Life On the "Rez"

[Dakota Sandz]

I hear what your saying..and I'll give ya somewhat of my experiances on the rez comming from a canadian stand point.
Here in canada some rez's like the states prosper more then others. The goverment in some places have put us in decolate lands where is no agriculture or anything of that nature to do economical development. Up here, the indian affairs gives us a set amount of money per year, the per cap, which we have to spend as we see fit, which usually means for housing, economical development,school funding ect, which I might add, isn't alot. You trigger all that in, and some places, there isnt much go go upon.
Also you might figure in ndns themselves. I know tooooo many reserves or rezervations where jobs are at a low and the ones who get the jobs are councilor related, meaning you got fam in council, your chances are better to get a job. Doesnt mean that your qualified, most aren't.
Some rez's council itself is uneducated as well. Factor that in, and life long familly fueds, and it spells disaster, where nothing gets done.
some, its a case of the have nothings to have something senario, and some people dont know how to handle power and only think of themselves. They been poor all there lives and all of a sudden there getting cheques for 3000-4000 bi-weekly not including travel pay for meetings and such, and they go crazy and start doing stupid things with it, and not thinking of there people, but rather themselves and how they can make a fast buck, or please certain people so they can get in council again.
It sux but its true.
I can go on for days about this but I dont have the time...
hope this helped a lil bit.

[Coyot_In_The_House]

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[LakotaRosa83]

Hey,
It's me, Rosa, and I figure that most of you are either parents, old people or teens, so I think everyone can have a say in this, so here goes my questions...

Why are there so many native teens who are dropping out of school or decide to not go to college all together? I've read in different articles that native teens are more likely to drop out of college and high school, than any other minority group. But sometimes asking the native people themselves to give their view on all of this is sometimes better.

And also I wanted to know a little about "rez life" and why are reservations considered so bleak and depressing and why there are so few job opportunites for native people who live there. From what I hear from my myspace native peeps, is that there is a lot of suicide and alcoholism that exists on the rez. So this is my next question, how can native people help stop the spread of alcoholism and drug use on their reservations and then create more jobs for themselves? I know all of this seems jumbled but is there any way to improve life on the rez, in order to stop teen pregnancy and prevent the increasing number of suicides?

What can others who aren't native do to help out in all of this? Are there any programs that are located on the reservations that are addressing these issues? And do any of you live on reservations and if so, what is your perspective on this? thanks for replying!