Tribal Governments, Sovereignty, and Relations with the U.S. Government (Sade Kelly)

This chapter was difficult to understand, but after speaking with Professor Dass my knowledge of Native Americans and the truth behind the stereotypes and the myths came to light. Growing up in north Minneapolis and going to public schools there weren't very many Native Americans that I had the chance to interact with. There is quite a large community of Native Americans in south Minneapolis, but I'd only passed it by on the bus or in the car. Because of the little interaction I had with the culture and the lack of information I was taught in school I knew nothing about Native American geovernment and how there tribes worked. I was ignorant, I thought Natives had it all I thought a large number of Native Americans and there tribes received money from the U.S. government and form casinos and did nothing productive with it. I was wrong and now looking back I feel disgusted with myself and with my ignorance. Considering I didn't learn much about Native Americans in school I went off of what I heard from other ignorant people. I think a class like the one we all are in now should be mandatory in all high schools across the U.S, especially in states that have Indian reservations.
After speaking with Professor Dass I learned that yes some money from the profits of casinos is distributed throughout the tribe. But BEFORE that happens the money is distributed to the things that the government or the BIA doesn't leave enough money for, like the schools, the garbage and sewage system, the hospitals, the court system and community centers. The community center in a Native community I knew of in south Minneapolis is funded by these casinos, and also the Native American alternative high school down the street from my house is funded by these casinos. Most people dont know this because of the lack of knowledge in our society.
The BIA is funded by Native American land trust, the trust holds the money from the profit of land being sold that was owned by Native Americans. The BIA is the only ones who can distribute the money from the trust used for housing, health care and education. But of course the Native Americans always get the short end of the stick, because eighty percent of this money held in the trust goes to the administration of the BIA and twenty percent goes to the actual needs of the Indian reservations. When I found this out I was baffled!!! The Native Americans land is sold and only TWENTY PERCENT actually goes to there health care, housing and education, and if they don't have private funding like casinos there is no other way for the reservations to receive extra funding. That's outrageous, that's not enough it should be one hundred percent, because it there land that was sold in the first place. Health care, education and housing are extremely important, and its truly sad that these things aren't properly funded on Indian reservations. These things aren't properly funded because after all these years the Native Americans still aren't receiveing righful justice.