“America’s Native Prisoners of War” and Morgan Spurlock’s
Watching and internalizing Aaron Huey’s TED Talk “America’s Native Prisoners of War” and Morgan Spurlock’s “30 Days” episode on the Navajo Reservation gives us a common conclusion that the life described by Junior in the Spokane Indian Reservation is the same as the life on the Navajo Reservation discussed in the video, 30 Days. In both instances, life is characterized by addiction and abject poverty. In chapter 2, Junior is categorical to express the poverty his family is languishing in. he states, “…really just a poor-ass reservation kid living with his poor-ass family on the poor-ass Spokane Indian Reservation”, showing that his family lacks the money to take Oscar (their sick dog which later dies) to the vet. Junior is also seen struggling to maintain a consistent school attendance due to lack of bus fare. He tries to show this problem in one of his cartoon drawings, whereby the distance to and from school is 22 miles. The cartoon struggles to get to and from school because his partner does not have money to fuel the vehicle, and most of the time, he ends up walking home even after getting a ride. The struggles show how poverty has been a disturbance in his family, and this gets him stressed when he imagines that other students from wealthy families (whites) do not have to go through such.
In the same way, poverty cases are exhibited in The Navajo Reservation as people have to survive in the absence of basic things like water, heat, and electricity. Most of them are unable to make ends meet because due to a lack of money.
On addiction, in both cases, there are people addicted to alcohol. Junior’s father is alcoholic, and that is why he says he is an alcoholic only when he becomes drunk. He goes out to drink and sometimes disappears for days. Eugene’s father also loses his life through a gunshot on the face after a disagreement over the last sip of wine. Binge drinking also leads Junior’s sister (Mary) to set the house on fire through a blackout, which causes her death. Additionally, Penelope is addicted to throwing up, and that is when Junior adduces that as her character, she becomes angry and defensive.
In summary, poverty and addiction are common concerns in both Indian reservations. Many families languish in poverty to the extremes of not affording the basic needs, which leads to depression among them. It is unclear whether people have normalized alcoholism to cope with depression or for prestige.