On the rez

One of the aspects of the Smithsonian’s Museum of the American Indian that I liked (beside the food court, which served American Indian cuisines from various locales) was that it included contemporary Indians.  Most museums exhibit Indian artifacts at the beginning, and then Indians disappear.

They are still here.  The U.S. has 566 recognized tribes.  According to the last census, we have 1.9 million native Americans.  We have 310 reservations. 

And over 500 years after Columbus arrived with slavery and smallpox, we are still screwing them over.  The February issue of Governing features a story on how crime was reduced on four reservations.  It was done by bringing staffing levels up to the national standards.  The Bureau of Indian Affairs previously hadn’t had the funds to do that.

Let me reiterate.  The BIA did not flood the four reservations with cops.  It simply brought the police up to the staffing levels up to national standards.