Native American Poverty

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Poverty in America is nothing new, we as citizens have an inkling as to what it means to be in poverty. Poverty surrounds everyone, even though many are blind to it. The subject of poverty has been unsettling to say the least, the topic of poverty is often dismissed, or belittled. Every race in the United States have felt the cold and of poverty to some degree, many more so than others unfortunately. One of the highest impoverished races in the United States, are Native Americans, after conducting thorough research it is evident that poverty is highly distinct on Junior’s reservation in Sherman Alexie’s “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” because of a poor economy, substance abuse, and domestic abuse.
In “The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian” Junior’s reservation suffers from a lack of jobs, limited industrialization, as well as the lack of adequate health care, which indicate great poverty. On Junior’s reservation …show more content…
Because of high rates of alcoholism within Native American culture, many suffer from domestic abuse, as well as child abuse. Kelly Gaines Stoner suggests that Native American youth experience high rates of child abuse, and Native American women are prime victims of domestic abuse, Stoner stated that ““American Indian youth experience fifty percent higher rates of child abuse compared to non-native youth… in 2004, the Department of Justice estimated that the assault rates among American Indian women were as much as fifty percent higher than the next most victimized demographic” (240). In addition to Stoner’s findings, Junior narrates an encounter with Rowdy, to which Rowdy told him that “Dad said I wasn’t listening...So he got all drunk and tried to make my ear a little bigger” (15). This event supports the claims by researchers such as Stoner, and further authenticates the high percentage of child abuse experienced by Native American

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