Native American Racism Essay Research Paper Native
Native American Racism Essay, Research Paper
Native Americans: 500 old ages of Racism and Oppression
& # 8220 ; In fourteen-hundred and 92, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. & # 8221 ; This small expression is something that I & # 8217 ; thousand sure we all learned as kids, to assist us retrieve the twelvemonth that Columbus discovered America. However, Columbus did non detect America, it has been here every bit long as Spain, England, and the remainder of the states in the universe at that clip. Although non as about technologically advanced as the states of Europe, the Native American states functioned every bit good, if non better, as these advanced states of Europe. However, because the Native Americans were viewed as inferior barbarians when Columbus set pes on America, he saw it suit to take their land and life. Columbus was the beginning of a long history of racism and subjugation against all Native Americans life in the Americas. Through this class of clip, there have been many different countries in which racism has shown itself: through now disregarded wars, environmental racism, and the forcing of beliefs upon these states.
Most people have heard the stating & # 8220 ; history repeats itself. & # 8221 ; There is another stating that is non every bit good known, written by the writer of Wa*censored*a: Genocide on the Great Plains, James Horsley: & # 8220 ; History is merely the past when we choose to make nil about it & # 8221 ; ( Gibson 7 ) . These two expressions could be molded together to state & # 8220 ; History repeats itself when we choose to make nil about it, & # 8221 ; or & # 8220 ; The yesteryear repeats itself because we choose to make nil about it. & # 8221 ; Although Horsley was mentioning to the Wa*censored*a slaughter and the Marias River incident when he wrote his quotation mark, it is true in all instances. Racism has invariably been repeated since the beginning of clip, and will ever be because people are different and have different ways of life ; from racism comes contending, which, in the yesteryear, has led to slaughters and wars.
Although some people think that racism is gone, it certainly is non. Although it is at much lower degrees than the past ( at least, in the U.S. ) , it still does be. Racism by Whites towards Native Americans is something that has been traveling on since twenty-four hours one, when Columbus set pes on North America. The Natives were viewed as barbarians and inferior to the Whites. Because of this, the Whites did non desire the Natives to populate with them, so they had one option: extinction. This racism and extinction continued over the continent into the Pacific Northwest, where racism still exists. One illustration of the Native American extinction is the Marias River incident. Although this slaughter is non widely known, it is a premier illustration of racism. On January 23, 1870, the U.S. Army wrongfully killed about 200 Piegans:
This event was about surely a preemptive act of military terrorist act [ Horsley ‘s accent ] against the troublesome Blackfoot Confederacy of Blood, Piegan, and Blackfoot folks. General Phil Sheridan, the designer of the Wa*censored*a Massacre, did so stipulate the cantonment of Mountain Chief as the [ Major Eugene ] Baker mark & # 8211 ; but Baker & # 8217 ; s local higher-ups urged him to utilize his ain discretion and & # 8220 ; penalize & # 8221 ; the Piegans who might [ Horsley ‘s accent ] be guilty in the yesteryear or hereafter ( Gibson 3 ) .
Horsley is seeking to demo that the United States Army killed Native Americans because they might be guilty ; guilty of being different. Major Baker was urged to assail and penalize these Indians. It was about as though it didn & # 8217 ; t count what the Army was contending to derive, every bit long as there were Indians to kill. This is a perfect illustration of the racism and hatred that Americans have put on Native Americans throughout the history of the U.S.
The job with racism is that it will ne’er travel off. There are still jobs today in society, merely non the same extent that it has been in the yesteryear. There & # 8217 ; s that phrase once more: the yesteryear. The past repetitions itself because we choose to make nil about it. We have non solved the job of racism and likely ne’er will. People expression and act different, it is merely something that must be accepted in order to extinguish racism.
Racism can hold different signifiers. In the instance of the Coeur d & # 8217 ; Alene folk, they suffer from what is known as environmental racism. Environmental racism is non widely talked or thought approximately, but is more abundant than most may believe. In instances of environmental racism, minorities, normally Hispanic or inkinesss, are seeking to maintain fouling mills out of their communities, reasoning that they have been below the belt protected from environmental jeopardies. In the instance of the Coeur d & # 8217 ; Alene folk, their conflict has been an ongoing one since the early 1920 & # 8217 ; s, when chemicals were demoing up in Lake Coeur d & # 8217 ; Alene. Henry SiJohn, a Coeur d & # 8217 ; Alene tribal leader, argues that his folk has been below the belt protected from environmental jeopardies, and has small uncertainty that anything will alter ( Cooper 534 ) .
SiJohn argues that this conflict for environmental jeopardy protection began as far back as 1920, when the H2O potatoes that the folk grew in the lake started holding a metallic gustatory sensation. When the folk foremost complained, the authorities told them that they had no voice. In his interview with Mary Cooper, SiJohn negotiations of environmental racism, stating that minority communities are more open and receives less protection from the authorities than white Americans do. SiJohn provinces that even today, the EPA does non protect the environment for his folk ( Cooper 534 )
SiJohn feels really optimistic that things will alter anytime in the close hereafter. In the concluding inquiry that Cooper asks SiJohn, he makes a supplication that he hopes will carry some people to do a alteration:
Do you believe EPA will accept your petition to clean up the Coeur d & # 8217 ; Alene River Basin?
I & # 8217 ; m really optimistic. If America doesn & # 8217 ; Ts wake up and take clasp of things, it & # 8217 ; s traveling to set us all in hazard. Peoples need to recognize they can & # 8217 ; t last without the environment. That & # 8217 ; s where the Indian philosophical position comes in. It perpetuates the pureness of the environment. Without the natural resources of fish, animate beings, birds and the like we can & # 8217 ; t unrecorded. We will hunger ( Cooper 535 ) .
He has every right to be optimistic. The authorities has barely lifted a finger in 80 old ages to assist the Native Americans of the Coeur d & # 8217 ; Alene folk. SiJohn & # 8217 ; s people and their land are easy being decimated, and they can non repair it by themselves. If politicians would take a few proceedingss to remind each other of a papers written so long ago, the Constitution of the United States, they would
see that the Native Americans and other minorities are being below the belt treated.
The intent of this full interview is to let people to see the problem and subjugation that Native Americans and other minorities have to populate with. The authorities is puting the incorrect illustration for other Americans to follow: that it is all right to construct toxic waste mopess and cancer-causing power workss in the vicinity of minorities, and so disregard their supplications for aid. As stated by SiJohn, & # 8220 ; If the Indians were the defilers, the populace would hold gotten up in weaponries and demanded that the Indians pay & # 8221 ; ( Cooper 535 ) ) . This is merely one illustration shows the environmental racism that the Native Americans must confront in their day-to-day lives. They do non have the same regard that white Americans do under the same fortunes. One alleviation that the Native Americans do hold is the First Amendment, which includes the & # 8220 ; Four Freedoms, as do all Americans: freedom of address, freedom of worship, freedom of fright, and freedom of privation & # 8211 ; outlined by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1941 ( Massey 2 ) .
Who celebrates vacations? There are many vacations than some Americans celebrate, while other Americans do non. It all depends on race and faith to calculate out who celebrates what. The United States of America has declared over half a twelve holidays that the working category can take off with wage. Two of these national vacations are the Fourth of July, and Columbus Day. While about all Americans celebrate these two vacations, some Native Americans choose non to observe one, or even both, because to them, these two vacations carry a significance of decease and extinction.
To your mean American, the Fourth of July is a clip of jubilation ; a clip when we celebrate the Independence of this Country. To a Native American, there is non much ground to observe this vacation. Even though as American citizens they portion the same rights as any American, the Fourth is when the U.S. became free from England, non when Native Americans were free from the U.S. The Native Americans continued to be exterminated until the U.S. had taken all that they could. On July 4, 1776, there were still 100s and 1000s of Native Americans populating across North America, some still incognizant of the occurrences on the East Coast. Why should the Native Americans celebrate this twenty-four hours? They still have non gotten their Independence Day. They have been confined to populating on Reservations. There is merely one ground that they should observe this twenty-four hours: because of what happened in 1776, they still have the & # 8220 ; Four freedoms. & # 8221 ; They may non hold those freedoms if England still ruled. So, in kernel, Native Americans still hold some ground to observe the Fourth of July.
Although some Native Americans do observe the Fourth, really few, if any, celebrate Columbus Day. This twenty-four hours was a turning point in universe history. It was the beginning of the terminal for Native Americans. From twenty-four hours one, Columbus idea of the Native Americans as barbarians and inferior. & # 8220 ; They ought to do good and skilled retainers, for they repeat really rapidly whatever we say to them. I think they can easy be made Christians, for they seem to hold no faith. If it pleases Our Lord, I will take six of them to Your Highnesses when I depart, in order that they may larn our linguistic communication & # 8221 ; ( Morris and Means 537 ) . Columbus figured that these Natives were inferior and had no heads of their ain. He wanted to do them European and take away their heritage.
To most Americans, Columbus Day is a twenty-four hours of jubilation because it is the beginning of our history. Before Columbus, there was nil, after Columbus, more Europeans came over the Atlantic and finally this great state was formed. However, to a Native American, Columbus Day is the beginning of the terminal of their manner of life. From twenty-four hours one, the Indians were oppressed and exterminated. Native Americans owned the land of North America before Columbus ; now the Native Americans do non have land, but are placed on authorities reserves. Glenn Morris and Russell Means believe that no 1 should observe Columbus Day, and that it should non be a vacation. & # 8220 ; We are recommending that the dissentious Columbus Day vacation should be replaced by a jubilation that is much more inclusive and more accurately brooding of the cultural and racial profusion of the Americas & # 8221 ; ( Morris and Means 14 ) . The writers are seeking to state that no 1 should observe this twenty-four hours, because it is observing the 100s of old ages of subjugation and race murder that Native Americans suffered. It is apprehensible that Native Americans do non wish to observe Columbus Day, but it is non apprehensible that no 1 should observe this twenty-four hours. I am proud to be an American and am grateful for Columbus. I am non stating that the extinction of Natives was morally right, but I would non be here today if it had non happened. Americans should be proud of who they are and be happy that there is such a thing as Columbus Day.
Race and faith are two strong factors in make up one’s minding who celebrates what. Because the United States allows freedom of address and faith, anyone individual can observe what he or she wishes without injury coming to him or her. The First Amendment is one of the most of import in the Constitution of the United States of America because it gives the & # 8220 ; four freedoms & # 8221 ; to all American citizens.
Since non merely the beginning of American history, but besides the beginning of universe history, there has been racism and subjugation. There ever seems to be a more dominant race of people. Racism shows itself in many ways, and has repeated itself throughout the history of world. Whether it is one state extinguishing another, environmentally related, or coercing the thoughts of one state onto another, racism will ever be. For the Native Americans, the beginning of the terminal came in 1492: & # 8220 ; In fourteen-hundred and 92, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. & # 8221 ;
Bibliography
Beginnings:
Cooper, Mary. & # 8220 ; An Indian Leader Speaks Out for the Land? An Interview with Idaho & # 8217 ; s
Henry SiJohn & # 8221 ; . CQ Researcher. June 19, 1998.
Gibson, Stan. An Uncelebrated Anniversary. 1996.
Massey, Dallas, Sr. & # 8220 ; Chariman & # 8217 ; s Vision: Do Native Americans Celebrate the Declaration
of Independence Day? & # 8221 ; . Fort Apache Scout. V.37 ; N.6. July 3, 1998.
Morris, Glenn and Means, Russell. & # 8220 ; Why AIM Opposses Columbus Day and Columbus
Day Parades & # 8221 ; . Purpose and Process: A Reader for Writers. Ed. Stephen Reid. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: 1997. 537-40.
