Indians and the coronavirus

The United States has almost 500 tribally-owned casinos.  The Indians, the American minority with the highest rates of poverty, finally found a source of income that, while woefully inadequate, at least brought in some needed dollars.  Now those casinos are all closed.

Even worse, some of the worst “hotspots” of the virus are located on tribal lands.  The Navajo nation has a higher death rate than any state except New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Massachusetts.

In some cases Indians live without running water.  They have clinics instead of hospitals.  They have underlying medical problems.  They live in remote areas.  

It is so disheartening that after all years of genocide, and that is what it was, this country is still causing Indians to die unnecessarily.