Comments on: Native Americans, Oil, Tribal Division, $$$

By: vmartinez_0903

vmartinez_0903 — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 04:04:25 +0000

Plans to build the first oil refinery in the United States for nearly 30 years are heading for trouble over claims that the intended site may harbour important Native American archaeology. No archaeological sites have been identified on the proposed site for the refinery, officials say, because it hasn't been surveyed yet.Given the high financial stakes and Arizona's history of building over archaeological sites, community watchdog groups and Native American tribes are expressing concerns about the plan.Archaeological studies are now just getting under way on a larger land transfer of 33,200 hectares of the Humboldt River basin in northern Nevada, for example. Initial analysis indicates that these lands may also include significant archaeological sites.

By: ilovesoc

ilovesoc — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:54:35 +0000

It does not seem fair to put these people at work and disguise it as a "positive thing". Essentially, these Native Americans are destroying their land so that they can afford to live on what is left. This concept seems very ironic to me. We want to help those without jobs, but what about the land they were promised? Does that mean nothing? I feel very fortunate to live in a place where my parents aren't forced into employment in order to pay for our land. Although my dad did lose his job of 18 years in the middle of my freshman year, he bounced right back and got a new job within two months. For that I feel very fortunate because he had a choice of what he wanted to do next. These Native Americans on the other hand, do not. I really hope that their situation can improve in the future because it would be completely devastating to lose a whole culture because our country is so focused on making a profit instead of making everyone happy.

By: ilovesoc

ilovesoc — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 16:54:20 +0000

Even today to see a certain race still being pushed around is mind-boggling to me. When I think of different races being discriminated against, my mind immediately goes to Blacks or Browns. It is hard to imagine that Native Americans till live on the reserves of their ancestors and are in such poverty now. It makes me want to do something about it but I have no idea what difference I could make. The government is controlling the drilling in these regions and the most I feel anyone could do is petition. While it is good that these American Indians are now finding more jobs because of the drilling, the negative effects that it has on their health makes it almost not worth it. We are all suffering the job devastation and lack of employment together.

By: mam5474

mam5474 — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 04:04:54 +0000

I have mixed feelings about this situation. Yes I see the good in the money that will come from the oil, but once again we are drilling in their land. It is our fault for putting them on land we will want and I know we are giving them money for it, but we are once again taking their land. I am glad to hear that each of them will be receiving money for the land we are abusing but at the same time are we really going about this wisely. These Native Americans need money because of the lack of jobs in the region but also they need their land to live. This is great to hear that not only are we drilling but we are also giving jobs. This is very important because of the lack of jobs in these regions. It is also good to hear to give these people not only the money for their land but the opportunity to work. We have abused these people for years and have stolen everything from them. I know that this to some people is bypassed and now drilling in their region seems awesome because we are “helping them” re-establish some type of job. This is absurd to me also. How can people not see we are making decisions for them? I do agree to help the Native Americans with jobs but with all this new technology why is necessary to drill on the land and abuse bare land. Another thing that needs to be taught to these people is savings. With none of their ancestries dealing with savings in banks and the stock market, they need some financial help. Every person should have the opportunity to learn how to use their money. Some of us learn this from our parents some from the companies we work for, but everyone needs to learn. If these people were told how to save and compound their money for retirement or even just later use, this could help them with planning how to use these jobs wisely. Although this may seem harsh to say because I’m sure there are some Native Americans in this tribe who have learned how to save and use their money wisely, but for those who have not this opportunity should be available. It is great to know that drilling has opened up jobs for more Native Americans but what happens when alternate sources of energy come about. Will these jobs also be opened to the Native Americans? Now with the “go green” aspects of life being instated we need to take into account that oil drilling cannot and should not be going on forever. Think of the future for all of these people not just the present.

By: Benny6

Benny6 — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 07:23:03 +0000

Europeans murdered Native Americans, pushed them off of their land, and destroyed the Native American culture. These three tribes were forced onto a reservation against their will and without regret by the federal government in the 1800s. The government even flooded more than a tenth of the small amount of land received by the Native Americans to create a reservoir. The federal government had no idea that this land was worth millions of dollars and now they are paying the Native Americans for it. They are also being forced to use a new form of technology in order to get to the oil that is under the Lake that they put there. I think this is great. It is the best revenge I have heard of in awhile. To be forced off of your land without compensation only to find that you are the ones now sitting on a treasure chest. Not only are they being compensated for the oil, but the oil excavation process creates a surplus of good paying jobs for those living in the area. They were forced to suffer so much and now they are the ones that have the upper hand. I feel that this is a godsend meant for them. It is karma. They were placed on undiscovered oil rich land. They were treated poorly by a group that now has to pay them millions of dollars annually for their resources.

By: jordanrankee50

jordanrankee50 — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 07:28:23 +0000

This may be troubling to some people. Native American culture has always advocated a direct relationship with nature. A famous quote from Chief Seattle states, “Earth does not belong to us; we belong to Earth.” Going by this quote, drilling into the Earth should be taboo, let alone establishing dug in settlements and claiming land. I can’t go too far though, as I don’t think these people can be held accountable for their lifestyles. The earlier people of this great country are the ones who put Native Americans where they are now. We tried to assimilate them into our culture and into our thinking, and those that resisted were killed. That’s why those that still remain take part in the “American” culture of property ownership.
Now with that being said, another grave thing comes up. I really hope that this new found wealth goes toward the right things. Since Native American’s are in the greatest poverty, a big lump of money might be spent on luxury items that they never had the opportunity to have in the past. Instead of investing in their futures, they may be quick to go out and buy that new car or house, much like the article said. If I were them, I would start investing in the future of my children and their children, because you truly never know when the oil might run out, or when someone might come in and try to take it over. Also, the fact that there is an available casino is a worry. Between the alcohol and drugs that Native Americans are known to abuse, I don’t think gambling would be a good idea. After about 15 shots of Cuervo and a handful of shrooms, that extra $10,000 on the craps table would probably seem like a really good idea, until you wake up two days later and realize that all of that hard work on the oil rig went to nothing and you are back at square one, ripping more shots of Cuervo to get over the pain.
I can say this though: I’m happy the federal government isn’t getting involved. I’m happy no one else is getting involved. This is oil that was struck on land given to these people for the unreal treatment they received from the early migrants to this country. The sad part though is that if the government would have known about the oil before granting this land to Native’s, they wouldn’t have gotten it. I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever that the Feds would’ve taken this land as their own.
Overall I still find is disturbing that these people were treated wrongly in the first place. But since they were lucky enough to strike this wealth, let them have at it and for once, let them be free.

By: gonewiththewnd

gonewiththewnd — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 22:08:10 +0000

I think that the discovery and use of the oil deposits on the reservations will have a positive shorty term impact and a negative long term impact. In the short term, the Native Americans on the reservations are making more income. With this influx of money we should see education levels go up, unemployment and issues like alcoholism go down.
Although the oil rigs will/do provide many jobs for the greatly unemployed people of the reservation, the long term results of these rigs are not very good. The rigs will create pollution and therefore lower the value of the reservation's land. The natural state of the area will be greatly altered and the effects will be irreversible. I think that this influx of millions of dollars will help the future Native American generations to be better educated and less likely to be unemployed but it will also cause great loss of the positive fauna and flora of the reservation which will probably inturn creat cultural issues for the people in the future.

By: aawonc

aawonc — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 07:10:05 +0000

I think that in some ways the oil boom on the Three Affiliated Tribes' land is a good thing. One of the primary reasons that I am happy for the Indians is the whole irony of the situation. After the United States persecuted, killed, controlled, and oppressed Indians and their tribes, it is kind of funny that three Indian tribes are no practically sitting on a gold mine. I'm sure that when the United States government moved the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes in the mid 1800s, they probably moved them to land that was cheap, and that they thought was infertile or incapable of exploiting. However, this proved to be a huge mistake and now that a huge oil reserve has been discovered, some Native Americans will be earning millions of dollars. Even more ironic is that fact that the Indians will be selling their oil to the United States government and the white settlers that exploited them. Perhaps the most troubling thing for the United States' government is that while the Indians rake in millions, or even billions of dollars, they will be receiving government transfer payments and tax breaks and exemptions.
I am hoping that the Indians are able to successfully turn this oil reserve into a booming business because it will, at least for these three tribes, give hope to Indians.
At the same time, I also hope that the Indians will be responsible with their new found wealth. It is well documented that many Indians who live on reservations are not well educated. In addition, most Indians have lived their lives in poverty and have never experienced wealth and a sudden deluge of money flowing into their pockets. I wonder if they will be able to responsibly invest, allocate and spend their money. In the article, one person is cited as saying that it is easy to spot the residents with a new found wealth because they are driving expensive cars. In addition, profits by sixty percent. Obviously, this is not a promising sign as someone who has just started to receive a regular salary should not celebrate by purchasing expensive cars. Whether the Native Americans spend their money responsibly or not, I do hope, and think, that this money will help advance their society and better their education system and suicide rates.
While I do hope that the Indians do succeed, I question their ethics. I thought that the Indians were all about the land and nature and purity. However, as they begin to drill for oil, they are exploiting the land. I am not well briefed in Indian values, so it may be irresponsible of me to comment on this, but I feel like drilling for oil is something that may go against Indian values. However, in today's world everything is about money, and most Native Americans live in poverty, so I cannot fault them. Ultimately, I hope that the Native Americans are able to live a better life as a result of the discovery of the oil.

By: cnr5034

cnr5034 — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:59:03 +0000

There's so much to say on the subject of Native Americans for me and I've realized that much of what I want to say aren't statements, they're questions. I really don't have a good handle on what it means to be a Native American in the United States or what it's ever meant. My childhood interpretation were that they were dark skinned people who ran around in loin clothes and feathers and were nice to our European settlers, our "heroic" ancestors. I used to like history class growing up until I learned we were learning from distorted positions, and that if someone else was in charge of our curriculum we would be hearing much different stories.

The article stated that the U.S. government gives these Native American tribes 60-70 million dollars in federal aid? Maybe I'm just being naive but that seems like an amazing amount of money, so where is it going? Does it go specifically to the families or through some abstract idea like buildings and schools that may affect these families but not quite as much as by putting the money directly into their bank accounts? So these Native Americans are poor and are segregated by being placed on special land called reservations. Why are they given these reservations, that makes me think of them as some rare species of animals!

True, the first thing that popped into my head was that this is karma, Native Americans are getting back billions of dollars by a white man's mistake. But the person who made the first comment made an extremely good point, as I'm sure others did as well. Why should Native Americans be happy with this outcome? With the fact that their land is being drilled and their resources taken in ridiculous quantities. I think ancestors of Native Americans today might even be angry if they could see their descendants right now and the compromising they've had to do. Not to say that Native Americans today have much of a choice it seems, at least to me. While the casinos in the area gave them another 200 jobs or so, in the end I think a casino will have even more negative effects. From statistics given in class, it appears that all this poverty leads to Native Americans causing more crimes and struggling with problems such as abuse and alcoholism in addition to a lack of a job market. So how do they fix it? By building a casino so they can spend their hard earned money and become more susceptible to becoming gamblers.

I feel alittle hesitant to throw out this comment because I could be completely wrong on this entire subject. I realize I'm a bit ignorant to Native American issues because they don't crop up very often.

By: sourpatchkid14

sourpatchkid14 — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 16:30:50 +0000

I never really thought much about the Native Americans that were unjustly thrown off their land until we discussed it many times in this class. I definitely think that it was unfair that so many innocent Native Americans were killed just to take over their land. I think that long ago, the white people that first came here really wanted to exploit others and flaunt their power. I don’t really understand how people could just kill others to take something that isn’t rightfully theirs and not feel guilty about it. That being said, I don’t feel like the descendents of these people should have to feel guilty for the mass genocide that their ancestors caused. Especially as a first generation American, and the fact that my parents came here a little over 20 years ago, I don’t feel any sort of responsibility or connection to this topic. However, there is a difference between feeling disconnected and not caring. I definitely care about this topic and feel for the Native Americans. Whether our ancestors lived in America or not, WE are all Americans, and we should all make it a priority to care for everyone who lives in this country and stand up for justice. We can’t do anything about the genocide that occurred in the past, but we can become more educated on the topic and help to try and compensate for their losses.
I do think it’s great that the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation (who has long been impoverished) is now bringing in money from the oil wells that have been drilled on their land. It is also nice that that the Native Americans are now able to get jobs which they were previously struggling to get. I can only imagine how nice it must be for the families that are benefitting straight from the drilling by getting paid. I think that it is a nice reward for their ill treatment. However, I definitely don’t think it makes up for it, but at least they are rising a little bit out of poverty. Although the money is a benefit, I think that it is also very bittersweet for them due to the health risks that come along with the drilling. After reading that article, I am not sure if many of the families will feel like it is worth the money once their family members are falling ill and dying from the toxic fumes. However, based on their extreme poverty, maybe they would prefer to live a more lucrative life for a shorter amount of time, then having to struggle.
Either way, I definitely agree with the article when it said that the world needs to reduce its necessity on non-renewable resources and put more effort into developing non-polluting alternative energy sources such as solar, wind and hydrogen. Once the non-renewable resources are depleted, if we haven’t worked on the maximizing the efficiency of other renewable resources, we will be in trouble when everyone will need to start using them.