Kim 1

Four centuries ago, Native Americans, the ethnic group that occupied the lands of the
United States before the European settlers, roamed freely across the North American plains and
created a life through cultural knowledge and wisdom. However, because of the British
settlements that began in the 16th century, Native Americans were steadily pushed off their lands
(Krieger, 2012, pg. 7).
Eventually, Native Americans were relocated to government designated areas, also
known as reservations, in order to provide more land for Western Expansion. Today, about 22%
of all Native Americans or 1.5 million Native Americans live on reservations; many in the rest of
the 5.2 million Native American population are far more mixed-blooded than those on the
reservation (Yurth, 2012). In order to be eligible to live on a reservation, one must meet the
requirement of the blood quantum law of the respective reservation. The average amount of

Kim 2
Native American blood the blood quantum law of each tribe requires is 25% (Association on
American Indian Affairs, n.d.).
Reservations are important symbols in Native American culture because they represent
the promises of the American federal government that resulted from their ancestors sacrifices
and because they hold what is left of the distinct cultural identities of many Native American
tribes. Nonetheless, reservations face grave problems such as poverty, alcohol and drug abuse,
insufficient education, and negative effects of casinos. Within a powerful global leader, there is a
third world country: the Indian country.
In this paper, I will argue that Native Americans living on reservations struggle today
because the Native American race was never able to recover from the shattered culture caused by
the colonial settlement and the ensuing governments policies and bureaucracy.
Background: Brief History of Native Americans, 1492 to Present
On October 12th, 1492, Christopher Columbus reached the New World. This day marked
the beginning of Native American calamity. The Native American population was virtually
wiped out within [a] century, devastated by a combination of guns, epidemics, and slavery
(Kreiger 2010, pg. 5; Nies, 1996). Smallpox, a disease that the Natives had no defense against,
had a devastating effect1 on their population. Before the 16th century, the Native American
population numbered around 8 to 10 million people but was decreased to an estimated 530,000
in 1900; thus the smallpox epidemic, the primary cause for Native American death, along with
other causes, such as massacres and forced relocation journeys, killed over 90% of the Native
population (Halverson, 2007) . Furthermore, the Europeans had an insatiable desire for the land
1 Refer to Appendix A for a graph of the North American population trend from 1500 to 1750.

Kim 3
because it was filled with natural resources and wealth. The Europeans got their first taste of a
people who they wished to take from [the Natives] everything they possessed and they would
one day dig up their very graves for the value of what they contained (Oberg, 2010, p. 33).
Throughout the next century and beyond, the Native population would rapidly decrease and its
culture would soon be crushed by the forces of European desires.
The 17th and 18th centuries were filled with warfare. In 1607, the British established the
Jamestown settlement, the first permanent settlement in what would become the United States
(Krieger, 2010, pg. 8). In just the 1600s alone, there were nine different wars and massacres and
among them, are the Powhatan Wars, Pequot Wars, and King Philips War. The Jamestown
Massacre, which took place in Jamestown, on March 22 nd, 1622, was the first bloodshed of the
Powhatan Wars, a series of violent struggles from 1622 to 1644 between the coexisting Powhatan
Confederacy and early Virginian colonists2 (Gleach, 1997, pg. 5). From the Jamestown Massacre
to the Wounded Knee Massacre, violence alone cost the lives of about 30,000 Native Americans
and 19,000 White Americans; the number of Native Americans deaths is most likely much higher
at least an additional 50% higher due to the colonists abundant supply of superior weaponry
(U.S. Census Bureau, 1984).
The American Revolution, a liberating watershed for the colonies, marked an important
struggle for the Native Americans. Many Native Americans recognized that an independent
America would mean a greater threat to their lands and thus allied with the British (Johansen,
2011). When the revolution ended, the Native Americans were not represented in the 1783 Treaty
of Paris. Even though the Native Americans had aided the British with their expansive
knowledge of the American land, their lives were not considered in the drafting of the treaty,
2 Refer to Appendix B for a map of the Jamestown colonists and Powhatan Confederacy territory.

Kim 4
which gave all the lands east of the Mississippi River to the U.S. (Johansen, 2011). These lands,
at the time, were largely unoccupied by White Americans but were the homes of many tribes.
Therefore, Native Americans were at risk of losing their home. Even tribes such as the Oneida,
one of the Iroquois tribes that allied with the Americans, were forced to give up traditional lands
(Washburn, 1995). The American independence thus began the official struggle for land among
Native Americans and White Americans.
On May 28th, 1830, Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the United States, signed
the Indian Removal Act, resulting in the exchange of unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in
exchange for Indian lands (Andrew Jackson, The White House, n.d.; Library of Congress,
2014). Although some tribes relocated peacefully, others fiercely refused to do so because for
many, the land was the symbol of life, history, and culture. One particular tribe, the Cherokees,
after much resistance, was forcibly removed by armed forces ordered by Jackson, from the
southern Appalachians to Oklahoma, during the winter of 1838 to 1839. Along the way, over
4,000 or as much as 55% of Cherokees died, due to the harsh cold, lack of food supply, and
disease (J. Smith, 2012). This tragic journey is now known as the Trail of Tears 3; the trail covers
more than 2,200 miles of land and water routes in nine states (Cherokee Museum, 1999). The
lands that many of the Native tribes were relocated to were either deserts or simply infertile; the
tactics the Native Americans had developed regarding land were no longer applicable.
In the winter of 1890, the Native Americans, specifically those of the Lakota Sioux, met
another tragedy. After most of the Native Americans were forced into reservations, many relied
on their religion for guidance (Warren, 2011). The religious awakening that ensued was carried
out through what observers or White Americans called the Ghost Dance. This practice spread all
3 Refer to Appendix C for a map of the Trail of Tears.

Kim 5
over the country, from reservation to reservation, tribe to tribe (U.S. History, 2008). When the
Ghost Dance movement reached the Lakota Sioux, the White residents of South Dakota feared
that this religious movement would be a gateway to a war for land (Nies, 1996). The South
Dakotans then called for the army when the Lakota Sioux refused their demands to stop the
movement. Many Lakota Sioux, some three hundred, left the reservation in fear of potential
violence between the army and the tribe but were mistaken as a fighting force by the army
(Krieger, 2010, pg. 169). They were then relocated to Wounded Knee Creek on Pine Ridge
reservation, located in a different part of South Dakota. On December 29 th, 1890, a massacre
began and resulted in the murder of about three hundred men, women, and children. Some died
instantly, others froze to death in the snow (U.S. History, 2008). Since this tragedy, there have
been no significant, physical battles between the American government and Native Americans.
Native Americans also fought cultural wars through boarding schools operated by the
government. Children were often forcefully departed from their homes by government
transportation and were placed into boarding schools run by teachers who focused on civilizing
and assimilating the Native youth (Bear, 2008). Because the children were part of a generation
that would build the future society, many White Americans believed that the Native American
youth should adapt to the mainstream American culture 45, which, in their opinion, was superior.
This was also an effort to crush remaining Native culture that could continue pose a threat to
American rule and land. In 1879, the Carlisle Indian School, the pioneer for the Native American
boarding school system, was founded by Lieutenant Richard Henry Pratt in Pennsylvania
4 Refer to Appendix D for an image comparing Native students on their first day at Carlisle Indian
School and the same students a few months later
5 Refer to Appendix E for a record of the new American names that many boarding school students
received to better assimilate into the mainstream culture.

Kim 6
(Haskell Indian Nations University [HINU], n.d.). In 1885, the Bureau of Indian Education was
established and intensified the boarding school system (Marr, n.d.). From the 1880s to the 1980s,
there have been over 100 government operated boarding schools that educated an average of
over 30,000 thousand Native students per year with 60,000 being the highest number of students
in 1973 (HINU, n.d.). Floyd Red Crow Westerman, a late Sioux songwriter and Native American
activist who attended the Wahpeton Boarding School in North Dakota from the 1946 to 1955,
recalled that he thought he was on [a] bus because his mother didn't want him anymore. But
then he noticed she was cryingall the mothers were crying (Bear, 2008). Bill Wright, a
Pattwin Native American who attended Stewart Indian School in Nevada in 1945, remembers
matrons bathing him in kerosene and shaving his head and that no one was allowed to say a
Native word (Bear, 2008). The past of boarding schools continue to haunt many Native
Americans today.
In 1887, the Dawes Act was passed. This act divided tribal lands into individual
homesteads of 160 acres and distributed the lands to the head of each Native family; the Dawes
Act was a failed attempt to civilize Native Americans by turning them into self-supporting
farmers as the warriors and hunters were not prepared a private property based culture (Krieger,
2010, pg. 172). While the children were losing culture at boarding schools, parents were losing
lands at home. By the time the Indian Reorganization Act was passed in 1934, Native Americans
lost almost two-thirds of the 150 million acres of land they controlled before the passage of the
Dawes Act (Krieger, 2010, pg. 175). The Indian Reorganization Act, also known as the Indian
New Deal, reversed the Dawes Act to allow Native Americans the right to form businesses and
other organizations, establish a credit system, grants rights of home rule (Confederated
Salish and Kootenai Tribes, 2009). In others words, Native Americans could build self-sufficient

Kim 7
economies and engage in self-government respective to each tribe. In 1975, Congress passed the
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act, which encouraged the disintegration of
boarding school systems and allowed government agencies to directly grant funds to federally
recognized tribes through Public Law 93-638 and the ensuing 638 contracts (Krieger, 2010, pg.
317). This act was the result of Native American activism during the civil rights movement
(American Indian Relief Council [AIRC], n.d.). However, there were shortcomings to this act.
The funds were not sufficient, tribes could only receive funding under very strict terms and could
not reallocate funds for a certain program for another program that had more needs, and the
contracts had one to three year limits (AIRC, n.d.).
Despite gradual increase in government support, tribes continue to experience hardships
and face harsh circumstances today.
Bureaucratic Agencies and Native Americans Reservations
Today, there are 566 federally recognized Native American tribes and 324 reservations,
which are protected and designated areas of land where residing Native American tribes have
tribal sovereignty and self-determination over, under the Bureau of Indian Affairs (U.S.
Department of the Interior Indian Affairs [BIA], n.d.). Tribal sovereignty guards Native
Americans inherent right to live and govern beyond the reach of the dominant society (Riley,
2007). The Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA), whose mission is to enhance the quality of life, to
promote economic opportunity, and to carry out the responsibility to protect and improve the
trust assets of American Indians, Indian tribes, and Alaska Natives, is a federal government
agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior (BIA, n.d.). The BIA was established in 1824
and serves approximately 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives but is often seen as
the most ineffective and inefficient government agency in the federal government (BIA, n.d.).

Kim 8
About 45% of its budget is used for the BIA employees and offices, about 45% is used on behalf
of the Native Americans, and only about 15% of the budget goes directly to tribal governments,
despite the 2.7 billion dollars in budget 6. (National Relief Charities [NRC], n.d.). Although there
is ostensible tribal sovereignty, tribal governments, in reality, have little control over the budget,
preventing them from gaining adequate protection and support from the government.
The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) is another government under the U.S. Department
of the Interior. Its mission is to provide quality education opportunities from early childhood
through life in accordance with a tribes needs for cultural and economic well-being (Bureau of
Indian Education, n.d.). The BIE oversees 183 Bureau-funded elementary and secondary
schools, located on 64 reservations in 23 states (BIA, n.d.). In the United States, there are, as of
2012, 324 reservations across 35 states7 (U.S. Department of the Interior, n.d.). Therefore, this
leaves 12 states that have reservations and 260 reservations without government funding
regarding education. Thus, many reservations are forced to rely on revenues generated from
casinos and other small businesses on reservations; often times the amount of money from such
businesses is not enough to fund the necessary educational equipment required for schooling
(Barona Band of Mission Indians [BBMI], n.d.). As a result, many Native American students,
such as those living on the Crow Indian reservation in Montana, often go to local public schools
instead of the reservation schools. The local public school, Hardin high school, is now 70%
Native American whereas in 2000, 55% of the student population was white (K. Johnson, 2008).
This shift towards local public schools may seem like a simple solution for many Native
American families seeking education. However, the shift has caused problems of discrimination
6 Refer to Appendix F for a graph of the U.S. Department of the Interior spending.
7 Refer to Appendix G for a map of all of the reservations locations across the United States.

Kim 9
and segregation, are there is an unofficial line in the school parking lot, one side for whites, the
other for Crow, leaving Native American students in poor educational environments wherever
they go (K. Johnson, 2008).
The Indian Health Service (IHS) is an operating division under the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services. Established in 1955, the IHS provides a comprehensive health
service delivery system for approximately 1.9 million American Indians and Alaska Natives who
belong to 566 federally recognized tribes in 35 states through only 33 hospitals, 59 health
stations, and 50 health centers (Indian Health Service [IHS], n.d.). Many Native Americans find
the health services provided by the IHS underfunded and inefficient. In 2009, Ciara Antone, 4,
died from a bowel obstruction while visiting her grandma on the Navajo Nation (Belluck, 2009).
When her mother called the 911, she was told that with the distance and road conditions, the
ambulance was two hours away (Belluck, 2009). Also, Ronnye Manuelito, 56, a Native living in
the White Mountain Apache reservation in Arizona, had to wait three years for a brain surgery
because his situation was not life or limb; he struggled for three years with quell blackouts,
seizures, and headaches until he could finally get an operation date (Belluck, 2009). Cases of
waiting, even with serious illnesses, are very common for Natives living on reservations.
At the core of these problems caused by underfunded or mismanaged bureaucratic are
cultural differences and the constant change in the administration, according to Joseph Miller8:
We often find the funding levels severely underfunded, staining whatever relationship
existsbased on a lack of understanding of differing cultures. [The] layers of
bureaucracy can be a source of hardship, but if properly maintained, can lead to a good
relationship. Problem being, the sources change with differing administrations and we
sometimes find ourselves having to re-educate new players, literally, starting all over
again (personal communication, January 15, 2015).
8 Miller is a councilman of the tribal government in Stockbridge-Munsee Nation, Wisconsin

Kim 10
Therefore, Native Americans living on reservations not only need sufficient funding but also
consistent consideration and respect for their culture and needs.
Problems on Reservations
There are many serious and urgent problems on reservations and among them are
poverty, alcohol and drug abuse, insufficient education, and issues related to casinos.
Poverty
Poverty is one of greatest and most urgent problems on reservations. One of the most
desolate reservations is the Pine Ridge reservation, home of the Oglala Lakota or the Teton
Sioux, located in South Dakota. The Pine Ridge reservation was formed in 1890, at the time of
the Wounded Knee Massacre. About 97% of the population at Pine Ridge reservation live below
the federal poverty line due to low education levels, inadequate health care, and the lack of jobs
(American Indian Humanitarian Foundation [AIHF], n.d.). Most people are not educated enough
or healthy enough to fulfill the duties of available jobs, which are mostly government related
jobs. Thus, Pine Ridge has one of the highest unemployment rates of all Native American
reservations, which hovers around 80% to 90% as of fall of 2014 (Pine Ridge Sioux [PRS], n.d.).
The reservation, also known as Americas Third World faces inadequate housing 9, poor
nutrition, and low life expectancy as well (PRS, n.d.). These issues are not uncommon. For most
reservations, about 40% of on-reservation housing is considered inadequate (NRC, n.d.).
Inadequate housing10 is defined by the homes that lack indoor plumbing, electricity, and

9 Refer to Appendix H, Figure 1 for an image of housing on Pine Ridge reservation.

10 Refer to Appendix H, Figure 2 for a comparison graph of housing problems between reservations and
the national average.

Kim 11
dilapidated structures that do not protect families and individuals from the harshness of weather
and natural calamities.
Moreover, the lack of sufficient nutrition in the residents diets lead to high rates of
chronic diseases, because most Natives do not have the means to purchase healthy food products.
For Pine Ridge residents, the diabetes rate is 514% higher than the national average and the
heart disease rate is twice the national average (PRS, n.d.; AIHF, n.d.). The national average,
as of 2010, for deaths caused by diabetes was 73,831 deaths out of 2,515,458 reported deaths and
for deaths caused by heart disease was 596,577 out of the reported deaths (Center for Disease
Control [CDC], 2011). 2.94% and 23.72% of the nations population die from diabetes and heart
disease, respectively, meaning that 5.88% and 47.43% of the Pine Ridge population die from
diabetes and heart disease, on average (CDC, 2011). Furthermore, the life expectancy of males in
the Pine Ridge reservation is 48 and of females, 52. These life expectancies are the lowest in the
Western Hemisphere with the exception of Haiti (Harvard School of Public Health). According
to Joseph Miller, reason for high chronic disease rates is:
Specific to Indian Countryare an abnormally high rate of diabetes, high blood pressure,
and other health factors that relate to decades of government subsidized food programs
that distributed foods high in salt and fat content [and] were cheap to manufacture
(personal interview, January 15 2015).
Although the statistics for Pine Ridge may seem extreme, the statistics are not drastically
different on most reservations and even the most prosperous reservation has many more people

Kim 12
living in poverty11, diagnosed with chronic diseases12, and unemployed13 compared to the rest of
the US population.
Alcohol and Drug Abuse
Large amounts of alcohol first became widely accessible through European settlers who
formed trading relationships in the early 1600s. Previously, Native Americans only had alcoholic
beverages that were very weak regarding the level of alcohol content and were mostly used
occasionally for ceremonial purposes (Beauvais, 1998). Therefore, Native Americans, who were
nave to alcohols effects had little time to develop social, legal, or moral guidelines to
regulate alcohol use (Beauvais, 1998). This historical context provides a foundation for
alcoholism on reservations today. While alcoholism is not a genetic disease, its influences as
passed down generation after generation, as children of alcoholics are about four times more
likely than the general population to develop alcohol problems; this effect is most prominent in
Native Americans who experience alcohol abuse and dependence the most 14 out of the other
races in U.S. (National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism [NIAAA], n.d.).
Now, many Native Americans perceive alcohol and drugs as a way of fellowship and
bonding with others and often use this very reason as excuses to abuse them. Abusers are
11 Refer to Appendix I for a graph comparing rates for Native Americans and the total U.S. population
living in poverty.
12 Refer to Appendix J for a graph that compares the diabetes diagnosis (not death from diabetes) rates
between Native Americans and the rest of the U.S. population.
13 Refer to Appendix K for a table containing unemployment rates for several reservations including
Pine Ridge.
14 Refer to Appendix L for a graph of alcohol abuse and alcohol dependence rates by race.

Kim 13
acutely aware of the destruction it has wrought in their lives and Native Americans have even
come to perceive heavy drug and alcohol use as a character trait closely identified with being
[Native] (Beauvais, 1998).
Drug abuse rates on reservations are high as well. The rate for the abuse of the drug
methamphetamine, a highly addictive and dangerous drug, has reached 30 percent on some rural
Indian reservations (Van Dam, 2012). Also, 8th grade Native American reservation residents have
rates that are over two times higher than rates for Anglos15 for smokeless tobacco, marijuana, and
hallucinogens, and the rates are twice as high for getting drunk, cigarette use, and inhalant use
(Beauvais, 1992). The behaviors of drug and alcohol abuse are learned by the younger generation
from their predecessors, forming a cycle that is difficult to break.
The IHS has increased funding of alcohol prevention programs and the prohibition and
limitation of the sales of drugs and alcohol (IHS, n.d.). However, the policies regarding such efforts
have been loosely implemented primarily because the IHS does not officially track drug and alcohol
use (NIAAA, n.d.). Many researchers and legislators believe that a universal movement against
drugs and alcohol among Native Americans is necessary to prevent abuse (Van Dam, 2012). Only
then, can the tool of legislation be effective in preventing substance abuse. However, abuse cycles
are extremely difficult to break as the substance the abuser uses has is a rudimentary part of his or
her life and abuse is often a lifestyle, not a choice.
Insufficient Education
Education, for Native Americans, gives the choice to be either the the white mans
victim or the white mans equal, according to one of the last Crow chiefs, Plenty Coups (K.
15 Refer to Appendix M for a graph of drug use rates by race of those who are 12 or older.

Kim 14
Johnson, 2008). However, government funding is not enough for quality education at reservation
schools such as Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig School, located in Leech Lake reservation, Minnesota.
Decades of neglect have left reservations with schools where students struggle to meet
academic standards, turnover among educators is high, and the buildings are often in decay16
(M. Smith, 2014). At Bug-O-Nay-Ge-Shig, enrollment has decreased to only 200 students and
many students, such as Terrace Warner, a senior at the school, says that the leaking roofs and
biting cold make learning difficult as such conditions not only prevent students from
concentrating but also from conducting hands-on experiments like science labs (M. Smith,
2014). In 2011, fourth grade students attending BIE funded schools scored an average of 22
points lowers than fourth graders attending other public schools on the National Assessment of
Educational Process (U.S. Government Accountability Office, 2011; National Center for
Education Statistics, 2011).
Native Americans as a whole, those on and off the reservation, have very low graduation
rates. Even though 92% of Native American students attend school regularly, only about 51% of
Native American students earned a high school diploma in 2010. That's down from 54 percent
in 2008, when graduation rates for [Native Americans] reached its peak and from then,
graduation rates have been steadily declining, unlike those of other minority groups such as
African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latin Americans (Sheehy, 2013).
There are about 5.2 million Native Americans living in the U.S., representing
approximately 2% of the U.S. total population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2013
(Center for Disease Control [CDC], 2014). And of the Native American population, over a third

16 Refer to Appendix N for a photograph of a typical reservation school.

Kim 15
is children, the future leaders of the society. Thus, failure to ensure that Native youth graduate
from [higher institutions]1718 places the entire population at risk (Faircloth & Tippeconic, 2010).
Casinos
Gaming is an important part of Native American culture, as there are many traditional
games such as payas, peon, tikauwich, and each village had a special area, called malamtepupi,
where games were played in the Chumash tribe, for example (Santa Ynez Band of Chumash
Indians, n.d.). Modern gaming began in the 1970s, when state lotteries became immensely
popular. Tribes located in California and Florida opened bingo operators and gave larger prizes
than the states permitted and when state residents began to protest these actions, the federal court
ruled, in the cases Seminole Tribe vs. Butterworth (1979) and California vs. Cabazon Band
(1987), that tribes may openly and freely engage in gaming as long as the state that the tribes
were located in permitted gambling (Krieger, pg. 328, 2010). In 1988, The Indian Gaming
Regulatory Act officially gave Native Americans the ability to use gambling as a means to gain
revenue; gambling in the reservations is titled protective gaming (Ontario Problem Gambling
Research Centre [OPGRC], 2008). Through this policy, many tribes built large casinos to attract
tourists and the gambling business is very quickly becoming an enormous and still-rapidlygrowing industry (University of Texas Libraries [UTL], n.d.). The total revenue generated from
casinos on all reservations is over twenty-five billion dollars 19, which is more than the revenues
of Las Vegas and Atlantic City casinos combined. Through casinos, the unemployment rates,
17 Refer to Appendix O for a graph that compares the percentages of college enrollees by race.
18 Refer to Appendix P for a table of the number of bachelors degrees and masters degrees recipients
by race
19 Refer to Appendix Q for a table of the revenues from reservation casinos by states.

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although still ranging from about 35% to 85% depending on the reservation, decreased and tribal
governments were able to increase tribal government assistance (UTL, n.d.). Enrolled Native
Americans those who are legally and officially part of a federally recognized tribe live
mostly on their respective reservations, receive benefits, such as monthly distributions of money
for low-income residents, the elderly, and single parents, college scholarships, housing
renovations, and dental insurance coverage from casino revenues (BBMI, n.d). However, there
are plenty of reservation casinos are not successful. According to Joseph Miller:
[Casinos]can be a double edged sword because not all ventures are successful It has
been determined that 95% of revenues generated through Indian gaming is generated by
5% of Indian casinos Legislators have the misconception [that all casinos are
successful] and [regarding] budget formulation, they may think Indians no longer need
the funding levels they do and make appropriations wrongly (personal interview, January
15 2015).
Therefore, casinos may prevent reservations from receiving necessary amounts of funding,
causing many, such as the elderly, children, and single and teen parents who could benefit from
the funding, to suffer.
Also, many gamers in casinos on reservations are Native Americans themselves
(OPGRC, 2008). Thus, many Natives use their money not on education, training, housing, or
nutrition but back in gaming. There have also been greater concerns regarding crime. The
installment of casinos generally led to a 10 percent increase in auto thefts, larceny, violent
crimeand an increase in bankruptcies within 50 miles of a new casino throughout reservations
(The National Bureau of Economic Research, 2013).

Kim 17
Furthermore, casinos, often the best built and maintained buildings20 on reservations, are
not institutions that plant dreams in the younger generation or educate workers on valuable
knowledge or skills. According to Shania Gardner21:
College does not matter [at reservations] because you can work at the casino and make
enough money (personal communication, December 2014).
Gardner plans to work on ranch a little off of the reservation until she can get a job at the North
Star casino before graduation.
As evident among Native teens like Gardner, casinos prevent Native Americans from
aspiring achieve higher education or goals. The presence of casinos traps Natives in a constant
cycle of gaming or simply being satisfied rather than trying to create or chase a dream.
Gaming on reservations has also increased tensions between non-Natives and Natives.
Non-Native neighbors around reservations, such as conservative and Christian groups initially
opposed casinos and still disapprove of their existences (Cattelino, 2006, pg. 67). There have
also been violent clashes among the Natives themselves. The most dramatic intratribal conflict
was among Mohawks at Akwesasne where two Mohawks were killed and the casino was left
damaged (Cattelino, 2006, pg. 71). Casinos have broken peace on and off reservations, cost lives,
and caused divisions among many tribes who have once believed unity to be one of their
strongest and most essential characteristics.
Most importantly, the ultimate negative effect of Indian gamingis the destruction of a
culture, a people, a tribe (Holeman, 2009). In order to consistently attract tourists, casinos on
reservations have been built in Las Vegas styles instead of the traditional styles with cultural
20 Refer to Appendix R for a photograph of the North Casino at Stockbridge-Munsee Nation.
21 Gardner is a 17 year old female teen living at Stockbridge-Munsee Nation

Kim 18
games (UTL, n.d.). The culture and traditional values that their ancestors sacrificed so much to
protect is once again slipping away.
The Efforts of the Obama Administration
In light of the troubles on reservations, the federal government took action to provide
tribal services on reservations.
President Obama has emphasized Native American improvement more than his predecessors. He
showed his desire to be more involved in Native American tribes by becoming a member of the
Crow Nation in 2008 (Kaufman, 2013). During his presidency, he has appointed several Native
Americans to high-ranking positions, such as Larry Echo Hawk of the Pawnee Nation as
Assistant Secretary of the Interior for Indian Affairs and Dr. Yvette Roubideaux of the Rosebud
Sioux Tribe as the Director of the Indian Health Services among many others, to increase
Native American communication with the federal government, a key step in improving
relationships with tribes (The White House, 2012). Because these appointees are Natives
themselves, the federal administration has a better understanding of what tribes face in the
context of Native culture. The President has also hosted annual White House Tribal Nations
Conferences, with the latest conference being held at the Capitol on December 3 rd, 2014. These
conferences provide [tribal leaders] from the 566 federally recognized tribes the opportunity to
interact directly with the President and members of the White House Council on Native
American Affairs (The White House, 2014). These opportunities have increased even more due
to Executive Order 13175, which allows federally recognized tribes to make emergency or
disaster declaration requests directly to the President (The White House, 2012).

Kim 19
Along with improved communication, the Obama Administration has implemented a
series of legislations to improve education, health care, and housing on reservations.
After 20 years of constant lobbying at Washington D.C. and requesting through the
Bureau of Indian Education for more funding for education systems on reservations, the [Tribal
Education Departments National Assembly] secured the first source of direct federal funding in
2012 through the STEP or State-Tribal Educational Partnership (Campbell, 2012). The STEP
program will grant two million dollars to Tribal Education Agencies (TEAs). These grants will
help to increase the role of TEAsto meet the unique educational and cultural needs of Native
students (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). However, the grant was only awarded to four
reservations: the Nez Perce Tribe, Navajo Nation the Chickasaw Nation, and the Confederated
Tribes of Umatilla Indian Reservation (The White House, 2012). Moreover, President Obama
signed Executive Order 13592 in 2011 to improve educational opportunities for students
attending TCUs or Tribal Colleges and Universities, such as the College of Menominee Nation and
the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwa Community College (The White House, 2011). However, only

33% of female students and 24% of males students in the Native American population aged 18 to
24 attend higher learning institutions compared to the 51% of non-Native female students and
43% of non-Native male students (National Indian Education Association, n.d.). Also, Executive
Order 13592 declares support for tribal education by providing more educational opportunities
for Native American students but does not specifically articulate how the administration will
achieve these educational opportunities (The White House, n.d.).
There have also been significant efforts to improve health care for Native Americans. In
2009, less than a month into his presidency, President Obama signed the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act in response to the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and

Kim 20
primarily focused on saving and creating jobs (The White House, February 2014). In the process
of doing so, the act awarded $500 million dollars to the BIA for health care, infrastructure
projects regarding water and sewage improvement, and housing on reservations. Also, the
Affordable Care Act was signed into law in 2010. This law exempts Native Americans from
individual mandate, which requires that most Americans [obtain] health insurance by 2014 or
pay a tax penalty and ensures free health care for eligible Native Americans (ObamaCare,
2014). The Act also permanently authorized the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, which will
reauthorize elder care programs, effective diabetes projects, suicide prevention programs,
health promotion and disease prevention programs, and IHS and tribal Epidemiology
Centers (National Indian Health Board, 2010). The Indian Health Care Improvement Act was
enacted in 1976 and was last reauthorized in 2001. Through the Affordable Care Act, Native
Americans can receive aforementioned the benefits permanently.
As a result of the efforts of the Obama administration, many reservations have been able
to establish and expand the Head Start program, a federal preschool program, in recent years.
This program is an anti-poverty program as well as a child-advocacy and a jobs program to help
both the child and family, as it provides schooling for preschool students, jobs for adults, and
opportunities for parents to become involved in their childrens education through meetings with
instructors and participation as Head Start volunteers (Stockbridge-Munsee Community [SMC],
n.d.). Also, through the Affordable Care Act, More than 2 million Native Americans receive free
health care at federally supported Indian health facilities as well, allowing for more accessible
health care (Vestal, 2013).
Furthermore, reservations, such as Sugar Point, a District 2 community part of the greater
Leech Lake reservation, and the Stockbridge-Munsee Nation, have been able to begin and

Kim 21
complete new projects for the community. At Sugar Point, the money granted by the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act was used to rebuild the community center from January 2011 to
July 2011 (Leech Lake Band of the Ojibwe, n.d.). The old community center had no showers,
office space, working doors, or a proper gym. However, the new community center has an indoor
basketball court, office space, several showers, and properly functioning doors and kitchen
instruments22. At Stockbridge, the funding paid out by the U.S. Department of Housing and
Urban Development (HUD) towards the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act helped fund
34 low-income apartment housing (The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, 2014).
Through the Native American Housing Assistance and Self-Determination Act of 1996, the HUD
funds the Division of Community Housing (DCH), a tribal government agency, and gives tribes
the opportunity to write their own plans for providing housing assistance to their people (SMC,
n.d.).
The past decade has seen increased efforts by the federal government to improve government-togovernment relationships with tribes and to improve Natives lives. However, the acts, executive
orders, and grants have not been enough to eradicate the problems on Native American
reservations and the long-standing wounds in Native Americans hearts.
Conclusion: Continuing Struggles
Despite these progresses, many reservations find government funding insufficient as
many reservation residents continue to live in poverty. For example, the unemployment rate of
Pine Ridge reservation was reported to approximately 80% on March 22 nd, 2007 (Steele, 2007).
On August 29th, 2013, the unemployment rate on Pine Ridge was at 89% (Schilling, 2013). Thus,
22 Information in the Sugar Point community center came from personal experience; I visited Sugar
Point in 2011 and 2012.

Kim 22
the unemployment rate increased over the course of seven years rather than decreasing, despite
bureaucratic efforts of the aforementioned acts and executive orders. Also, Native American
students have seen virtually no improvement in closing the academic achievement gap with
white students since 2005 (Covert, 2013). As mentioned previously, since the 3% drop in
graduation rates among Native American high school students, from 54% in 2008 to 51% in
2010, the rates have been decreasing, not increasing (Sheehy, 2013). Moreover, the Center for
Disease Control determined, in 2009, that the all-cause death ratewas 46% higher for Native
Americans than non-Native Americans; the all-cause death rate remains at nearly 50% higher
for Native Americans today (S.R., Johnson, 2014).
The Declaration of Rights firmly states that each person is endowed with certain
unalienable Rights, [and] among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness (The
Charters of Freedom, n.d.). This belief, taken from John Lockes idea that each person has
natural rights to life, liberty, and property, stands as the cornerstone to American democracy.
However, the natural rights, in the opinion of the settlers or colonists, did not extend to the
Native Americans and were violated well into the 1980s, when boarding schools were finally
closed (Bear, 2008). Many educators in boarding schools sought to civilize rather than educate
Native American students and therefore had a major emphasis on discipline and punishment
through physically abusing students (Bear, 2008). From wars of the 1600s to the broken
promises of alliances from the Revolution and from relocation to boarding schools, Native
Americans have a long history of unjust experiences that have devoid them of their pride and
culture. The legislative and bureaucratic efforts of recent years cannot compensate for centuries
of violation. Rather, the money coming from federal grants and casinos authorized by the
government are preventing the ability to survive independently for many Native Americans.

Kim 23
Their lives have become accustomed to relying on what the government subsidizes and are
trapped in a vicious cycle instead of creating and shaping a life for themselves.
There is a strong sense of separation between Native Americans and the rest of the
American population, especially because many Natives are physically remove in reservations
However, we must remember that we are all American, whichever ethnic title may precede the
term American. In order to truly become a united nation, we must seek to understand and
respect one another and stop repeating the mistakes of the past by simply ignoring Native
Americans problems. As a nation, we are a family and our brothers and sisters are hurting.
Humankind has not woven the web of life. We are but one thread within it. Whatever we do to the
web, we do to ourselves. All things are bound together. All things connect.
~Chief Seattle, Chief of the Suquamis (1786~1866)