American Indian Self-Determination - Native Nations Institute ...

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JOPNA Working PapersAlthough per capita incomes of Indians on reservations remain lessthan half the U.S. average, the per capita income of American Indianson reservations has been growing approximately three times morerapidly than the United States. as a whole since the early 1990s. Thisholds true for both tribes with much-publicized casino gambling andfor non-gaming tribes (Figure 5). This burst of economic developmentFigure 5. Percent Change in Real On-Reservation PerCapita Income: 1990-2000All reservations; excluding Oklahoma Tribal Statistical AreasSource: Taylor and Kalt, op. cit.is starting from a low base, but is manifesting itself in improving socialconditions and other indicators of development. Housing is improving;educational attainment through at least high school is approaching parwith the U.S. average; health measures such as infant mortality, deathsdue to accident, infectious disease rates, and tuberculosis show sharptrends toward improvement. 12 Particularly in tribes with substantialtribal government-owned gaming or other business revenues, the switchfrom federal administration to tribal administration is being manifestedin investment in long-neglected infrastructure, as streets, watersystems, schools, health clinics, and the like are rapidly being upgraded.13 Below, we investigate the policies and reasons that underlie thisturnaround in the economic and social conditions in Indian Country.8
American Indian Self-DeterminationStephen CornellJoseph P. KaltRoots of the Social, Economic, and PoliticalRenaissance of Indian AmericaA. Isolating Causal FactorsData on economic conditions in Indian Country as a whole are sparse,coming in ten-year increments with the U.S. Census. The rapid economicgrowth seen in Figure 5 covers the 1990s. Numerous casestudies indicate that both the surge in economic development and theimprovement in areas such as housing, education, and health, whichbecame evident in the last decade of the 20 th century, have continuedinto the present decade 14 –albeit interrupted when the worldwide recessiontook hold in Indian Country as it did elsewhere in 2008.The development boom that is underway in Indian Country raises thequestion of where it has come from. While the answer to that questionis, of course, exceedingly complicated and involves strands of politics,economics, social change, and the like, the development boom is notthe product of massive or even substantial infusions of resources fromthe national government of the United States. In fact, federal U.S.budget spending on Indian affairs peaked in real dollars in the mid-1970s – approximately coincident with the advent of the major legislationin Congress that made tribal self-determination the core principleof U.S. Indian policy. 15 By the early 2000s, the U.S. Commission onCivil Rights labeled the spending levels in Indian Country a “quietcrisis.” 16 The Commission reported that while American Indianswere marked by the most severe poverty in America and had sufferedtreaty violations and other forms of deprivation over the centuriesat the hand of the federal government, governmental spending in IndianAmerica was dramatically and disproportionately below levels offunding provided to other groups in the United States and the generalU.S. population. Salient statistics from the Commission’s findings areshown in Figure 6.9
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