The national Family Dollar company opened brand new stores in Eagle Butte and Mission in 2008 and the openings in each place set company records for highest volume and gross sales in all their chains throughout the country! All this was much to the chagrin of businesses in Winner, Pierre, Mobridge and Valentine, NE, of course, but the businesses gave these two communities and the surrounding reservation communities opportunities to keep their dollars circulating on the rez and most importantly provided jobs. One job, even at minimum wage, on the reservation is better than no job at all. Of course, all this great news was skipped over by the mainstream media. Oh well.

There is dynamic hope, my friends, for a new and better way of life on the reservations! When the reservations win, South Dakota wins! As a staunch Lakota Republican, I will continue to advise that all Republican candidates have to do is show up. In no time, reservation counties will go from deep blue to at least purple, if not deep red, on future election nights. In the meantime, let’s keep working hard!

I spent a summer in Tulasak, Alaska. A small Eskimo villeage east of Bethel, Alaska. They were fighting some of the same issues (alchol, drugs, incest), but thing that helped them minimize it was that they had two things going for them. They were fairly isolated and the big thing was they still where able to subsistence hunt and fish, which kept them busy. They had a daily goal no matter what time of the year it was. It was perfect, but it was no different then myself – I have a job and everyday I get up and my goal is to make sure I make my boss happy and satisfied with the job I do and that is what is missing on the Rez no goals or self instilled goals.

They need to have an excellent leader and someone who will standup for them and lead-them away from the reservation life and give up the government programs.

SDMIke

Says it all!

I also have seen Rez people get in trouble with their own people. If your a Rez person on probation or parole, watch all of the tribal members track you down, bother you, intimidate you and get you to try and violate your release. It’s merely a sick intra-tribal game. Very few want to succeed and take much pleasure in seeing other people fail.

You are so correct, I have seen that very story played over and over, again and again.

We, my employees and I, have been pretty successful on the reservation but it has not been very easy by any means. I employ 5 to 6 full blooded Native Americans or as they say 4/4 and they are the best anyone could ask for, I have been lucky in that respect. I believe in paying people well for a job that is done well and I believe in rewarding my employees when goals are met. For example my one key employee makes around $30,000 per year and last year for Christmas I paid to send two of my employees to Las Vegas, for one of them it was the first time ever flying or really leaving the state of South Dakota. It is my goal to try and teach these few individuals that an honest days work deserves an honest days pay. I also try and expose them to the other side of life besides reservation life.

Now comes the Native cultural side of life, the amount of crap these people have to put up with from their only family members is just unbelievable for the simple fact that are successful. I have worked with them in opening a checking account at the local bank and work with them balancing a check book and I have worked with them so they could borrow money to purchase a car, or furniture from their homes. Some of the comments that have been relayed to me by them, by their own family is there are acting to “white” and whole host of other shit these young people have to put up with from there own family members. I have spent countless hours listening to there plights and some of it like I said is just unbelievable all for trying to better themselves with out the help of the government.

1. Tribe members want to resolve their problems themselves, rather than accept outside help. They want to prosper on their own terms. This is good.

2. At the same time, whites want a true, earned prosperity for those on the rez, as well. This also is good.

So both sides want much the same thing, which suggests that a wholesome prosperity — not just economically, but culturally and politically — hinges on treaty bonds.

Could someone tell me this: Can treaties be severed? If so, is there any interest in doing so?

Grudz, I think part of the reason that it was good is as South Dakotans, we know we have a problem on the reservations. However, many SDans firsthand knowledge of the problem is limited.

Secondly, problems aren’t liberal/conservative. Only the solutions.

Good comments all. When Munsterman is Gov, PP would make a good Secretary of Indian Affairs.

Good comments. While I have spent more time on and near reservations and living among Indians than most South Dakotan’s, my experience is nothing compared to yours.

All I can say is that I know enough to know I don’t know enough to have anything more meaningful to say than there are more people with ideas to solve the problem than there are people who have actuall DONE something about it. Just seems backwards to me.

Why are you absent in body?

Bless the exceptions though like Gail Brock for giving from a kind heart without expectation of reward and Rapid Rezzer for articulating hope. If absent in body, I’m at least with you in spirit.

Indians are indians, not white people.

Seriously, on one hand you (or your type) urge assimilation. On the other you justify giving them the most useless and worthless land as a tribute to their privacy and heritage. Please.

The reason those areas were not “encrouched” (whatever that means) by white settlement was — surprise! — because it was worthless land!

They never had a chance there.

Farm Ground would have been worse. Indians are grassland people not farmers.

The ground they were given was not the worst in SD but located in areas that were not encrouched on by white settlement(or only to a limited extend) when the reservations were alotted.

It was not done with any malice. That is a falsehood.

Socialism doesn’t work–Methodist Church drives don’t work–he who does not work–does not eat–That works! He who does not provide for his own family is the worst of all men–that works. Business will only flourish on the rez when the welfare state is STOPPED.

Cheney’s? Obama’s? The casino-owning minority power base of the Ojibwa Band?

Thanks for what you are doing.

And, I’d like to say the following and I’m not trying to make a political statement but reinforce Gail’s work and focus.

I’m sick and tired of politicians using our Native American neighbors as “tools.” On one side, you have politicians who get elected because they exploit them as votes. On the other side, you have people using them as “proof” government programs don’t work.

People living on reservations are not “votes” and not “proof”. They are our neighbors. Period. End of Story.

Maybe things would get better if we would just be a bit more neighborly. Not drive into our garage, close the door, and throw scraps out the back door. Good work Gail.

By the way, there are Indians living in every town in this state.

What is your incentive to go and work when everything is provided by the government? Or what is the incentive to try and better yourself when everyone around you will tare you down should you start to succeed. If the federal government really wanted to help the native people, then they would get out of these peoples lives and let them fend for themselves. But then the federal government might loss control and that is what the ultimate goal, to be able to control and manipulate an entire society.