Your post does a good job of making the point that the reservation system is failing the people it is alleged to be trying to help. They must overcome high odds, get an education, and leave the reservation or else be caught in third world conditions making $2000 a year. The reservation system was adopted so many years ago out of prejudice by people who didn't want the Indigenous Americans living among them. It has served its real purpose of isolating the native population and preventing them from joining society at large. The reservation system was wrong when adopted, and is still wrong today.

----- Original Message -----

Take a good look at the abject poverty they live in and tell me they have a free ride. The average yearly income on the Navajo Reservation is $2000 a year. Yes I meant two thousand dollars per year. The average life expectancy for Native Americans is far lower than it is for other Americans. Infant mortality rates are higher... I could go on. The conditions they live in are like that of a third world country. As far as assimilation goes... My husband's family all went to college. Mike is a pharmacist, one brother an urban planner, another works at UMC in Tucson. His two surviving sisters are 1) physician's assistant and 2) a data management specialist with a cancer treatment center. My in laws are all upstanding and hardworking people who did not get a free ride. In fact, they all had to overcome the kind of racism that unfortunately many people still exhibit towards Native Americans.