LB, The original reservation system was a travesty as far as caring for the Indians is concerned. It would take a long time to list all of the misdeeds by the Indian agents of the time, but from the places I have been, things have changed a great deal. There are 22 tribes in Oklahoma, and they can go anywhere, anytime, they want. In Tahlequah, the headquarters of the Cherokee Nation, they own many of the business in that county, and the same is true in other areas. The Cherokee still in NC, and TN, own an entire town, and what is called a reservation has completely open borders. The same is true of the Navaho, Zuni, Hopi, Apache, Ute, Piute, and Shoshone. I have not yet been up into the Lakota, Northern Arapaho, Cheyenne, Crow, Blackfoot, Nez Perce, and other tribes in the Pacific North West, not any of them in the North East. Although I am a little bit Mohawk, and Seneca, I have never been in the areas where they now live most of the time. Many of them live in NYC, and work the high steel, but the other tribes of the Iriquois Federation are scattered to the west, and in southern parts of Canada.
They are coming back. Several of the larger tribes have chiefs that have law degrees, and know how to play the white man's game. |
