Native American rights in America

[Woodrow]

I am starting this thread in response to a PM exchange with one of our Native American members. I couldn't decide if this would be best in General or WA I decided WA is best as American Policy in any matter becomes a world wide issue.

I had posted in another thread that one of the issues the new US administration has to face is Native American Rights. The member asked me to be more specific about what rights. Rather then take the thread off topic I decided a new thread is best.

The rights I am concerned with have to do with the rights of those who live on the large reservations. Right now I see much injustice in the Sioux and Cheyenne reservations. I think the same applies to other large reservations.

Some of the things I have become aware of as a result of ties I now have with friends on Pine ridge. I wonder just how many times we as a nation have failed the original inhabitants.

to begin with my views probably are prejudiced My wife being Cheyenne and my previous wife having been Cherokee, plus many of the Lakota I know do belong to AIM and are supporters of NARF. Yes, they are considered radicals, but I think they have some very valid points.

To begin-- some information:

The report, titled 'Native Americans in South Dakota: an erosion of confidence in the justice system', was released March 29 after 6 months of investigations into a series of unsolved murders of Indians throughout the State.

A hearing in Rapid City in December by the Commission, headed by President Clinton's appointee Mary Frances Berry, heard testimony not only from scores of Natives but also local, state, and federal cops and lawyers about the many suspicious deaths: 6 Indian men have been found dead in Rapid Creek over the last 2 years and are being investigated as homicides; 2 Indian men were found dead in a field near Pine Ridge; another Indian was stuffed head first in a trash can in Mobridge and died; and another was run over in Sisseton by a white man. No suspects have been arrested in the Rapid City and Pine Ridge cases, but 4 young whitemen were released in the Mobridge case and another whiteman got a light sentence for the hit-and-run in Sisseton. All the cases involved alcohol.

The CRC report cites extensive data about the racist makeup of the problem, including as much as 85% unemployment on the reservations compared to 2.7% unemployment for the non-native population; American Indian violent victimization statistics that are double that of the national Black population and well over twice the national racial numbers; 4 times as many Indians in jails in SD as whites where Indians are 8% of the State's population; 4 times the rate of teen suicides and fetal alcohol syndrome.

"On any given day," the report states, "an estimated one in 25 American Indians 18 years old and older is under the jurisdiction of the nation's criminal justice system. This is 2.4 times the rate for whites and 9.3 times the per capita rate for Asians but about half the rate for blacks.

SOURCE

Some views from a Native American:

Native American Realities

I was born, of course, right into the Native American situation. The cruel realities affecting our people are not always widely known:

There are presently at least two and a half million Native people in what's called the United States—in about 600 tribes, each with its own distinct culture, which are rightly perceived by their members, though not by most Anglos, as sovereign nations.

Whether reservation or urban, the Native American situation is characterized by severe economic marginality and frequently outright desperation.

Unemployment on the reservations, always high, is now—depending on the particular setting and circumstance—between 50% and 90%. Urban Indian unemployment stands between 50% and 60%—with many additional people working only part-time at odd jobs and day labor.

The average life expectancy for an Indian person is, depending on whichever of the current estimates, six to ten years below that of other Americans—with the Native health situation marked by, among other things, the highest diabetes, tuberculosis, alcoholism, and suicide rates in the United States.

SOURCE

International Human Rights Bodies Condemn Violations of Native, Minority, and Immigrant Women's Rights in the U.S.

Of particular concern to CERD were the extraordinary rate of sexual violence against Native American women and female migrant workers, especially domestic workers, and the U.S.'s denial of justice to these women. In its concluding recommendations [PDF], the Committee outlined specific actions for the government to take, on which it must report the next time it appears before the committee. The Committee censured the government for its failure to address workplace discrimination faced by undocumented migrant women -- who are routinely subjected to dangerous working conditions, excessive work hours, and wage violations -- noting with concern that recent Supreme Court decisions have further eroded protections for vulnerable workers. The committee also drew attention to the racial disparities in access to health care, as evidenced by the elevated rates of HIV infection and maternal mortality rates among women of color, and similar disparities in the criminal justice system. - Lenora Lapidus

SOURCEl

Although this has been addressed by a least one school district, I believe education rights are still an issue.

The Winner School district located in South Dakota has announced a settlement that it reached with the Winner/Ideal Native American Community regarding a discrimination class action lawsuit.

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of ten native American families with children attending schools in the district; a judge later certified the suit as a Class Action suit applying to all Native American families with children in the school district.

According to the press release, one of the ACLU lawyers representing the families, Catherine Kim said: "Across the nation, education for Native American youth is in crisis. In Winner School District, Native American students drop out of school, transfer to other districts, or are sent to detention facilities at rates far higher than white students. We are pleased that the Winner School District has agreed to take proactive steps to support Native American students. It is our hope that the district can serve as a model for other communities serving minority students."

The suit alleged that the district's disciplinary actions were discriminatory towards Native American students, and that the schools displayed open animosity to Native American families . The school also, allegedly, used statements Native American students gave school officials during disciplinary situations to prosecute the students in juvenile courts, according to the ACLU's press release.

The Winner School District did not admit to any wrongdoing and claimed that they reached a settlement to avoid a long court battle.

SOURCE


So in my opinion some of the rights that need to be addressed are:

Protection of Civil rights
Access to quality health care
Protection of land owned by tribal councils
Right to quality education

 

[Keltoi]

I'm Native American, but I wasn't born into the reservation system. I have visisted Pine Ridge as well as the Crow reservation in Montana. I've seen the chronic poverty that exists there. It's a disgraceful situation, but I'm not sure what the answer really is. Economic development was supposed to be a side-effect of Indian gaming laws, but it never materialized. This is why so many Natives leave the reservation. There is no opportunity there. It's a double edged sword really. The young leave the rez and assimilate fully into society, leaving their traditional way of life behind. That is why languages are dying.

I remember all the trouble in South Dakota in the 70's. AIM, while a radical group, were considered the only group that were actually concerned with the rights of the Lakota on Pine Ridge. There were two factions. The tribal chairman represented the more modern and mixed blood faction and AIM represented the more traditional and full blood faction. I'm not sure what the murders are about these days, but back then it was persecution of traditionals by the tribal leadership and to some extent the FBI themselves.

To the rights issue though, there must be more protections of tribal land. I'm sure you are aware of the Lakota claim to the Black Hills. They continue to reject any payment for them and legally they have every right to be awarded that land. The problem of course is that the land is under development and the home to many non-Native people.

I sometimes go to the "Indian" Hospital here in Oklahoma, but I wouldn't go for anything more important than a dental visit or a cold. The care is horrid. I usually go to city hospitals for important health concerns. Those on the reservation don't have that luxury of course, which is why the problem is so important.

Education, to me, is a mixed bag. If you don't live on the reservation your education opportunities are quite good. The tribes usually pay a large portion of college tuition, and if you pile that on to Pell grants and the like you have a fairly easy ride. I'm not that familiar with the reservation education systems, although I can imagine they are horrible.

 

[KAding]

So what is causing these problems? Does this affect only reservations or also more 'intergrated' Native americans?

 

[islamirama]

I recall reading an article some time back. It seems there are no laws that exist to protect the Native Americans against the whites that live among them. These whites rape whoever they want and get away with since Native American law's don't apply to them and no one takes it seriously when someone tries to go to US law system to punish them. This is a serious issue in the Native American communities, these white devils go around harassing and raping women and get away with it. Also, another thing these white crusaders have done is introduced heavy smoking and alcohol in Native American communities, causing lot of trouble and breaking of the communities. As if the holocaust of 150 million Natives was not enough, they still continue to oppress the Natives in their own lands.

 

[Woodrow]

So what is causing these problems? Does this affect only reservations or also more 'intergrated' Native americans?

I find many causes. Some may actually be legitimate causes.

There does seem to be an agenda either deliberate or unintentional to remove all heritage of the Native Americans. Full blooded NA's are often discriminated against when living off the rez so they choose the hardships of rez life. Those who move off the rez assimilate into the population and the mixed race fare better then the full blooded, so there is strong incentive to give up the tribal ways and heritages including language.

I feel much needs to be done to preserve the heritage and keep it from being lost. These are people in need of preserving their identity. I know America is a melting pot . But, we can be a stew in which each person keeps his identity and we need not become a blob of gray wax.

 

[Keltoi]

So what is causing these problems? Does this affect only reservations or also more 'intergrated' Native americans?

It really depends on the community you live in. Here in Oklahoma, relations between the Native and non-Native peoples are quite good. This is probably due to the intergration that exists, because besides the occasional long braid there isn't really much difference between us.

South Dakota is different in that the Lakota have resisted assimilation to a large degree, and there was so much violence between various factions on Pine Ridge and other reservations. The Lakota have always been an extremely proud people, and they are having a hard time balancing two worlds.

 

[Keltoi]

I recall reading an article some time back. It seems there are no laws that exist to protect the Native Americans against the whites that live among them. These whites rape whoever they want and get away with since Native American law's don't apply to them and no one takes it seriously when someone tries to go to US law system to punish them. This is a serious issue in the Native American communities, these white devils go around harassing and raping women and get away with it. Also, another thing these white crusaders have done is introduced heavy smoking and alcohol in Native American communities, causing lot of trouble and breaking of the communities. As if the holocaust of 150 million Natives was not enough, they still continue to oppress the Natives in their own lands.

Well, that is an exaggerated description of things. There were never 150 million Natives on the North American continent.

As for the law issues, murder, rape and other federal crimes remain federal crimes. The FBI were involved in Pine Ridge because of the number of murders going on there. Tribal sovereignty does not extend to the area of federal crimes, but there have been some problems with charging and prosecuting crimes committed on reservations.

As for alcohol, the tribes have the right to make alcohol illegal on reservation land. The Crow in Montana have done just that. The "government" doesn't just introduce alcohol to reservations, that is the arena of the free market.

 

[Woodrow]

I may be seeing this as a major problem because I am now among the Lakota and they definetly have not assimilated into the white culture. I did not realise the problem when I lived in Oklahoma and my wife was Cherokee.

However, I did see some of the same in South Texas especially among the Yaqi. The Yaqi still claim ownership to Padre Island and resent that it is now private property and owned by Real Estate developers. They are very similar to the Lkota in that respect.

Also here there is so much dispute over the Black Hills. It has been developed and the Lakota have been offered money for compensation. They do refuse the compensation and want the land back. They claim it is sacred land and can not be sold. The fact that there is a lot of gold in the black hills may be one problem. The Lakota do not mine the Gold and only take the placer gold that is found in the streams. The developers want to mine it.

 

[islamirama]

I expect nothing less than blind support of injustice, genocide, oppression, rape, etc by the Americans, thanks for sharing your thoughts....

Well, that is an exaggerated description of things. There were never 150 million Natives on the North American continent.

Native Peoples

• Beginning with Columbus (a former slave trader and would-be Holy Crusader) the conquest of the New World began, as usual understood as a means to propagate Christianity.
• Within hours of landfall on the first inhabited island he encountered in the Caribbean, Columbus seized and carried off six native people who, he said, "ought to be good servants ... [and] would easily be made Christians, because it seemed to me that they belonged to no religion." [SH200]
  While Columbus described the Indians as "idolators" and "slaves, as many as [the Crown] shall order," his pal Michele de Cuneo, Italian nobleman, referred to the natives as "beasts" because "they eat when they are hungry," and made love "openly whenever they feel like it." [SH204-205]
• On every island he set foot on, Columbus planted a cross, "making the declarations that are required" - the requerimiento - to claim the ownership for his Catholic patrons in Spain. And "nobody objected." If the Indians refused or delayed their acceptance (or understanding), the requerimiento continued:

I certify to you that, with the help of God, we shall powerfully enter in your country and shall make war against you ... and shall subject you to the yoke and obedience of the Church ... and shall do you all mischief that we can, as to vassals who do not obey and refuse to receive their lord and resist and contradict him." [SH66]​

• Likewise in the words of John Winthrop, first governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony: "justifieinge the undertakeres of the intended Plantation in New England ... to carry the Gospell into those parts of the world, ... and to raise a Bulworke against the kingdome of the Ante-Christ." [SH235]
• In average two thirds of the native population were killed by colonist-imported smallpox before violence began. This was a great sign of "the marvelous goodness and providence of God" to the Christians of course, e.g. the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony wrote in 1634, as "for the natives, they are near all dead of the smallpox, so as the Lord hath cleared our title to what we possess." [SH109,238]
• On Hispaniola alone, on Columbus visits, the native population (Arawak), a rather harmless and happy people living on an island of abundant natural resources, a literal paradise, soon mourned 50,000 dead. [SH204]
• The surviving Indians fell victim to rape, murder, enslavement and spanish raids.
• As one of the culprits wrote: "So many Indians died that they could not be counted, all through the land the Indians lay dead everywhere. The stench was very great and pestiferous." [SH69]
• The indian chief Hatuey fled with his people but was captured and burned alive. As "they were tying him to the stake a Franciscan friar urged him to take Jesus to his heart so that his soul might go to heaven, rather than descend into hell. Hatuey replied that if heaven was where the Christians went, he would rather go to hell." [SH70]
• What happened to his people was described by an eyewitness:
  "The Spaniards found pleasure in inventing all kinds of odd cruelties ... They built a long gibbet, long enough for the toes to touch the ground to prevent strangling, and hanged thirteen [natives] at a time in honor of Christ Our Saviour and the twelve Apostles... then, straw was wrapped around their torn bodies and they were burned alive." [SH72]
  Or, on another occasion:
  "The Spaniards cut off the arm of one, the leg or hip of another, and from some their heads at one stroke, like butchers cutting up beef and mutton for market. Six hundred, including the cacique, were thus slain like brute beasts...Vasco [de Balboa] ordered forty of them to be torn to pieces by dogs." [SH83]
• The "island's population of about eight million people at the time of Columbus's arrival in 1492 already had declined by a third to a half before the year 1496 was out." Eventually all the island's natives were exterminated, so the Spaniards were "forced" to import slaves from other caribbean islands, who soon suffered the same fate. Thus "the Caribbean's millions of native people [were] thereby effectively liquidated in barely a quarter of a century". [SH72-73] "In less than the normal lifetime of a single human being, an entire culture of millions of people, thousands of years resident in their homeland, had been exterminated." [SH75]
• "And then the Spanish turned their attention to the mainland of Mexico and Central America. The slaughter had barely begun. The exquisite city of Tenochtitln [Mexico city] was next." [SH75]
• Cortez, Pizarro, De Soto and hundreds of other spanish conquistadors likewise sacked southern and mesoamerican civilizations in the name of Christ (De Soto also sacked Florida).
• "When the 16th century ended, some 200,000 Spaniards had moved to the Americas. By that time probably more than 60,000,000 natives were dead." [SH95]

Of course no different were the founders of what today is the US of Amerikkka.

• Although none of the settlers would have survived winter without native help, they soon set out to expel and exterminate the Indians. Warfare among (north American) Indians was rather harmless, in comparison to European standards, and was meant to avenge insults rather than conquer land. In the words of some of the pilgrim fathers: "Their Warres are farre less bloudy...", so that there usually was "no great slawter of nether side". Indeed, "they might fight seven yeares and not kill seven men." What is more, the Indians usually spared women and children. [SH111]
• In the spring of 1612 some English colonists found life among the (generally friendly and generous) natives attractive enough to leave Jamestown - "being idell ... did runne away unto the Indians," - to live among them (that probably solved a sex problem).
  "Governor Thomas Dale had them hunted down and executed: 'Some he apointed (sic) to be hanged Some burned Some to be broken upon wheles, others to be staked and some shott to death'." [SH105] Of course these elegant measures were restricted for fellow englishmen: "This was the treatment for those who wished to act like Indians. For those who had no choice in the matter, because they were the native people of Virginia" methods were different: "when an Indian was accused by an Englishman of stealing a cup and failing to return it, the English response was to attack the natives in force, burning the entire community" down. [SH105]
• On the territory that is now Massachusetts the founding fathers of the colonies were committing genocide, in what has become known as the "Peqout War". The killers were New England Puritan Christians, refugees from persecution in their own home country England.
• When however, a dead colonist was found, apparently killed by Narragansett Indians, the Puritan colonists wanted revenge. Despite the Indian chief's pledge they attacked.
  Somehow they seem to have lost the idea of what they were after, because when they were greeted by Pequot Indians (long-time foes of the Narragansetts) the troops nevertheless made war on the Pequots and burned their villages.
  The puritan commander-in-charge John Mason after one massacre wrote: "And indeed such a dreadful Terror did the Almighty let fall upon their Spirits, that they would fly from us and run into the very Flames, where many of them perished ... God was above them, who laughed his Enemies and the Enemies of his People to Scorn, making them as a fiery Oven ... Thus did the Lord judge among the Heathen, filling the Place with dead Bodies": men, women, children. [SH113-114]
• So "the Lord was pleased to smite our Enemies in the hinder Parts, and to give us their land for an inheritance". [SH111].
• Because of his readers' assumed knowledge of Deuteronomy, there was no need for Mason to quote the words that immediately follow:
  "Thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth. But thou shalt utterly destroy them..." (Deut 20)
• Mason's comrade Underhill recalled how "great and doleful was the bloody sight to the view of the young soldiers" yet reassured his readers that "sometimes the Scripture declareth women and children must perish with their parents". [SH114]
• Other Indians were killed in successful plots of poisoning. The colonists even had dogs especially trained to kill Indians and to devour children from their mothers breasts, in the colonists' own words: "blood Hounds to draw after them, and Mastives to seaze them." (This was inspired by spanish methods of the time)
  In this way they continued until the extermination of the Pequots was near. [SH107-119]
• The surviving handful of Indians "were parceled out to live in servitude. John Endicott and his pastor wrote to the governor asking for 'a share' of the captives, specifically 'a young woman or girle and a boy if you thinke good'." [SH115]
• Other tribes were to follow the same path.
• Comment the Christian exterminators: "God's Will, which will at last give us cause to say: How Great is His Goodness! and How Great is his Beauty!"
  "Thus doth the Lord Jesus make them to bow before him, and to lick the Dust!" [TA]
• Like today, lying was OK to Christians then. "Peace treaties were signed with every intention to violate them: when the Indians 'grow secure uppon (sic) the treatie', advised the Council of State in Virginia, 'we shall have the better Advantage both to surprise them, & cutt downe theire Corne'." [SH106]
• In 1624 sixty heavily armed Englishmen cut down 800 defenseless Indian men, women and children. [SH107]
• In a single massacre in "King Philip's War" of 1675 and 1676 some "600 Indians were destroyed. A delighted Cotton Mather, revered pastor of the Second Church in Boston, later referred to the slaughter as a 'barbeque'." [SH115]
• To summarize: Before the arrival of the English, the western Abenaki people in New Hampshire and Vermont had numbered 12,000. Less than half a century later about 250 remained alive - a destruction rate of 98%. The Pocumtuck people had numbered more than 18,000, fifty years later they were down to 920 - 95% destroyed. The Quiripi-Unquachog people had numbered about 30,000, fifty years later they were down to 1500 - 95% destroyed. The Massachusetts people had numbered at least 44,000, fifty years later barely 6000 were alive - 81% destroyed. [SH118] These are only a few examples of the multitude of tribes living before Christian colonists set their foot on the New World. All this was before the smallpox epidemics of 1677 and 1678 had occurred. And the carnage was not over then.
• All the above was only the beginning of the European colonization, it was before the frontier age actually had begun.
• A total of maybe more than 150 million Indians (of both Americas) were destroyed in the period of 1500 to 1900, as an average two thirds by white men introduced smallpox and other epidemics, that leaves some 50 million killed directly by violence, bad treatment and slavery.
• In many countries, such as Brazil, and Guatemala, this continues even today.

More Glorious events in US history

• Reverend Solomon Stoddard, one of New England's most esteemed religious leaders, in "1703 formally proposed to the Massachusetts Governor that the colonists be given the financial wherewithal to purchase and train large packs of dogs 'to hunt Indians as they do bears'." [SH241]
• Massacre of Sand Creek, Colorado 11/29/1864. Colonel John Chivington, a former Methodist minister and still elder in the church ("I long to be wading in gore") had a Cheyenne village of about 600, mostly women and children, gunned down despite the chiefs' waving with a white flag: 400-500 killed.
  From an eye-witness account: "There were some thirty or forty squaws collected in a hole for protection; they sent out a little girl about six years old with a white flag on a stick; she had not proceeded but a few steps when she was shot and killed. All the squaws in that hole were afterwards killed ..." [SH131]
  More gory details.
• By the 1860s, "in Hawai'i the Reverend Rufus Anderson surveyed the carnage that by then had reduced those islands' native population by 90 percent or more, and he declined to see it as tragedy; the expected total die-off of the Hawaiian population was only natural, this missionary said, somewhat equivalent to 'the amputation of diseased members of the body'." [SH244]

http://truthbeknown.com/victims.htm

As for the law issues, murder, rape and other federal crimes remain federal crimes. The FBI were involved in Pine Ridge because of the number of murders going on there. Tribal sovereignty does not extend to the area of federal crimes, but there have been some problems with charging and prosecuting crimes committed on reservations.

RAPE OF NATIVE AMERICAN WOMEN UNINVESTIGATED

Report: Rape cases on Indian reservations go uninvestigated

Amnesty International study on the issue entitled: “Maze of Injustice The failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA”

One of every three Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes, a report released Tuesday by Amnesty International says.

http://kathmanduk2.wordpress.com/2007/11/25/rape-of-native-american-women-uninvestigated/


[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]Native American Women and Violence[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]As women of color, Native Americans experience not only sexual violence, but also institutionalized racism. Alex Wilson, a researcher for the Native American group Indigenous Perspectives, found a high level of tension between law enforcement and Native American women, who report numerous encounters where the police treated the women as if they were not telling the truth.

“In a reservation community,” Wilson said, “911 would dispatch police to a scene of domestic violence, but police would call the victim by cell phone and decide himself when or if he should go to the victim’s home. Often the women would wait for an hour and other times the abuser would answer when the police called, and would say everything was fine, and there was no need for them to come. Native women . . . who called police for help were often re-victimized by the police.”[/FONT]

[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]http://www.now.org/nnt/spring-2001/nativeamerican.html[/FONT]


Native American Women Face High Rape Rate, Report Says

One in three Native American women will be raped at some point in their lives, a rate that is more than double that for non-Indian women, according to a new report by Amnesty International.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042502778.html

 

[Woodrow]

The point of the thread being the current administration does have to deal with Native American Rights. There are violations. How widespread and to what degree is going to depend upon where you live. Here in the Dakotas it is quite serious. While in Oklahoma neither the Native Americans nor the white population perceive any major problem.

In Minnesota which borders the Dakotas the Chippewa and Ojibwa tribes live in harmony with their white neighbors. In Texas the Caddo have adopted manufacturing techniques and marketing and have a thriving business going in Livingston, while in South Texas there seems to be much turmoil between the Yaqi and the whites. In New Mexico the Navajo, Zuni and Yuma seem to have good relationships and equal rights while in Alabama the Coushatta seem to be very oppressed.

Now the question of rape on the reservations. It does happen. However except for the area I live on very few Native Americans live on reservations or at least not on reservations like Pine Ridge.

I am not certain about the reservations in Oklahoma but I did live in the Cherokeee Nation near Talquah. We had no problems, my wife was Cherokee and the only State we ever faced discrimination in was Louisiana. My current wife is Cheyenne, She has lived in Numerous states and was a very successful business woman. She never felt any discrimination or poor treatment until she moved to South Dakota.

It is an issue that needs to be dealt with and the trouble areas need to be worked with. It is a large problem, but it does not exist in every state.

 

[Keltoi]

I think the major rights issue for Native Americans these days is healthcare and education. Which Woodrow mentioned. Native Americans have a serious problem with diabetes and heart disease. There are various reasons for this, but the issue is that they aren't getting the healthcare options they need.

South Dakota is to Native Americans what the South was for blacks. It is a region of traditional and systematic racism against Natives. There are other problem areas, but I believe South Dakota is the worst. There were signs in South Dakota as late as the 70's that stated "No dogs or Indians allowed." Unlike African Americans, Native Americans didn't have a popularly supported civil rights movement. The only civil rights movement came in the guise of AIM, which used violent resistance. There needs to be a larger movement to address the issues within the Native community.

 

[north_malaysian]

when it comes to Native Americans... I am clueless...

thanks Woodrow for bringing this up...

 

[betaworld]

so, the NAs should organize among themselves and stand for their rights coz Allah helps those who help themselves. no body can bring them their rights home to them.
guess they have much to learn from Black American civil rights movements...and it is crowned by a US president with african ancestry.
then (and imagination is not forbidden) a NA US president can be a very probable scenario.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not and can very probably be."

 

[Keltoi]

so, the NAs should organize among themselves and stand for their rights coz Allah helps those who help themselves. no body can bring them their rights home to them.
guess they have much to learn from Black American civil rights movements...and it is crowned by a US president with african ancestry.
then (and imagination is not forbidden) a NA US president can be a very probable scenario.
"Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not and can very probably be."

It would be difficult for Native Americans to organize in the same way that black Americans did. You have to keep in mind that in large part we do not see ourselves as one monolithic race or culture. We are tribes. Each tribe wishing to address certain issues that revolve around their own particular group. Of course there are universal rights issues involving all Native Americans, but it would be difficult to gain the same publicity and non-Native involvment that took place in the civil rights movement.

 

[Pygoscelis]

I sometimes wonder about progression of native or otherwise minority culture.

Had natives not been overun and dominated and mistreated (or if you prefer "colonized") by europeans, native technology certainly would have nevertheless advanced somewhat and native culture would have changed over the years, just as european culture has. It makes me wonder if "holding on to native/minority culture" often translates to "keep things how they were in native/minority culture". Do efforts to preserve the culture halt development of it? In fact the very word "preserve" would seem to indicate that this is so.

Not sure I put the above into good wording. Anybody get what I'm trying to say here?

 

[Keltoi]

I sometimes wonder about progression of native or otherwise minority culture.

Had natives not been overun and dominated and mistreated (or if you prefer "colonized") by europeans, native technology certainly would have nevertheless advanced somewhat and native culture would have changed over the years, just as european culture has. It makes me wonder if "holding on to native/minority culture" often translates to "keep things how they were in native/minority culture". Do efforts to preserve the culture halt development of it? In fact the very word "preserve" would seem to indicate that this is so.

Not sure I put the above into good wording. Anybody get what I'm trying to say here?

I understand what you mean, but when Natives say they wish to preserve or "hang on" to their culture they are largely referring to language. When the language is dead there is nothing left.

 

[betaworld]

I sometimes wonder about progression of native or otherwise minority culture.

Had natives not been overun and dominated and mistreated (or if you prefer "colonized") by europeans, native technology certainly would have nevertheless advanced somewhat and native culture would have changed over the years, just as european culture has. It makes me wonder if "holding on to native/minority culture" often translates to "keep things how they were in native/minority culture". Do efforts to preserve the culture halt development of it? In fact the very word "preserve" would seem to indicate that this is so.

Not sure I put the above into good wording. Anybody get what I'm trying to say here?

guess you're right. NA tribes should go beyond their cultural cleavages and come together for the sake of the one cause, that of preseving from total erosion what remains of their once proud life: they can't proceed without unity

 

[Woodrow]

Just from what I hear from Lakota Sioux. What is deired to be preserved are:

Language

Protection from land exploitation

The Right to preserve tribal law on the reservations.

Protection from exploitation of the sale of native artifacts and the destruction of native land traditions. Most notably here is the development of the Black Hills. Especially development around Bear Butte. Bear Butte was/is one of the most sacred places on earth for the Cheyenne and the Sioux. Today the largest "Biker Bar" in the world has been built nearly touching it's base.

 

[betaworld]

from what i read in the thread i wonder if the NAs score any existence in the American political life. i mean are their any NA Senators/Reps?
if yes they should lead the battle for the claim of their people
if no, then it is very unlikely that NAs will get the rights brotha Woodrow specified above
oooofimsad the world is rigged in iniquities, dunno how z all gonna b settled by the end, thanks Allah there will b an end:thumbs_up

 

[Keltoi]

from what i read in the thread i wonder if the NAs score any existence in the American political life. i mean are their any NA Senators/Reps?

There was one in the Senate. Ben "Night Horse" Campbell. He retired however.