Life on a Native American Reservation
A ‘third world country’ hidden in plain sight within the United States is fighting for recognition.
“I don’t feel heard at all. No one has been educated about us so why would they know the truth?” A young freshman in high school on the Navajo reservation speaks out about her life living on a reservation. Alice has lived on the reservation her entire life, under the care of her two parents who are both Navajo. Being a minor, she declined to share her name and will be referred to as Alice in this article.
Indigenous tribes, sometimes referred to as ‘Indians’, make up 2.09% of the population with 6.79 million people in the United States. Despite these growing numbers, tribes are still suffering from negative effects from colonialism. The arguably largest are the reservations Native Americans were forced onto when white settlers took their land. Areas with bad soil and meager natural resources were given specifically to these tribes so their communities could not flourish. Even today, few Americans understand the conditions indigenous families must live with every day and there are many misconceptions about how they live.
Among 500 federally recognized indigenous tribes and 318 reservations in the United States, the Navajo Nation home to the largest tribe. This, of…
