7 ms·

The article doesn't really go into why the reservations were worse hit than other US areas. They are "sovereign" "nations" so surely they have some autonomy to

• kingkawn 6y ago
  Reservations are prisoner of war camps from the 19th century that persist to this day. It is more illuminating to compare them to other similarly situated people around the world in terms of their social services and freedom to develop self governance
  • brutt 6y ago
    LOL. Reservations are inverse of war camps. They are not for keeping them in, they are for keeping you out.
  • sterlind 6y ago
    It's more complicated than that, at least now. Having land, even crummy land away from the ancestral homeland, is better than not having land, because: a) you can afford to live there, as an extremely economically disadvantaged group. b) your tribe is in one place, instead of scattered, which makes it possible to continue to have a group identity and c) you have at least limited autonomy. I know people in tribes that have been shafted by the BIA and refused official recognition or land. It hurts. See the documentary "Promised Land" [0] for their account. 0. https://www.promisedlanddoc.com/ https://www.promisedlanddoc.com/
    • kingkawn 6y ago
      A) in utter poverty created by the wars to expel and corral them into small, infertile, resourceless areas B) It is good to be with your folks, I agree, even when forced into captivity together C) their autonomy is violated essentially at whim by the fed, state, and local governments since the reservation system was created. You can see this happening now with Gov Noam in South Dakota and the Lakota
      • sterlind 6y ago
        Oh, I'm totally in agreement that the situation is unfair and that the US government engaged in genocide and cultural extermination of native peoples, and that reservations were created as ghettos for Indians so the whites could take their desirable lands. I am merely pointing out that there are tribes that have been denied federal recognition or reservations and want them, because a crappy deal is still better than no deal.
        • kingkawn 6y ago
          Sure. But I was responding to the initial comment suggesting that the overwhelming spread in their community represented a failure of governance on their part in comparison to national governments like Vietnam
• agilebyte 6y ago
  From a news story here in Canada about Navajo - their nation is a "food desert" so people have to keep driving to the cities to buy everything, exposing themselves in the process (can't do Foodora/Uber Eats/Instacart). Lack of PPE seems to be a general problem as well.
• TeaDrunk 6y ago
  Several native nations traded their land for the promise of acceptable healthcare as part of treaties, which has not been held up to standard.[0] Additionally, native nations in fact have tried to set their own lockdown and travel policies. State governments have threatened them for doing so.[1] [0]. "For Native Americans, Health Care Is A Long, Hard Road Away" - https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/13/473848341/health-care-s-hard-realities-on-the-reservation-a-photo-essay https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/04/13/4738483... [1]. "'I’m protecting my people': Tribal citizens defend coronavirus checkpoints amid threat from state" - https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/05/11/im-protecting-my-people-tribal-citizens.asp https://www.indianz.com/News/2020/05/11/im-protecting-my-peo...
  • kgin 6y ago
    I could see that affecting death rate, but not the rate of infection/spreading.
    • TeaDrunk 6y ago
      You don't see how attempts to shut down travel within one's borders being challenged by governments with significant clout affect the rate of infection and spread?
    • protomyth 6y ago
      Think a lot of people in the same house for a large group of it.
• boomboomsubban 6y ago
  Health care on reservations is already generally far below most US standards, and then they aren't receiving much of the federal/state support specifically for this. Reservations basically operate with only the local government. Imagine your town trying to source all the required goods themselves while there's a supply shortage.
  • voyager2 6y ago
    Some tribes (Navajo Nation included) are still receiving direct health care. There's a huge hospital in Gallup, NM, as well as another in Shiprock. Health care is supplied by the federal Indian Health Services (of HHS). In no way should this be construed as "far below" most US Standards. Other tribes have opted out of direct health care preferring to receive Title 638 funds to administer for their health care. These tribes' health care naturally varies with the way the individual tribes administer their programs. The Navajo Nation is larger than the state of West Virginia, so the analogy of town-level government wouldn't seem to apply.
    • boomboomsubban 6y ago
      The Navajo Nation is the largest and most populous tribe by far, but it still wouldn't be one of the 100 most populous cities in America. That said, I've only been on reservations in the Midwest. Other tribes may not face the same terrible conditions.
      • voyager2 6y ago
        We lived on the line of Leech Lake Reservation (near Cass Lake, MN) but except for that and the Crow Reservation, the rest of our reservation experiences were in the southwest. (IHS hospital/clinics) Yes, they're all different; laws, customs, landscape, tribal government, etc; more than most people might imagine.
• astine 6y ago
  The Navajo reservation is one of the least densely populated parts of the country so that's not it. Lack of infrastructure is a bigger issue. Many if not most of these people live close to the poverty line and so don't have many options with regard to quarantine. It's not like they can stock up and stay inside for a month. It's also not like the nation can just isolate from the rest of the country. Much of the nation lives and/or works off of the reservation in nearby towns and cities. Bear in mind that by-and-large, the Navajo are not living a traditional subsistence lifestyle anymore. They simply don't have the land or resources to do that so the reservations are not self-sufficient.
• AndyMcConachie 6y ago
  There's very little reporting that gets out of Indian country. A friend of mine has been in Farmington New Mexico recently and told me about the recent white power marches that have been going on. Farmington is famous for 'disappearing' native peoples. Think modern day lynchings. This is on top of the completely under reported disappearances of native women that continue to occur throughout Canada and the USA. In addition white people have been coming onto native lands for recreation while folks are trying to shelter in place there. The below text, taken from a Facebook posting, accompanied a photo of a native symbol that had been incorporated into a swastika and placed on a flag for a white power march. --BEGIN PASTED TEXT-- Disgusting, but I’m not surprised in the slightest. New Mexico has facilitated the ongoing genocide of Indigenous and other colonized people since its founding and continues this project of elimination and settler colonial violence. This picture was taken at a right-wing protest calling for the state to “reopen” in Farmington NM. Farmington is one of the most notoriously violent bordertowns in NM meaning anti-Indian violence is rampant, and it is carried out by police and settler vigilantes alike. It is the site of some of the most gruesome slayings of Native people like the the chokecherry canyon massacres where 3 white youth tortured and killed 3 Diné men, and never faced any jail time. Farmington is known for its tradition of “Indian rolling” which boils down to beating and killing Native people in the streets for fun. Bordertown violence is a continuation of the frontier violence which dispossession Native people to make way for the establishment of the settler state we know as the US. It’s no coincidence that such a notoriously violent bordertown is also a major hub for the gas and oil industry here in NM, it is statistically proven that the rates of MMIW/P and sex trafficking increase when gas and oil extraction projects take place on and around Native Nations. Farmington is a place (like many other NM bordertowns) that simultaneously depends on Native land, labor, and business to keep its economy alive while still brutalizing and pushing Native people to the margins, out of sight. Settlers have always appropriated the imagery and aesthetics of Indigenous cultures to normalize their presence as “the new Native” rather than the invader, in fact this is the entier premise of settler colonialism. This is also why “appropriation” is about much more than hurt feelings and white girls in headdresses at raves. Here in NM it takes up an especially sinister function, we often see the way traditional Pueblo and Diné aesthetics are juxtaposed against Spanish colonial art and aesthetics in public spaces as a way of reinforcing the tri-cultural myth. The tri-cultural myth being one that reduces the populations of NM to Native, White, and “Hispanic” and proclaims that these groups have always lived in perfect harmony creating a unique cultural blend that is marketable to the wealthy white gaze. Exotic enough to be fetishized but still upholding narratives of European superiority. Ultimately the tri-cultural myth works to revise and pervert history while normalizing the presence of violent settlers like this man who in the spirit of tri-cultural myth superimposed the Zia sun symbol onto the swastika, an infamous fascist symbol of hate and white supremacy. Let us also remember the fact that the Zia sun symbol itself did non become the state flag by any sort of consensual process, but like many symbols that represent NM was violently stolen. The oral history that I’ve been told by my family is that in the early 1900’s an anthropologist named Dr.Mera got ahold of a sacred pot created by the Zia potter Trinidad Medina, my great aunt. This pot was made specifically for use by a society within the Pueblo, not to be seen or used by outsiders. Mera proceeds to enter this pot into the state fair competition for the design of the state flag and it wins. The pot would not be returned to the family for decades, nore would the Pueblo begin to receive royalties for its popular use. If you want to use it you must first consult the Pueblo of Zia. Let’s also not forget the way self-proclaimed descendants of conquistadors in Northern New Mexico go to extremes to naturalize and celebrate European domination and superiority on Pueblo lands and how this identitarian movement is directly linked to the support and glorification of Fascist Spanish leader Francisco Franco who was a Nazi collaborator in WWII. For years the UNM Chicano studies department was run by a Franco supporter from Northern New Mexico who helped systematically breed these narratives which celebrated Spanish conquest and literal fascist ideologies and Indigenous death. These fascists have always been in our presence and this violence has been continuous since European invaders set foot in this hemisphere. It has been visible through the disproportionate poverty amongst Native people, Indian rolling, and theft of land for resources extraction and militarization. The crisis of COVID-19 has simply emboldened these fascists to make their positions known without fear. So what does this mean for those of us who won’t stand to see something so vile become normalized? Well to start I think about the long traditions of resistance that have existed as long as colonialism has. The resistance that gets revised out of history and out of our hearts and minds. I think about not just the Pueblo revolt of 1680 but the revolts that took place before and after, and well into the late 1800’s. The moments where Native people teamed up with the hispaño and Genizaro farmers and drove out the Americans. I think about John Redhouse, a Diné revolutionary who dedicated his life to combating bordertown violence in places like Farmington and Gallup and helped galvanize a movement for Native liberation in these bordertowns. I think about the fearless relatives I’ve met in my life who come from these places and continue to fight for the liberation of their people. The spirit of resistance never died. And it is important now more than ever that we celebrate it and take up these struggles. Last fall, for the first time in decades The Red Nation took the streets with our Farmington relatives who lead us in a march and informative tour of the city. You could feel the empowerment and joy in the air as our Diné and Ute relatives got to reclaim that space that is rightfully theirs. These moments give me hope and remind me that our victory is inevitable.
• sgslo 6y ago
  Anecdotal: My mother-in-law works at a hospital adjacent to a large reservation. They're treating large numbers of natives. She says people from the reservation refuse to practice any social distancing or wear PPE.
• voyager2 6y ago
  Having lived on reservations, Navajo Nation being one of them, I'd opine that the co-morbidities are the main contributing factor. The diabetes rates on the rez are many times that of the US population as are the rates of alcoholism. Also households are very often multi-generational and more crowded than in the US. Yes, they do have their own lockdown policies. On a drive in western NC this past month, we had to turn around as the Qualla Boundary was blocked by tribal police.
  • prpl 6y ago
    I grew up in Farmington, this was my first thought, but also the rate of homelessness off the rez has always been very high (also with the same comorbidities), throw in the drop in oil price over the last 5 years, you have an area with additional economic depression.
• deleted 6y ago
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