American Indians Battle Suicide, Poverty

AP ^ | 3/26/05 | DEBORAH HASTINGS

[anniegetyourgun]

They have their own Bureau in government; they have their own councils and tribal leaders; their own trusts, their own healthcare system, their own land, heck - they even have casino money. We were told all these things would aid the American Indian. See what dependency has wrought......

[Fast1]

I think I will cry for them! Poor things the Bad white man again. I think we should tax them the same as the rest of us!!

[martin_fierro]

Excuse me while my Italian friend here and I shed a tear.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Sounds like they're victims of the white man's guilt and compassion.

[TXBSAFH]

The answer is simple, leave the reservation, get an education and get jobs. Mainstream in to American society.

[anniegetyourgun]

It is a simple answer....and the right one. I hired a young Native American male on staff years ago. He was inquisitive and capable - showed much promise. He escaped the reservation early in life.

[sinanju]

I've read several good articles over the years that impute this "poverty" and dysfunction directly to the Govenment-created paternalism. The reservation Indians are the broken result of the welfare state at it's most extreme. They have everything taken care of and as a result they self-destruct completely. Everything is managed and owned by the state, be it the Fed or (corrupt and incompetent) tribal governments. There are no opportunities for private enterpreneurship. Almost no one is allowed to own the land they live on (hence the now stereotypical mobile homes). All those bennies won in the wake of the "Red-Power" sixties have had the diametrically opposite effect of that intended. Of course, all good liberals want more of the same poison.

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

Courtesy ping.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

They are wealthy beyond anyone in Minnesota but they can't claim their share because the "tribe" owns the land. The chief likes to talk about how proud they are, sticking to the "Red Road," looking out for one another but both claims are BS.
The community knew this kid was cracked shortly after he got there and didn't lift a finger to get him help. Guess he was supposed to raise himself.

[-=[_Super_Secret_Agent_]=-]

It's also interesting to know that third world immigrants are doing better then the native. sad eh?

[KateatRFM]

Mr. Reagan had a one word solution to their problem. "Assimilate."

I have family on a reserve in Wisconsin. It's a place for people who do not want to work.

[sinanju]

"Excuse me while my Italian friend here and I shed a tear."

Ol' Iron Eyes Cody (Espera DeCorti) deserves pride of place as being even better than the genuine article. A veteran actor, he dedicated his life to ecological (back in the days when it still stood for sanity) and Native American causes. He was even honored by them a few years before his death in spite of what everyone knew to be true.

[Chad Fairbanks]

Why?

[DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet]

I'm sorry, Chad.

[Imaverygooddriver]

That "crying Indian," as he would later sometimes be referred to, was Iron Eyes Cody, an actor who throughout his life claimed to be of Cherokee/Cree extraction.

Brother of Ward Churchill?

[Alberta's Child]

There aren't enough places to live on the reservation, so families and cousins and children live crowded together in single homes.

This one sentence says it all. There aren't enough places to live on the reservation, yet the reservation covers over 820,000 acres and has a population of only about 5,000. That's more than 160 acres per person.

What you find on many of these reservations is a social order that has completely collapsed, and a dysfunctional culture that probably would have vanished long ago if not for the financial support provided by the government.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

On many reservations, its who you know that gets you your welfare check, decent housing, job, etc. There is very little rule of law on Indian land.

[Imaverygooddriver]

That is bizarre, I thought that guy was an Indian as well, and all this time he was Italian. Hiawatha Corleone. "Mama mia! You a gotta stop a tha pollution! Now we a gonna smoke a the peace a pipe!"