Sad States
About a week and a half ago one of the things that I had to do on my trip was drive from Minot, North Dakota to Great Falls, Montana. When you are making that drive along US 2 and you pass Williston and into Montana, you pass near two Indian Reservations, the Fort Peck and Fort Belknap reservations. When you make the turn at Havre and drive south on US 87, you pass near the Rocky Boy Reservation.
Let me tell you this; everything you have heard that is so emblematic about Indian reservations is not accurate. From what I saw, things are much worse than you have heard. Towns made of dilapitated homes, plywood for windows. Damaged cars in the streets. Unkempt lawns. Dogs running the streets of the small towns. Small stores, some of them closed forever, some of them too shoddy for me to consider going into. Every small outfit possible had casinos on site. Billboards everywhere encouraging reservation residents to avoid alcohol, drugs, and encouraging seat belt use. The states of these reservations as person just passing through was sad. It was more reminiscent of abandoned section of the inner city than the beautiful Big Sky country that surrounded the reservation areas.
The question really gets down to this: what has the Federal Government done to address this? How much money does the Bureau of Indian Affairs spend each year? Where does that money go? Why has the Bureau let things get to this point in time where these folks are living in such dilapidated states. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that additional federal spending is the answer here, but good grief there needs to be a relatively reasonable accounting of what money is being spent by the Federal Government. Clearly, nothing is being done positively that will improve the lives of those living on the reservation. From the outside, it looks like members of these tribes are living in squalor more than anything else.
What is the solution to the plights of these and other tribes? I'm not really sure what the answer is. Commonplace conservative solutions like enterprise zones and tax credits are not likely going to make an impact in tribal areas such as these. But the Sad States of these tribal areas should lead require some sort of Congressional inquiry into the operation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and some measure of accountability as to where the Bureau is spending their money. If the Bureau is responsible for the welfare of these tribes, then somebody is clearly falling down on the job....
Let me tell you this; everything you have heard that is so emblematic about Indian reservations is not accurate. From what I saw, things are much worse than you have heard. Towns made of dilapitated homes, plywood for windows. Damaged cars in the streets. Unkempt lawns. Dogs running the streets of the small towns. Small stores, some of them closed forever, some of them too shoddy for me to consider going into. Every small outfit possible had casinos on site. Billboards everywhere encouraging reservation residents to avoid alcohol, drugs, and encouraging seat belt use. The states of these reservations as person just passing through was sad. It was more reminiscent of abandoned section of the inner city than the beautiful Big Sky country that surrounded the reservation areas.
The question really gets down to this: what has the Federal Government done to address this? How much money does the Bureau of Indian Affairs spend each year? Where does that money go? Why has the Bureau let things get to this point in time where these folks are living in such dilapidated states. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that additional federal spending is the answer here, but good grief there needs to be a relatively reasonable accounting of what money is being spent by the Federal Government. Clearly, nothing is being done positively that will improve the lives of those living on the reservation. From the outside, it looks like members of these tribes are living in squalor more than anything else.
What is the solution to the plights of these and other tribes? I'm not really sure what the answer is. Commonplace conservative solutions like enterprise zones and tax credits are not likely going to make an impact in tribal areas such as these. But the Sad States of these tribal areas should lead require some sort of Congressional inquiry into the operation of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and some measure of accountability as to where the Bureau is spending their money. If the Bureau is responsible for the welfare of these tribes, then somebody is clearly falling down on the job....
posted by Brian Griffiths at 9:20 PM
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