Indians Lured to Reservations

The yearning to be on family land was so strong for Leatrice Wilson that she left thriving metropolitan Denver to live in the nation’s poorest county on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Wilson, a 41-year-old Oglala Sioux trained as a medical assistant, landed a job last year helping people with funeral expenses, heating bills and medical costs. She’s happy--and proud--to be back.

“There’s a whole new generation of people who are on the reservation that have lived out there and have an education, and they’re determined to be a part of what’s going on to help the tribe,” she said.

According to 2000 census figures, American Indian reservations across the country are burgeoning--even in the West, where vast rural stretches are losing people.

Experts and tribal officials say many areas are getting a boost from Indians returning to jobs and wealth provided by ubiquitous tribal casinos, and others seeking to rekindle their heritage. Still others return to family and familiar surroundings after struggling financially and culturally off the reservation.

Overall, the number of people who identified themselves solely as Indian and Alaska Native grew by 26% during the 1990s to about 2.5 million last year. Add multiracial categories and the number of people claiming some Indian ancestry is even larger.

The population surge was seen from coast to coast:

* In Arizona, the Indian population jumped 25.7% during the last decade. At the Fort McDowell and Tohono O’odham reservations, officials say casinos lured back tribal members and helped pay for improvements such as fire departments, health clinics and education. The number of Indians on the Navajo reservation, the nation’s largest, reached 173,631 last year--a 21% jump.

* California passed Oklahoma to become home to more Indian and Alaska Natives than any other state--more than 333,000, up from 242,000 in 1990, according to a Tulsa World analysis. Some 300,000 additional Californians included Indian or Alaska Native in a multiracial response.

* In Connecticut, a 50% increase in the Indian population during the 1990s has been linked to tribal casinos, which distribute wealth to members and give hiring preferences to Indians.

* In Idaho, the Coeur d’Alene tribe has added a new tribal school and hundreds of homes to communities on its reservation. In Kansas, several reservations have housing shortages.

* In New Mexico, 20 of 22 reservations grew. And in North Dakota, where only six counties gained people during the 1990s, two are home to reservations and both have casinos.

Census officials say they did a better job counting everyone last year than in 1990. Even so, they estimate they missed 4.7% of Indians and Alaska Natives on reservations, more than three times the national average. Some tribes say the undercount is far higher.

JoAnn Chase, executive director of the National Congress of American Indians in Washington, said she doubted that many people were declaring Indian ancestry without good reason.

More likely, she said, multiracial Indians are more likely the adult children of parents of two races who are reconnecting with their Indian culture and traditions.

“It is very welcome,” she said. “I think that constitutes the largest part of the population, people who legitimately have a nexus to their tribal affiliation.”

“I Like It Here on the Reservation”

Angel Reddest grew up on the Pine Ridge reservation, attended Black Hills State University and lived for a while in Rapid City. She now owns Lil Angel’s convenience store in Kyle with her mother and brother.

“I like it here on the reservation, and that’s why I chose to come back,” she said.

Kyle is in Shannon County, considered the poorest in the nation, with an unemployment rate of more than 80%. Yet its population rose 26% in the 1990s to 12,466 last year.

In fact, all nine of South Dakota’s reservations grew and the state’s overall Indian population jumped 23%.

Dennis King of the Oglala Sioux’s housing office in Pine Ridge said cuts in supplemental welfare are forcing some Indians to return to the reservation. Culture shock forces others to come back, he said.

“They’d much rather work back at home where they’re familiar with their people,” King said.

Theresa Two Bulls, vice chairwoman of the Oglala Sioux, notes that census numbers affect federal aid for housing, education, health care and other services. Her goal is to encourage economic development to help people become self-sufficient.

“There’s so much potential out there,” she said. “We shouldn’t be in this poverty-stricken state.”

It is lingering problem for many reservations and it tempers the population increases. Officials in Montana and Arizona, for example, say many young people are leaving reservations to seek better educational and business opportunities in urban areas.

“Right now our economy is still depressed, but we are working on it” said Ernie Yazzie, a statistician and census advisor for the Navajo. “Navajos go off the reservation for college and stay there.”

In Wilson’s case, she wasn’t just seeking to reconnect with her heritage. She wanted to make a fresh start for her sons, ages 23, 20, 19 and 4.

“I wanted to leave them something so they didn’t have to live over there,” she said of Denver, where her older sons felt threatened. “And I want to start something here so I can bring them with me.”

It’s a 40-minute drive to Kyle, where Wilson works. Dirt roads, muddy in the springtime, get her to her mother’s place. Then she walks to her own home nearby.

“To have land is such a blessing. I appreciate my mom so much because she’s the first one to go out there and say, ‘I can make it work,’ ” she said. “She gave us the strength to say we can do it, too.”