Indian reservations were supposed
to provide Native Americans with their own land and resources. They were
supposed to be a home to the people living there. In practice the Natives were
trapped on this land. You were stuck in a place where the unemployment rate was
so high you only had two options; you could either leave your culture to go
earn money for your family, or stay with everyone and struggle along. Even when
new laws were passed to help benefit the Natives their lifestyle changed very
little. Many households still can’t afford running water, they have to fill
tanks and return every few days to the nearest water source. This water source
could dry up at any point throughout the day, enforcing a strict
first-come-first-serve rule. This creates tension between the residents
resulting in a higher rate of conflicts.
Other factors should be mentioned
as well. Whenever an adult- or anyone really- is depressed and can’t do
anything about their situation who (or what) do they turn to? On reservations
the answer is alcohol more often than not. It’s often seen as easier to drown
out one’s sorrows than to face the world every day, knowing there’s nothing you
can do to change what you see. Other options include anger and recklessness.
Combined, these factors contribute to a high death toll on reservations.
When you come from a long line of the
above situation it’s difficult to see a way out. It’s takes a strong person to
rise above all the chaos and seek a life that’s dangerous, new, and unknown.
That path is filled with ups and downs, uncertainness and cheats. A whole new
lifestyle is waiting outside that plot of land. Some may find that they are too
scared of that unknown to try to get out. Many have already accepted that their
life won’t change. That no matter what they do they will always be pushed back
into that tiny, fenced-in, alcohol ridden part of the world with no hope of
escape. Sometimes it’s even easier to except this as your life.
