“Some of the reservations make the slums look like the ritz-carlton.”
When I lived in Phoenix my business partner and I had a houseboat on Lake Powell at Page, AZ. One has to drive through the reservation to get to Page. You’re absolutely correct. Saw people living in mud huts with multiple TV aerials and Cadillac’s sitting in front.
Some of the ones in eastern AZ and western NM are pitiful. Even the “artists” haven around Taos are pretty lame. Lots of them with no elec or running water. Lots of soused Indians around Gallup NM. I guess that’s what happens when the big cheese in DC promises to take care of you and you become dependent on the “system”. Not that there aren’t some well meaning folks in BIA.