At the present time, however, we must set aside history in an effort to examine the problems of today. It is jobs through economic development on the reservation that will provide the solution to the poverty that is constantly endured. An individual without a job clearly cannot provide adequate food, clothing, health, or housing for themselves.

The people of the reservations live in a state of poverty. There are approximately 1,959,000 Indians divided among 500 government recognized tribes in the United States. Of these, roughly 637,000 are residents on the reservation (Hodgkinson, pg 2). I have traveled across the reservations of the Southwest as well as those of the Great Plains. The situation is very similar on all reservations. The houses are of the quality one would find in the poorest parts of any city and many times worse. The hillsides are speckled with the brown adobe dwellings or the wooden clapboard homes of broken white. The cloths are hung across a line to dry and there are various piles of discarded junk littering the landscape. Most of the streets are an unpaved, dusty brown. Of course, this is not the situation on all reservations by any means, but most incur economic poverty that is a result of unemployment. Such pueblos as the Taos Pueblo in New Mexico, through an ambitious effort, has been restored to its days of grandeur. But even in pueblos like Taos fears exist that something will pollute the stream that provides all the water to the pueblo.

Of all the reservation in the United States, one third of all Native Americans live below the poverty line. Unemployment stands at approximately 50% (Brown, 384), twice that of the Great Depression. There have been proposals made by the U.S Department of Energy for reservations to accept the nuclear waste, that the rest of America does not what, in return for several millions in financial aid. Many reservations have accepted the proposal while others are still reviewing the government's plans. Though nuclear waste poses a great environmental as well as human health threat, tribes are in great need of the jobs, housing, and clinics that the money from accepting the waste would provide.

However, many tribes feel that protecting the land is their first responsibility. The Oglala Sioux of the Pine Ridge reservation, one of the poorest in the nation with unemployment at 80% and the annual per capita income at $2,000 (Satchell, 25), rejected the proposal in favor of the land. The deal would have produced an estimated $30 million in aid for the Oglala, yet the environment was the highest priority. Though nuclear waste can obviously be quite dangerous many tribes feel that economic development is worth the risk.

Though poverty still lingers on the reservations, there are advances being made in the Indian community. Health in respect to infant mortality is much improved. In 1955 out of 1000 infants born 60 died. By 1985 that number had fallen to 10 per 1000 (Hodgkinson, 3). However, alcohol is still a leading health risk with alcohol associated death among Indians at three times the general population (Hodgkinson, 3). In the area of education there have also been advances. In 1976, 2,662 Native Americans took the SAT. By 1989, 18,000 Indians took the exam. In 1990 103,000 Natives Americans enrolled in either two year or four year colleges (Hodgkinson, 4). The elementary and secondary schools are now based nearer to the reservations and tribal views are important in the way the school is run. Still most schools fall behind in the areas of math and science.