Why do we have Indian reservations?

[future]

ITs easy to be judgmental and point fingers. I am sure many posters on this site live in their own world of appathy as well. I can say that Indians have been one of the most oppressed cultures in US history. Try to think of what life would be like living in a cycle of depression etc. It doesnt give anyone an excuse but there are reasons for behaviors, attitudes etc.

...and my wife is Native American.

 

[stosstruppe]

Why should they be entitled to shit anyway. Last wave of (European) immigrants took it by force fair and square.

 

[superqt4u2nv]

In my observation, your friend is the exception, not the rule. Additionally, you are Canadian. I hate to state the obvious, but there's a big difference between the way Canada treats its people in general versus the way the US does.

Actually, my husband is a member of a Canadian Mohawk tribe, it's one of our retirement options if his 401K and pension evaporate the way I think they will, but not high on our list as we both truly fucking hate the cold.

LOL if you hate the cold brace yourself but it is awesome and I love it here and you are very correct Canada's treatment of native people is for sure much better then the US.

 

[superqt4u2nv]

ITs easy to be judgmental and point fingers. I am sure many posters on this site live in their own world of appathy as well. I can say that Indians have been one of the most oppressed cultures in US history. Try to think of what life would be like living in a cycle of depression etc. It doesnt give anyone an excuse but there are reasons for behaviors, attitudes etc.

...and my wife is Native American.

Your wife is a perfect example of rising above IMO she has become rather sucessful in life. I didn't mean to come off as not giving a crap about the people I just have a problem with anyone allows themselves to live in self pitty and not do anything about there life we have the power to better ourselves I believe in that very strongly.

 

[Raptorex]

to keep the Asians out?

 

[future]

Your wife is a perfect example of rising above IMO she has become rather sucessful in life. I didn't mean to come off as not giving a crap about the people I just have a problem with anyone allows themselves to live in self pitty and not do anything about there life we have the power to better ourselves I believe in that very strongly.

No its ok. She would say that her culture disappoints her. You can only use so many excuses before you decide to break the dysfunction chain. My take is the dysfunction has almost become hereditary due to years and years of oppression and self abuse.

 

[musclemom]

You know, here's the thing that I'd like anyone who feels that Native Americans don't need to live in poverty on reservations, that they can rise above this, move up and move, to think about:

THAT IS ALL THEY HAVE LEFT OF THEIR COMMUNITY AND CULTURE, PERIOD.

I can think of no other people on this planet, no matter how horrendously treated, in recent history (last 300 or so years) having been so thoroughly and completely stripped of their cultural identity.

Not only were Native Americans moved off their ancestral lands, they were forbidden to follow their cultural and spiritual practices. After they were moved to reservations (which were frequently climatically the diametric opposite of where these people had always lived) their children were taken away and taught to be "white." Once the children were completely indoctrinated they were then returned to their parents, having been brainwashed into thinking their culture and people were shit.

You ask more than 95% of people who have at least 1/4 Native American blood in their veins what it means to be Native American, they'll shrug and go "I dunno." They have no culture, they have no traditions, they don't know the names of their gods, they don't know they holidays or rituals. And there are people who truly, deeply miss that. They feel they have no connection, no roots. They yearn for it, and it's an emptiness that will never be completely satisfied. If they stay on the reservation, no matter how oppressive it can be (at least in the US) at least they can go for a walk around their neighborhood and see other people that look like them, they can get together with someone who knows the old songs, or can still speak the language.

 

[PICK3]

We have reservations here in New Orleans for the blaques


butt, we call them housing projects

no racist!

 

[nefertiti]

the injuns got the last laugh. . .they built casinos and now they're building hills out of gold. . .

It appears that you are very badly misinformed.

Casino owning american indians make up a tiny tiny perecentage. And the gap between them and the majority is HUGE. RG is right...most reservations resemble third world countries.

 

[digimon7068]

It appears that you are very badly misinformed.

Casino owning american indians make up a tiny tiny perecentage. And the gap between them and the majority is HUGE. RG is right...most reservations resemble third world countries.

nah. . .i'm not. . .i've seen the "other side" with my own eyes too. . .it's definitely "rough", to put it mildly. . .but a lot of the problems. . .drug abuse, alcoholism, domestic violence, etc. . .are "learned" behaviors that have been handed down from generation-to-generation and those undesireable hand-me-downs add fuel to the fire that keeps many of them in poverty in the first place. . .i have no solutions. . .only observations. . .