U.S.-Tribal government relations

Part of the Native identity is being part of a sovereign nation to the United States of America. Even the name of our country excludes Native peoples, as it is not the United States, colonies and domestically-dependent sovereign nations of America. In school we learn about the different levels of government and how they interact with each other — City, State, Federal — except for tribal. The first education I personally got on tribal government was an archaeology class my sophomore year here. After taking that class, i decided to become an AIS major so i could better understand a viewpoint i hadn't really even thought to think about before. This class (technically outside my department of study) is the only class that has really gone the extra mile to try and explain the relationship between tribes and the U.S. government. 

But if Bush doesn't even understand that relationship — one which he, in theory, oversaw — how do we have any hope for our children to understand that relationship? And how can native children — living off the reservation especially, disconnected from such interactions as directly as the 30% of natives living on reserved lands — even fully understand their relationship with the U.S. government? I can't imagine not being taught how the U.S. government, my government, works in school. That was a very large part of my education starting in elementary and lasting through high school. 

Even though government may not "identify" a person, it's still a major part of identity because it's how we are governed as people. This clip, as much as it is hilarious, is all the more infuriating because it was such a simple question. If ol' W had taken Karen's class, I'm sure he would have been able to answer the question using at least complete thoughts.

-Colleen

Bush fucks it up royally