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Reservations are semi-independent of the states they're in. Thus they can usually allow gambling on a reservation if they want to while the state as a whole may prohibit it. Similarly Indian reservations can decide not to collect at least some state taxes which some tribes use to sell cigarettes for less than everyone else since all the state excise and sales taxes do not apply on the reservation if they don't want them to.
I live a just a few miles outside of the Creek Indian (Muskogee) Reservation in Alabama. Like another poster mentioned, most people around here (white and black) have some Native American ancestry, including myself. Overall the Creek community here blends in with the white community, and very few of them know their native language.
Some of the traditions are kept going though, including the PowWow held every Thanksgiving, people from all around this area attend it every year.
You are right. Just outside of Syracuse is the Onondaga Indian Nation. While they are a part of the Iroquois Confederation, they call themselves the Haudenosaunee(means "People of the Longhouse" in native language). Yes, they are legit and still some practice the language and customs of the tribe/group. Many of the children start off at the Nation school, then go to LaFayette for High School. You this with other tribes/groups in terms of schooling. Areas like Salamanca, Akron, Fort Covington and Wheatfield are similar in this regard too.
There are also "urban" Indians/Native Americans that live in Syracuse, Buffalo, Massena and some other cities in the state.
I think Native Americans in this country have it the absolute WORST in terms of equality and quality of life. I don't know what it's like in other states, but in Minnesota and the Dakotas, the Native American reservations (that do not have casinos) are so poor it's like a 2nd or 3rd world country. Not only that, but there is some of the worst crime in the state in those areas and it goes largely undocumented because they are considered a separate entity.
It's really terrible and I don't know what can be done (if anything) to improve the situation in this country -- it's absolutely atrotious what's been done to these people.
It would help if those of us who are not on the rez and are in "mainstream" American society, like in the suburbs and the cities and on college campuses like Cornell and Yale and Princeton - weren't treated like we're "anything but Native American" for starters. You only want to think of people AS Indians if we're on the rez and smoking and drinking up our entire government check and doing nothing with our lives except maybe running casinos. Those of us who don't fit that stereotype have it worse than any other race in society, too. It's not believed that we're capable in any field other than history or Native American Studies and certainly not the STEM fields - the whole reason why we have to have organizations like SACNAS and AISES and various organizations that help fund grad school for Native Americans is that even if we are educated and intelligent we still have a way harder time finding jobs that we deserve than non-Indians would. It's as if being Hispanic or Black would actually be easier and open more doors for us than being Native American. That and, once off the rez, you people have a tendency to classify us as any other race but Native based on what shade of brown or caramel our skin is. Darker = "black" and lighter = "Mexican" or "Italian" or "Puerto Rican" = hence, technically, "no" Native Americans in the cities or the middle-class suburbs. Or in rural areas that are off the reservation.
During the trail of tears, many Native American families gave their lighter skinned children to be adopted by white neighbors. I can see a lot of NA ancestry in my neighbors in Knoxville. Many of them acnowledge it, if you know them well enough to discuss backgrounds.
The Cherokee who remained in the woods and evaded the TOT were assigned land in Cherokee NC. Those who went to Oklahoma and later returned can be found in Robbinsville NC. Many of them had intermixed with southwestern tribes.
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