American Indians currently have the highest rates of poverty of any racial group; some reservations have unemployment rates upward of 80 percent. Suicide is the leading cause of death among Indian men, Native American women are two and a half times more likely to be raped than the national average, and gang violence affects Indian youth more than any other group.

Why? Naomi Schaefer Riley says the American government’s current Indian policies are at fault as much as any historic injustice done to them.

What is the federal government’s current relationship with American Indian tribes? What does the day-to-day economic life for people on a reservation look like? How do tribal courts work?

Show Notes and Further Reading

Riley’s book is The New Trail of Tears: How Washington Is Destroying American Indians (2016).

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