I wrote quite a bit here on the subject but sent it all to the trash bin. Bruce seems to reflect most of what I intended to say.
I was raised in a village where half of the population was native. I have seen the poverty, the hope, the dispair, and the corruption among the Indians, but I have also seen a growth of something else and that is pride in their heritage. Drug and alcohol problems reflect their dispair, and corrupt leaders still line their own pockets and those of their friends, but other leaders emerge and aim for a much higher plane. Schools that once enforced the white mans ways now teach the history and language of a people with a fantastic heritage. Ahead the road may be rough but somewhere at the tunnel end a light shines! However, it will be a long and difficult passage!