Heavily recommend listening to Bill Moyer’s interview with poet & author Sherman Alexie. Alexie was born & raised on the Spokane Indian Reservation, and has written about his life as a man of two worlds (both racially and as a man who suffers from bipolar disorder).
I have a great deal of hollow empathy for the Native American. I want to call it real, I really want to know & understand tribal culture past & present, but honestly I can only I call it “hollow”, for I’m a white New England suburbanite whose only connection to Native Americans is through the co-opting of Indian stereotypes I enjoyed as a Boy Scout and a handful of books I’ve read. So other than growing up in an alcoholic household, I can only imagine the pain of growing up Native American in a country that tried to exterminate your forefathers.
Sherman Alexie certainly sounds like that gateway, that bridge between cultures. I found the interview compelling & powerful in its sadness & humor. I think I’ve figured out my next Kindle read ….
America In Context 
I’m finding it increasingly hard to have any empathy because of what I call Native American on Native American culture crimes. I spent time in 2010 through early 2011 trying to help w/ free educational resources, spreading news, legal resources, etc. Who got in the way the most? Native Americans who had other interests – namely loosely legal organized criminal activity.
However – yes – realistically like much of the plight of the Black community, the history comes into strong influence here. A lot of damage that’s hard to reconcile that trickles through generations. I’m just waiting for their Bill Cosby or Larry Elders to start kicking a bit of self-reliance and anti-pity into higher gear.
Call me a bastard for it.. that’s where I’m at now, -Pk