There is scene in "Rancho Deluxe" where Sam Waterston, playing an Indian cattle rustler, is talking to his father. His father remarks on his son, Waterston, having a pickup truck. The old man said things started going downhill for Indians when they started acquiring pickup trucks.
@goatprairie Well,it really started going downhill for them when they accepted being "Reservation Indians" as an acceptable way of life.
True,many/most of the originals had no other real options. It was either go to the reservation or get killed,but that doesn't mean they shouldn't have had enough pride left over to start providing for themselves. "Adapt or die" is a choice EVERY group of peoples have faced. Unfortunately,too many Indians have accepted being pets because it's easier to lay on your drunken/drugged ass and whine about the white man than it is to go out into the world and carve out a path for you and your family.
The federal governments efforts in this process has also got to be pointed out. There were people making a career out of baby-sitting the Reservation Indians,and they didn't want to lose their jobs or their retirement benefits,so they made zero efforts to try to teach their wards how to adapt to the modern world and be successful. Easier to sign them up for welfare,food stamps,and drug and alcohol counseling.
I wonder if any of this sounds familiar to the "peepulls stil libb-n id de hood"?
The government has a vested interest in keeping these people ignorant and helpless via lowered expectations,no successful legitimate role models,and the acceptance of that "racism is at the root of all their problems."
The truth is the welfare state and the piss-poor leadership and outright betrayal of their "rev-rund class" are responsible for most of it. When you expect nothing out of people,that is usually what you get.
