Report
Nathan Green March 2, 2015 ENG 2010 Prof. Kati Lewis Native Americans & Poverty Currently in the United States of America one in four Native Americans live in poverty (Krogstad). This poverty has many contributing factors. Some blame Native American poverty on alcoholism, corruption, poor education, unemployment, and the communal culture that exists. There are many contributing factors to Native American Poverty. The first contributing factor to Native American Poverty is Alcoholism. Since the colonial days of the United States, Native Americans have been in contact with alcohol. They would trade fur goods and other Native American commodities for it. This cultural clash led to many problems with the new substance. The newness of the substance had a great influence on culture and current research has shown it is also a genetic issue with Native Americans (Winkel). According to researchers 1 in 10 deaths of Native Americans is alcohol related (Winkel). There is a “protective gene” that is found in certain ethnic groups that protects the body from heavy consumption of alcohol. In Native Americans, however, there is a gene mutation that reduces the side effects of heavy drinking (Winkel). With the mutation of that gene they are biologically able to consume larger amounts of alcohol and not experience the effects it such as nausea headaches which the body initiates to tell you to stop. Alcoholism in a society wreaks havoc on the user and the economy. The effects of alcohol on the human body are well-known and can be seen by the statistics given above. The influences alcohol has on the Native American economy are more than just the money spent on it. It’s the influence on individuals in the workplace and criminal justice system. Alcohol is a drug of dependency and Native Americans show that dependency that is keeping them in poverty. The second contributing factor to Native American Poverty is corruption. Those who argue corruption is the cause of Native American poverty give the following evidence. In these Native nations there is a lack of government. This is why corruption has easily snuck in. Also with the additions of Casinos corruption has become widespread. The Federal government has been giving funds over many years to Tribal leaders to help aid with the poverty. Tribal leaders hold supreme power and have misused funding and in some cases even pocketed some. The current state of Native Americans in poverty is proof that funding from United States federal government has not been used for the right reasons. The third contributing factor to Native American poverty is the lack of education. There are those who argue that lack of education and unemployment are causes of poverty. The lack education and unemployment are two very big contributing factors to an economy in poverty. In Native American nations the drop-out rate is 11% (Krogstad). With a population at 5.2 million that is very high. Also compared to other ethnic groups throughout the nation it is the highest with the exception of Hispanics. Christine Armario gives light to some reasons why education is so bad in Native American nations, she says, “Poverty, less access to resources and difficulty obtaining and retaining teachers to work in tribal areas could be part of the problem”(Armario). She is saying because of the poverty Native Americans currently are at, resources to improve the learning and educational experiences are not able to be acquired. So the money for education is spent elsewhere. She also illustrates that because of the areas that these Native nations reside, it is hard to find teachers that are willing to work there. Most Native nations are in desolate desert areas. Christine Armario explores another side of education in Native nations. She says, “The issue of retaining Native American culture is not lost among people like Harold Dusty Bull, 60, vice president of the National Johnson O'Malley Association, a nonprofit educational organization. He recalled how in the 1940s Native American children were sent to government boarding schools where they were stripped of their culture and language” (Armario). And also Harold Dusty Bull adds, “It started out with bad history, and I don't think it's ever really overcome it yet” (Armario). This explains that a reason for bad education in Native nations is because of the bad experiences with the education system Natives have had to endure. Katherine Peralta of US News said, “According to the EPI report, American Indians and white Americans attain high school diplomas at roughly the same rate. But almost twice as many native people have less than a high school education compared with whites, and their rates of completing bachelor’s and advanced degrees are also about half that of whites” (Peralta). There is a vicious cycle here. They grow up in poverty, drop out of school, and stay in poverty. The fourth contributing factor toward Native American poverty is unemployment. There is a correlational between education and unemployment, on some reservations, unemployment is at 70 percent and graduation rates are low (Armario). The unemployment rate for Native nations varies with some really high and other just high. One example of this was given by Tom Rodgers.” On the Blackfoot Reservation in Montana, for example, the annual unemployment rate is 69 percent. The national unemployment rate at the very peak of the Great Depression was around 25 percent. That means that each year the Blackfeet people, whose aboriginal lands once comprised Glacier National Park, suffers an employment crisis nearly three times as severe as the Great Depression.” (Rodgers). The comparison given by Rodgers of the Great Depression and the current standing of the Blackfoot tribe show that there is a crisis in most of these native nations. Katherine Peralta also sheds some light on the issue, She said,” At 11 percent, the native unemployment rate in the third quarter of 2014 was almost double the national rate of 6.2 percent, according to the Labor Department. The only time the national unemployment rate hit double digits over the past 30 years was in October 2009, four months after the official end of the Great Recession” (Peralta). At 11% Native nations are in a crisis. Finally the last contributing factor to Native American poverty is the communal culture and mindset. Native American culture is different in many ways to the western world but one aspect that is seen to hinder the success of this culture is the communal economy. This communal culture has a mindset of limited concept of personal property. This leads to what economists call the tragedy of the commons: If everyone owns the land, no one does (Koppisch). So the result is substandard housing and the barren, rundown look that comes from a lack of investment, overuse and environmental degradation (Koppisch). Markets tentatively enter on to reservations because of the lack of property rights. When the land is communal it is impossible to get a title and without that title you can’t build. This communal mindset is what is halting most Native nations from improving their poverty levels. For example many reservations are rich in natural resources, but there’s no big rush to develop them, given the tangled issue of property rights and the risk of making a big investment without a secure legal footing (Koppisch). The Crow Indian Reservation has 9 billion tons of coal sitting under them but with the property right issues there are no takers. The communal culture provides that dependency on each other, which after years and years needs change or poverty levels will not change. It is not one issue that is the cause of poverty in Native American nations but a mixture of them. It is shown that through alcoholism, corruption of tribal government, lack of education, unemployment, and communal culture the Native Americans continue to in trench themselves in poverty. W.E.B. Du Bois said, “To be a poor man is hard, but to be a poor race in a land of dollars is the very bottom of hardships.” Regardless of the blame, most people agree that poverty for Native Americans is complex and multi-layered. |
Map of Native American nations in the United Sates.
A graph comparing ethnic groups of the U.S. and their Alcohol Abuse rates.
Native American children going to to school.
Native American children in school.
Shanty homes on a reservation.
Blackfeet Indian reservation.
Communal gathering
Badlands in the northern part of Pine Ridge reservation
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Work Cited
Armario, Christine. "Reznet News." Math, Reading Gap Among Native American Students.
Reznet News, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://www.reznetnews.org/article/math-reading-gap-among-native-american-students>.
Koppisch, John. "Why Are Indian Reservations So Poor? A Look At The Bottom 1%." Forbes.
Forbes Magazine, 13 Dec. 2011. Web. 4 Mar. 2015.<http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoppisch/2011/12/13/why-are-indian-reservations-so-poor-a-look- at-the-bottom-1/>.
Krogstad, Jens. "One-in-four Native Americans and Alaska Natives Are Living in Poverty."Pew Research Center RSS. 13 June 2014. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/06/13/1-in-4-native-americans-and-alaska- natives-are-living-in-poverty/>.
Peralta, Katherine. "Native Americans Left Behind in the Economic Recovery." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 27 Nov. 2014. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/11/27/native-americans-left-behind-in-the-economic-recovery>.
Rodgers, Tom. "Native American Poverty, by Tom Rodgers - Spotlight On Poverty." Spotlight On Poverty. Spotlight On Poverty. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/exclusivecommentary.aspx?id=0fe5c04e-fdbf-4718-980c-0373ba823da7>
Reznet News, 1 Jan. 2008. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://www.reznetnews.org/article/math-reading-gap-among-native-american-students>.
Koppisch, John. "Why Are Indian Reservations So Poor? A Look At The Bottom 1%." Forbes.
Forbes Magazine, 13 Dec. 2011. Web. 4 Mar. 2015.<http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoppisch/2011/12/13/why-are-indian-reservations-so-poor-a-look- at-the-bottom-1/>.
Krogstad, Jens. "One-in-four Native Americans and Alaska Natives Are Living in Poverty."Pew Research Center RSS. 13 June 2014. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2014/06/13/1-in-4-native-americans-and-alaska- natives-are-living-in-poverty/>.
Peralta, Katherine. "Native Americans Left Behind in the Economic Recovery." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 27 Nov. 2014. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2014/11/27/native-americans-left-behind-in-the-economic-recovery>.
Rodgers, Tom. "Native American Poverty, by Tom Rodgers - Spotlight On Poverty." Spotlight On Poverty. Spotlight On Poverty. Web. 4 Mar. 2015. <http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/exclusivecommentary.aspx?id=0fe5c04e-fdbf-4718-980c-0373ba823da7>