Where do we talk about the 1,000ish First Nations women still missing in Canada? Or the drug and alcohol problems still rampant in the tribes because of pervasive poverty and lack of opportunities to escape? The diabetes that plagues a large portion of their population because of the bad diet forced upon them by moving them to barren lands on the reservations, which leaves them very few options when it comes to nutrition? The loss of cultures and languages because the only way to succeed and escape the reservation for over a hundred years was to become westernized and leave your family behind? That to become westernized for an American Indian was to become a domestic laborer because that was what was deemed appropriate for them to learn when they went to boarding school? And in Canada, the lack of education, opportunities, and poverty leaves a large portion of the First Nations population vulnerable to persecution because they end up falling into crime? That American Indian women are incredibly vulnerable to being raped, abused, murdered, or kidnapped and forced into the underground sex slave trade because no one with the power will look for them when they go missing?
Ahh...it's not entirely depressing. There's a new Diné (Navajo) language program in the school district I used to live in. Think it's a first. And many more (white) people are aware of the issues facing American Indians today. It's just hard to do anything because of too many self-serving jerks working in politics.
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