Native Americans- Minority Role Essay Example for Free

Native Americans- Minority Role Essay Power and Minority Group Position: The Case of Native Americans Majority/Minority group relations can be illustrated by studying the role of power and how it is distributed between groups. The majority, or group that wields the most power, directly affects the circumstances for the minority. In most cases power struggle leads to racial and ethnic inequality. This scenario describes the case of the Native Americans. Since the arrival of the Europeans in 1492 the Native American has systematically been dehumanized, decivilized and redefined into terms that typify a subordinate or minority role, restricted life opportunities persist today as a result (Farley, 2000). When European settlers arrived on American shores to settle a New World, around 7 million Native Americans had been settled in the wilderness north of present-day Mexico for some time. It is believed that the first Native Americans arrived during the last Ice Age, approximately 20,000 30,000 years ago, by crossing the Bering Strait from northeastern Siberia into Alaska. Over thousands of years, spiritual kin-based communities had survived by living off the land and bartering goods. Their diversity was reflected by their societies, which ranged from small, mobile bands of hunter-gatherers in the Great Basin to temple-mound builders in the Southeast (DiBacco, 1995). The encounter of early explorers with the people of the Americas would ultimately set in motion the destruction of long existing Native American life and culture. Engrained into the minds of the Europeans were prejudiced images and stereotypes of the Native Americans, which we struggle still today to eradicate. From the 1490s to the 1590s, Europeans pushed inward across America from both coasts. Encounters with these settlers attracted many Native Americans toward European goods, but their attitudes toward the newcomers themselves depended greatly on previous experiences (Farley, 2000). In most cases, the early explorers found the Native American peoples to be friendly and generous. Columbus was immediately struck by the peaceful, generous nature of the Taino. The Taino society was highly organized around a patriarchal hierarchy and distinguished by happiness and friendliness. Columbus frankly stated how surprised he had been to make friends with the Indians. He wrote, They are gentle and comely people. They are so naive and free with their possessions that no one who has not witnessed them would never believe it. When you ask for something they have, they never say no. To the contrary, they offer to share with anyone They willingly traded everything they owned (DiBacco, 1995) When the Europeans settlers started to arrive in the 16th- and 17th-centurys they too were met by Native Americans. The Natives regarded their white-complexioned visitors as something of a marvel, not only for their outlandish dress and beards and winged ships, but even more for their wonderful technology steel knives and swords, fire-belching arquebus and cannons, mirrors, hawkbells and earrings, copper and brass kettles, etc. (Jordan, 1991). Increased interaction led to the Indians becoming less self-sufficient and economically dependent on the whites. As the years went on, however, the natives began to realize that the Europeans had much more in mind than a few settlements. They began to realize that their entire way of life was under siege. By the time the truth occurred to them, however, it was probably already too late. Their bows and arrows were no match for the Europeans firearms, and their bodies could not defend against the foreign diseases (DiBacco, 1995). As the encroachment of settlers on Indian lands continued, so did the inevitable conflicts. To the Indians, the arriving Europeans seemed attuned to another world; they appeared oblivious to the rhythms and spirits of nature (Jordan, 1991). Nature to the Europeans was something of an obstacle, even an enemy, and these disrespectful attitudes were quite apparent to the Indians. The wilderness was also a commodity however: a forest was so many board feet of timber, a beaver colony so many pelts, a herd of buffalo so many hides (Jordan, 1991). The Europeans cultural arrogance and ethnocentrism, and their materialistic view of the land and its inhabitants were repulsive to the Indians. Europeans, overall, were regarded as something mechanical soulless creatures wielding diabolically ingenious tools and weapons to accomplish selfish ends (Jordan, 1991). Initial European impressions of the Native American population were formed by the descriptions of Columbus and other explorers. Although Columbus initially praised the Taino, crediting them with a very acute intelligence , he also provided an unfavorable view of Native Americans when he discussed the Carib Indians, who were said to be very fierce cannibals. This description set the stage for the long-enduring image of the hostile, savage Indian (Berkhofer, 1978). Another New World explorer, Amerigo Vespucci further established this imagery in his writings about the natives stating, The nations wage war upon one another without art or order. The elders by means of certain harangues of theirs bend the youths to their will and inflame them to wars in which they cruelly kill one another, and those whom they bring home captives from war they preserve, not to spare their lives, but that they may be slain for food; for they eat one another, the victors the vanquished, and among other kinds of meat human flesh is a common article of diet with them. Nay be the more assured of this fact because the father has already been seen to eat children and wife (Burkhofer, 1978). The recently developed printing press rapidly dispersed such images through both print and picture, and these representations became firmly etched in the minds of the Europeans (Bataille, 1980). Eventually, the Native Americans were considered subhuman and evil. The hope of civilizing the Indian was often expressed, but ultimately religion required the eventual submission of the Indians to white domination (Burkhofer, 1978) When colonies began to form in North America, the colonists wanted to create a world similar to the one they had left. The Indians were a major barrier to this progress and civilization. The colonists hoped the natives would embrace Christianity and become assimilated within the colonist society. When the Native Americans resisted, they, like the wilderness, became merely an obstacle in the colonists path. Because they would not conform to the European way of life, their destruction was inevitable. Because some justification was needed in order to wipe out the entire race, the stereotype of the bloodthirsty savage was solidified (Bataille, 1980). The Europeans were accustomed to owning land and claimed ownership of the new territory, justifying their actions with the fact that the Indians were nomads with no interest in owning any land. The conflicts led to many wars and various actions instituted by the Europeans in order to accomplish their objectives. The Indian tribes were at a great disadvantage during these wars because of their modest numbers, nomadic life, lack of advanced weapons, and unwillingness to cooperate, even in their own defense (Jordan, 1991). During the nineteenth century, the American Indians, by tradition a communal people, were forcibly separated from their native cultures and lands. By the mid-1840s most of the Native Americans east of the Mississippi River had been relocated to Indian Territory, as a result of President Andrew Jacksons Indian Removal Act of 1830. This act gave territory to Native Americans who agreed to reject their ancestral holdings. This act allowed the Indians to live on the declared territory indefinitely. Many refused to leave their homelands, however, engaging in battles destined to end in death and destruction. These Native Americans were subjected to numerous forms of violence, such as raping, scalping and lynching, among other acts (Zinn, 1980). The Europeans eventually stripped the Native Americans of most of their lands, and as the settlers pushed further west, the boundaries of the Indian Territory continued to shrink. As the wandering Indians encountered existing tribes and the designated Indian Territory became more crowded, conflicts over land and hunting rights ensued. The relocated Indians were often struck by famine, as buffalo and other game became scarce. The reduction of the overcrowded Indian reservations was continued as more white settlers arrived in America (Zinn, 1980). The building of the transcontinental railroad allowed for thousands of white setters to make their way across Indian Territory. Native Americans forced off their lands often starved on the poor land or died of diseases brought with the settlers from Europe. Indians were often pressured to sign treaties giving up land and agreeing to live on reservations. In return, the government vowed to provide the Indians with services and supplies (Todd, 1986). The white men did not uphold this promise, however. Most of the Native Americans were nomadic and nonagricultural, and all depended for survival on hunting the buffalo (Jordan, 1991). The settlers realized the usefulness of the buffalo hides and killed an estimated three million buffalo each year over a three-year period. The devastation of the buffalo was also devastating to the Indians (Jordan, 1991). Tensions were increased as Indians traveled outside reservation lines to hunt buffalo for survival. When government attempts at concentrating the Native Americans in reservations proved ineffective, many battles ensued between Indians and Americans. Because their designated land was insufficient, the Indians were forced to revolt in order to survive (Todd, 1986). Terribly disadvantaged, however, the Native Americans were not able to defend themselves against the settlers. Most American Indians saw themselves as citizens of sovereign Indian nations. In fact, during the first half of the 1800s, the U. S. government treated Indians who lived in tribes as members of separate nations. The federal government even negotiated formal treaties with them. All that changed in the latter half of the 1800s. The U. S.government began to look at Indians as wards or dependents instead of citizens of their own sovereign nations or citizens of the United States. In 1870, the Senate declared that the Fourteenth Amendment, which granted citizenship to African Americans, did not apply to American Indians who lived in tribes. In 1871, Congress stated that hereafter no Indian nation or tribe within the territory of the United States shall be recognized as an independent nation (DiBacco, 1995). In 1887, congress passed the Dawes Act, dividing both reservations and families. Indian families who agreed to live separate and apart from any tribe were given their own land to cultivate. After 25 years, the family would be granted both land and U. S. citizenship. This U. S. policy stressed Indian assimilation of the habits of civilized life through citizenship, education, and individual land ownership (DiBacco, 1995). Traditionally, Native Americans owned land through tribes and communities, as opposed to individually. The effort to individualize Indians and force them to forgo their tribal and traditional ways caused strife among tribal communities and provoked a growing Indian opposition (Zinn, 1980). Once again, however, the Indians suffered because the quality of their land was very poor, they were untrained at farming, and they lacked proper tools. Additionally, disease and malnutrition increased as common causes of death. Between 1887 and 1934, American Indian nations lost more than sixty percent of their land to the American federal government (Jordan, 1991). The end of the 19th century marked the end of the Indian Wars with an unprovoked massacre in 1890 during which Indian warriors, women, and children were slaughtered by U. S. cavalry at Wounded Knee (Jordan, 1991). In the end approximately 200 Native American men, women, and children had been killed (DiBacco, 1995). In the early twentieth century Indians continued to be the target of civilized assimilation efforts. In accordance with these efforts, the government funded Native American churches and schools. Education has been regarded as a primary tool in the cultural genocide, or assimilation, of Native Americans throughout history. Its overall effect severely diluted Native American culture with Christian European values and beliefs, but taught no Native American history (Keohane, 2003). The Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania, the Haskell Institute in Kansas, and the Chilocco Indian School in Oklahoma all sought to eradicate Indian languages and lifestyles. Native Americans from various areas were forced to send their children to such schools. Most were boarding schools where students would have no contact with their tribal homeland. Students were forced to adapt themselves to the culture of the colonists under a militarized system that enforced the use of the English language, English names, and Christian religion, while dismissing Native American cultures as uncivilized. Many of the students were even kept from their families during breaks as they were sent off to work under white families, still furthering their cultural immersion and strengthening the American economy. Kill the Indian and save the man was the Carlisle Schools motto (Keohane, 2003). During the first few decades of the 20th century, the gap between Indians and whites widened as Native Americans continued to find the thinking of white Americans illogical, and Federal officials continued to outlaw Indian religious practices. As assimilation efforts began to succeed, American Indians were reduced in the public eye to the status of ancient relics. For example, most citizens were unaware that ten thousand Indian men were serving in World War I or that educated Indians were becoming teachers, farmers, and ministers (Zinn, 1980). Many of the stereotypes of Native Americans originally created in Columbus time have carried over to contemporary society. This only solidified white attitudes about manifest destiny and the role of the Indian in North America. The bloodthirsty savage had become a staple of the popular dime novel and Wild West shows (Bataille,1980). By the time of World War I, the image of the ignorant, savage Native American was firmly established in popular film, which was greatly profitable though historically inaccurate. The generic Indian was portrayed in fringed clothing, communicating through grunts and simple language (Bataille, 1980). Even today, many people overgeneralize about Native Americans, seeing them as one people even though the tribes have always differed in many ways. In 1924, Native Americans were finally given some recognition as a federal law pushed U. S.citizenship upon the remaining Indian population, BE IT ENACTED , THAT ALL NON-CITIZEN INDIANS BORN WITHIN THE TERRITORIAL LIMITS OF THE UNITED STATES BE AND THEY ARE HEREBY, DECLARED TO BE CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES: PROVIDED, THAT THE GRANTING OF SUCH CITIZENSHIP SHALL NOT IN ANY MANNER IMPAIR OR OTHERWISE AFFECT THE RIGHT OF ANY INDIAN TO TRIBAL OR OTHER PROPERTY. THE INDIAN CITIZENSHIP ACT, APPROVED JUNE 2, 1924 Despite their newly gained citizenship, Native Americans were blocked from voting for the next twenty years in Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico. As a result, The Indian Rights Association and The American Indian Defense Association were formed to protect Indian rights, but the two organizations had limited power or impact (DiBacco, 1995). The plight of American Indians attracted little attention until 1928, when a shocking study, the Meriam Report, exposed the frequency of Indian poverty and the failure of government to fulfill allotted promises. The result of this new interest in reform was called the Indian New Deal, a new law that would restructure tribal governments and the administration of federal policies. The bill became the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. It introduced federal programs to support Indian agriculture, vocational education, and economic development. It included a provision that allowed reservation communities to set up tribal governments patterned after local units of the American government. Despite criticisms of the law being too paternalistic and undermining tribal traditions, the authority of Indian communities actually did expand during this time. The new Indian governments began to assert their rights in order to reverse the loss of tribal sovereignty (Jordan, 1991). Even though American Indians sent twenty-five thousand men and women to World War II, ten thousand to the Korean conflict, and forty-three thousand to Vietnam, their efforts did little to erase negative images of Indians (Zinn, 1980). Such images have also persisted in federal policy. Following World War II the Bureau of Indian Affairs instituted a program to terminate the federal governments trust relations with many tribes. In 1953 government officials passed a bill reducing federal expenditures and shrinking the federal bureaucracy by getting out of the Indian business and setting Indians free from federal support and protection. Poverty and homelessness quickly produced frustration and anger, and these, in turn, produced additional problems: alcoholism, joblessness, and poverty (Zinn, 1980). In the late 1960s, the Civil Rights Movement kicked off a wave of political activism by Native Americans, successfully changing negative policies and views. A new voice began to be heard in 1961 when the American Indian Chicago Conference gathered to present an Indian agenda for the new Kennedy administration. As American Indian youth became more involved in national Indian issues, the National Indian Youth Council formed (DiBacco, 1995). Additional examples of this new activism and militancy would include the founding of the American Indian Movement in 1968, the occupation of Alcatraz Island in 1969, the Trail of Broken Treaties march of 1972, and the armed occupation of Wounded Knee, South Dakota, in 1973 (Farley, 2000). These and other actions produced a national and highly visible call for Native American self-determination. This new campaign also emphasized individual tribal culture and practices. Pro-Indian legislation emerged during the 1970s as a result of activism and self-determination. The Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act, was passed in 1975 and stipulated that tribes could enter into contracts with the Indian Bureau to administer their own programs, from education to health care to housing. Other new laws included a settlement of land claims in Maine in 1978 and two pieces of landmark legislation passed the same year. The Indian Child Welfare Act established a role for tribes in the adoption of Indian children and the American Indian Religious Freedom Act declared constitutional support for Native American religious freedom (DiBacco, 1995). Despite growing efforts at self-determination, exploitation still plagues the Native Americans. Recent water and energy needs have led to government and industrial encroachment on Native American Land. Native Americans have even seen their reservations recommended as toxic-waste dumping grounds in exchange for much needed money. Discrimination still continues, especially in cities near the reservations. Tribal governments have enormous responsibilities that include the protection of hunting and fishing rights, water rights, religious traditions, and cultural heritage. At the same time, they struggle to develop successful gaming operations, profitable industrial factories, and effective educational and social-welfare programs. The systematic disorganization and dehumanization of their societies have restricted life opportunities. Poor education, low income, bad housing, poor health, alchoholism, and suicides are serious problems facing Native Americans today. They suffer the highest rates of poverty and unemployment among racial minority groups in the United States. Conditions are worse on Native American reservations, where an estimated 1/3 of them still live. According to goventment statistics on income, Native Americans are the poorest of the poor. (Farley, 2000) Today, many people in the United States ignore or are unaware of the problems Native Americans face. Many of those who are aware often stereotype them as backward, drunk, or unmotivated. Relations between Indians and non-Indians in the United States have been marked by an unfortunate series of blunders caused by prejudice and negative stereotypes. Even still, todays 2. 1 million Native Americans have proved their resilience by surviving oppression in a world dominated by other races and cultures. Unlike other minorities who have fought for equal rights in American society, Native Americans have fought to retain their land and cultures and have avoided assimilation, at a hefty cost. Works Cited Bataille, Gretchen. The Pretend Indians: Images of Native Americans in the Movies. Iowa State University, Ames: 1980 Berkhofer, Robert F. The White Mans Indian. Alfred A. Knopf Publishers, New York, 1978. DiBacco, Thomas V. , Lorna C. Mason, and Christian G. Appy. History of The United States. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1995. Keohane, Sonja. The Reservation Boarding School System in the United States, 1870-1928. http://www. twofrog. com. 3/19/2005 Jordan,Winthrop D. and Leon F. Litwack. The United States. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall, 1991. Todd, Lewis Paul and Merta Curti. Triumph of the American Nation. Orlando: Harcourt Brace Joranovich, Inc. , 1986. Zinn, Howard. A Peoples History of the United States. New York: Harper-Collins, 1980. Farley, John. Majority-Minority Relations. New Jersey: Prentice Hall,2000.