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ored to look inside the lives of these
first Americans, little understood by
the United States and the rest of the
world.
Money is a luxury here. In the
words of a white trading post oper–
ator: "l t's the kids 1 feel sorry for.
No shoes, seats of their pants worn
out. They come in with a five-dollar
bill just to buy candy. Money is a
luxury to the Navajo, which he has
not learned to manage efficiently."
1 found friendliness, openness,
kindness in many. 1 encountered
suspicion, resentment, hostility and
scorn by others.
As l pondered, I began to realize
that life on an Indian reservation is
similar to life among many other
peoples of the world.
WorldMan
Anyone driving through a mod–
era American Indian reservation
will immediately be struck by the
substandard living conditions. But
few of these same observers under–
stand what they see.
The life-style appears very foreign
to alfluent suburbanites out for a
three-week vacation in their conve–
nient, modern campees. Since their
time is limited, they hurriedly rush
through, viewing the quaint people
with strange-looking costumes and
odd habits. These vacationers get a
glimpse which piques their curiosity,
but little else. Few of these alfluent
travelers stop to consider that these
"foreign" appearing people are
more nearly representative of
"world man" than affi.uent white
suburbanites. In fact, one need only
consider a few comparisons to real–
ize that the American ludian living
on a reservation (sorne two hundred
thousand lndians live in major cities
NAVAJO HORSE SALE -
Horses run
wild, overpopulate the land base ond
compete with voluable sheep and cottle
for scanty forage on the Navajo lndion
reservotion. Here the Floyd Clark Com–
pany of Humble, Arizona, buys excess
horses from the lndions ond resells
them in morkets off the reservation.
PLAIN TRUTH Februory 1973
as well) more nearly represents the
"average" world citizen than does
any affi.uent suburbanite - what–
ever his ethnic origins.
Look at a few sobering com–
parisons. This Navajo Indian reser–
vation is the largest and most
populous of the 300 Indian reserva–
tions in tbe United States. (Canada
has sorne 50 reservations, as well.)
Yearly income per person here is
under $900, while the national in–
come average per person in the
United States is $3,900, an obvious
disparity of over four to one.
Unemployment is 65 percent on the
Navajo reservation and as high as
90 percent on others. Overall, In–
dian unemployment is ten times the
national average. The Navajo aver–
ages only 5 years of formal educa–
tion, whereas the U. S. average is 12
years.
Only 8.4 percent of all Navajo
bornes have inside plumbing, coro–
pared with an 81.8 percent national
average. lndians comprise the only
ethnic group in America which sub–
sists in a predominately rural so–
ciety. Theirs is al! too often little
more than a rural ghetto.
Sheepherding and cattle raising
are two of the Navajos' main means
of support. The average yearly Na–
vajo farro output is $2,360.
What emerges from these statis–
tics is a picture similar to subsis–
tence societies throughout the
world. Though the specific crops
or building materials or languages
may differ (American Indians them–
selves speak sorne 300 ditferent lan–
guages), the standard of living is
more nearly that of a Chinese peas–
ant or an African Bushman or an
Australian Aborigine, than an af–
fluent Anglo-American or white Eu–
ropean.
Navajo attitudes also reflect
something of "world man." They
view themselves no ditferently than
do other primitive societies. They
call themselves in the Navajo
tongue
Dinéh,
which means "the
People." Other societies also have
names which picture their tribe as
the "center" of the world and all
others as "strangers" and "foreign–
ers."
Caught Between Two Worlds
One huge ditference remains be–
tween American Indians and most
non-Westernized societies. The In–
dian is caught between two worlds.
He lives in a land of poverty, amidst
plenty. He lives as a "nation within
· a nation" where, just across the
street, he sees a rich, glittering world
outside his grasp.
He is a victim of "culture shock"
over which he has little control. On
the one hand, he clings to his an–
cient tribal customs and sometimes
to his ancestral religion. On the
otber hand, he must learn the white
man's ways in order to compete. But
lacking the skills and education of
the whites, he finds hirnself far be–
hind. A shock wave of listless,
apathetic and doubtful feelings
comes on. He wonders, "Who am 1?
Where am 1 going? Is there a pur–
pose to life, after all? Is there any
hope?"
Psychologica l disorientation
leaves him groping for escape mech–
anisms. Resentment and futility set
in. He begins to drift further and
further away from the norms of be–
havior. For many, psychological dis–
orientation is simply too much.
Thousands turn to alcohol, drugs, il–
licit sex and even suicide.
On one western reservation, 44
percent of the males and 21 percent
of the females were arrested during
one recen! year for drunkenness.
Suicide for Indians is above the na–
tional average. Promiscuity is in–
creasing, evidenced in a gonorrhea
occurrence five times the national
average. The overall birth rate
among American Indians is almost
twice the national average.
Thus poverty, futility and lack of
education and goals breed more of
the same. Even so, these social prob–
lems are only the symptoms of
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