'We know how to survive,' but U.S. shutdown cut deep for Native Americans

U.S.JANUARY 29, 2019 / 6:13 AM / UPDATED 6 HOURS AGO

Stephanie Keith, Andrew Hay

EAGLE BUTTE, S.D./TAOS, N.M. (Reuters) - The Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma used a GoFundMe page and its own money to feed its many members who were furloughed or worked without pay during the U.S. government shutdown.

On their reservation in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, the Cheyenne used third-party funds and dipped into tribal funds to provide food assistance.

The 35-day partial government shutdown affected 800,000 federal workers, but Native Americans were especially vulnerable because they rely mostly on federal contracts for services and jobs in the Bureau of Indian affairs for incomes.

Ivan Looking Horse, a spiritual leader at the Cheyenne Sioux reservation in Eagle Butte, South Dakota, said they had prepared for an even longer shutdown in the midst of a harsh South Dakota winter along the Cheyenne River by stockpiling food and fuel.

“We are the First Nations’ people. We know how to survive,” he said after President Donald Trump announced an end to the 35-day partial government shutdown.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-shutdown-nativeamericans/we-know-how-to-survive-but-u-s-shutdown-cut-deep-for-native-americans-idUSKCN1PN18G

-snip-

The latest stoppage, the 10th with furloughs since 1976, has further eroded Native American confidence in the federal government, tribal leaders say.

At the Pawnee Nation in Oklahoma, the GoFundMe drive was launched to provide baskets of groceries to federal workers, even those who were not tribe members, struggling to put food on the table, said Jim Gray, executive director of the nation. In 16 days - the drive is no longer accepting donations - it raised $6,343, out of a goal of $10,000.

“We had to give up 99 percent of our land to hang onto this 1 percent and then in turn they were supposed to provide these kinds of services as part of that treaty agreement,” Gray said.


Take Note: of that picture. of that young human being standing outside a home that has plastic around it to keep the wind from entering the home, (can you picture yourself living in that kind of condition) and also take note that the Native people on these reservations made a GoFundME page to help out with the furloughed people so that they could eat, while at the same time the government of this country is abusing the Natives and abusing the treaties that this country signed with the Natives.
This says exactly what it is suppose to mean........................if you cannot honor your treaties for the land we gave up so that we could be recognized....... then you have no business with our land .....................give it back ...................