Native American Blues
...ing for them to stand with their own feet. “The dependency of American Indian tribes on handouts from Washington robbed them of their sovereignty; deprived them of self-determination.” He points out that the evidence in “ the third world conditions under which much of the Indian population lives. A third of Indians subsist below poverty line. Half are jobless on the reservation. A third of Indian youngsters drop out of high school. One-fifth of Indians live in home lacking indoor toilets and telephones. They have the lowest life expectancy rate of any population in America. They have the highest rate of diabetes and tuberculosis. Deaths from influenza and pneumonia are twice the national average. The infant-mortality and murder rates are three times the national average. Alcohol related deaths are 10 times higher.” The insensitivity of native people who exploit the Indian cultures is another uncomfortable example of appropriation. Stereotyping native peoples does not supply a soluble ways of undermining label, but becomes a part of the problem. Perkins comments when “Deer say that the nation’s 1.9 million Indians want their basic needs met like the rest of us Americans. But the big difference is that most non-native Americans don’t believe that the government obliged to meet those need for them.” He suggested that practicing self help that is provided by Indian tribe are building momentum that controls their future. The portrayal of alcoholism that has been rampant through the generations cannot be denied and presents a inconsistency in which native must grapple. The pathetic drunks and the pitiful alcoho...