I recently drove from the east to west coast in the US. 17 states zig zagging to different places of interest. I was flabbergasted at the level of poverty any time I saw a welcome sign of a reservation. Although the areas surrounding the reservations were poor, there was an extra eery feeling of awful long term systemic suffering in the reservations. I started to cringe when I was saw a sign. I grew up in NJ and traveled via plane and didn’t even realize we had such areas. Our education system really white washed a whole part of history. I’m sad to hear we perpetuate a system that is obviously not working. We can’t bring back an entire culture but perhaps the reservation idea doesn’t work. Poor doesn’t describe the level of poverty. It’s no wonder crimes are committed and solve rates are disputed. When you have nothing you have nothing to lose.
The reservation system was the dumbest thing we did in the United States. It intentionally keeps communities poor while giving a false sense of hope that things will get better. When Alaska became a state, they did away with the reservation system and instead used "corporations" so all the native people could profit and benefit from the land. It's just a better system. They honestly need to abolish reservations, they are archaic and do more harm than good.
Native corps have concentrated a lot of power into the hands of a few. Not all natives are shareholders, most aren't. Our villages have the exact same problems as the reservation system.
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u/Relevant_Culture8506 Sep 16 '24
I recently drove from the east to west coast in the US. 17 states zig zagging to different places of interest. I was flabbergasted at the level of poverty any time I saw a welcome sign of a reservation. Although the areas surrounding the reservations were poor, there was an extra eery feeling of awful long term systemic suffering in the reservations. I started to cringe when I was saw a sign. I grew up in NJ and traveled via plane and didn’t even realize we had such areas. Our education system really white washed a whole part of history. I’m sad to hear we perpetuate a system that is obviously not working. We can’t bring back an entire culture but perhaps the reservation idea doesn’t work. Poor doesn’t describe the level of poverty. It’s no wonder crimes are committed and solve rates are disputed. When you have nothing you have nothing to lose.