I'm not talking about 50 years ago, I'm talking about NOW. If you want to talk about the past I could easily say that Native Americans had it way worse. They weren't just denied human rights, they were slaughtered and had all their land taken away and their food sources wiped out. Yet somehow there are successful ones out there nowadays who don't dwell on what happened in the past or use it to justify their mistakes.
Are you serious? Are you trying to use Native Americans as an example of a race that has bounced back from oppression? I don't know if that's the best defense. Have you ever been to a reservation? If not, here are some
facts.
According to Stephanie Schwartz:
-The unemployment rate [for Native Americans] is between 83 and 85%
-As of 2006, 97% of the [Native American] population lives below the federal poverty level.
-Some figures state that the life expectancy on the Reservation is 48 years old for men and 52 for women. Other reports state that the average life expectancy on the Reservation is 45 years old. These statistics are far from the 77.5 years of age life expectancy average found in the United States as a whole. According to current USDA Rural Development documents, the Lakota have the lowest life expectancy of any group in America.
-Teenage suicide rates are roughly 150% higher than they are for the rest of the country
-The infant mortality rate is the highest on this continent and is about 300% higher than the U.S. national average.
-More than half the Reservation’s adults battle addiction and disease. Alcoholism, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and malnutrition are pervasive.
-The rate of diabetes on the Reservation is reported to be 800%higher than the U.S. national average.
-Recent reports indicate that almost 50% of the adults on the Reservation over the age of 40 have diabetes.
-As a result of the high rate of diabetes on the Reservation, diabetic-related blindness, amputations, and kidney failure are common.
-Cervical cancer is 500% higher than the U.S. national average.
-The school drop-out rate is a staggering 70%.
-Teacher turnover [on reservations] is 800% that of the U.S. national average.According to a 2003 report from South Dakota State University, the majority of the current Tribal Housing Authority homes were built from 1970-1979. The report brings to light that a great percentage of that original construction by the BIA was “shoddy and substandard.” The report also states that 26% of the housing units on the Reservation are mobile homes, often purchased or obtained (through donations) as used, low-value units with negative-value equity.
-There is an estimated average of 17 people living in each family home (a home which may only have two to three rooms). Some larger homes, built for 6 to 8 people, have up to 30 people living in them.
-Over-all, 59% of the Reservation homes are substandard.
-Over 33% of the Reservation homes lack basic water and sewage systems as well as electricity.
-As reported above, at least 60% are infected with the potentially-fatal Black Mold, Stachybotrys and as such theses homes need to be burned to the ground and replaced with new housing due to the infestation. There is no insurance or government program to assist families in replacing their homes.
-60% of Reservation families have no land-line telephone. The Tribe has recently issued basic cell phones to the residents. However, these cell phones (commonly called commodity phones) do not operate off the Reservation at all and are often inoperable in the rural areas on the Reservation or during storms or wind.Computers and internet connections are very rare.
-Federal and tribal heat assistance programs (such as LLEAP) are limited by their funding. In the winter of 2005-2006, the average one-time only payment to a family was said to be approximately $250-$300 to cover the entire winter. For many, that amount did not even fill their propane heating tanks one time.
-Alcoholism affects 8 out of 10 families on the Reservation.
-The death rate from alcohol-related problems on the Reservation is 300% higher than the remaining US population.
-The Oglala Lakota Nation has prohibited the sale and possession of alcohol on the Pine Ridge Reservation since the early 1970’s. However, the town of Whiteclay, Nebraska (which sits 400 yards off the Reservation border in a contested “buffer” zone) has approximately 14 residents and four liquor stores which sell over 4,100,000 cans of beer each year resulting in a $3,000,000 annual trade. Unlike other Nebraska communities, Whiteclay exists only to sell liquor and make money. It has no schools, no churches, no civic organizations, no parks, no benches, no public bathrooms, no fire service and no law enforcement. Tribal officials have repeatedly pleaded with the State of Nebraska to close these liquor stores or enforce the State laws regulating liquor stores but have been consistently refused.
-Many wells and much of the water and land on the Reservation is contaminated with pesticides and other poisons from farming, mining, open dumps, and commercial and governmental mining operations outside the Reservation. A further source of contamination is buried ordnance and hazardous materials from closed U.S. military bombing ranges on the Reservation.
(2006)
Reference:
Schwartz, S. M. (2006, October 7). The Arrogance of Ignorance;. Retrieved May 16, 2011, from
http://silvrdrach.homestead.com/schwartz_2006_oct_15.html
As far as the argument that "That was 50 years ago," do you understand that 50 years is not a long time ago? In fact, it is recent enough that a teenager being raised by a grandparent b/c of absent biological parents is being raised by a victim of said oppression. That means that when that grandparent was working age, (s)he was actively denied opportunities for education, income, or skills training neccessary to accumulate the same wealth as a white person.
How could you expect that grandparent to have the means or education needed to financially support several kids or grandkids or to even help them with their homework in a meaningful enough way to give that child/g'child access to a HS diploma or the scholarships of which you speak?
I'm not arguing that murder is justifiable and that these disadvantages give anyone the right to hurt someone else. I just want to demonstrate in a factual way that whites have always had, and still do have, economic and social advantages over other races.
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