Welcome from Principal Chief Ken Johnson

Florida is one of eleven states in the country that holds 65% of the American Indian population.  In 2001, Governor Jeb Bush signed bi-partisan legislation that abolished state recognition laws in the State of Florida.  This racist act put back Native American rights 100 years!  The over 580 now non-recognized tribes of Florida no longer have legal protections of their burial sites, protection of their artwork, child welfare intervention protections, access to minority-based educational funding, access to proper healthcare, etc.  Moreover, this heinous action cut out meaningful government-to-government relations between over 580 tribes of the State of Florida and the various municipal, county, regional, and state-level governmental entities of the State of Florida. 

For the past 10 years, tribes, like the Florida Tribe of Cherokee Indians, have been scrambling to regain what was lost in 2001.  Unlike other entities, a tribe is unique in its multi-faceted cultural impact.  We are not like a special interest group that only deals with the needs of children, the elderly, the poor, etc.  We are not like a church where we uphold certain religious teachings and then offer up other services, as can be afforded, to further a religious cause.  Verily, a tribe is a nation unto itself!  A tribe has a responsibility to maintain the culture, heritage, arts, language, and religion of the people that it represents.  In addition, a tribe also has the duty to protect the rights of children, the elderly, the disabled, the impoverished, protect the health of the tribesmen, and the myriad of other duties that any sovereign governmental entity must contend with on a daily basis.  After all, the government reserves the right to pick and choose who they want to consider “Native American” yet Mother Nature could care less what the government says when a non-recognized citizen gets diabetes, gout, or the host of other diseases that American Indians are prone to – so the job of the Tribe never ceases as we must scramble to meet multiple demands with limited resources and no legal protections or government assistance.  

If nothing else, it has been hard to meet such daunting demands in a hostile anti-Native American state. 

That is why we are so appreciative when entities do wish to help us.  For instance, in the past, we have participated with Tallahassee-based state health summits regarding tribes in Florida.  In fact, I was even posed to be a guest speaker on the topic of American Indian health in the State of Florida! 

In the proposed speech, the Florida Tribe of Cherokee Indians identified four main plagues that are affecting the Native American community of Florida as a whole.    We call these plagues the “Big Four.”  More specifically, they are “poverty,” “disparity in earnings potential,” “education,” and “loss of heritage.”  To that end, a fifth plague was ultimately later added to that list – “lack of justice from the government.” 

However, as this event drew near, Governor Scott issued an edict that only HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis could be talked about at the summit.  Despite pleas to every member of the Legislature, no politician took the initiative to try to dissuade the Governor.  Moreover, the Press refused to acknowledge any pleas to cover this story.  Thus, once again, the needs of the Native American population of Florida were silenced. 

It is our belief that the elements of this speech are so critical that the message cannot be silenced.  Therefore, every two weeks, another element of the speech will be put onto our site.  We ask that every Native American, every charity or government entity dealing with health issues, and every person that is simply interested in American Indian issues follow the discussion as we seek to reveal key issues involving the state of health of the contemporary Native American Indian population of Florida. 

S-gi (Thank You)!

Big Four Issue #1:  Poverty 

Many American Indians in Florida simply do not have access to competent medical care because they cannot afford such a luxury.  Simple diseases and ailments can turn into a life sentence.  For those that have access to some medical care, they find that there are gaps in healthcare that are often as bad as not having healthcare at all.  For instance, we, as a society, value having good teeth.  Unhealthy teeth can lead to blood poisoning, heart problems, and a host of other serious problems.  There are families right now who have had to come to the brink of death simply because the healthcare that they use does not cover dental.  I have seen families, who make less than $12 thousand annually, tell me that they have a choice of having pay out $11 thousand to have their teeth fixed or paying $35 for a blender and hoping that their teeth don’t get so bad that they end up in the ER.  Indeed, the State of Florida’s Community Health Assessment Resource Tool Set (C.H.A.R.T.S.) report shows that 28.1% of Florida’s American Indian population could not see a dentist specifically due to cost. 

Nutritionally speaking, families simply cannot afford the foods needed to maintain a healthful body mass ratio.  Low income, when combined with a highly assimilated Americanized lifestyle, has caused Florida’s American Indian population to abnormally, and drastically, diverge from national indigenous rates when it comes to cancer and cardiovascular disease.   As a result, again citing the same C.H.A.R.T.S. report, 18.9% of the Native American community, in Florida, suffers from diabetes.  Some 7.5% of indigenous people aged 50 and over die each year due to colon cancer while the American Indian population of Florida, as a whole, has a 76% risk of dying from cancer in general.  Additionally, native indigenous people, in Florida, as a whole, suffer an 82% risk of dying due to coronary heart disease.  To put these rates in better focus, in other parts of America, where tribes are less assimilated, the rates are generally half what we see in Florida’s American Indian peoples. 

Though diet, most assuredly, is only one component to a proper and healthy lifestyle, poverty and underemployment add another dimension to the equation as since many American Indians are working harder for less money.  The extra hours of work required to make a subsistence living takes away from the time used to de-stress and exercise.  Leading health authorities agree that stress is the top killer of Americans today as we put in more hours of work than any other nation in the civilized world.  As a culture, America does not value free time’s ability to allow one to cope with stress.  For Native Americans, because we earn less than any other racial or ethnic group, the term “free time” is merely a fantasy as since we have to work harder than any other race for less money.  Therefore, the health implications of a high stress life are exponentially increased and compound the already abysmal health implications of a poverty stricken diet. 

Quite frankly, it is taken as a “norm” by many American Indians that they will only get to a certain level in life and never go any further – never seeing the benefits and opportunities offered to Whites and non-Native minorities.  For this reason, American Indians, as a whole, suffer a disproportionate level of underemployment with an estimated 9.7% subsequently suffering from depression that lead to a successful suicide.  The suicide rate for Native Americans is nearly 1 in 10 – and growing each year.  Substance abuse is rampant in American Indian communities in many areas of this state as impoverished and overworked individuals try to cope with no source of hope or help.  This puts drug dependant Native Americans at a heightened chance of getting hepatitis. With the fall of the economy, some laid-off individuals have taken up the unsavory act of trading sexual favors for food, drugs, shelter, and even money.  This puts individuals at a heightened risk of HIV/AIDS as well as other STDs known to cause cancer, sterility, blindness, and other severe health issues.  Recent HIV/AIDS health data on American Indians indicates that, once diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, American Indians typically only have five years to live.   

Moreover, fetal and infant mortality in the American Indian communities of Florida is now at 12% according to the Florida C.H.A.R.T.S. report.  And, while the typical life expectancy of Native Americans nationally is just under 73 years, local tribes in Florida have indicated lower than normal life expectancies for our male population.  Verily, poverty and earnings disparity have translated into a death sentence for some Native Americans.  Having a greater income, and greater worker protection laws in Florida to stop this disparity, would literally translate into thousands of lives saved annually!