Rez Life Quotes

“That Native American cultures are imperiled is important and not just to Indians. It is important to everyone, or should be. When we lose cultures, we lose American plurality -- the productive and lovely discomfort that true difference brings.”
― David Treuer, Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life

“To understand American Indians is to understand America. This is the story of the paradoxically least and most American place in the twenty-first century. Welcome to the Rez.”
― David Treuer, Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life

“That Native American cultures are imperiled is important and not just to Indians. It is important to everyone, or should be. When we lose cultures, we lose American plurality—the productive and lovely discomfort that true difference brings.”
― David Treuer, Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life

“The Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, begun in 1987 and designed to address economic inequality and development, identified about a dozen reasons why life on the rez was virtually synonymous with a life of poverty. Lack of access to capital was a significant roadblock. “Unfair lending practices, the difficulty of collateralizing assets held in trust by the U.S. government, and low penetration of banking facilities continue to limit the supply of capital in Indian country.”
― David Treuer, Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life

“They say you can't step into the same river twice. But maybe a truer saying is that you can't ever dry off.”
― David Treuer, Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life

“As of today, on Leech Lake, like many other reservations, the tribe owns roughly 4 percent of the land within the reservation boundaries. The rest of the land is divided among county, state, federal, corporate, and private owners.”
― David Treuer, Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life

“I feel that I owe my life to them and I set out to write a book that reflects this, reflects the debt I owe them, and does them honor.”
― David Treuer, Rez Life: An Indian's Journey Through Reservation Life