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Indians as Welfare Recipients
(12/10/02)


A response to Indians as Welfare Recipients:

all i know is that if you dont like something...then its up to you to change it. i have seen with my own eyes how these people live and i know most of them get money from either their tribes and/or the government. there are poor people everywhere, but they dont sit around and blame it on what the white man or any other group has done to them a hundred years ago. thats history and in the past...I dont think you can change the past, but you can change the future! most people are sick and tired of hearing about how the white man hurt the poor little indians and dont feel sorry for them anymore. There are plenty native americans that have got out into the real world and made something for themselves and their children. I think its about time the indians in south dakota did the same thing.

Rob's reply
>> all i know is that if you dont like something...then its up to you to change it. <<

That's what Indians are doing by starting casinos and other businesses while demanding and voting for changes in government policies. What exactly do you want them to do that they aren't doing—wave a magic wand and make poverty disappear?

>> i have seen with my own eyes how these people live and i know most of them get money from either their tribes and/or the government. <<

Right...because the US government stole their land (with its game, crops, and mineral resources) and forcibly relocated them to remote, barren areas. The Jews at Auschwitz and the Japanese Americans at Manzanar didn't start many businesses either.

>> there are poor people everywhere, but they dont sit around and blame it on what the white man or any other group has done to them a hundred years ago. <<

No, they blame it on what the white man is doing to them now. Abrogating treaties, curtailing sovereignty, cutting services, etc. Then they try to do something about it, because no one likes to be poor.

>> most people are sick and tired of hearing about how the white man hurt the poor little indians and dont feel sorry for them anymore. <<

I'm sick and tired of hearing about how most people are sick and tired.

>> There are plenty native americans that have got out into the real world and made something for themselves and their children. <<

Let's ignore your offensive stereotype that Indian reservations aren't "the real world." Many Native Americans have stayed on the rez and made something for themselves and their children.

>> I think its about time the indians in south dakota did the same thing. <<

Again, they're trying to start casinos and other businesses—from buffalo ranching to tourism. They're also trying to get back the Black Hills, which the Supreme Court recently ruled was theirs according to a still-valid treaty. Retrieving that land would increase their wealth astronomically, so it's arguably a good investment of their time.


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