Prior to this month, I had only seen two episodes of "Longmire"

[ColbyBruce]

I just finished watching the entire series. In my sixty years, I have spent little time around native Americans. Three weeks at a Colorado college in 1977 and a dozen trips through Cherokee, NC is my experience.

Conditions on the reservation in "Longmire" look extremely bleak. Is this the norm for residents of the reservations?

 

[sigp220.45]

I haven't watched Longmire, but I did spend 17 of my 25 years in the FBI working on Indian reservations in Montana, Idaho, and New Mexico.

I doubt any American TV show can adequately depict the bleakness of an actual Indian reservation.

I have worked horrific murders that never made the white news. Either the media didn't care, or didn't want to be seen depicting life on the rez in a negative light.

That said, there is incredible life, love, and joy on those same reservations. I made great lifelong friends there, and will always be grateful for my time on the reservation. I value humor and loyalty above almost everything, and you will never find a funnier guy than a tribal cop, or a more loyal friend.

Best Rez movie: Smoke Signals.

 

[Auburn4]

The people in the big cities, that live in the projects, do not know what poverty is. Go to the Pine Ridge Reservation in S.D. and you will see a America that you did not know EXISTED.

 

[Absalom]

Whenever anyone here tries to get me outraged at the Israelis because the Palestinians in Gaza have 50% unemployment, I like to point out that Pine Ridge has 80% unemployment and that maybe they should worry about that first ....