Blog Post 3
In the last blog, I talked about the rising suicide rate in the Native American community and how this has impacted all indigenous people tremendously. One of the main reasons for the highest suicide rate among many minorities in the United States is that many Native Americans live in poverty, making them unable to provide for their families and maintain a healthy mental and physical state. Based on my research into the poverty rate of Native Americans, I found that from the 2018 U.S. census that Native Americans have the highest poverty rate among all minority groups at 25.4%. After many hours of in-depth research into the poverty rates of Native Americans, I thought to myself, what drives such a high poverty rate among this population of minority individuals and what can I do to solve the issue, or better yet, what can others do to help? Unfortunately, so many sociologists do not know the factors that drive Native Americans to live in poverty; they do not even know where it comes from. This makes it very frustrating to solve this issue within the community. With nearly 1 in 3 Native Americans living in poverty with a median income of $23,000 a year, this issue needs to be solved; it has a widespread effect on the community leading to higher suicide rates and more.
The two main ways I found after I researched into solving the poverty rate issue in the Native American community were a change in demographics and the creation of new jobs and policies. Overall, changes in the United States economy have severely impacted the community and led to job decline, and the jobs’ ability to get this community out of poverty has been made impossible. After plenty of research, I found that unemployment was the highest factor in the ongoing poverty in the Native American community. One way to solve unemployment is to increase the number of jobs available to the community. This would, in return, help this community more than the higher educational attainment that we once thought was the reason for achieving a lower rate of poverty. Generating new jobs within the community would diversify the opportunities for indigenous people and potentially reform the tribe along with the low poverty rate. There are other ways to end poverty in the Native American community; this may be by the government, which can help the community achieve equitable pay and other funded investments.
The Native Americans have been living in poverty for decades; the ways to solve issues I stated earlier may help create better job opportunities for the community and decrease the poverty rate. Nevertheless, what is the reason that the Native American community or reservations, to be specific, accustomed to such poverty? I believe they are so accustomed to it since they have had a lack of opportunity, whether through fewer full-time employed individuals within the community or it may be from intergenerational issues. Over time the Native American community has been treated unequally. Dating back from 1492 until the present time now, this community was mistreated and taken from their land. Now left the Native Americans with no options but to become unemployed and suicidal and make up the highest poverty rate for any minority in America. The other main issue that has been widely discussed in the community is the wage gap between Native American women and their White male counterparts. Native American women make sixty cents compared to every dollar their white male counterparts earned. This issue in the community has forced many families into poverty; even if the Native American women work full time and year-round, they still make up to forty percent less than white men working around the same hours. These disparities vary throughout tribes, but this proves yet another reason why Native Americans are at such a high poverty rate; with unequal pay for the women in the community, how could they provide for their families. The only way to solve this wage gap issue is through the government; this would also help tremendously with lowering the rate of poverty in the Native American community.
Overall, the issues throughout the Native American community are something we all need to focus on. However, with the higher rates of poverty among any other minority group and the highest suicidal rates amongst their community, these issues may become resolved over time. By creating new jobs and policies in the community or by solving the wage gap between Native American women vs. White male counterparts, the poverty rate would decrease, leading to a more stable and healthy life within the community. This would further lead to a lower suicide rate and lower social and political issues the community faces.