Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Government checks for Indians

The Wife and I were driving through the Navajo Reservation a few days ago and were talking about indians in general. I have heard that indians get a ‘monthly’ government check. Does anyone know much about this? I am curious to how much they get, how they qualify, (I have no indian blood and have never taken a dime of any kind of welfare), is it the same for different tribes? Etc.

Thanks for your input.

Some get oil checks for mineral rights on reservations.

Lots of them get checks from the casinos and lots of them are on welfare. There are several ways Indians get checks from the governments.

They get their reparations monthly.

The installment plan.

Lots of inner city reparations are paid that way too. But it's never gonna be enough.

Stay out of Havre on the first. Or a coal severance payment day. That was EPIC! Or when the Tribe used federal funds to buy deeded Indian land from the members. There was a pretty steady flow of new pickups headed to the rez.


I suppose that there are some differences in the treaties?

Typically the Indians up here get monetary and food assistance.

Any money that does not go straight to the Tribal members gets squandered, er...embezzled.....er....I mean thoughtfully spent by the Tribal Council.


Typically the money is sent right to the tribal members. It aint no run away though.

As far as I know you have to be a tribal member to qualify for the checks.


I am not a member of any tribe....but I could go to any IHS hospital and qualify for reduced cost or "free" health care.

So, there are some services supplied even if you are not enrolled.

Pretty much the way it is on some other rez's I'm familiar with.

They get a cut of royalties, both fuel and timer, as well as their cut of what the ranching or leasing brings in as well. And hunting income the rez generates too.

Pretty much communism on the hoof. Supplemented by tax dollars.

Enrolled members may get $ from the tribe and that money comes from one or more of the following, mineral lease payments for tribal ground, forestry leases on tribal ground, easement payments on tribal ground, tribal income such as casinos or hunting income, farming or ranching income or lease payments for ag lands. Some tribes have $ held in trust by the feds and the feds disperse that to the tribe to be distributed.

The tribes have to pay for other services on the reservation with this income first. Or at least they are supposed to.

This is my limited understanding being around the edges of the situation.

Around here they get checks because ignorant white folks piss away money in their casinos. There’s a damn Indian casino on every corner these days and they’re all full of folks without a pot to piss in but able to scrape together enough to go play slots.

I have to stay at some of the bigger and nicer ones occasionally for work, seminars and such. Nice facilities but sickening to see the sad sack idiots in there feeding those machines. Almost never see an Indian in one, not playing anyway, always trailer trash white folks and the occasional old black dude.

Of course embezzlement and theft runs rampant among some of the staff. One guy from my hometown was an accountant for a big casino, his wife was a member of that tribe. They caught him with his hand in the cookie jar, like 6 figures in the cookie jar, but decided it would be too much hassle to press charges and go to court so just fired him. He had a job as an accountant at another casino less than 10 miles away in under a week.

Haha! Here the white guys dump money into the Indian casinos.


The Indians dump money into the White casinos.



Its symbiotic.

These checks should be stopped. Rather, we should return to the Indians all the land they originally possessed in 1776.

No white casinos allowed here Big Jim. Not like a double standard or two sets of rules, just they can have them and we can’t.
Oh well, I wouldn’t be able to sleep at night anyway if that was how I made my living.

We can start with your house and yard.

I got to get off my ass, go get signed up for SS, was 66 in March. I can pretend I’m on welfare!!!

I know the Miccosukee Seminoles were getting $2000+ apiece each month, over 20 years ago. They got it even if they were in prison. Don't know what it's up to these days.

You give up your house first and let us know how it works out.

Don’t stop da checks brother’s, I get a native check and three government checks.

They used to get a “per cap” check when they turned 18. A few never made it to 19, a new car and liquor equals trouble.