Economic Disparity in Relation to Location among Two Worlds - Ty

Native Americans are being faced with extremely high rates of unemployment on consistent levels, with roles that are distinguishing within themselves. An unbalanced justice system is the foundation to a ravaging unemployment rate as many reservations do not require the systems to have their checks and balances implemented for the authorities on the reservations. The element of governmental justice instantly devastates when isolation is a large part of nearly every designated Native American territory. Unemployment is so prevalent on reservations due to isolation from cities; CEOs or Professionals wont risk moving their company from a thriving economy to a commonly weak economy, where the government does not have to answer to anyone else, such as the reservation, where there is limited revenue.

            As all reservations have a semi-sovereign government, they do not have to answer, or have normal state or national government fundamentals, such as checks and balances. When there is a loop hole in the justice on a reservation, there will be a common case scenario that will happen repeatedly. “The reservation is a microcosm of how the pillars of a fair government, strong economy, and healthy community are all connected,” is one trait that was noticed by Mark Zuckerberg when he paid a visit to the Blackfeet Reservation. In this sense, he is saying that when a non-native individual is going to move their business into a reservation setting, they will have to register and make compact deals with the reservation because the non-native has no real jurisdiction on the members. Considering the compact, and the non-native has a real estate business per say, they will house a native family that may eventually fall through on rent to the estate owner. With the non-native having no jurisdiction on the reservation, their case will be taken into the tribal court authority, and a bias verdict will be made, most likely in favor of the native American that is late on payment. Mark Zuckerberg following his brief visit to the Blackfeet Nation stated that there is “a massive disincentive for people to invest or start new businesses, which, in turn, reduces opportunity and jobs” (Zuckerberg). When there is no good outcome in a predicament as such, the bind will only harm the economy construction on the reservation.

            Unfair justice system is a drawback that is frequent on each reservation as the verdict should be to build an economy rather than creating disincentives and pushing backwards business on any reservation. Conversely, there is one factor that is much greater than the injustice, and that would have to be the isolation hard pressed on nearly all reservations. The  Blackfeet Reservation residents, for instance, has to commute 124 miles South, 99 miles West, or 105 miles North to get to a city that will offer resources that we don’t have, and all of these drives have obstacles such as mountainous roads that are treacherous in the winter, the Canadian border is another obstacle for one other city, and the farthest – yet largest of the three cities near us – is often too long of a drive for some of the run-down vehicles that are owned on a reservation, and there is where we are royally suppressed. In 2010 white populations had a peak unemployment rate at 9.1%, where as they are now back to 6% unemployment, but in 2010, on average, 15.7% were unemployed, and we are now back into our normal range of 11.3% (Covert). “They ripped the pride out of our chests and backfilled it with alcohol,” is what Blackfeet Tribal Chairman Harry Barnes said, but he mainly forgot to say they pushed us so remote into the land, or deep into the mountains, we can’t build an economy. The Blackfeet Reservation, at present, has more than 70% of our jobs supplied by the government, and the last major tribal business that was created was built in 1986, but shut down in late 1900s (Montana’s). Isolation is our biggest enemy, and the governments did as good a job as they could to push us out of the way.

            As cumbersome tribal justice systems rampage development of most tribal economies, nearly all tribes and nations have their hands tied behind their back from the isolation. Isolation is the disparity among two worlds, that should be trying to thrive together. When justice is reached, and we can persuade individuals to move to a reservation with a business to supply a job, the relation of isolation will continue to run rampant for the native peoples.