Opinion

Lloyd Omdahl: Reservations aren't the answer for employment

Friday, July 4, 2014

President Barack Obama speaks at the Cannon Ball Flag Day Powwow in Cannon Ball, North Dakota, on June 13, 2014. Official White House Photo by Pete Souza

Lloyd Omdahl, a former lieutenant governor of North Dakota, says reservations will never be the place for gainful employment:

Having chaired the North Dakota Indian Affairs Commission for Governor George Sinner for four years, my experience tells me that there is good reason to be skeptical. I have become inoculated against the oversupply of rhetoric and undersupply of everything needed to transform rhetoric into action.
As for the President's proposals for economic development on reservations, that is a pipedream. The folks in the reservation power structure like to hear such talk but it is unrealistic. Economic opportunities for Native-Americans cannot flourish within the perimeters of reservations.
To share in the modern economy, Native-Americans must think and participate beyond reservations. It does no good to talk about new economic opportunities as long as thinking is confined to the geographic bounds of the reservation.
The casinos were supposed to be the answer to unemployment. They provided some jobs, but unemployment on reservations continues to be high and will remain high as long as the only acceptable employment must be on reservations.

Get the Story:
Lloyd Omdahl: Reservation parochialism is not the answer (The Pierce County Tribune 7/4)