About the Indian reservations

Hi everyone !  I'm back.

In today's post I will become another person in a kind of role play. I want to talk about the Indian reservations (areas set up by the US government for the Indians).

There, the situation is really bad : people are poor, there's no job, no doctors ...

Houses on an Indian rez

If I were an Indian spokesperson, I would write a speech to Barack Obama to change this situation. OK, you have to imagine me as an Indian (that's my role). 

Here is the speech I wrote :

"Mr President,

As a Native American spokesperson, I invite you today to become aware of the Indian situation on the different reservations.

I ask you first, never to forget that an Indian is an American like everyone. Have a look at the awful poverty which affects my fellows. We just want to live a decent life with the bare minimum so that we can finally be happy.

Many problems exists so I would like to start with the lack of running water in the houses. Indeed, we don't have running water at home at all. Incredible, isn't it, when you're a citizen of the world's leading economic power ! To give you an example, all these people can't take a shower, go to the toilets cleanly or really simply wash their hands and have a drink. You can imagine that they live in complete unhealthiness.

And, I won't teach you anything if I say that unhealthiness creates diseases. It would be nice to have a lot of doctors, so that they can heal the population. But, in my reservation there are only two doctors for eight thousands people ! So, when you're sick, and even if it's an emergency, you have to wait for a minimum of three months. And the most often, you die. While your family is crying at the cemetry, an other member of the family becomes sick. It never ends and it continues endlessly, worse and worse, always worse.

For example, when our child has been sick for three months, and when the doctor says : "It's forty dollars please", I really don't know how we can pay. To pay the doctor, you have to earn money, therefore you need to work. But the problem is the Indians are jobless.

Moreover, these poor families which can't eat enough have to go to Iraq or Afghanistan to fight. Most of time they never come back and die for their country. "THEIR" country ? Is that a joke ? This type of joke doesn't make me laugh. THEIR country, the United States of America, not only let them die in illness or hunger, but also push them to risk their neck, to die for this same country. What an unfair situation... Which century are we living in ? Perhaps four hundred years ago ?

Mr Obama... We, Indians, have suffered enough. Now, it's time to change.

To kill  poverty and unemployement, all the Native Americans expect you to release funds to build decent housing, with of course running water and all that everyone needs to live properly. 

We expect you to :  

• release funds for favouring doctors to work by us 

• release funds to build schools and universities 

• release funds to favor the creation of companies 

• release funds for new roads and public transport 

• favor economic and educational exchanges between us and the rest of the country, and to integrate us in US life

In conclusion, Mr President, we just want you to regard each Native American as full citizen."

This situation makes me think about a quote :

"Don't feel sorry for yourself, life is always worse somewhere else."

See you soon !

Picture source : wordpress.com