher saying. “You must not be Indian enough.” Assemblymember James RamosCredit: Facebook / AsmJamesRamos That experience, Ramos said, is indicative of a wider problem in California schools, where the vast majority of Native American students and their diversity go unrecognized. Now, the San Bernardino Democrat is championing legislation to change that by requiring the state to collect students’ tribal affiliations as part of its annual enrollment data-gathering effort. “I’m doing everything I can to make sure that California Indian people and Native Americans don’t feel invisible in LEAs,” Ramos said, referring to Local Education Agencies, a term that encompasses school districts, charter schools and county offices of education. “We’re hoping that by pushing pieces of legislation, our tribal members will not have to go through that type of experience.” According to a 2023 report by the American Institutes for Research and the Indigenous Education State Leaders Network, Native American students are undercounted by 70% nationwide. In California, the report found the undercount is even higher — 89.8% —…
