Since the 1960s, Native American self-determination movements have resulted in changes to the lives of Native Americans, though there are still many contemporary issues faced by Native Americans. Today, there are over five million Native Americans in the United States, 78% of whom live outside reservations. Native American facts, Indian news and American Indian service, plus Native history and culture. Top Stories News Lifestyle Opinion Culture Press Pool Obituaries Classified Events Archives. Indian Country Today video news report for June 13, 2019 with Vincent Schilling. Associate Editor Vincent Schilling.
In 1862, the American government refused to honor treaty obligations to the Dakota Sioux Indians during a time of widespread starvation. When tribal leaders, desperate for relief, asked for food on credit because the U.S. Government had failed to provide moneys owed, an associate of the local Indian agent replied, “If they are hungry, let them eat grass or their own dung.” His comment, and the crass disregard it represented, helped to spark the infamous and bloody confrontation between the tribe and the federal government now known as the Dakota War. One does not need to travel to a developing nation to find extreme poverty. It is here, in America.
In our own backyard. Yet beyond these bleak statistics, there is very little discussion of the causes of Native American poverty and what to do about it. The sad truth is only a handful of policymakers give Native Americans priority on the national agenda. Few even know that November was Native American Indian Heritage Month and that, by Congressional resolution, the Friday after Thanksgiving is Native American Indian Heritage Day.
In a time for giving thanks, we too readily forget that one of the first stories behind Thanksgiving dates to 1621, when it is said to have been celebrated by the pilgrims at Plymouth and the Wampanoag tribe of Massachusetts. In addition to their symbolic exclusion from the table, America’s indigenous populations have struggled for recognition.
Most of the world’s nations have been reluctant to take positive steps to support the rights of indigenous peoples. The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples set a goal early this century for adoption of the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. In 2007, 143 countries finally adopted the declaration. The United States – the wealthiest country in the world – was not one of them. Expanding formal rights is important, but we also need better federal performance on these issues. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has leveled a number of criticisms at the agencies responsible for federal Native American policy, including “long-standing financial and programmatic deficiencies” in the Interior Department’s American Indian programs.
A 2006 GAO report also found that the Office of the Special Trustee for American Indians has failed to implement several key initiatives specified by the American Indian Trust Fund Management Reform Act of 1994, including establishing an actual timetable for completing its mission. The government should also take more aggressive action on providing essential services and the necessary tools for effective self-governance to Native American communities. Congress has failed to reauthorize the Indian Health Care Improvement Act since 1992. Initially passed in 1976, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act was designed to bring the waning health of Native American communities up to the standard enjoyed by all Americans. Unfortunately, current inaction on this issue constitutes a grave travesty. Health systems in many Native American communities are in serious need of updating and improvement. Reauthorizing this legislation will improve disease screening in Native American communities, encourage health enrollment in existing federal programs, provide better investment in Native American health professionals, and ensure funding in order to modernize facilities in Native American communities.
If providing better health care to Native Americans during a time of Wall Street bailouts seems too costly, we should recognize that we currently spend 30 percent more per capita on health care in American prisons than on Native Americans, whose ancestors aided the Pilgrims, fed the soldiers freezing in Valley Forge, helped Lewis and Clark explore our nation, and proudly hoisted the flag on Iwo Jima. In fact, Native Americans most recently served their country by playing the first and leading role in exposing one of the largest congressional corruption scandals in history: the Jack Abramoff scandal. The truth is that health care is merely one example of the way we consistently deprive Native American communities of the services they desperately need. A 2003 study by the U.S.
Commission on Civil Rights found that, per capita, Native Americans receive disproportionately lower funding than the general population for federally administered services and programs. This means that for every essential service our government agrees to provide for its citizens – including basic law enforcement, education, and infrastructure – Native Americans get less than any other segment of society. The issue of poverty is an integral first step. Poverty is both the cause and the consequence of all the ills visited upon Native Americans.
Failure to address poverty causes deprivation and hardship in these communities today, and robs the next generation of any opportunity to succeed and thrive tomorrow. The invisibility, silence, and neglect must end. As President-elect Barack Obama ascends to the White House, now is the significant moment to address the many problems Native Americans endure, including systemic poverty.