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Really? “The plight?” It is my understanding that they have reservations over which they and they alone exercise jurisdiction, that if any one of them can demonstrate 1/8th Native American blood, they get tribal benefits, and that the equal protection clause of the US Constitution is set aside in their case. Some plight. The fact that some of them drink firewater, won’t go to school and are still fighting the war is not the UN’s business.

What gets lost in reporting such as this, is that Indians are American citizens, and are not required to live on reservations. They can and do move into mainstream society, if they choose to do so.

Talk of alcoholism, unemployment, poverty, etc. on Indian reservations is similar to such discussions about conditions in ghettos, if you think about it.

I may get flamed for saying this, but, Indians on reservations which have casinos are doing well. Some of those reservations are using casino profits to develop businesses other than gambling, to the benefit of their people.

Bottom line is that Indians can and do move out of the bad conditions found on some reservations. And we should encourage that trend. And maybe someday, the reservations can be done away with altogether.

I live a mile from a traditional village on the Yukon. Indians, good bunch of people that want to be left alone so they can live pretty much how they always have. The govt gives them a little money every month, not all that much; and Indian's world view is way different than us greedy White folks. They are quite happy enough to live off what the land & river provides as long as the govt gives them enough to buy a little booze and that's the truth. Once ya get to know them, you figure out they are all OK; most my friends are Indians actually. For us Whites to attempt to make them like us is just as wrong as the genocide that has been put on them Indians since us Whites got into the Country.

Best thing we could do is give the Indians all the BLM, Fed Park Land, Wilderness Lands for them to operate or take care of;;;fire every last one of the Fed employees doing it now. The Indians would do a better job at it and wouldn't be chasing hunters, prospectors, and all other Americans off our land. The Indians have pretty much had all their lands stolen over the last 150 years anyway, by our govt. Indians really are good stewards of the land, kinda central to how they see the world.