8. On the Reservation: Toward a Job Guarantee Program for American Indian Nations

The chapter proposes a job guarantee (JG) program for residents of American Indian reservations to combat chronic poverty and unemployment. The chapter furthers research on the racial wealth and employment gap; and serves as a case-study on the social costs of unemployment and the moral necessity of full employment. The chapter details the social and economic injustice laid upon American Indians from 200 years of US policy geared toward assimilation, termination, and acculturation. This history contextualizes the failing, pro-capitalist, Euro-centric policies of today which struggle to combat chronic poverty and lasting unemployment. Instead these mainstream policies further encroach on American Indian sovereignty. The chapter makes a case for a new progressive approach to development that centers on the non-profit nature of job guarantee proposals to sustain economic growth, enrich cultural development, and strengthen American Indian sovereignty.