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W: November is Native American Heritage Month in the United States. This week on our program, we explore the modern life of American Indians. Joining us today is Vincent Schilling, an author and photojournalist, who is Native American. It’s said that Native Americans have had a busy year in Washington. Why?
M: Earlier this year, Congress passed the Tribal Law and Order Act. This new law aims to give tribes more power to fight crime on the lands they govern. The goal is to increase communication and cooperation between tribal and federal law enforcement agencies. President Obama also signed another bill into law, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act. It provides more resources for tribal communities. It was included as part of the big health-care law passed by Congress.
W: That’s really good news for Native Americans. It’s good for Native Americans population growth. It’s said the number of Native American represents less than two percent of the country’s population. Is that true? How do Native Americans identify themselves?
M: It’s true. The United States only has about five million American Indians and Alaska Natives, including people of more than one race. But those numbers are growing. American Indians and Alaska Natives are younger than the national population as a whole. About thirty percent of them are younger than eighteen. However, about two and a half million people identify themselves just as American Indian or Alaska Native.
W: Where do Native Americans live mostly?
M: American Indians and Alaska Natives were the largest racial or ethnic minority group in five states last year. Those states were Alaska, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Dakota. Other states with large native populations include California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico, New York and Florida.
W: Your books for young people include "Native Athletes in Action" and "Native Men of Courage." You once said young Indians are not the only ones who need to understand more about modern Native Americans. Why did you say that?
M: We are predefined by what we were in our history. I’ve had multiple times myself, people tell me, "Well, you don’t look Indian." Then I spoke at schools and companies about cultural diversity. I often began by asking people to think about what they believe a Native American looks like.
W: What are their answers?
M: Well, the standard answers I’ll get are, you know, a gentleman sitting on the hill on horseback. He’s got a full-feathered headdress. Or he’s sitting cross-legged with his slippers and a bow and arrow and a tent in the background type of thing. Educating people is important to breaking down cultural stereotypes.
W: Where do you live now? Is it far from your hometown?
M: I live in Virginia, hundreds of kilometers from my tribe’s reservation in the state of New York. But nationally about five hundred thousand people live on tribal reservations and federal lands.
W: How’s people’s life on reservations?
M: Native American reservations are probably one of our nation’s best kept secrets. What you will see a lot of times on a native reservation is there are some folks who are living well, but there are a lot of places on reservations that are living in complete and abject poverty.
W: Can you give more information about Native Americans’ living conditions?
M: The official poverty rate for all Americans last year was a little more than fourteen percent. But almost twenty-four percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives were living in poverty last year. High school and college completion rates for American Indians are lower than the national average. And rates of violence against women are higher than average. Those new federal measures include provisions that seek to reduce violence against Native American women.
W: The conditions are really tough there. Why don’t people on the reservation want to leave for opportunity?
M: Conditions like these can make it difficult to succeed on the reservation. But leaving is not an easy choice either. If you leave the reservation, you’re leaving, period. And people sometimes feel like you’re leaving and not looking back. But that’s not the case. Sometimes we need to leave for opportunity. But I think we should make efforts to make the Internet and educational technology more available on the reservation. If we can get these college degree programs to really embrace online degrees and things like that, then we really can be bringing education to native kids and native folks in general.
W: Since you live off the reservation, do you still have strong ties to your culture?
M: I may be out here in Virginia Beach, and you know I’m running around—I’ve got my radio show, I’m online answering emails. I’ve got my cell phone ringing and sending text messages and doing all these things. And every once in while I get crazed and I will stop, put everything down, go out to my porch, light some weeds, which is a way of clearing away energy, and embrace my native heritage through my own personal ceremony. And I look up to my ancestors and creator and say, "OK, I’m getting a little crazy here, bring me back down and center me."
W: Well, Vincent, thank you very much for coming to the show and talking to us.
M: My pleasure.