House advances bill aimed at protecting conservative views on sex, marriage

[jwirr]

20. That is very different from what my families reservation is

like. Oh, we have many of the same statistics. But we do not have state sponsored services which is why we do not have to pay state income taxes unless we live off the rez. We have our own social services departments, our own police force, our own housing program, our own health clinics, and many other federal government programs. It is one of the reasons our tribal leaders and the feds do not get along so well - the tribe is trying run its own programs with the money from the feds. And the feds are trying to keep hands off so that they can.

I once had a complaint which I took to my elected representative - his answer was that I needed to take it up with the tribal leaders because they do not like to be told what to do. I immediately got the point.

I have been to the Pine Ridge rez and know that they are very poor but they are extremely isolated and there are not many ways to bring jobs out there - do they have a casino and a community close enough to bring in players?

One of the things that happened on our rez before it got better was that years ago the tribal leaders did not take advantage of federal programs - housing had up to 4 generations living in one 3 bedroom house. Not good. Today they have a big housing program that not only provides housing for most of the people but also hires tribal members to do regular maintenance. That was not done by the state or the feds (except for the money) but by the tribe themselves. And on our rez that is the way we want it.