In hearing and seeing about sequester cuts from Native American elders on Abby Martin’s “Breaking the Set” (RT-com, Parts 1 &2), I was shocked to find these cuts seem to be an existential threat to the Sioux. They are living now on an underfunded Indian Health Service (IHS) that all Americans, particularly South Dakotans, should know is in serious danger. Thus, education is the alternative to Indian elders to the intense damage done in their communities by alcohol, drugs, overcrowding, high suicide rates and unemployment, and leaving aged grandparents to raise and educate children. Read on . . .
What is most demoralizing, the elders say, about the cuts to federal Native American programs, is that they are going to services that are guaranteed by treaty to Native Americans. As mentioned earlier, federal programs for Native Americans like the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and IHS are already underfunded and will decline even further with sequester. One likely outcome is increased difficulty in retaining quality educators, health care providers, and social service workers. Another more obvious outcome is a decrease in the number of people they can serve—many of whom already live below the poverty level. Recent sequester cuts plus the proposed sequester cuts are affecting education for Native Americans in drastic ways. But, cuts to the BIE aren’t the only negative impact that the overall sequester is having on Indian country.
Along with the BIE, Indian Health Service (IHS) is facing cuts of $220 million or 5% of its federal funding, according to the New York Times. That means 3,000 fewer inpatient admissions and 804,000 fewer outpatient visits provided by IHS hospitals and clinics, the White House reports. Considering the remoteness of the reservations that National Relief Charities serves, this very well could be a disaster in the making.
The New York Times Editorial Board poignantly documented that federal health and safety net programs like Social Security, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to name a few, are protected from sequestration. This is good for everyone assisted by these programs. On the other hand, despite treaty obligations for Indian healthcare that pre-date any of these social programs, the Indian Health Service is not being protected from sequester cuts. This follows a legacy of over 500 broken treaties that have driven this extreme poverty.
What’s more, the Bureau of Indian Education and IHS are not all of the sequester cuts in Indian country either. In a state such as South Dakota, where there are nine federal Indian reservations, 9% of the entire population is Native American, the White House reported this year.
This means that Native Americans would lose approximately $214,000 in funds that provide meals for seniors.
They will lose about $216,000 in funding for job search assistance, referral, and placement, meaning around 8,060 fewer people will get the help and skills they need to find employment.
Native Americans will lose about $250,000 in grants to help prevent and treat substance abuse, resulting in about 1,000 fewer admissions to substance abuse programs, where they are in desperate need.
Losses of up to $16,000 in funds that provide services to victims of domestic violence will result sadly in up to 100 fewer victims being helped.
Similarly, New Mexico has 22 federal Indian reservations and a 10% Native American population. Other states also have high populations of Native Americans coupled with high poverty rates. In states such as these, the sequester cuts will undoubtedly impact individual Native Americans and families.
The goal here is not to paint Native Americans as helpless people totally dependent on federal support for survival. It is to point out that the sequester in Indian country is only one more failure in a legacy of broken treaties by the federal government. Honoring the various treaties made with diverse tribes across this land, for Social Security and Medicaid, federal Native American services should be exempt from sequestration. Ultimately, the Native American people continue to suffer for maintaining their ends of the treaty bargains while the US government has not. The Holocaust continues.
The recent government sequester has everybody talking. What the hell is the sequester? What does it mean? Why did it happen? Who is to blame? Well, those are such loaded questions that for the purpose of discussing what the sequester will mean for Native Americans, let’s just consider it being part of their education in Washington’s wayward ways.
As some of you may know, but many of you may not, the federal government is legally responsible, through treaty obligations, for providing a quality education for Native Americans living on reservations around the country. But, when the Bureau of Indian Education is impacted by the drastic budget cuts, this will be a fatal blow that will force some BIE schools to close. This will be extremely detrimental to the tribal members living on any reservation affected, and it could also pose a legal minefield of sorts for the United States government, which is bound by specific treaties with some tribes and also with the creation and mission of the BIE to provide members of federally recognized tribes with a quality education, not to mention life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Moreover, many Native American tribes struggle with desperate poverty. It exists on reservations at a much higher rate than anywhere else in the U.S. In fact, it has been stated that “while 70 percent of adults (age 25 or older) with incomes below poverty threshold have at least a high school diploma or equivalent; adults without a high school diploma are much more likely than other adults to experience income poverty.” This is particularly significant because the reservations are where Native Americans work. Today the rate of high school dropout ranges tragically from 30% to 70%. That should be appalling to any American who sees it. It paints a bleak picture for the future as the sequester impacts reservations around the country.
By reducing funding for, or eliminating the facilities for, the quality education promised to them by the United States, the tribes are the ones who suffer. And, as the tribes experience poverty at much higher rates, this is like adding gasoline to an already burning fire.
With the BIE system already experiencing struggles from lack of funding, this sequester will exacerbate problems that already exist for many tribes. Things like school buildings falling into ruins. Inadequate funding for hiring teachers here are just the tip of the iceberg. The BIE needs to continue to receive funding from the federal government to ensure educational opportunities for tribal members. The sequester is indeed impacting many programs and ethnic groups around the country, but to strip financial resources from a segment of the population that not only depends on this funding, but has been promised the very things the funding was intended for is shockingly unfair.
We pride ourselves on being a fair people, an exceptional people, but we act towards Native Americans as an ongoing enemies, stifling their lives.
When you really examine the sequester cuts, it becomes clear that it is a wretched thing . . . for so many programs and the people they serve. I am biting my tongue, but I know the effects of thissequester will ripple through the lives of many Americans and Native American–far away from those in Washington that allowed this to happen. And for the child attending school on the reservation, and his little brother or sister in Head Start . . . well, it will just be awful, un-American. But where is the moral outrage of activists, aside from Abbie Martin? Has it been put out like a fire?
When I think about the $2 million cut “affecting 6,700 students who live on Indian lands,” or the 33% of American Indian students living in poverty “as compared to only 12% of their white peers,” or “Indian Head Start taking a nearly $12 million cut” when early childhood education is so important, or the $1 million cut to the Window Rock Unified School District, or the major cuts to post-secondary education facing Sitting Bull College (Northern Cheyenne), Fort Peck Community College (Assiniboine Sioux), and Little Big Horn College (Crow Agency) . . . well, it’s painful just to think about it. More so, for a man from a big city where education and opportunity have been stifled as well, but fortunately nothing like this.
I hope you will take the time to become informed about the sequester by state and its impact on education and healthcare, and to contact your senator as a concerned citizen. Everyone in this country has a stake in whether children, especially Native American children who have so little, get a quality education and manage to grow to be self-sufficient, healthy, substance-free, productive adults. And let us be faithful to our treaties with our Native American brothers and sisters. Remember, give and ye shall receive. Forget and all is lost.
Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer and life-long resident of New York City. An EBook version of his book of poems “State Of Shock,” on 9/11 and its after effects is now available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com.He has also written hundreds of articles on politics and government as Associate Editor of Intrepid Report (formerly Online Journal). Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.
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Sequestration means deadly cuts to Native American Treaty Programs
Posted on January 13, 2014 by Jerry Mazza
In hearing and seeing about sequester cuts from Native American elders on Abby Martin’s “Breaking the Set” (RT-com, Parts 1 &2), I was shocked to find these cuts seem to be an existential threat to the Sioux. They are living now on an underfunded Indian Health Service (IHS) that all Americans, particularly South Dakotans, should know is in serious danger. Thus, education is the alternative to Indian elders to the intense damage done in their communities by alcohol, drugs, overcrowding, high suicide rates and unemployment, and leaving aged grandparents to raise and educate children. Read on . . .
What is most demoralizing, the elders say, about the cuts to federal Native American programs, is that they are going to services that are guaranteed by treaty to Native Americans. As mentioned earlier, federal programs for Native Americans like the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) and IHS are already underfunded and will decline even further with sequester. One likely outcome is increased difficulty in retaining quality educators, health care providers, and social service workers. Another more obvious outcome is a decrease in the number of people they can serve—many of whom already live below the poverty level. Recent sequester cuts plus the proposed sequester cuts are affecting education for Native Americans in drastic ways. But, cuts to the BIE aren’t the only negative impact that the overall sequester is having on Indian country.
Along with the BIE, Indian Health Service (IHS) is facing cuts of $220 million or 5% of its federal funding, according to the New York Times. That means 3,000 fewer inpatient admissions and 804,000 fewer outpatient visits provided by IHS hospitals and clinics, the White House reports. Considering the remoteness of the reservations that National Relief Charities serves, this very well could be a disaster in the making.
The New York Times Editorial Board poignantly documented that federal health and safety net programs like Social Security, Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to name a few, are protected from sequestration. This is good for everyone assisted by these programs. On the other hand, despite treaty obligations for Indian healthcare that pre-date any of these social programs, the Indian Health Service is not being protected from sequester cuts. This follows a legacy of over 500 broken treaties that have driven this extreme poverty.
What’s more, the Bureau of Indian Education and IHS are not all of the sequester cuts in Indian country either. In a state such as South Dakota, where there are nine federal Indian reservations, 9% of the entire population is Native American, the White House reported this year.
This means that Native Americans would lose approximately $214,000 in funds that provide meals for seniors.
They will lose about $216,000 in funding for job search assistance, referral, and placement, meaning around 8,060 fewer people will get the help and skills they need to find employment.
Native Americans will lose about $250,000 in grants to help prevent and treat substance abuse, resulting in about 1,000 fewer admissions to substance abuse programs, where they are in desperate need.
Losses of up to $16,000 in funds that provide services to victims of domestic violence will result sadly in up to 100 fewer victims being helped.
Similarly, New Mexico has 22 federal Indian reservations and a 10% Native American population. Other states also have high populations of Native Americans coupled with high poverty rates. In states such as these, the sequester cuts will undoubtedly impact individual Native Americans and families.
The goal here is not to paint Native Americans as helpless people totally dependent on federal support for survival. It is to point out that the sequester in Indian country is only one more failure in a legacy of broken treaties by the federal government. Honoring the various treaties made with diverse tribes across this land, for Social Security and Medicaid, federal Native American services should be exempt from sequestration. Ultimately, the Native American people continue to suffer for maintaining their ends of the treaty bargains while the US government has not. The Holocaust continues.
The recent government sequester has everybody talking. What the hell is the sequester? What does it mean? Why did it happen? Who is to blame? Well, those are such loaded questions that for the purpose of discussing what the sequester will mean for Native Americans, let’s just consider it being part of their education in Washington’s wayward ways.
As some of you may know, but many of you may not, the federal government is legally responsible, through treaty obligations, for providing a quality education for Native Americans living on reservations around the country. But, when the Bureau of Indian Education is impacted by the drastic budget cuts, this will be a fatal blow that will force some BIE schools to close. This will be extremely detrimental to the tribal members living on any reservation affected, and it could also pose a legal minefield of sorts for the United States government, which is bound by specific treaties with some tribes and also with the creation and mission of the BIE to provide members of federally recognized tribes with a quality education, not to mention life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Moreover, many Native American tribes struggle with desperate poverty. It exists on reservations at a much higher rate than anywhere else in the U.S. In fact, it has been stated that “while 70 percent of adults (age 25 or older) with incomes below poverty threshold have at least a high school diploma or equivalent; adults without a high school diploma are much more likely than other adults to experience income poverty.” This is particularly significant because the reservations are where Native Americans work. Today the rate of high school dropout ranges tragically from 30% to 70%. That should be appalling to any American who sees it. It paints a bleak picture for the future as the sequester impacts reservations around the country.
By reducing funding for, or eliminating the facilities for, the quality education promised to them by the United States, the tribes are the ones who suffer. And, as the tribes experience poverty at much higher rates, this is like adding gasoline to an already burning fire.
With the BIE system already experiencing struggles from lack of funding, this sequester will exacerbate problems that already exist for many tribes. Things like school buildings falling into ruins. Inadequate funding for hiring teachers here are just the tip of the iceberg. The BIE needs to continue to receive funding from the federal government to ensure educational opportunities for tribal members. The sequester is indeed impacting many programs and ethnic groups around the country, but to strip financial resources from a segment of the population that not only depends on this funding, but has been promised the very things the funding was intended for is shockingly unfair.
We pride ourselves on being a fair people, an exceptional people, but we act towards Native Americans as an ongoing enemies, stifling their lives.
When you really examine the sequester cuts, it becomes clear that it is a wretched thing . . . for so many programs and the people they serve. I am biting my tongue, but I know the effects of this sequester will ripple through the lives of many Americans and Native American–far away from those in Washington that allowed this to happen. And for the child attending school on the reservation, and his little brother or sister in Head Start . . . well, it will just be awful, un-American. But where is the moral outrage of activists, aside from Abbie Martin? Has it been put out like a fire?
When I think about the $2 million cut “affecting 6,700 students who live on Indian lands,” or the 33% of American Indian students living in poverty “as compared to only 12% of their white peers,” or “Indian Head Start taking a nearly $12 million cut” when early childhood education is so important, or the $1 million cut to the Window Rock Unified School District, or the major cuts to post-secondary education facing Sitting Bull College (Northern Cheyenne), Fort Peck Community College (Assiniboine Sioux), and Little Big Horn College (Crow Agency) . . . well, it’s painful just to think about it. More so, for a man from a big city where education and opportunity have been stifled as well, but fortunately nothing like this.
I hope you will take the time to become informed about the sequester by state and its impact on education and healthcare, and to contact your senator as a concerned citizen. Everyone in this country has a stake in whether children, especially Native American children who have so little, get a quality education and manage to grow to be self-sufficient, healthy, substance-free, productive adults. And let us be faithful to our treaties with our Native American brothers and sisters. Remember, give and ye shall receive. Forget and all is lost.
Jerry Mazza is a freelance writer and life-long resident of New York City. An EBook version of his book of poems “State Of Shock,” on 9/11 and its after effects is now available at Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com. He has also written hundreds of articles on politics and government as Associate Editor of Intrepid Report (formerly Online Journal). Reach him at gvmaz@verizon.net.