Wasn't Sherman Alexie commenting here recently? Or maybe it was on another one of my Substacks. At any rate, he would certainly have any number of enlightening things to say on the matter.
I haven't run across his name, but I haven't been on this site as much as elsewhere.
The discussions on black gangs should include discussion of similar cultures on Native reservations. The Warm Springs reservation in Oregon has had a lot of gang and other violence. They have their own chapters of the Crips and Bloods. They have a casino, so I don't know why their economic situation is still poor. Half the people on the reservation are at poverty level, with an average of about $55K across the population.
One thing I saw when I was in New Mexico about 15 years ago was the appearance of poverty despite great wealth. My friend and I visited the Acoma reservation on a mesa and they were phenomenally wealthy, but you'd never know it to see the mesa - or the reservation around it as we drove through. Lots of really ramshackle houses. The folks on the mesa had lived there for 1,500 years and chose to live largely as their ancestors did with a few exceptions - porta-potties and cars. The windows were mica, not glass. The homes were also very basic. Yet they had a huge casino, a gorgeous visitors' centre and lots of new Ford pickups. (The story they tell about John Wayne building the road that leads up the mesa to the top, for a movie that was shot there, appears to be legend. I can't find any evidence Wayne ever shot a movie there and I don't know how the hell they'd get up and down there anyway before the 1950s when this supposedly happened otherwise).
I might be missing something, but I talked to the guide about it and he said they didn't just get money from the casino, they'd negotiated new contracts for hunting, fishing and trading with the NM government and apparently it was working out very well for them.
There did seem to be some element of choice in how the lived, although like I said, I might be missing something. I've read of other reservations/reserves (the Canadian equivalent) who are doing very well for themselves, while others live in poverty. They do insist on living off the land. How viable this is anymore I'm not sure.
Thanks for the interesting reply. I was wondering how things were going in the Southwestern Native communities. If I have time I will look into this further (I find that I am saying that about a lot of subjects lately). I would think that if a reservation has a serious gang violence problem, it would mean they actually are living in poverty, but maybe not.
Let me know what you find. The folks who quoted negative stats weren't wrong, and some groups may suffer the same problem as some black kids - the self-bigotey of low expectations or an outsized sene of oppression. I'd like to know more about successful Native groups, including those who still live close to the land.
Someone here once mentioned a research study they'd seen comparing black high school students whose military families were stationed in Germany, who went to German schools, vs AA kids in the US, and the German-educated kids did just fine, the same as everyone else, not dragging behind everyone else like in the US. I've looked all over and I can't find this study. If anyone knows where it is I'd love to see it.
Someone else had commented something similar about Native kids - get them away from the reservation education system, and they do much better.
Wasn't Sherman Alexie commenting here recently? Or maybe it was on another one of my Substacks. At any rate, he would certainly have any number of enlightening things to say on the matter.
I haven't run across his name, but I haven't been on this site as much as elsewhere.
The discussions on black gangs should include discussion of similar cultures on Native reservations. The Warm Springs reservation in Oregon has had a lot of gang and other violence. They have their own chapters of the Crips and Bloods. They have a casino, so I don't know why their economic situation is still poor. Half the people on the reservation are at poverty level, with an average of about $55K across the population.
One thing I saw when I was in New Mexico about 15 years ago was the appearance of poverty despite great wealth. My friend and I visited the Acoma reservation on a mesa and they were phenomenally wealthy, but you'd never know it to see the mesa - or the reservation around it as we drove through. Lots of really ramshackle houses. The folks on the mesa had lived there for 1,500 years and chose to live largely as their ancestors did with a few exceptions - porta-potties and cars. The windows were mica, not glass. The homes were also very basic. Yet they had a huge casino, a gorgeous visitors' centre and lots of new Ford pickups. (The story they tell about John Wayne building the road that leads up the mesa to the top, for a movie that was shot there, appears to be legend. I can't find any evidence Wayne ever shot a movie there and I don't know how the hell they'd get up and down there anyway before the 1950s when this supposedly happened otherwise).
I might be missing something, but I talked to the guide about it and he said they didn't just get money from the casino, they'd negotiated new contracts for hunting, fishing and trading with the NM government and apparently it was working out very well for them.
There did seem to be some element of choice in how the lived, although like I said, I might be missing something. I've read of other reservations/reserves (the Canadian equivalent) who are doing very well for themselves, while others live in poverty. They do insist on living off the land. How viable this is anymore I'm not sure.
Thanks for the interesting reply. I was wondering how things were going in the Southwestern Native communities. If I have time I will look into this further (I find that I am saying that about a lot of subjects lately). I would think that if a reservation has a serious gang violence problem, it would mean they actually are living in poverty, but maybe not.
Let me know what you find. The folks who quoted negative stats weren't wrong, and some groups may suffer the same problem as some black kids - the self-bigotey of low expectations or an outsized sene of oppression. I'd like to know more about successful Native groups, including those who still live close to the land.
I’ll get back to you when I know more.
Someone here once mentioned a research study they'd seen comparing black high school students whose military families were stationed in Germany, who went to German schools, vs AA kids in the US, and the German-educated kids did just fine, the same as everyone else, not dragging behind everyone else like in the US. I've looked all over and I can't find this study. If anyone knows where it is I'd love to see it.
Someone else had commented something similar about Native kids - get them away from the reservation education system, and they do much better.