30 days

As we were talking about reservation life, I got to thinking about how life was today on the reservation for Native Americans. In coincidence, FX was showing the T.V. show 30 days, which was created by Morgan Spurlock (the guy who did supersize me). On this particular episode, Morgan spent 30 days on a Navajo Indian reservation that is situated on the four courner region of Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and I think Nevada. This show seemed very relvant to what we have been discussing because it shows that life on the reservation is tough and still full of hardships. Many of these people see very little opportunity on the reservation itself, but they are pulled to stay their so that they can remain with their people. They very much seem to live in two worlds. Most have to go off the reservation for work, which to some of the elders is a negative because they feel they should be contributing to the Indian community. It was amazing to see that even though they had been encroached upon by western ideals and products they still were able to maintain their Navajo traditions. They still got together for native ceremonies, and still practiced Navajo rituals. One of the more upsetting aspects of the show was that they were losing their native language because so many were no longer trying to learn it. As said in the show, it is a difficult language to learn, however there were some schools on the res. that specifically targeted the language during their early years of schooling. However, because of the multiple english influences, the students usually lost it by the time they graduated. Also sad to see was the Grandmother. She spoke only Navajo and she lemented on the fact that she could not talk to her grandkids like she wanted. This was a great programm and really eye opening. the Navajo are still fighting the U.S. Government over water rights. Most of the people on the res. do not have running water. There are like 200,000 people on this res! The are fighting with the Govt. because they are not able to build water lines and take the water from rivers that run through the land because the Govt uses it for other lands. Upon learning of this, Morgan asks "isn't the Navajo nation a soveriegn nation?" in which the navajo reply something like "tell that to the Govt." This shows that although we have made some strides, we are a long way away from treating the Native people with the respect they deserve. They are still fighting and in my opinion they shouldn't have to.