Native Americans still poorest in United States

[emma_goldman]

Native Americans still poorest in United States
Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Income levels have risen and poverty rates have stabilized but Native
Americans remain the poorest in the nation, according to figures released
by the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday.

From 2004 to 2005, the average American household earned $46,326, an
increase of 1.1 percent. It was the first time since 1999 that the median
household income rose, the Census said.

But incomes for American Indian and Alaska Native homes remained well
below the rest of the nation. Based on a three-year average from 2003 to
2005, the median income was $33,627, lower than incomes for white, Asian
and Hispanic households.

Only African-American households, with a median income of $31,140, ranked
below Native households.

Turning to poverty, 2005 marked the first time that poverty rates have not
risen. For four consecutive years, the Census has reported an increase in
the number of Americans living below the poverty line.

Despite the stabilization, there are still 37 million people, or 12.6
percent of the population, and 7.7 million families in poverty. Among
American Indians and Alaska Natives, the picture was much worse.

According to a three-year average of data, 25.3 percent of Native
Americans are living in poverty. This was actually a slight increase from
the 24.3 percent that the Census reported in its last report on income and
poverty.

The figure translated to 537,00 American Indians and Alaska Natives who
were below the poverty line. As defined by the Office of Management and
Budget, the poverty threshold for a family of four in 2005 was $19,971;
for a family of three, $15,577; for a family of two, $12,755; and for
unrelated individuals, $9,973.

The report, "Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United
States: 2005," also contained figures on health insurance coverage. The
Census said the number of people with and without insurance rose from 2004
to 2005.

Nearly 30 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives, or about 661,000
people, were uninsured, according to the data. This was statistically
unchanged from figures released last year.

Only Hispanics had a higher uninsured rate of 32.7 percent, again the same
as the year prior.

The Census used to count people whose only source of care was the Indian
Health Service as insured. But since 1988, IHS-only patients are
considered uninsured.

"The effect of this change on the overall estimates of health insurance
coverage was negligible," the report stated.

The figures released yesterday were open to interpretation by Democrats
and Republicans. Democratic leaders said it was proof that President
Bush's administration hasn't done anything to improve the lives of
Americans.

Republicans said immigrants are to blame for the lack of significant
improvement. But people who weren't born in the United States still had
higher income levels and higher rates of insurance coverage than Native
Americans.

[More Fire for the People]

Fuck. It's rough for Native Americans. My grandfather lived in a two room house with no electricity and running water at the reservation. He ran away from home and his parents didn't have electricity until the 1970s. Living not to far from Oklahoma I see the effects of the destruction of Native Americans everytime I go over to Oklahoma.

[Phalanx]

When I visit some of the reservations here in Wisconsin, I can't help but think of the EZLN and Chiapas. The poverty rate is huge, and although you'll see a nice school here or a good town hall there, it's really just a facade placed by the government.

[afrikaNOW]

One of the worst attrocities ever committed.

[Purple]

Also in Canada the poverty rate and the living standard amongst natives are horrible. This can also be easily seen through the extreme rate of teen suicides that have increased over the years.

[Clarksist]

Income levels have risen and poverty rates have stabilized but Native Americans remain the poorest in the nation, according to figures released
by the U.S. Census Bureau on Tuesday.

Direct lie:

Poverty is not stablizing. The rate has remained steady, but there is a sharp increase in those impoverished plunging into "extreme poverty".

Income levels have technically risen per family, but per job they have lowered. More family members are, however, taking up jobs.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/us/30cen...r=1&oref=slogin (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/30/us/30census.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)


When I visit some of the reservations here in Wisconsin, I can't help but think of the EZLN and Chiapas. The poverty rate is huge, and although you'll see a nice school here or a good town hall there, it's really just a facade placed by the government.

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Movement

----- ----- ----- ----- -----

I am just full of links today.

[The Grey Blur]

Reminds me of that Chris Rock routine where he analyzes racism

"Black people complainin' about racism, White people complainin' about reverse rascism, Chinese people complainin' about sideways racism. Native Americans have got it the worst"

Something along those lines anyway

[Guerrilla22]

Yeah this is no surprise, anyone who wants to claim that extreme poverty does not exist in the US should visit a reservation, especially the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota.

[which doctor]

I believe they also have some of the highest depression and suicide rates for ethnic groups in the US.

[WUOrevolt]

Originally posted by [email protected] 3 2006, 05:42 AM
I believe they also have some of the highest depression and suicide rates for ethnic groups in the US.
A direct result of the extreme poverty and alcoholism on reservations.

I am part Native American, but do not live on a reservation. My family visited one in Arizona a few years back, it was the biggest example of wage slavery and bondage I have ever seen. The horrible conditions and fear that Natives in the US experience is one of the worst things I have ever seen.


AIM
Indian and Proud

[Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor]

Originally posted by [email protected] 3 2006, 05:29 AM

AIM
Indian and Proud
Your proud of your ethnicity? Isn't that a little bourgeoisie?

[afrikaNOW]

Originally posted by Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor+Sep 3 2006, 06:11 AM--> (Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor @ Sep 3 2006, 06:11 AM)
[email protected] 3 2006, 05:29 AM

AIM
Indian and Proud
Your proud of your ethnicity? Isn't that a little bourgeoisie? [/b]
Didn't pride in heritage exist before the emergence of the bourgeoisie? And pride in ethncity/cuture is not bourgeosie.

[Knowledge 6 6 6]

Aboriginal policy-making will be my focus once I enter doing my Masters in Public Administration here in Ontario. I feel so strongly about it, that hearing of the atrocities sometimes is too much to take in at once.

As 'developed' a country we think we are, in so many places we are as poor as underdeveloped nations. As a Chief in Ontario said about the incident at the Kaschechewan reserve in northern Ontario (regarding the fact that natives were not drinking filtered water and were getting diseases), he said something like this:

"So many students are busy flying to Latin America and Africa to find poverty and injustice, when they can just take a drive into their own province and experience all those things. Canada has a third world in her own backyard."

[Karl Marx's Camel]

Poverty is not stablizing.

I do not think that was what the author meant.

I could be wrong though.

[bcbm]

Native Americans also occupy our prisons in extremely disproportionate numbers. Genocide continues...

[Tekun]

Indigenous Americans as a whole have been oppressed, pesecuted, and murdered in North America, Central America, and South America since the 15th century

When I was in Guatemala, every indigenous Mayan I saw was living in utter poverty that I know is happening on a large scale in the entire New World
Sad to see family living like that due to the absence of Euro blood(Im part Mayan)

[Wiesty]

Ya, sad but true, and an even more truer up here in Canada than the states. They keep just getting land settlements/money from the government, which just is usually vandalized, and wasted on gambling/booze etc, and because of the lack of education many recieve, it takes a long time to break the habit. Many are born with fetal alcahol syndrom as well. The government needs to spend less money buying stuff for them, and start more programs for them, schooling/rehabillitation etc. so that instead of the tread continuning, it starts to get better more rapidly.
I like alot of the new programs many bands have now, with free colledge for its members etc.

[RedKnight]

Originally posted by WUOrevolt+Sep 3 2006, 05:29 AM--> (WUOrevolt @ Sep 3 2006, 05:29 AM)
[email protected] 3 2006, 05:42 AM
I believe they also have some of the highest depression and suicide rates for ethnic groups in the US.
A direct result of the extreme poverty and alcoholism on reservations.

I am part Native American, but do not live on a reservation. My family visited one in Arizona a few years back, it was the biggest example of wage slavery and bondage I have ever seen. The horrible conditions and fear that Natives in the US experience is one of the worst things I have ever seen.


AIM
Indian and Proud [/b]
I'm also part native american. I also do not live on a reservation. My extended family has still struggled with poverty all through out our existance. I feel that the poverty rate amongst amerindians would be higher yet if they were to factor in the number of citizens who are not recognised as being native by the government. There are many blacks as well as whites who are of partial aboriginal descent, and are not counted. I'm a 1/8 half-breed Crow and am fine with being of mixed caucasian and amerindian ancestry. Not proud, but not ashamed either.

[More Fire for the People]

Originally posted by Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor+Sep 3 2006, 12:11 AM--> (Dooga Aetrus Blackrazor @ Sep 3 2006, 12:11 AM)
[email protected] 3 2006, 05:29 AM

AIM
Indian and Proud
Your proud of your ethnicity? Isn't that a little bourgeoisie? [/b]
No. Pride in one's heritage is a neutral or good thing. It's a pride in overcoming or just surving for oppressed ethnicities. Do you oppose Black Pride? Or Irish Pride? Or Indian Pride? etc.

[Jazzratt]

Originally posted by Hopscotch Anthill+Sep 4 2006, 05:42 PM--> (Hopscotch Anthill @ Sep 4 2006, 05:42 PM)
Originally posted by Dooga Aetrus [email protected] 3 2006, 12:11 AM

[email protected] 3 2006, 05:29 AM

AIM
Indian and Proud
Your proud of your ethnicity? Isn't that a little bourgeoisie?
No. Pride in one's heritage is a neutral or good thing. It's a pride in overcoming or just surving for oppressed ethnicities. Do you oppose Black Pride? Or Irish Pride? Or Indian Pride? etc. [/b]
I oppose those to the same degree as I oppose white pride, biritish pride and so on.

[More Fire for the People]

Originally posted by Jazzratt+Sep 4 2006, 01:31 PM--> (Jazzratt @ Sep 4 2006, 01:31 PM)
Originally posted by Hopscotch [email protected] 4 2006, 05:42 PM

Originally posted by Dooga Aetrus [email protected] 3 2006, 12:11 AM

[email protected] 3 2006, 05:29 AM

AIM
Indian and Proud
Your proud of your ethnicity? Isn't that a little bourgeoisie?
No. Pride in one's heritage is a neutral or good thing. It's a pride in overcoming or just surving for oppressed ethnicities. Do you oppose Black Pride? Or Irish Pride? Or Indian Pride? etc.
I oppose those to the same degree as I oppose white pride, biritish pride and so on. [/b]
So you oppose the pride of oppressed groups in their ability to overcome. Sounds like you'd oppose worker pride too.

[Jaden]

Originally posted by RedKnight+Sep 3 2006, 10:21 PM--> (RedKnight @ Sep 3 2006, 10:21 PM)
Originally posted by [email protected] 3 2006, 05:29 AM

[email protected] 3 2006, 05:42 AM
I believe they also have some of the highest depression and suicide rates for ethnic groups in the US.
A direct result of the extreme poverty and alcoholism on reservations.

I am part Native American, but do not live on a reservation. My family visited one in Arizona a few years back, it was the biggest example of wage slavery and bondage I have ever seen. The horrible conditions and fear that Natives in the US experience is one of the worst things I have ever seen.


AIM
Indian and Proud
I'm also part native american. I also do not live on a reservation. My extended family has still struggled with poverty all through out our existance. I feel that the poverty rate amongst amerindians would be higher yet if they were to factor in the number of citizens who are not recognised as being native by the government. There are many blacks as well as whites who are of partial aboriginal descent, and are not counted. I'm a 1/8 half-breed Crow and am fine with being of mixed caucasian and amerindian ancestry. Not proud, but not ashamed either. [/b]
I'm part Crow, too. I'm enrolled in the tribe.

It's fucking depressing to see these numbers, but at the same time, it's also aggravating because the numbers aren't the whole story. Just as it's aggravating to see any statistics, it's really knowing the realities behind the numbers that really make the impact and envoke the motivation to change things.

This is why we need the revolution. This and many other reasons.

[chaz171]

I'd rather live in a box on lower wacker drive than in pine ridge (SD)

[which doctor]

Originally posted by Hopscotch Anthill+Sep 4 2006, 04:57 PM--> (Hopscotch Anthill @ Sep 4 2006, 04:57 PM)
Originally posted by [email protected] 4 2006, 01:31 PM

Originally posted by Hopscotch [email protected] 4 2006, 05:42 PM

Originally posted by Dooga Aetrus [email protected] 3 2006, 12:11 AM

[email protected] 3 2006, 05:29 AM

AIM
Indian and Proud
Your proud of your ethnicity? Isn't that a little bourgeoisie?
No. Pride in one's heritage is a neutral or good thing. It's a pride in overcoming or just surving for oppressed ethnicities. Do you oppose Black Pride? Or Irish Pride? Or Indian Pride? etc.
I oppose those to the same degree as I oppose white pride, biritish pride and so on.
So you oppose the pride of oppressed groups in their ability to overcome. Sounds like you'd oppose worker pride too. [/b]
Racial pride of any kind implies that race does exist and it divides us further. Skin pigment and the location of your ancestors a while back should not make someone proud.

Don't equate racial pride with worker pride either. They are two entirely seperate things.

[JC1]

I witness the countinued genocide of the first nations on a daily basis here in the north side of winnipeg.

[Jazzratt]

Originally posted by Hopscotch Anthill+Sep 4 2006, 09:57 PM--> (Hopscotch Anthill @ Sep 4 2006, 09:57 PM)
Originally posted by [email protected] 4 2006, 01:31 PM

Originally posted by Hopscotch [email protected] 4 2006, 05:42 PM

Originally posted by Dooga Aetrus [email protected] 3 2006, 12:11 AM

[email protected] 3 2006, 05:29 AM

AIM
Indian and Proud
Your proud of your ethnicity? Isn't that a little bourgeoisie?
No. Pride in one's heritage is a neutral or good thing. It's a pride in overcoming or just surving for oppressed ethnicities. Do you oppose Black Pride? Or Irish Pride? Or Indian Pride? etc.
I oppose those to the same degree as I oppose white pride, biritish pride and so on.
So you oppose the pride of oppressed groups in their ability to overcome. Sounds like you'd oppose worker pride too. [/b]
No. I oppose pride based on accidents of birth. Pride in overcoming oppression comes from doing something to overcome said opperssion, not simply being born with an oppressed skin colour or in an oppressed nation.

I am very much behind worker pride, your slur does not fly.

[Robocommie]

Someone's always got to say that pride in one's ancestry and ancestral culture is pride in an accident of birth. But fuck that.

All Native Americans have left anymore IS pride in their history. Pride of a time before they were ground under the boots of the colonial powers. Pride in their culture, and art.

Everyone who opposes non-chauvinistic pride in your ancestry is opposing respect for human culture, respect for human artwork, and they are playing right into the hands of the Imperialists.

Capitalists don't want the Third World to have culture, or pride, because they want them to conform to the Western market culture they have designed for sale. Native Americans are their own Third World culture. I defy anyone to tell the Native people they no longer have a right to keep their ancestral way of life, and actually claim to be a friend of the People.

I'll fight to the death to protect people's right to their ancestral customs, their ethnic heritage, and I recognize the AIM as comrades in the fight against oppression and forced assimilation into the white man's market economy.

You can be proud of your ancestry without being a filthy bigot.

[BuyOurEverything]

I can only speak for western Canada, but judged on what I've seen, natives are one of the most oppressed people in the world. Even among leftists, including radical leftists, natives are viewed as inferior. To be perfectly honest, I don't think I had a single friend in BC who wasn't prejudiced against natives to some degree. The most progressive people were those who occasionally spouted off something about how natives were oppressed but in actuality had no native friends, made racist jokes, acted in a predudicial manner towards natives, and did nothing to combat racism. Basically the rallying cry for the anti-racists in BC is "I'm not racist, I just hate natives." I honestly can't speakas to how oppressed southern blacks were in the US because I wasn't there, but it seems to me that they were living the fucking high life compared to natives in western Canada.

[YSR]

Originally posted by [email protected] 7 2006, 03:21 AM
Someone's always got to say that pride in one's ancestry and ancestral culture is pride in an accident of birth. But fuck that.

All Native Americans have left anymore IS pride in their history. Pride of a time before they were ground under the boots of the colonial powers. Pride in their culture, and art.

Everyone who opposes non-chauvinistic pride in your ancestry is opposing respect for human culture, respect for human artwork, and they are playing right into the hands of the Imperialists.

Capitalists don't want the Third World to have culture, or pride, because they want them to conform to the Western market culture they have designed for sale. Native Americans are their own Third World culture. I defy anyone to tell the Native people they no longer have a right to keep their ancestral way of life, and actually claim to be a friend of the People.

I'll fight to the death to protect people's right to their ancestral customs, their ethnic heritage, and I recognize the AIM as comrades in the fight against oppression and forced assimilation into the white man's market economy.

You can be proud of your ancestry without being a filthy bigot.
Absolutely correct.

White comrades need to start understanding that antiracism is a more complicated viewpoint than simply "We are all equal." If that was it, the Democractic Party would be leading ARA!

People of color (or any race or ethnic group that is oppressed because of its race/ethnicity) can and should organize themselves to be "proud" of themselves in a non-chauvanisitic manner. When one is systematically taught by society at large that one is inferior, it's damn good to have some pride.

The entire education system in the United States (don't know about Canada) is set up to portray American Indians as something from the past. Feathers, teepees, the whole shebang. Even when some mention is made of the attempts by "reformers" in the early 20th century to "help" Indians, it is not connected to the modern day. Indian culture (which is in and of itself a misnomer, given the multitude of differing traditions that have been arbitrarily combined to be called "Indian") has been systematically fought and destroyed at every turn since the arrival of the Jamestown settlers in the seventeenth century.

One of the first steps to Indian people truly becoming equal is for them to pride themselves on their accomplishments and their culture. The American Indian Movement is a fundamentally progressive step and was/is clearly NOT chauvanistic or racist.

Remember, white comrades, it was the capitalist class in our home countries that created "race" as a conceptual image. For that reason, we still reap the benefits of the privileges set out for us. I hate to quote the Bible at you (believe me, I really hate to) but it's relevent here: Let he without sin cast the first stone. (Or something like that. I never read the damn thing).

[Janus]

Yeah, I've also heard that reservation life is really tough and that the Native Americans live in some of the worst conditions there. The problem is that many of the youths move out of the reservations and much of the potential for change in these reservations is lost that way.

Anyways, another domestic issue that continues to be ignored day after day despite the cries of many people and organizations such as AIM (American Indian Movement not the instant messenger service :P ).

[Phalanx]

Anyways, another domestic issue that continues to be ignored day after day despite the cries of many people and organizations such as AIM (American Indian Movement not the instant messenger service ).

Comrade, I guarantee that within a few years everyone in the US will hear of the plight of the Native Americans. Those on the reservations are among the most revolutionary in the United States, it's only matter of time before they shake off US colonial rule.

[which doctor]

Originally posted by [email protected] 8 2006, 07:42 PM

Anyways, another domestic issue that continues to be ignored day after day despite the cries of many people and organizations such as AIM (American Indian Movement not the instant messenger service ).

Comrade, I guarantee that within a few years everyone in the US will hear of the plight of the Native Americans. Those on the reservations are among the most revolutionary in the United States, it's only matter of time before they shake off US colonial rule.
I'm interested to hear more on your thoughts on this subject. Certainly American indians are some of the most exploited and alienated people in America, but there rarely get any publicity. Most Americans don't even know about their plight.

I think it would be great if they could make a splash onto the national scene, but I just don't see how it's going to happen.

[Phalanx]

Certainly American indians are some of the most exploited and alienated people in America, but there rarely get any publicity. Most Americans don't even know about their plight.

Exactly, it's absolutely terrible. The Menominee reservation in Wisconsin is in stark contrast to the ruling classes' lakeside mansions up north. 97 percent of the Pine Ridge reservations' population lives below the poverty line, and reservations in Oklahoma, Arizona, Wisconsin, and Minnesota aren't much better.


I think it would be great if they could make a splash onto the national scene, but I just don't see how it's going to happen.

Think AIM on a bigger scale.

[Eastside Revolt]

Originally posted by [email protected] 7 2006, 04:23 AM
I can only speak for western Canada, but judged on what I've seen, natives are one of the most oppressed people in the world. Even among leftists, including radical leftists, natives are viewed as inferior. To be perfectly honest, I don't think I had a single friend in BC who wasn't prejudiced against natives to some degree. The most progressive people were those who occasionally spouted off something about how natives were oppressed but in actuality had no native friends, made racist jokes, acted in a predudicial manner towards natives, and did nothing to combat racism. Basically the rallying cry for the anti-racists in BC is "I'm not racist, I just hate natives." I honestly can't speakas to how oppressed southern blacks were in the US because I wasn't there, but it seems to me that they were living the fucking high life compared to natives in western Canada.
Welcome to my world! :angry:

This is something I have noticed for a very long time, and a large reason I feel alienated amongst even the left in my location.

Much of it is ignorance. Many liberals that call themselves leftists, and leftists seem to have this idea that "they didn't get shafted that bad" (which is entirely untrue), and therefore must be genetically predisposed losers in order to be living that way. "Black people seem to pull it off": is a common ignorant statement you will hear.

I will say this though, that there are many non racist whites who even aren't leftists persay. (at least in Vancouver)

And that somebody not having close native freinds isn't an indicator of thier prujedice. It's an indicator of the strong racial divisions in our "multicultural" Canadian society.
Take it from a white Canadian who would die to help them reclaim their land, and still doesn't have any close native friends. Many native people are so racist towards themselves, they would rather have racist white friends than identify and oppose thier oppression.

[bcbm]

Originally posted by [email protected] 8 2006, 06:42 PM

Anyways, another domestic issue that continues to be ignored day after day despite the cries of many people and organizations such as AIM (American Indian Movement not the instant messenger service ).

Comrade, I guarantee that within a few years everyone in the US will hear of the plight of the Native Americans. Those on the reservations are among the most revolutionary in the United States, it's only matter of time before they shake off US colonial rule.
Count me in.

[chimx]

baring in mind that the government opened reservations to white settlement quite sometime ago, i would be interested to see a study that compares average incomes between indian and whites in these rural communities. I have a suspicion you would find that it is the rural communities generally that are poor due to the tragedy of contradiction in blending the maintenance of tribal culture with capitalism.

[The Grey Blur]

Those on the reservations are among the most revolutionary in the United States
Despite the fact that they join the US Army in disproportianate numbers?

[Karl Marx's Camel]

Those on the reservations are among the most revolutionary in the United States

Personal experience by meeting them?

[JC1]

Fuck AIM. It's a pig orginization. Fuck the native compradors like terri nelson !

The only orginizations I see lifting the First Nation masses out of this squalour is IP, NB, RA and other gangs in the neighboorhood. There the only institutions that have been effective in combating racism in the commmunity.

[Phalanx]

Originally posted by Permanent [email protected] 9 2006, 09:48 AM
Despite the fact that they join the US Army in disproportianate numbers?
Many Native Americans that join the US army don't have imperialism on their minds. They see it as a way to get out of the squalor they've known for their whole lives.

Those that stay behind have political views similar to ours. National Liberation, the destruction of capitalism, and a classless society have all been regarded as necessities.

AIM has been the most effective at standing up to the federal forces, but ideally a new organization will take their place.

[which doctor]

I wish they could do something Zapatista style, but one of the problems is that they live in a region that's not meant for permanant settlement. The area around Pine Ridge especially, really is that desolate.

[Janus]

Despite the fact that they join the US Army in disproportianate numbers?
That makes sense though. It is generally the poor who join the armed forces and the Native Americans are still the poorest in the US.

[The Grey Blur]

Originally posted by [email protected] 13 2006, 09:35 PM

Despite the fact that they join the US Army in disproportianate numbers?
That makes sense though. It is generally the poor who join the armed forces and the Native Americans are still the poorest in the US.
I agree and understand but the point stands you can't call them 'revolutionary' if they join the US army in disproportianate numbers

Potentially revolutionary maybe. Pedantic post or what?

[which doctor]

Originally posted by Permanent Revolution+Sep 14 2006, 11:22 AM--> (Permanent Revolution @ Sep 14 2006, 11:22 AM)
[email protected] 13 2006, 09:35 PM

Despite the fact that they join the US Army in disproportianate numbers?
That makes sense though. It is generally the poor who join the armed forces and the Native Americans are still the poorest in the US.
I agree and understand but the point stands you can't call them 'revolutionary' if they join the US army in disproportianate numbers

Potentially revolutionary maybe. Pedantic post or what? [/b]
Well, for many indians, it really is the only way off the reservation. It's unfortunate.

[The Grey Blur]

Originally posted by FoB+Sep 14 2006, 08:56 PM--> (FoB @ Sep 14 2006, 08:56 PM)
Originally posted by Permanent [email protected] 14 2006, 11:22 AM

[email protected] 13 2006, 09:35 PM

Despite the fact that they join the US Army in disproportianate numbers?
That makes sense though. It is generally the poor who join the armed forces and the Native Americans are still the poorest in the US.
I agree and understand but the point stands you can't call them 'revolutionary' if they join the US army in disproportianate numbers

Potentially revolutionary maybe. Pedantic post or what?
Well, for many indians, it really is the only way off the reservation. It's unfortunate. [/b]
Yes, the 'poverty draft'. I never disagreed with that, I simply disagree with the assumption that right now Indians are more revolutionary than other ethnicities

Poverty doesn't always equal revolutionary

[Phalanx]

Like I said, those that remain behind on the reservations hold revolutionary beliefs. It's unfortunate that there are those that choose the military, but it's not surprising given the economic realities of the reservations.

[emokid08]

I'm actually taking a kick ass US history course at the local community college by my school (believe it or not) and the teacher (who really is a great orator) is having read this great book by Howard Zinn, and the first part is about the start of the colonization of America. Wow. It really opened my eyes! I knew that there was injustice, but I had no idea about the genocide that ocuured back when the Europeans first arrived here. And then of course it has brillant accounts of Native American life from the past 100 years (from the 20th century up to today).

But yeah, talk about an oppressed and exploited group of people.

:banner: :star: :AO: :A: :redstar:

[Janus]

you can't call them 'revolutionary' if they join the US army in disproportianate numbers
Just because they're oppressed doesn't mean that they are automatically revolutionary at this point. But the potential is definitely there as seen by the Native American activist movements in the 70's.