In the “THAT won’t happen” department: US should return stolen land to Indian tribes, says United Nations.
OK, so what does the US do? It needs to address some basic inequity. This is embarrassing and uncivilized:
It’s easy to miss this corner of the Navajo Nation, just 100 miles west of Albuquerque. Most things pass the Reservation right by, including progress.
Many of the roads here are unpaved. Electricity is spotty. Unemployment in the area hovers near 70 percent.
But perhaps most shocking of all? An estimated 40 percent of the people who live here don’t have access to running water.
If it weren’t for Darlene Arviso, the “Water Lady”, there would be no potable water for these folks. It’s good that DigDeep, a 501c3, has been organized to “change the lives of American families without water” through the Navajo Water Project. Although, as the story makes clear, it was the Navajo’s lack of political access – they weren’t allowed to vote for years – plus the uranium mining, that has put the people in such dire straits.
Still, the US government SHOULD be taking care of its own, making a merely small dent in the reparations due. I’m certain there are stories like this all over the country.