eflatminor
Classical Liberal
- May 24, 2011
- 10,643
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With the treatment they've received, it's a miracle every Native American tribe hasn't done the same!!!
By "treatment", are you referring to massive government entitlements? Hasn't worked out so well for those Indians on the dole. Those Indians NOT on the dole...they're doing just fine.
Oh really?? They're doing just fine ehhh? Read these statistics about Pine Ridge and tell me they are doing "just fine." We are a strong people and racism does not promote anything. It only tells how evil you are towards others. But here are the stats:
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The Republic of Lakota described ongoing genocide as follows:
(1) Mortality
Life expectancy for Lakota men is less than 44 years. It's the lowest of all sovereign countries. It's the highest in America. Infant mortality is threefold higher than the US average. Diseases are a major problem. "Cancer is now at epidemic proportions."
Teenage suicide is150% higher than America's average. One-fourth of Lakota children are fostered or adopted by non-Native people. Doing so destroys their identity and culture. Ward Churchill calls it killing the Indian, saving the man.
(2) Disease
Tuberculosis is 800% higher than America's average. Cervical cancer is fivefold higher. Diabetes is eight times the national average. The Federal Commodity Food Program provides high-sugar foods. They contribute to poor health.
(3) Poverty
Annual median income is $2,600 - $3,500. Poverty affects 97% of Lakotans. Many families can't afford essentials most people take for granted. In winter, many use ovens for heat. Simple luxuries are unheard of. Life is hard, merciless, punishing, and unrelenting.
(4) Unemployment
It's 80% or higher. Government corruption, cronyism, and indifference destroy normal living opportunities.
(5) Housing
In winter, elderly people die from hypothermia. They freeze to death for lack of heat. One-third of homes lack clean water and sewage. About 40% have no electricity. About 60% of families have no telephone.
Another 60% of homes are infected with potentially fatal black molds. On average, 17 people reside in each household. Many have two to three rooms. Some homes built for six to eight people have up to 30 in them.
(6) Drugs and Alcohol
Over half of adults battle addiction and disease. Alcoholism affects 90% of families. Two known methamphetamine labs operate. Authorities haven't closed them.
(7) Incarceration
Indian children imprisonment exceed whites by 40%. Native People comprise 2% of South Dakota's population. They account for 21% of those imprisoned.
Indians have the second highest state prison incarceration rate in America. Most live on federal reservations. Less than 2% are where states have jurisdiction.
(8) Culture
It's threatened with extinction. It's federal policy to destroy it. Only 14% of Lakotans speak their language. It's not shared inter-generationally.
The average fluent Lakotan speaker is 65 years old. In another generation or less, perhaps few or none will remain. Lakotan language skills aren't allowed or taught in US government schools. Nor is much of anything about native history and culture. America wants it destroyed and forgotten.
Lakotan struggle began with the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. They call it "fantasy" US history. France sold America 530 million Native land acres for $15 million. Lakotans owned part of it. They and other Native people weren't consulted.
They've been systematically ignored and violated. From 1778 - 1871, Washington negotiated 372 treaties. Their provisions were systematically spurned.
America's winning the West involved invading, encroaching, stealing, and occupying their lands. That's how imperialism works. It's the same everywhere.
Wow! Your first post and it's a monumental FAIL! That's a hell of a start there pal!
The video, which you clearly did not view, talks about the plight of the Indians THAT RECEIVE GOVERNMENT HANDOUTS. Those Indians, clearly, are not thriving. They're faltering badly, generation after generation.
Pine Ridge is a Sioux reservation. The Sioux are dependent on government handouts.
Now look at those tribes that DO NOT get handouts. As the video shows, they are THRIVING.
Good God man, at least review the link before commenting on it. All the problems you list are avoided by the tribes that must compete in the real world. Those that stay on reservations hoping for more government assistance? They're the ones suffering as you describe.
So, how do you square that?