•LIFE IN INDIAN COUNTRY•

1968 president, Lyndon Johnson calls for “termination” to be replaced by “Indian self determination”. Congress passes the Indian civil rights act to ensure that the American Indian is afforded the broad constitutional rights secured to other Americans.

As a result of historical trauma, chronically, underfunded, federal programs, and policies of the US government, native Americans, experience, many health, educational and economic disparities compared to the general population, the poverty rate among in 2014 was 28.8% according to the United States census, and more than one and three American Indian (AI), and Alaskan Native (AN) children, live in poverty.

1978 American Indian freedom of religion legalized. The American Indian, religious freedom act, legalizes traditional, spirituality, and ceremonies overturning, local and state regulations still on the books, bending American Indian spiritual practices.

According to the national conference of American Indians (NCAI) there are less than 3000 tribal and federal law enforcement officers to patrol the more than 56,000,000 acres of Indian country. 

AI/AN youth are arrested at a rate of three times the national average, and 79% of youth in the federal Bureau of prisons custody are AI/AN 

(Bureau of justice, statistics, 2004)

AI/AN children have the third highest rate of victimization at 11.6 per 1000 children of the same race or ethnicity. In 2009, 7335 children were victims of child maltreatment. (NICWA) 

AI/AN are disproportionately suspended or expelled, representing less than 1% of the student population, but 2% of out of school suspensions and 3% of expulsions. (White House Native Youth Report.)

Suicide is the second leading cause of death 2.5 times the national rate for AI/AN youth in the 15 to 24 age group. (CDC) 

In the US between one and nine  and one and five  AI/AN youth report attempting suicide each year. (Suicide Prevention Center).

23.1% of AI/ANs lacked health insurance coverage in 2014 and rely solely on the Indian Health Service (IHS) System. 

In 2013 AHS per capita expenditures for patient health services were just $2,849 compared to $7,717 per person for healthcare spending nationally. (NCAI) 

As of 2013, approximately 7.5 of homes in Indian country leg, safe, drinking water and proper waste removal systems. (Indian Health Service).