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Today a bunch of us internationals and American UCSD students ventured out to San Pasqual Native American Reserve to learn a bit more about Native Americans and to help out with a community service project. I was disappointed to learn very little about their culture - their crafts, or songs, or languages - but learnt a ton about their history, namely the injustices done them by the early colonisers. It was interesting from an NZ perspective looking at the parallels and differences with the Maori situation.
A big difference here is that the reservations allocated the "American Indians" are "sovereign" which means they have their own government and are exempt from taxes, so they're responsible for all their infrastructure, the roads and sewerage systems etc. It's in a dry and desert-like landscape, in a rural area, and the houses are pretty modest, but there's a huge casino in the process of expanding on their reservation, a big source of income for the tribe.
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