Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
My old man's best friend while we lived in Colorado was a Native American. I learned then(I was 6 or so) that I liked Native American culture and worldview - as well as the people.
Begin rant/
Aside from illegal immigrants, which I consider to be the "new slaves" of American AgriBusiness - doing the jobs Americans "won't" do for less than minimum wage, Native Americans are the most oppressed peoples in America today.
Racial politics are always an issue as Democrats and Republicans use every tactic in the book to sway black, latino, asian votes their way. Rarely do you see them give a second thought to Native Americans. Why? Because they don't matter. Racism in our government towards the Native American population is disgusting, which is why I roll my eyes every single time I hear the race card being played by anyone, any group, any politcal idiot.
The hypocrisy of both parties knows no bounds...
/end rant
My question is, what are Idaho's Native American population sentiments towards the rest of the population?
The area I'm looking into is next to a good sized reservation and I'm just curious about them.
Most Native Americans out here are in the casino business and I've known a few that have been in bitter disputes within the tribe because the council decides who is "Indian" enough to receive payments from these casinos. It's very sad, some Native Americans live on the reservation right next to the casino and receive no income from it. I know of one guy who puts up huge signs along his fence protesting the casino because they decided he wasn't indian enough. Yet he lives in squalor on the reservation...go figure. I stopped going to that casino because of that...but no doubt its like that with every single tribal casino in California. Whoops, I'm off on a tangent.
My original question is about Native American sentiment towards the "white" population. Are the reservations in Idaho better off or worse off than most? It is my experience that most reservations are tiny third world nations within the worlds richest nations - which is partly why it pisses me off so much.
Just curious, besides, I'm sick of talking about wolves. Of course, now I am talking about a different type of wolf...called the Federal Government. :P
Sac, you'll need to hear from others than myself, because I'm also approaching this issue from the outside, but first of all, when you go on your trip to Idaho, spend some time driving through reservations and talk with people. We visited the CdA Indian Reservation, and had a really nice time. So, superficially, no problem at all--and a lot less hidden animosity than what I've experienced on the Navajo Reservation which we love to visit. One of my favorite movies, Smoke Signals, written by an American Indian, Sherman Alexie, was filmed in Plummer on the CdA Rez, and it seems to give a good picture of everyday life on the Rez close to a fairly large modern city (Spokane, WA).
But in Spokane a few years ago another story went down, which you probably haven't heard about. The story of the off-duty cop, Jay Olson, who shot (but didn't kill) Shonto Pete (a Navajo living in Spokane), thinking that he had tried to steal the police officer's truck. Olson was drunk at the time, and didn't call for backup, etc. It was a nasty story all around, with several trials, but what made it even more nasty was the underlying suspicion that justice would have moved faster, had Pete not been a reservation Indian. Here's a blog from last year about the case: The Liberty Republican: Being an Indian in America: the Shonto Pete Story It's an opinionated piece, but as far as I can tell, the blogger has his facts straight. Here's the story as seen by Indian Country Today: Victim of the system – Shonto Pete | Indian Country Today | Archive
And it keeps going: Here's an update from earlier this year: Spokane removed from Shonto Pete lawsuit - Spokesman.com - March 12, 2010
That's the kind of crap I was ranting about. The government has an underlying racism towards Native Americans. All you have to do to prove this is to look at how the Reservation system works and its constructed to allow the government to ignore them.
If I were that Navajo, I'd find the best lawyer in California. They've got excellent trial lawyers who know how to extract large settlements from government. :P
ST, I am in a similar situation to yourself it seems, contemplating a move to an area near a large reservation. Never thought to ask this question here, glad you have done so.
I have to chime in a bit here as I have lived on C.S.K.T. lands for many years and have many Indian friends both Salish and Kootenai, I am white but I own property on the rez. The majority of the Indians that live on the rez that I know personally enjoy very nice lives and if they don't like life on the rez all they have to do is move anywhere they want to, just like anyone else.
Our Indian friends who have ranches frequently give us great hamburger and honey and we reciprocate as best we can. One of our friends could have been in line for the confederated tribe's chief's position but he is ineligible because he is half white.
A bit off topic here but my grandfather bought a ranch in Nevada many years ago and an Indian who only spoke Washoe and lived in a shack way back in the wooded corner of the ranch and apparently "came with the ranch". He lived on trout, squirrel and rabbit and had a pile of bones higher than his shack next to the shack. My grandfather just left him alone and gave him a nice burial when the old Indian died, I think his name was simply "Henry"
The Kalispel tribe seems pretty comfortable. The have a casino and a health spa...the spa is very nice.
I don't remember if it is only the Kootenai or also the Coeur d'Alene tribes in the CdA area, but my understanding is that they get screwed over by the resort industry, having already been wronged and half poisoned by the mining industry and their pollution of the local waterways with mine tailings.
Clark Fork describes one of the nicer reservations I've been to. The Nez Perce Rez near Cottonwood is not so well off. I haven't experienced anything but niceness from the folks on the rez. But it seems more economically depressed. Driving through Plummer/Worley and Lapwai is illustrative. Neither are thriving! But Lapwai seems much more run down.
I'm bored so I compared city data info for Lapwai (main town on the NP rez), Lewiston (Nearest good sized town to the NP rez) and Plummer (largest town on the CDA rez). Lapwai is $10k below ID median income. Lewiston is $3k below. Plummer/Worley is about $7k below. Other area towns (Cottonwood, Troy and Deary) were at or slightly above the ID median. This would seem to corroborate some of the OPs assertions.
To answer one of the OPs questions: In my experience you can't compare reservations on a state by state basis. Each rez is like a little miniature country, and needs to be compared to other reservations on a case by case basis.
I have to chime in a bit here as I have lived on C.S.K.T. lands for many years and have many Indian friends both Salish and Kootenai, I am white but I own property on the rez. The majority of the Indians that live on the rez that I know personally enjoy very nice lives and if they don't like life on the rez all they have to do is move anywhere they want to, just like anyone else.
Our Indian friends who have ranches frequently give us great hamburger and honey and we reciprocate as best we can. One of our friends could have been in line for the confederated tribe's chief's position but he is ineligible because he is half white.
A bit off topic here but my grandfather bought a ranch in Nevada many years ago and an Indian who only spoke Washoe and lived in a shack way back in the wooded corner of the ranch and apparently "came with the ranch". He lived on trout, squirrel and rabbit and had a pile of bones higher than his shack next to the shack. My grandfather just left him alone and gave him a nice burial when the old Indian died, I think his name was simply "Henry"
Awesome. It's not always like that on rez's in other states.
The Shoshone-Bannock tribes (they call themselves Sho-Bans) who live on the Ft. Hall reservation are very close to two of the larger communities in S.E. Idaho- Blackfoot on the north and Pocatello on the south. The rez' borders are inbetween the two cities and is very close to both.
Both tribes are quite socially and culturally united now, and have been for a very long time. The Ft. Hall Indians have always gotten along well with their white neighbors, and vice versa, for as long as there have been whites in Idaho. Both tribes are native to Idaho, which is unusual, because Idaho was never attractive to any of the greater tribes of the west.
The Sho-Bans are doing better on their rez than most of the other tribes in the Mountain West. While they aren't wealthy as a tribe by any means, individual members are successful ranchers and farmers, and their casinos are doing well enough for the tribe to build a new one, separate from the Ft. Hall tribal center. Some whites rent property and housing on the rez, and Pocatello and Blackfoot both have few of the problems seen in the Dakotas.
If you are looking to live next to a rez, Ft. Hall is a good choice as are either of the two cities.
Some history for you:
It is believed that the Sho-Bans were driven here by the Sioux, Blackfeet and N. Commanche as those tribes moved westward. Neither tribe had great numbers, and didn't have the strong warrior cultures of those tribes, so they were often wiped out or taken as slaves by their conquerors. Idaho became their shelter, as they were much more hunter-gatherers than the buffalo hunting tribes of the Great Plains.
Sacajaweah was living with the Shoshones here when she and her husband joined Lewis and Clark. She was a Nez Perce, which gave her some abilities as a guide, and could speak several of the languages.
The Nez Perce were completely different from all the other tribes in the West. While they were also hunter-gatherers, they were the only tribe who selectively bred their horses by gelding all the stallions they didn't want as studs. The Appaloosa horse breed is the only one in the U.S. that was developed by any Indian tribe, and were specifically bred for their intelligence, speed, hardiness and stamina, and gentle nature.
No one is sure just how long the Nez Perce bred these horses, but the horses' quality became prized by all the tribes from the Oregon coast to the Mississippi. The going rate of trade was 5 horses to 1 Appaloosa.
The demand for the horses created a tribe that was much like the Swiss.
Nez Perce would periodically put a band together and go off to trade with all the other tribes. The men who went were typically teens and young bachelors, led by a small group of experienced older men. The distinctive Nez Perce hair style- a high pompadour, large round plate ear rings, and the spotted coats of the Appaloosa identified them from afar. They traded with all the plains tribes as far south as Oklahoma.
In doing so, the Nez Perce became the best horsemen of all the tribes, and the best fighters. They were generally treated very well, as all tribes wanted their horses, but often, kids would try to sneak in and steal some. When this happened, the Nez Perce would go in and demand their horses back, with a theft penalty of a bunch of horses.
If the tribe refused to hand over the horses, the Nez Perce demanded the death of the thieves. If that was denied, the Nez Perce simply never traded with them again. In the buffalo culture, a good horse was everything, so the Nez Perce always got their way, one way or the other.
The other thing that happened was some tribes would put together a war party, to take the horses by force.
The Nez Perce developed military tactics that were never used by any of the plains tribes, and usually killed everyone in the war party. Then the Nez Perce would go and kill any of the tribe's survivors and take everything the tribe owned. They took no prisoners as slaves. And the Nez Perce never traded with fellow tribes again, which was even worse.
Between these two tactics, and due to the desire for the horses, the Nez Perce were at the same time welcomed and respected equally. The large tribe's Chiefs would always keep their young hot-bloods well in check, sometimes to the point of leashing and staking them down so they wouldn't attempt a stealing raid.
The Nez Perce always got on well with the Shoshones and Bannocks, and they usually stopped at the Ft. Hall area because it was an excellent place to water and rest their stock. The Nez Perce were the last tribe to go to war with the white man, and the war was disastrous for the tribe.
They were always a small tribe in comparison to the other tribes who went to war, and only had 91 fighters at the most. Their horses outran the Cavalry, and the tribe's fighting spirit was fearsome- when the Cavalry caught up to the tribe at White Bird hill, the Cavalry unlimbered their cannons at the top of the hill and began to bombard the Indians as they crossed the river at the bottom.
The Nez Perce fighters charged straight up the hill- a 4 mile run at a 20% grade. Their horses ran so fast the gunners could not adjust the range on their cannons to keep up with them, and the Indians gained the hilltop in 7 minutes. They slaughtered over 200 cavalrymen, spiked the cannons and sent them rolling down the hill. This fight put the entire north west Calvary against them, and their defeat was sealed after that fight. After the tribe surrendered, most of their horses were killed, and most of the surviving mares were out-bred with heavy draft horses, which nearly destroyed the breed.
Ironically, descendants of the first white settlers on Nez Perce land were the ones who revived the breed in the late 1930's. The tribe had no Appaloosas of it's own by ca.1990, but now own some, due to efforts to return the breed to it's founders.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
