Who knew it, I am a NATIVE AMERICAN

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

I usually agree with most of your post on this forum Mummsie, but this time you bit off more than you can chew. It's the native culture...the culture they choose to live by...the culture they shove down thier kids throats that's screwing them.

Free training for any trade...that's what they receive. It's a h*ll of a lot more than I got. Drugs, booze...who isn't exposed to that kind of stuff these days? You think it's an Indian/Eskimo only problem? It's called "freedom of to choose". You can choose to be a loser, or you can choose to take advantage of the free schooling the government offers and do something with their life. That's a h*ll of a lot more than most get. I didn't get free schooling...I had to pay for mine up until I joined the apprenticeship.

Blame that native culture for holding them back, not the white man. It's the 21st century and it's time they learned to join it instead of fighting it.

You want a list of free government handouts the natives up here get? I can fill a couple of post on here with that list.

What culture? The White Man took away their livelihoods, their dreams, stripped them of their culture and of hope. The native kids learn what? They are exposed to garbage at a young age and see nothing that makes think that there is a world of opportunity outside. They live in sh*tholes where they have no concept of what the rest of us take for granted: go to school, maybe college and get a job. Choice requires volition, if you don't know, how can you choose. I'm sorry that your upbringing was #######, honestly, I grew up in a Middle-Class household, I didn't have to but I've been busting my azz working since I was a kid. I'd love to see the list of freebies and the quality of those services that Natives receive.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

What culture? The White Man took away their livelihoods, their dreams, stripped them of their culture and of hope. The native kids learn what? They are exposed to garbage at a young age and see nothing that makes think that there is a world of opportunity outside. They live in sh*tholes where they have no concept of what the rest of us take for granted: go to school, maybe college and get a job. Choice requires volition, if you don't know, how can you choose. I'm sorry that your upbringing was #######, honestly, I grew up in a Middle-Class household, I didn't have to but I've been busting my azz working since I was a kid. I'd love to see the list of freebies and the quality of those services that Natives receive.

Save the spiel for someone who doesn't have a clue. I was raised in between two reservations (Muckleshoot and Puyallup) and I currently live in a town/village of pop. 2,200 where over 85% of the population is Eskimo. My wife works for a Alaska native hospital funded by the BIA where she constantly flies out to remote Eskimo villages to help provide free dental care.

Now you can keep beating this drum all you want but facts are facts. It's the year 2012 and all native Americans are entitled to free schooling. Whether they choose to take advantage of the free education is their choice. They get loads of US tax payer dollars to tell them this over and over and over yet a lot of them choose to do nothing other than subsistence hunt/fish and take advantage of the government handouts...well not the free education, but the other freebies.

btw they do have satellite TV so they know it's a big world out there and what it offers. Again it's the year 2012...the age of internet, smart phones, and satellite TV...and the natives up here have all three of those.

[sandinista! 1,816]

By "free schooling" are you talking about the same free K-12 public education as the rest of the US? Or higher education?

[sandinista! 1,816]

I think it's cool your wife does that. I can't see how anyone would want to stay up there and work under the conditions she does, if they didn't believe in the importance and goodness of what they were doing. There are a lot easier and hassle free ways to earn a paycheck anyways.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

By "free schooling" are you talking about the same free K-12 public education as the rest of the US? Or higher education?

Free college up to a bachelors degree, or free trade school. They have a choice of either.

I think it's cool your wife does that. I can't see how anyone would want to stay up there and work under the conditions she does, if they didn't believe in the importance and goodness of what they were doing. There are a lot easier and hassle free ways to earn a paycheck anyways.

This place is a sh*thole and we both know it but she can't pass up the free schooling offered to her here. She's a dental assistant atm and is on her way to becoming a dental hygienist. If it weren't for that we would be back in civilization in a heartbeat. My fault she's here in the first place. When BP and Conoco Phillips had the big layoffs up on the Slope a few years back when the economy tanked (thank Bush for that one), I got a contract here to head up the city maintenance dept. She came here after her embassy interview, got a job as a dental assistant trainee and never looked back since then. She hates the flying in the small crappy planes to small crappy villages, and she hates this place as much as I do. The cost of living here for us is off the hook. Fuel oil is close to $7 a gallon as is the price of gas, a gallon of milk here goes for $10, and a loaf of bread goes for a min. of $5. We have a year left and we are out of here.

[sandinista! 1,816]

Most people would still just pass on even going near all that trouble, and find another easier way to get that schooling though. I think it's really commendable what she's doing.

I think you're broadly overstating universal Native educational opportunities and funding though.

[IR5FORMUMSIE 850]

Save the spiel for someone who doesn't have a clue. I was raised in between two reservations (Muckleshoot and Puyallup) and I currently live in a town/village of pop. 2,200 where over 85% of the population is Eskimo. My wife works for a Alaska native hospital funded by the BIA where she constantly flies out to remote Eskimo villages to help provide free dental care.

Now you can keep beating this drum all you want but facts are facts. It's the year 2012 and all native Americans are entitled to free schooling. Whether they choose to take advantage of the free education is their choice. They get loads of US tax payer dollars to tell them this over and over and over yet a lot of them choose to do nothing other than subsistence hunt/fish and take advantage of the government handouts...well not the free education, but the other freebies.

btw they do have satellite TV so they know it's a big world out there and what it offers. Again it's the year 2012...the age of internet, smart phones, and satellite TV...and the natives up here have all three of those.

Let's talk turkey. Are there abuses, sure. Do people take advantage of the system? Of course, but it is wrong to scrap the whole system because of a few issues. Do I get pizzed, more than you can imagine. You deserve credit for busting your azz to be a better person, you earned that, Skip and no one can ever take that away from you. GOD bless you and your wife and you for making that sacrifice, in Alaska. Had I been around, I might have been able to get you into some program that might have made things easier growing up but perhaps that might be an opportunity for you. Much of what you say has merit but it is misguided, linking performance with some form of work or school program and getting this mentality into the First People through better, more productive programs might be better way. Throwing money at the problem is not the answer.

[rika60607 215]

I'll take the challenge -

please find me (in Maryland)

- housing assistance

- medical freebies

- interest free loans (not business)

- free or subsidized childcare

- oh heck, find me anything free for Native Indians in Maryland which can be actually useful!

You want a list of free government handouts the natives up here get? I can fill a couple of post on here with that list.

I find it interesting that you want to cancel all the "freebies" for Native Indians, yet you are proudly using whatever freebies are available to you and yours. If the world was full of yous, it'd be a jealousy fest

[Pooky 3,782]

Throwing money at the problem is not the answer.

But that's all the Federal Government (of both shades) seems to be able to do. It gives them a warm glow from being seen to do something and lets them shuffle the issue off to the margins to be forgotten while the electorate is hooked on the latest outbreak of righteous or progressive indignation (which seem to occur almost daily just now)

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Most people would still just pass on even going near all that trouble, and find another easier way to get that schooling though. I think it's really commendable what she's doing.

I think you're broadly overstating universal Native educational opportunities and funding though.

We did the math and it would be $35,000+ out of our pockets if she was to do this schooling in Anchorage and that would also mean no on the job training. She's getting paid well on top of the schooling. That's the only thing that keeps us here atm. No student loans, no money out of our pocket.

Let's talk turkey. Are there abuses, sure. Do people take advantage of the system? Of course, but it is wrong to scrap the whole system because of a few issues. Do I get pizzed, more than you can imagine. You deserve credit for busting your azz to be a better person, you earned that, Skip and no one can ever take that away from you. GOD bless you and your wife and you for making that sacrifice, in Alaska. Had I been around, I might have been able to get you into some program that might have made things easier growing up but perhaps that might be an opportunity for you. Much of what you say has merit but it is misguided, linking performance with some form of work or school program and getting this mentality into the First People through better, more productive programs might be better way. Throwing money at the problem is not the answer.

Agreed throwing money at the problem isn't the answer, and not all natives up here end up doing nothing with the opportunities that are offered them. There are a few here that take advantage of the free higher education and go on to be successful professionals, skilled trades people, etc... Some never go back to their villages, and some take their education back to their villages and expand on it there with teaching jobs, maintenance jobs, etc....

I'll take the challenge -

please find me (in Maryland)

- housing assistance

- medical freebies

- interest free loans (not business)

- free or subsidized childcare

- oh heck, find me anything free for Native Indians in Maryland which can be actually useful!

I find it interesting that you want to cancel all the "freebies" for Native Indians, yet you are proudly using whatever freebies are available to you and yours. If the world was full of yous, it'd be a jealousy fest

http://www.bia.gov/WhereIsMy/index.htm <----- Start here

But that's all the Federal Government (of both shades) seems to be able to do. It gives them a warm glow from being seen to do something and lets them shuffle the issue off to the margins to be forgotten while the electorate is hooked on the latest outbreak of righteous or progressive indignation (which seem to occur almost daily just now)

Agreed.

Also I would like to point out that the natives here in Alaska are in a different situation then the natives in the lower 48. The ones up here got smart along with good lawyers and instead of having Native Reservations, they have "Alaska Native Corporations". They saw Alaska had oil, trees, gold, other natural resources and they know the value of money. They had the advantage of getting into the game late and saw how the natives in the lower 48 got hosed. They wanted their piece of the pie and they got it. They were entitled to it and their attorney firms back in DC knew it also. The natives up here get the best of both worlds. Alaska Native Corporation funds, and BIA funds. There are some very rich natives up here who didn't screw their money away.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_Native_Claims_Settlement_Act

Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act, commonly abbreviated ANCSA, was signed into law by President Richard M. Nixon on December 23, 1971, the largest land claims settlement in United States history. ANCSA was intended to resolve the long-standing issues surrounding aboriginal land claims in Alaska, as well as to stimulate economic development throughout Alaska. The settlement extinguished Alaska Native claims to the land by transferring titles to twelve Alaska Native regional corporations and over 200 local village corporations. A thirteenth regional corporation was later created for Alaska Natives who no longer resided in Alaska

Background

In 1968, the Atlantic-Richfield Company discovered oil at Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic coast, catapulting the issue of land ownership into headlines.[1] In order to lessen the difficulty of drilling at such a remote location and transporting the oil to the lower 48 states, the best solution seemed to be building a pipeline to carry the oil across Alaska to the port of Valdez, built on the ruins of the previous town. At Valdez, the oil would be loaded onto tanker ships and sent by water to the contiguous states. The plan was approved, but a permit to construct the pipeline, which would cross lands involved in the native dispute, could not be granted until the Native claims had been settled.

With major petroleum dollars on the line, there was a new urgency for an agreement, and, in 1971, the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act was signed into law by President Nixon, which abrogated Native claims to aboriginal lands.[2] In return, they received up to 44 million acres (180,000 km2) of land and were paid $963 million. The land and money were divided among regional, urban, and village corporations. The settlement compensated the Natives for the collaborative use of their lands and opened the way for all Alaskans to profit from oil, one of the state's largest natural resources.

Effect of land conveyances

ANCSA and related legislation produced changes in ownership of about 148,500,000 acres (601,000 km2) of land in Alaska once controlled by the federal government. That is larger by 6,000,000 acres (24,000 km2) than the combined areas of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia.

Edited March 4, 2012 by Why_Me

[ready4ONE 5,400]

Gotta love the "my freebies are earned" mentality, their (and from other threads) " freebies are free and undeserved" Kip.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

Gotta love the "my freebies are earned" mentality, their (and from other threads) " freebies are free and undeserved" Kip.

Let me ask you an honest question..and I'm not trying to be a jerk right now. I know Alaska natives can't be honestly compared to natives in the lower 48 with what they get up here...but what do you think about this down below.

My wife frequently flies to villages around here with populations of somewhere between 800 - less than 100 people. Some of these villages are a few hours flight by single and dual prop planes...hundreds of miles away from our town/village. Teams of 2, 3 and sometimes 4 people from the dental dept. There's also medical teams that do the same thing, along with building and sewer maintenance teams. It cost the US tax payers millions of dollars a year to fly out these people to the villages. Not just from the native hospital here, but all the native hospitals in Alaska, and including flying natives to the main native hospital in Anchorage.

Now these medical facilities in these small villages cost millions to build...picture a 2 million dollar medical facility in a village with a population of less than 200 people and a school there that runs around 3 - 5 million dollars. And what kind of medical treatment did those people have before WE build those schools, airports, and medical facilities not to mention put in water treatment plants/systems, etc...

Do the math. The hospital charters a plane to fly these government paid employees to these small in the middle of nowhere villages to perform free medical and dental care. Housing for these people....they usually sleep in the medical facilities on cots, or bunks with a full kitchen...trips usually last a week or longer, food stipends to buy food here and fly it in, etc...

Now lets go to the housing for these villagers. Free HUD housing. Brand new manufactured homes barged in and set up and all paid for by the US tax payer. Nice homes that look like complete sh*t in a year or two for the fact they are beat to death and neglected by the families living in them. These natives have zero incentive to work. Subsistence fishing, along with free commercial fishing permits, along with government freebies that would blow your mind.

Fuel oil...has to be barged in during summer months. Free HUD housing...construction all done in the summer months.

Now here's a map of Alaska, and remember that Alaska is 1/5 the size of the entire continental US and that it has more shore line than the rest of the US combined.

[Darnell 8,478]

I say they used an ice-blade catamaran to make the journey in 11 days. [the travelers covered in post #1]

Edited March 4, 2012 by Darnell

[rika60607 215]

I tried. Plenty of cheery useless info and nothing practically useful.

Topics such as "Injury prevention" and "Child Health Notes" do nothing to heal a broken leg or get a child seen by experienced pediatrician. Find me something free and practical to use in Maryland, please. Or start saying that Native Indians have everything for free in Alaska.

http://www.bia.gov/WhereIsMy/index.htm <----- Start here

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]

I tried. Plenty of cheery useless info and nothing practically useful.

Topics such as "Injury prevention" and "Child Health Notes" do nothing to heal a broken leg or get a child seen by experienced pediatrician. Find me something free and practical to use in Maryland, please. Or start saying that Native Indians have everything for free in Alaska.

Did you try calling their toll free #? Having a BIA #/card will get you more than you realize.