Front Cover of Business & Politics in Indian Country
Back cover of Business & Politics in Indian Country
Schitsu’umsh — Morris Antelope
An investigative report by D.G. Comer details systemic failures within tribal leadership and calls for greater accountability to restore genuine sovereignty.
PUPOSKY, MN, UNITED STATES, October 28, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ — Author and Native executive D.G. Comer follows up his groundbreaking book Business & Politics in Indian Country – You Can’t Handle the Truth with a second-week exposé that refuses to let the conversation fade. His investigation exposes how poverty, nepotism, addiction, broken systems, and moral complacency continue to undermine Native sovereignty from within.
“The first week exposed the message,” Comer says. “The second week demands a reckoning.”
While Indian Country still battles the long shadow of federal oppression, Comer argues the deeper danger is internal decay — tribal governments and corporations that mimic the very bureaucracies once used to control them. “We’ve inherited the tools of colonialism,” he warns, “and we’re using them on ourselves.”
A Crisis Hidden in Plain Sight
Across more than 570 federally recognized tribes, billions circulate each year, yet many Native families still endure poverty, unsafe water, and unemployment rivaling the Great Depression. Comer says these contradictions are not coincidences.
“Too many leaders have mastered the art of blame,” he writes. “We blame the Bureau of Indian Affairs or Congress — while ignoring the dysfunction inside our own walls.”
“Sovereignty isn’t a slogan,” Comer continues. “It’s a system of responsibility. If you can’t run your own government with fairness and honesty, you haven’t earned it.”
He calls this failure the defining crisis of modern Indian Country — “hidden in plain sight, dressed in cultural pride but hollow at its core.”
The Manufactured Trap of Dependency
Poverty remains the most visible symptom. Many tribal economies depend almost entirely on gaming or federal allocations, creating what Comer calls a “manufactured dependency loop.”
“When your income depends on outside approval, sovereignty becomes theater,” he says. “Freedom begins when we own our income streams, not just our land titles.”
He highlights tribes building renewable-energy, construction, and technology ventures as examples of economic diversification. “We don’t lack capacity,” Comer notes. “We lack replication. Courage is contagious — but so is complacency.”
Nepotism: The Quiet Saboteur
If dependency is the cage, nepotism is the lock. Comer’s research exposes how favoritism and cronyism limit opportunity to those within political or family circles.
“Some councils operate less like governments and more like private clubs,” he says. “We’ve replaced colonial hierarchy with cousin hierarchy.”
Kinship itself, he insists, is not the problem — corruption is. “Family should be our strength,” Comer writes. “But when family loyalty replaces fairness, we lose both.”
Addiction and Mental Health: The Unspoken War
Few topics cut closer to home. “Every Native family I know — including my own — has buried someone because of addiction or despair,” Comer shares. “We light candles for them, but we don’t light a fire under the system that failed them.”
He criticizes programs that spend heavily on “awareness” while neglecting treatment and follow-up care. “We don’t need another poster campaign,” Comer says. “We need sober leadership, not slogans.”
He calls for mandatory audits of addiction funding, transparent recovery data, and youth programs that treat prevention as investment, not afterthought.
Broken Systems and the Bureaucracy of Failure
Beneath these issues lies structural rot — systems that preserve paychecks instead of progress.
Education departments track attendance, not learning. Courts enforce loyalty, not law. Agencies reward silence over competence.
Comer calls it the “bureaucracy of failure” — a cycle of mediocrity sustained by fear of change. “Too many officials think reform means rebellion,” he says. “They protect the comfort of power instead of the power of the people.”
He challenges leaders to “stop mistaking ceremony for sovereignty.” Cultural pride, he argues, must be matched with competence. “Our ancestors didn’t pray for more committees — they prayed for warriors willing to speak truth.”
A Call for Accountability
Comer’s exposé offers a framework for reclaiming authentic sovereignty:
**Merit Over Bloodline ** – Hire for skill, not surname.
**Radical Transparency ** – Publish budgets and contracts for public review.
**Ethics Oversight ** – Create independent review boards immune to political pressure.
**Health First ** – Make recovery and youth wellness central to governance.
**Diversified Sovereignty ** – Build enterprises that outlive election cycles.
“Accountability isn’t anti-Native,” Comer insists. “It’s the oldest tradition we have — standing responsible for what we’ve been given.”
Beyond the Book
This exposé continues Comer’s ongoing effort to confront internal challenges within Indian Country and to encourage open discussion about accountability and reform. He urges tribal citizens, leaders, and readers alike to think critically about how sovereignty is practiced—not just proclaimed.
Comer emphasizes that change must begin within Native communities themselves. “Change imposed from Washington is supervision,” he says. “Change demanded by our own people is sovereignty.”
He envisions a future built on transparency, ethical leadership, and courage to confront difficult truths.
“Our elders fought to reclaim our nations,” Comer concludes. “Now it’s
His goal is to turn dialogue into measurable reform — open audits, leadership training, and a new generation of Native professionals unafraid to challenge the system.
“Our elders fought to reclaim our nations,” Comer concludes. “Now it’s our turn to reclaim our integrity.”
About the Author
D.G. Comer is a Native executive, U.S. Army veteran, and author whose work spans business leadership, tribal governance, and social reform. Through Heck Fuzzy Productions, he challenges entrenched narratives and sparks national dialogue with firsthand, unapologetic truth-telling.
Availability
Business & Politics in Indian Country – You Can’t Handle the Truth is available in hardcover and paperback from HeckFuzzy.com, Amazon, and IngramSpark.
Limited Autographed First Editions, embossed and gold-sealed, are available exclusively through the author’s website while supplies last.
“If we don’t fix what’s broken within, it won’t matter who stands outside our doors. The real battle for sovereignty begins in the mirror.” D.G.Comer
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D.G. Comer
Heck Fuzzy Publications
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