Note: this front-page editor’s note introduces this issue’s feature story.
In the 1960s, revolutions in Indian country were political, and the media swarmed in to cover sit-ins, demonstrations and fiery speeches. When the sit-ins and occasional violence ended, the media left and people on the reservations found little had changed.
Today, Indian country is in the midst of a 1990s-style revolution, one that is likely to have a lasting impact. When this revolution ends some time in the next century, Indian lands will no longer be controlled by the Bureau of Indian Affairs or the non-Indian farmers, ranchers, loggers and miners who lease land on reservations.
Reservations will be economically sovereign, as self-sufficient and independent as any community can be in a global economy.
This story of the transformation of Indian country was written by staff writer Greg Hanscom after visits to reservations and interviews with people across the West and in Washington, D.C.
It opens on the Fort Hall Reservation in Idaho, but it could as easily have opened on a score of other Indian nations.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline Editor’s note.
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