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186861 Responseshttp://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/02/native-americans-question-four/Native+Americans%3A+Question+Four2010-02-24+05%3A02%3A05Sam+Richards to Native Americans: Question Four
I know where a lot of the students are coming from when they ask what they can do about it, because a lot of the students think that this is over and done with. Or that they really do not think anything can be done. We can not physically reverse time and move everyone back to their origins or today we really can not give them back their land which would be the reasonable thing, but not possible. I think the best thing we can do is to educate everyone about passed incidents to make sure that they don't happen in the future. There is a lot of things that a lot of people would like to change back time to give some sort of warning before it happened. I do not want to sound completely off track but some things in history happened for a reason regardless if they were right or wrong. We sometimes have actions that we do not necessarily think about how they will affect us today, tomorrow, or years from now. Everything we do we need to start thinking that there will be a consequence for our actions. If we stop thinking about us and start thinking about we, we could make small changes that could lead up to something bigger possibly. Of course at the time it might seem like the right think to do as someone in the class pointed out survival of the fittest. This has been dated back to prehistoric ages where dinosaurs and other animals and probably even cave men fought over land. It was really about survival of the fittest and the man on the top of the mountain. But even today I (because I am white) am being blamed for slavery and stealing American's land when I probably had little or nothing to do with it as my family came from Ireland in the 1900's. I can still see how everyone says it is everybody's fault that this happened because the land that we sit upon to watch tv, to listen to a lecture, or even to walk to class was once red land. And yes I will take blame on that, that I am walking on land that doesn't belong to me but I have never bragged about this being the white land. I think we need to stop playing the blame game and everyone needs to stop blame storming and start educating everyone on this issue so, at least some of it, can be prevented in future instances. If and when it does happen again we will know what and how to deal with it. So to come full circle with your question I believe it would be best if we start educating kids at a younger age since the options of giving back land or moving everyone back to origins is not possible. We need to educate the kids and adults equally.
I agree with nick that the best way to "do something" about the situation is to educate people about what actually happened to ensure that it is never forgotten and that it will not happen again. Also, by learning more about our history and genocides that occurred, we gain a newfound respect for one another. I am Jewish and as the grandchild and cousin of 4 Holocaust surviviors, I know that I think the best way we can "do something" about the Holocaust is to educate people about what really happened to ensure that it is never forgotten and that history cannot repeat itself.
As your typical American student, I can offer my insight as to what should be done regarding the genocide of Native Americans. The first thing that should be done, as was said by the TA in class, is education. Too many people are ignorant to this situation. Unless there are people who have met or know an American Indian, it may not hit home. So being educated is the first thing necessary because one cannot make a positive change without understanding the situation. Secondly, we need to understand that we, as students, are privileged. We did not do anything to deserve the right to live on land we own(keeping in mind for those whose parents are not first generation immigrants). It is pure luck that we were born into the families that we are apart of now, and people need to understand that there is another side to this story, one that is typically forgotten. Overall, one needs to acknowledge the problem and at least feel bad about it because physically there's not much one can do to fix the situation.
I completely agree! I think that education can be a huge help. I mean going back to what we learn from, even the very beginning can be changed. I mean we learn as young children that Christopher Columbus is the great guy who helped to discover the Americas and that is why we devote a day to him every year. However, the truth is he was a terrible guy, who I almost lump with Hitler after everything I've learned, because of the cruel way in which he treated and basically slaughtered the natives. That, though gruesome, I think is something that needs to begin being taught at a younger age. I for one didn't fully discover this until maybe middle or high school. That’s, what 5 years, that I went through life thinking "oh yea! Chris Columbus was a great guy who helped discover the land we cherish. Sure we sure celebrate him ever year." No! I mean another example is with the children's film Pocahontas. You don't really think that John Smith and his buddies really just came over and peacefully took over the land and then just left to go back to England when they realized they were wrong right? I mean millions of native people were killed either through brutality or by diseases that many English settlers brought over and gave to them.
I understand where you are coming from. It is hard to think of something that one individual can do, specifically a student, to fix a problem as giant and severe as this one. However, i believe that education is the best solution to this situation. It is only right for everyone to know their history, whether it be their own personal one, or the history of the land they live on. I have heard that certain schools at one time or another refused to teach students about the holocaust, because they believed it did not actually happen. I feel like this situation is very similar, as Americans we did something bad and we want to just brush it under the rug and pretend we did not do anything wrong. But we cannot do that, we need to educate people because we did make a mistake and we need to learn from that mistake so that we do not make more in the future.
So the question is: what can do students do? I feel like all the students are attacking Sam because they feel like he’s saying these things almost in a “placing blame” way and is speaking about a solution. However, I don’t think that’s how it sould be taken. I think what Sam is doing is simply informing us of undeniable facts, plain and simple. What sucks is that there isn’t much we CAN do. Through years and years of expanding American land and colonizing their territory and placing the on reservations and going through mass amounts of warfare, the American government and fellow colonizers of America’s past has decimated their population and, in a way, left them to fend for themselves.
As for what can we do to “make things better,” well, unfortunately there isn’t much we can do because it’s not like we can give them the land on which society has created dwellings, buildings, and many other structures. No one would be selfless enough to give up their own home to become homeless for the sake of giving up the land their on to give back to Native Americans: it’s sad, but it’s true. What we can do is donate our time, money, and other resources that we can provide them with. We learned in class that they are THE poorest Americans, which is completely unfortunate. For the White Americans ancestors to have taken their land, they didn’t even compensate them in a way that would’ve left them capable, or in some way, able to manage with a new lifestyle (or at least teach them how to farm, seeing as the government at that time set aside “plots” of land for them to have, although it was very NON-FERTILE land that the Whites didn’t want so it wasn’t usable anyways). We can donate money to reservations or organizations whose aims are to help the Native Americans. After viewing the Aljazeera video in class, it was terrible to see that they struggle to just feed their families. The American government is spending billions on useless things and meanwhile, they can’t even set aside a set amount of money to assist those that the past American government has basically raped and left scrambling for life. It’s terrible. So, in answer, what we can do is donate time, money, and help in anyway we can.
I agree with you completely. I feel like a lot of people in this class think that Sam is personally attacking them on this as well as many other topics. In this situation I think that more people are asking what he thinks they should do not really because they want to do something to really better it, but more they know that there isn’t anything they can do and they are trying to prove him wrong; or even better yet they are trying to calm that inner part of themselves that he has offended and reassure themselves that there is nothing they can do so it is fine to sit and do nothing. It is hard to sit in class as a white person and hear what our country is trying so hard to suppress and forget about. One student asked when we will stop getting the blame and Sam said when we stop taking it on.
. I think that is the exact point; for some reason we do feel guilty about what our ancestors did so long ago and if you ask me, if we still feel this guilt generations later that really means something. I also think it means we all know that Native Americans are still being mistreated today. If we heard about this and didn’t feel any kind of way about it then maybe it would mean it was fair and we won fair and square, but for most of us it does make us uncomfortable.
Today we avoid this topic and put it aside on reservations because it is easier to ignore, than to feel this guilt and unsettling feeling about it. Overall, I know this was said, but just by knowing about the problem we are already making a difference. The only problem is so many people in the class were still trying to suppress those feelings and deny their responsibility. So more than education about the subject is our acceptance of it; I’m not saying take on the “blame” or feel guilty I am just saying really let it sink in and realize what they went through and are still going through as a people.
The next time you are at a sporting event of the Chiefs, the Indians, the Redskins, just remember what that really means. To us it may seem like a sign of respect but the best comparison I can think of (as a catholic girl) is someone dressing up as a nun for Halloween. That is sac-religious not respect and the mockery we have made of Indian tradition is the same disrespect.
After I wrote this post I wanted to look more into the issue and I found this video and it makes the same point I am saying. As individuals we need to recognize the discrimination, and as a country we need to pass more legislation to reserve their rights. They have already lost so much as a people; the least we can do is respect their religious traditions.
I think there needs to be more emphasis in things like the media that portray the native people in a positive light because not only are they the poorest treated peoples in our nation, but many believe in the feathers in the hair, braids, tomahawk wielding stereotype that so many believe. I mean really, they are people just like you and me. They too shop at wal-mart and wear sweatshirts and live in a home, that’s right homes, not tee-pees. I know it may be shocking for some people to hear, but I think that is why education through the media could be the fastest and easiest way to reach Americans and help them to understand what is wrong with the current situation.
This question leads me into thinking about the question that Sam’s wife asked before about why the topic at the “race table” is always about the relations between black and white. I think the whole purpose of Sam trying to educate us about what happened to the Native Americans is so that we can be aware. He repeated that many times in class saying that it is not about guilt, it is about us being aware of what is going on and not trying to make up some grandiose myth of how this nation was created to make ourselves feel better. I myself was educated about a few things in class on Tuesday, especially when it came to the Native Americans. Most of what young men and women learn about Native Americans begins with the watered down version of how America was settled. The pilgrims came and encountered Native Americans, the Indians taught them how to hunt and fish and then they all shared a wonderful dinner together. Of course there are a few things missing from that story but that is for another time. I think no one talks about the plight of the Native Americans (both past and present) because it is not presented in our everyday life. What I mean by that is we see the relationship between African Americans and whites everyday because our culture is saturated with things that will point out our differences. Today people feel so far removed from Native American culture, except for what is seen in textbooks and maybe story books that it can be easily pushed from our mind. We should also remember that history is written by the powerful. Sam used the example of Ronald Reagan giving his 1980 inaugural speech about how America was a barren land until poor destitute peoples came here to form a country. Because the history that America has with Native Americans is so bloody and sad and horrific (Trail of tears anyone?) it is not a part of history that wants to be remembered. African American history in America is surely remembered because there are people who still want to fight for it to be remembered. Is there anyone for the Native Americans? Who will remember for them when their voices are silenced? I agree with Sam when I say that acknowledging is the first step to being able to fix the problem that Native Americans face today. He says it’s not about guilt, but there of course, in my opinion, is a certain sense that even though you were not there you have still taken something away. It also comes down to our country prioritizing. What is more important, how the rest of the world views America and international relations or fixing the problems with the country that just a need a little, or in this case, a lot, of attention.
Maybe spreading the word is all it takes in order for this blame to be taken off our shoulders. When I was younger, all I remember learning about in regards to the Native Americans was Thanksgiving, and Christopher Columbus finding America. History, by all means, justifies the genocide. And as I was raised, this was all I knew. This is the education that children are growing up learning as well. Not everyone will be fortunate enough to take a class such as this one and learn what truly went down in this country. Now that our awareness is increased, I think it only makes sense for us to inform others of this knowledge. A little reminder that we are living on red land may be all it takes for this country to accept its wrong doings and make a change.
Whenever I think of the presidents of the United States, I can only name the first few, and the last few, however, there are some memorable ones in the middle, such as Andrew Jackson. I don’t know Andrew Jackson’s life story, but I have always said that he was the president I “hated” the most because he played a significant role in the Trail of Tears. The acknowledgement of the Trail of Tears, is as close as my education has ever brought me to admitting the genocide that took place on the very land we are standing on.
Sitting in class, and listening to the questions and comments people ask make it seem as though everyone is merely selectively listening to what Sam has to say. I lost count of how many times people said the same thing over and over again about “why should we get the blame?” But this is not about blame. At this point, pointing fingers will get us nowhere. I was not born in this country, but I have been living here for 10 years and I feel that it is my duty to do what I can to help others, whoever it may be. In the case of the Native Americans people have to stop selectively listening to what sounds like someone blaming you. Obviously, none of us have committed hate crimes towards Native Americans, but there is a crime we are committing and that is ignorance and omission.
Everyday people think about themselves, everything is “me, me, me…” but it is necessary to step back and see what is really going on around us. The Native Americans is just one small part of it. But how can we help them? How can we try to undo the harm that has been done to them? For starters we can begin to acknowledge them as living, breathing, real human beings and Americans. So often we think the “Real” Native Americans are extinct, the ones who hunted with bows and arrows, and wore ornate designs on their bodies. But now being “Native American” seems to be only a title. They have their own culture, just like white’s have their culture, Latino’s have their culture, Asians have their culture and blacks have their culture. We’re supposed to be one big melting pot, but the very first ingredients to the melting pot have been thrown out like outcasts in their land.
So what can we do? We can care. We can care enough to tell our friends and families. Care enough to bother to learn more about their culture. Care enough to take the time out to volunteer at a reservation. Care enough to stop thinking about the blame being put on “me, me, me” and instead try to do something about it.
It’s not about the blame. Open your ears and listen to every part of the discussion, don’t just hear what you want to hear, really listen and learn and be willing to attempt to make a difference in this world that we live in.
Mr. Richards, I believe, has so many personal relationships with people of various cultural groups that to see any of them suffer is a great pain. Any sort of wrong committed against those groups, he takes it to heart like his friends. Him telling us there is little awareness of the whole incident of Native American genocide, is truth, but him telling us we should do something to spread awareness is him asking for help in some way. Can we really do anything about it ourselves? Well in some ways yes, and some ways not so much.
In a class of over 700 students, with everyone having different majors, we can do plenty. Journalists can go out and write blogs, broadcast journalists can talk over radio and other communications methods, sociologists can go see if Sam’s claims are true, psychologists can see why people choose not to think much of that part of American history, and other majors can do things to find ways to spread the message. That, I believe, is what Sam is asking for us to do. Just something as simple as putting a question about it on our facebook status, or on youtube, can do a lot.
I don’t think starting a huge campaign against the piece of history is what he’s looking for though. I don’t think walking up Pennsylvania Avenue with signs in our hands demanding awareness for Native American’s is a good idea, but I definitely believe more awareness should be made. If February is known as Black History month, why can’t November be considered Native American month?
One thing I feel shouldn’t be done is put blame on anyone currently living. It isn’t our fault about what happened because we didn’t go out there and kill any natives because we wanted their land. We were born after the fact where we didn’t have a say on the matter. We did nothing wrong to deserve any sort of criticism regarding the matter. If anything, go find the decedent of the American’s who committed the genocide and yell at them.
As I mentioned in one of my other posts, I think when children are able to learn and comprehend American’s history that they should be taught about what happened. There is nothing like a child who can go home to their parents and ask them why America killed an entire race of people. Of course, the trick is trying to teach them truth in that we were the greedy bastards who kicked people of their own land to claim as ours. Not very easy to do.
I can’t really recall when I learned about the genocide of Native American’s. Whenever that was though, I always believed that American was in the wrong.
I think the only we can do is to recognize “Native” Americans as brothers and sisters and citizens in the United States of America. First off, remove the reservation tag from geographical areas throughout the United States. We need to get rid of that label. “Natives” are citizens. They need a good education, a good job, a good opportunity. I want to share classrooms, restaurants, sports’ arenas, and battlefields with “natives.” I desperately want to rely on them to improve the American way of life. I want them to be on Team USA. Do “natives” want to be on that team?
I like where you're going with this. I find it completely ironic that we most typically recognize them NATIVE Americans, but we treat them like ALIENS! What’s up with that? Makes no sense, if you ask me. When I think back to my ancestors who arrived here in America and didn’t find it a big deal to move into stolen territory, I feel pretty disgusted. I like the idea of getting rid of the “reservation” label, as well. It’s like you’re bounding them inside this reserved territory, and if they set foot outside of it, you have the right to abuse/kill them? I don’t think so…I think that taking away this label would set them free, in a sense.
I think this raises a very interesting question. While we sit pondering what we can do to better the situation of Native Americans, I have to wonder what the Native Americans wish for us to do. I agree that they need a good education so that they can have more opportunities and be able to upwardly mobilize and become successful. However, do the Native Americans want to be assimilated into American culture and society? Because while I know they need our help, I don't know if they want to become part of our society? They have a very different set of traditions and cultural differences that might not necessarily work on a day to day basis in our society.
Personally, I think something we absolutely need to do as everyday citizens is, as Dr. Richards mentioned in class several times, simply accept and acknowledge that terrible atrocities occurred with Native Americans since the colonists came to the New World. More importantly, terrible things are still be done to them as far as displacement of land and homes, as well as extremely high rates of poverty for the tribes not on reservations with casinos. I know that simply acknowledging that these inequalities exist will not solve anything, but as Dr. Richards mentioned, most people pretend Native Americans are not even there so Americans can feel proud of their beginning as a country, rather than ashamed and disappointed in their ancestors.
A few people said in class that "Well I personally didn't do anything, so what is my obligation, really?" If you continue to behave the way our parents, grandparents. and great-grandparents did, and do not mention the wrongs done, then you are no better than your ancestors who first desecrated the Native Americans' land. We are one people, and we all need to take responsibility for the actions of our American brothers. I should be clear: this philosophy applies in this instance because we all benefit from not talking about or acknowledging the acts done to Native Americans. If we don't talk about it, we still have a soul and we can go on proclaiming our superiority to the world. Obviously I hope you can tell that I would disagree with this approach.
Another thing we as average citizens can do is try to immerse ourselves, at least a little bit, in Native American culture. I'm not sure how many of you know this, but in April, there is a Pow-Wow presented by the Oneida tribe at Mount Nittany Middle School right here in State College. It definitely is a great experience and I strongly encourage as many people as possible to attend. It gives you at least a glimpse of the culture that America has been slowly crushing the life out of for over 200 years.
As the person who posted above me mentions, making the Native Americans a true equal part of our society is a must. This has to include removing the name "reservation" from those particular areas. This tag serves only to separate Native Americans from society, and gives the government cause to treat the reservations poorly, especially economically. Good schooling is also a must, but at the same time, we must make sure to put Native Americans in good, welcoming, accepting schools, not schools that will brainwash children to become "normal", mainstream Americans. Keeping the Native American culture alive is an absolute must.
Katie, I enjoyed the article the Collegian wrote about you -I hope the blogging is going well!
I think the biggest thing we can do to begin the process is educate people. If everyone saw the video clip we saw in class, I think people might get the hint that these people need help. Like I said in my other response, before this class, I didn't know things were even close to being that bad. There is a long way to go when it comes to helping the Native Americans but education would be a big first step.
This is a good question because what can we really do? I mean students and everybody else in America are so concerned about theirselves and family. So many things are going on in this world, and everybody is caught up in their own life. They deal with Issues that surround their family, friends, workplace, etc. There is no time left to think about anything else, (especially not something that took place number of years ago). But Sam mentioned in class today when he did the whole demonstration with students in the class. Like what do you want? Will an apology be good enough? The student did not respond, she did not know what exactly to say, because how sorry fix could anything after all these years. These people hearts have been cold towards Americans for so many years now.
I agree with a lot of what people have been saying. I think the most important thing to do is educate people. You can't help change a situation if you don't fully understand it yourself. In another video, the girl was talking about how there was a study where a teacher told the students to draw a Native American and none of them knew what she was talking about, then she told them to draw an Indian and the first thing that came to their minds was a person with feathers in their hair and a weapon. But today, Native Americans have grown beyond that image. That's an image of how their culture used to be and I think white culture, black culture and every culture have matured from our great great grandfathers and what's happened in the past. I know Sam isn't trying to blame us for what's happened, he's just stating facts and trying to get us to think about what happened in our pasts. I hate being reminded about how whites treated blacks or how we killed thousands of Native Americans and took their lands but it's something that has to happen to remind us about what's right and wrong. But on the other side of it, it's like reminding every German about the Holocaust when not everyone supported it. We've been looking at the bad side of things when I'm sure there were englishmen who didn't support the mass genocide of Native Americans but didn't know or couldn't do anything to stop what was happening.
Another thing we could do is try to make being a Native American more acceptable in America. There are rarely tv shows or movies featuring Native American peoples and I think if we saw Native Americans in our everyday life we'd be more accepting of them. I think there's a barrier because a lot of Native Americans and their tribes exclude themselves from the regular American ways of life. I'm not saying they should change their beliefs or religious ceremonies but if they moved into neighborhoods and became more integrated in our society they'd be more accepted.It would take a while because it's the same situations that blacks were in during the civil rights time period, there were black neighborhoods and white neighborhoods and there was a clear line of what was acceptable. But because blacks forced whites to recognize how unfairly they were being treated it made it easier to be accepted.
First of all, I plan on telling everyone I know to take this class. What we talk about in SOC 119 may barely scratch the surface on this issue (as well as many others), but it makes you open your eyes. Sam pretty much SHOUTS it into the crowd during class: “We don’t talk about it because if we did, we would have no soul!!” And it may sound harsh, but…it should be! I fully believe that, like the TA mentioned in class, the first step is education. The only way you can get people to truly care about an issue is to educate them about it. You could say to them “These people are living in poverty because of us,” but that doesn’t necessarily make them want to care. You have to set the scene for them, give them details, let them SEE…and THEN they might start to care, like I have. And then maybe they’ll pass it on to everyone they know, Iike I have started doing. It’s a chain reaction.
I think that Sam has really opened my eyes to the struggles which Native Americans must fight just to get ownership of land they were promised years ago. While there seems to be some hope for the future in that some claims like those of Canada's Indian population are being recognized and appreciated, many other groups are still losing their land to this day. Native Americans have had a much higher appreciation for the land and what it can provide them. They attach a spiritual component to their land and, as a result approach the sale of those lands with great worry.
Native Americans are still being taken advantage of to this day. What little portion of land they have been permitted to live in by the US government is being reacquired for use as toxic waste sites. Scientists have even come forward to contend the effects of living near this waste are not harmful. Americans must ask themselves if these practices would be similarly condoned in white communities.
Native Americans are in dire need of a strong and powerful voice. They need some influential groups to assist them with their strategies to fend off whites who want to harm their interests. Since Native American communities are the same with poverty, they don't have the influence necessary to change these problems on their own. The American people must come forward and aid Native Americans in their quest for self-determination and independence. The time has come for us to stand up and say the abuses must stop. The United States must acknowledge our past treaties and let them manage their lives free of harmful white influences. We can not afford to allow this excellent cultural resource to be continually raped of its land and self-esteem while we stand by carelessly.
We as Americans need to let the Native Americans be and let them have there land that they so rightfully deserve. I believe it is completely wrong what we have done in the past and what we are continuing to do today. Native Americans are a very important part of our American history and we need to start treating them this way. We need to start donating money, time, helping with education and doing anything we can possibly can do too help these people. Their land has been stolen away and it is not right. Today it seems as everyone is all for themselves but what the government and the American people need to do is help all people. This will bring us together and make us closer and stronger as a country. Sam has really opened my eyes to what is going on and I really did not know too much on this subject before but now that I do I believe something needs to be done.
I think that education truly is the key to what we can do. I know that I, personally, really don't know much about Native Americans. I think that by learning about it, and then going out and teaching what we learned we could really raise awareness so that people understand what is going on. I'm studying to be an elementary school teacher so I may be biased but I really do think that by being educated on all different controversial issues that some of us know nothing about, we can really changes America's perspective. This is what makes education so powerful. When we know what is going on, we can actually do something about it.
I am not sure if there is something specific that students can do, but I think there are things we can do as a society. As the majority of people responding to this blog have already stated, we need to have more education. This kind of ties into one of the first videos that was posted by a student about when education should begin, but I think the most important thing we can do is educate people within our society. I know what I am about to say sounds extremely ignorant, but it is the truth. From elementary school, I learned about the pilgrims versus the Native Americans and how the Native Americans were here before us. Although I knew we fought for this land, I never knew that it was the largest genocide in the world's history. I am twenty one years old, and to be honest, it is completely unacceptable that I am just learning that the killing of Native Americans was the largest genocide. I think that people are just completely unaware of how current these issues still are. Granted I have never been a big history fanatic, but I did not realize how much the Native American people are still struggling to regain their sense of self and make do with the small amount of land that they were "given" or the land that the government "left" them after the US took the rest. I did not realize how rampant alcohol, drug, and physical abuse ran within the Native American reservations. I think that we are all just so concerned about ourselves, that we just do not take the time to realize the consequences of our actions, because it is always about me me me.
I think if we learned from a young age that people are struggling and that not everyone has an equal chance, we would be a lot more willing to help others. We are taught that we can do anything we put our minds to, but as we have learned in this class, that is only part of it. I think people hesitate to help others when they believe that if those people work hard enough they can succeed. The truth of the matter is that everyone could use a little help and I think we need to instill the value of helping others from a young age. We need to teach young kids that we as a society cannot improve unless we all work together. If we all worked together, maybe we all could become equal to some degree. I think that we also need to be more open about the struggle of Native Americans. It is not something we really talk about within our culture, so I think it needs to be made more public. As a society, we need to raise awareness about the issues facing us today.
As I sat in class on Tuesday, I didn't know exactly how to respond to Sam's lecture. In one way, I felt like Sam was making us feel guilty for our ancestors coming over onto this land, but on the other hand it made me feel really bad for Native Americans who were kicked to the curb when our ancestors kicked them aside. I didn't know whether to feel defensive or to feel guilty. The truth is though, is that we are all guilty of this, which is why no one takes personal blame for the actions that have been taken. Sure, Native Americans are living in complete poverty, suffering, and are disregarded by the government, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take steps to become aware of how we can help them. How exactly we should go about helping others become more aware of this is the task at hand. For one, there is a huge stereotype that is pretty inevitable in our world. Like the one girl said in another question posted, children do not know who Native Americans are, but instead, they know them as Indians with feathers around their heads and holding weapons. But, Native Americans, in many ways, are just like us. As someone stated above, they shop at Wal Mart and integrate into our culture in many ways. How can we help to become more aware, though? I think it roots in education. I never was aware of how much we took from them until someone told me. I think kids need to know who Native Americans are and what they are all about. If people aren't told, they will never know. With that said, I think we need to also become more aware of the poverty they live in and how we can help them to get out of that. If we ever give ourselves the chance to become more aware of their conditions, we will find ways to support them. In addition, I think it is important that we somehow immerse ourselves in the Native American culture. By understanding it, we will have a much better handle on how they live, what their traditions are, and what they believe in. This will also help to further educate ourselves about them and to fully understand. Native Americans are a very unique culture, much different from any other, which is why it can be difficult for us to understand. I think if we, the people of the United States take steps to understand Native Americans more and find ways to help them, we will be a much better nation as a whole.
The summer before my freshman year at Penn State I visited the Pine Ridge Reservation that Sam talked about in class this week. It was part of an outreach/immersion trip with nine other students that was paired with a class in Native American Spirituality. Like Sam said, these are some of the poorest people in our country. The Pine Ridge Reservation lies within two of the poorest counties in the United States. The unemployment rate is around 80% and alcoholism is about the same. During our time on the Rez, we heard from some of the wiser and experienced voices of the Lakota (Sioux) community. They told us that one of the greatest things we could do to help them was to talk about our experiences on the Reservation and to share our stories with others. The history and the current situation of Native Americans is something that is rarely, if ever discussed, and that needs to change.
I guess I must first describe the setting of the Rez. It took us about three hours to drive from the airport on to the Reservation. The Reservation is miles away from any large towns, and lacks any legitimate industry—which contributes to the high unemployment. The Rez is very spread out; you can see open land on both sides of the one road that runs through the reservation. For the first three days we conducted a bible camp for the kids that lived on the Rez. We would drive a van in the morning to pick them up from their homes, which were groups of ten to fifteen people living in trailers. Many children were orphaned or had parents in jail. At the bible camp, the kids clung to us as if our piggyback rides were the only thing that could rescue them from the reality they faced. They have seen more hardship in their childhood and adolescence than most people have in their entire lives. For the rest of our stay we participated in cultural experiences like hiking in the Black Hills, a Sweat Lodge ceremony, and visiting the site of the Battle of Wounded Knee.
Over the holidays, South Dakota, and specifically Pine Ridge, has been hit by devastating snow and ice storms, eventually leading to a State of Emergency being declared. Heating houses is the biggest expense from November until May. The coordinator of my outreach trip has recently contacted us asking us for funds for propane. Heat in our homes is something that many people take for granted. So on the grand scheme of things, it is educating others and spreading the word that can help. However, donations never go to misuse on the Reservation either. There are a number of things that one can do to alleviate the pains on the Reservation the problem is that no one wants to think about them.
I don’t know the true answer about what we can do about kicking the Native Americans out of their land many, many years ago but I have one suggestion, which is to try and learn about the relocation of Native Americans and their feelings about what was done to them.
My parents were born and raised in Wisconsin, about 20 miles from Green Bay. Once they got married and my dad joined the Army, they were stationed to their first area and have not moved back to their hometown since. Of course, they always talk about where they grew up and we have been there to visit family at least one time per year since I was born. My mom and dad would always reference back to an Indian Reservation right outside of their town. Unfortunately, these Indians are outcasts in my parents’ hometown.
After Sam gave this lecture the other day, I called my mom to find out her past experiences with the Native Americans and why these people are considered outcasts. She told me how when she was little, her father worked for a sanitation service that did services for the Indians at the reservation. My grandpa had a darker olive skin so he kind of fit in at the reservation and all of the people there were very nice and welcoming to him. She further explained how her best friend was an Indian and her dad would take her to the reservation on the weekends so she could spend the night with her friend. Then, she said that her best friend was not like the other Indians at her school. Other Indian girls would hang out in a bathroom and beat up any white girls that entered, so she would not use the restroom all day in fear of them beating her up. My mom went on to explain a different set of feelings that her parents had for the Indians. An Indian boy once invited her to the Sadie-Hawkins Dance and her mother explained that she “could be friends with the Indians, but never date them.” Even though my mom’s parents were very accepting of the Indians, they did not fully accept them as an equal. Also, she said that the Indians wanted their own school, separate of all of the white residents in the town. My mom said that they gave the Indians “really nice homes and they just trashed them.” I asked her what these really nice homes were and she said trailers. I tried to explain to her how these people were probably feeling after people in the town took their land and placed them on this smaller piece of land called a “reservation.”
She got really defensive about the whole thing. I guess that’s how many of us are feeling about this subject as well. Since we may not be able to change the current condition of Native Americans in the United States, including the high unemployment rates and such, the least we can do is spread this new learned knowledge about what has happened to Native Americans. Also, we can open ourselves up to hear what Native Americans are feeling about this situation.
I think a lot of people seem not affected and lack emotion toward the subject because a lot of people are ignorant and indifferent towards what happened before. In this country, many people are aware of massive genocide occurred during settlement period but people seems to forget what they have done to others and only care what they have now. People simply ignore about the history as they think this incident is irrelevant to their personal lives. To them, genocide is just an incident that happened in the past and they think they are not related in anyways. They do not realize the fact that this tragic incident has switched their or other Native American’s lives. If this land was not taken by any of new settlers, the lives could have been completely different. If new settlers didn’t get over took this land, there could settlers wondering around and find hard time to live. The position of Native American could have been completely switched from white settlers. Can you imagine you been put into same position as Native Indians are now? We will be wondering about to survive this bias and prejudice world. We would have no choice but become like what Native Indians are now. When we see ourselves put in this position, wouldn’t we blame other for what they have done? Of course we would. We will not only blame others but we might ask back what we used to have. Do you still think what Native American blaming is relatively irrelevant to you? Or are you just indifferent? These questions and problems can be solved when we start to understand their position. It does not mean you feel sympathy and apologize all the time. I am simply saying acknowledge what has happened. Acknowledge I mean put your thoughts and think that we are all part of this incident. It is not just a conflict between our ancestor and Native American ancestors. It is not just between white people and Native Americans. Everyone, who is in this ‘red land’, is part of this problem. With such a mind and mentality, people will see what can be done to understand and put themselves in equal position as Native Americans. Then, this will bring actions to set justice. As you can see, defining who are to be blamed is not the solutions to solve this conflict. It’s the matter of how you are putting yourself to change this difference. I think this simple practice can be applied to any other problems in the world. First set your mind and mentality that you are responsible. Having such a connection to the problem will make you more passionate towards this subject and try to do something about it. As there is old saying if there is a will there will be a way to these problems.
I had mentioned this is class as a comment, but I didn’t really get to elaborate. I feel that one of the things that we can do now in our generation is to stop buying products with negative depictions of American Indians. For example, Argo Corn Starch and Land-O-Lakes have negative stereotypes of American Indians and we can prevent these images from going out there. We support teams like the redskins and the braves which depict the wrong stereotype. Want to know why American Indians have the highest rates of alcoholism, drug use, and suicide? Because they have to constantly face these images of what the general public really thinks of them.
You don’t see any teams named Negroes, and if it happened, there would be an outrage. Darko toothpaste was taken off the shelves, and Aunt Jemima had to get redone multiple times to satisfy the NAACP and other black organizations. Notice the mascots like the Indians and the Warriors with Indians in teepees and feathers that cover the walls of public schools. That is not everything that the culture is and what it represents. It’s so much more, but all we know is the Powwows and tribal chants and what we have seen from TV and cartoons.
These people were the natives to this land and this country. I can’t say that I’m proud to be an American when this is what we know was taken from people who it originally belonged to. What I find ironic is that now, if someone steals something or is treated unjustly; we have laws in place that protect the owner of the property. Yet, we did the same thing, and we have laws preventing what we did to happen to anyone else.
I feel that one of the reasons I feel so strongly about this topic is because of one of my former Professors, John Sanchez. He was showing us the numbers in the US and at Penn State. He is one of the only three American Indian professors within the Penn State community. When he spoke of these stereotypes and how it affected his daily life, I could see it in his eyes and his heart that it physically was a struggle. Being black and of an African background, I know what it’s like to feel like there is no way of beating the system or being conceived as a negative thing, but they face these things ten times worse.
I feel that we don’t help because it doesn’t effect us. Like, when we were discussing the difference in the schools in Chicago. It’s a huge difference. But, those who are rich aren’t going to give all that to kids they don’t know when they want the best for their kids… it’s the same concept. We care, but we have to sacrifice something of our own lives to help, and most of us don’t want to take that extra step. Why take away from our cushy lives? “Luckily, it’s not me who was born on a reservation.” And it sucks… but that’s why we don’t care. It’s not us.
I believe that the purpose of Sam's lectures are to get us to think in a different way than we usually do. There isn't really any big agenda item that he is pushing other than that he wants us to come to an understanding that there are certain wrongs and differences amongst our population. The goal of this class is not to feel guilty or ashamed of your race, the goal is to understand the different footings that we are on between white, black, asian, latino, etc. I believed for a long time that the choices we make in life are largely responsible for how we turn out, but now I see that there are blaring differences in how white people are treated compared to minorities. I think the best thing that we can do is stop allowing the small voice inside of us control our subconscious thoughts and actions towards other races. I'm not saying everyone is racist because certainly that is not the case but there are certain things that we see in our daily lives that we don't even realize are hurtful or demeaning to others. Taking steps to become more aware of our own actions in the world of race relations and moving towards understanding and communicating with each other across the race table will go a long way to bridging the gap between the races. Once we can start moving past blaming each other for the mistakes of our ancestors we can take action to improve how society functions as an equal ground between all peoples. As an individual, I want to stop making generalizations about people based on the color of their skin or how they dress or talk. I want to share the knowledge I've learned from this class with my family and friends and inform them of things they've never thought of before. What I don't understand is how anyone can sit in this class and not do anything with the information they've learned. I don't think giving certain races a "free pass" is appropriate because achieving equal ground will only come about through mutual efforts among our populous. If you sit in class and listen to Sam and then go back into your day to day life without connecting anything from the classroom to real life then you are just as much responsible for the ongoing problem as are the people in the statistics we see in class. If you are given the information and then choose not to act on anything then I blame you in part for your ignorance.
I have four exams next week, and I have a business proposal do. I am actively involved in a couple of groups associated with Penn State. We meet about once a week on average. I need to find a summer internship. I want to go out a lot, while I’m still a college student. I have a girl studying abroad that I try and skype on a daily basis. What I’m trying to say is that I’m a busy college student, and I’m sure the majority of Penn State students have these same priorities. So if Sam proposes things for me to do, in terms of helping others, I don’t think I would have the time to be fully committed to those causes. Maybe, I could make time, but then I would be neglecting my other needs and wants. Maybe that makes me a selfish person, but in my opinion I have enough going on, and don’t want to take the time to take up a hopeless cause.
This class has been great in terms of opening my eyes to the injustices around the world. It really has, but I don’t think there have been any realistic options presented in terms of helping the less fortunate. Like I said, I am just a college student with a lot going on, so is it really my responsibility to take up a cause for others? It may seem harsh, but life’s not fair, and I’m not obligated to help others. I have before though, such as going to feed the homeless, building housing for the poor, etc., but at this point in my life I just have a lot going on.
I just finished Disposable People, and that author told us that we should learn, join, and then act. Let’s say I did join one of his groups, and then helped out as much as I could, then I’d be neglecting my own wants and needs. Also, if I’m out there fighting for slaves all over the world, then what about the Native Americans or the other minorities in America that are treated unfairly on a daily basis. It just seems that we are getting so much thrown at us at once, and are being asked to make the changes that are necessary. I am just a college student, who is trying to get good grades, have a good time at Penn State, and eventually obtain a well-paying job. Does it make me a bad person, because I choose not to act on these problems? I’m sure some of you would say it does. I’m focused on myself at the moment, but maybe down the road I will make the time to do whatever it is that needs to be done to help others.
There are many things that can be done to help Native Americans. But it will take a mass effort to get that done. Really, what do Native Americans want? Because we cannot give back their land. That is a little out of the question. We can give them an apology, but what the hell does that do, nothing! What happened to the Native American people in this land is unforgivable. Our founding fathers really contradicted themselves from the start. We are supposed to be a land of equality, unless you were a Native American or African American. That is hypocrisy at its finest.
Back to the main topic, I do not know what the hell to do for Native Americans. I do not even know any Native Americans. I think that they should be taken care of for our lack of care for them for so long. Give them free health care; oh wait that will not even happen for us. Give them monetary support and good education, oh wait we can barely do that for our people already. Well, I’m shit out of luck on ideas. How about we all pick up our shit and move out. The Natives can have their land back and we will leave a big thank you note for them, for putting up with us destroying their land for hundreds of years. Well that will never happen either.
Honestly, I never oppressed Native Americans, so I firmly and confidently say that I have no reason to feel any remorse or responsibility for them. I am sorry but that is how I feel. Sure this land is “red land”, but come on, where does this shit stop. My ancestors came off a boat never touching a single Native. They have no responsibility and neither do I. So call me an insensitive asshole, I do not care. The same can be said for slavery. It seems that some people want there to be retribution or restitution made for slavery. I never owned slaves, nor did any of my ancestors. So frankly It is not my problem, and I have no hand in that either. I am just an American brought into this world not by my own choice, but living the American dream on land that does not belong to any of us. I will build a house someday on “red land” and I will enjoy it. I will continue to go to Indian casinos from time to time, and I will consider that my reparations for their suffering. I believe in survival of the fittest. We had the guns the natives did not, sorry; I did not make that decision.
This is a question that I struggle to understand as well. What can I personally do to basically say sorry to the Native Americans for what many generations ago did to them. And the only thing that I can come up with is to learn about it, respect them, and not let anything like this happen again. Most Americans don’t talk about this issue because of the guilt and lack of wanting to deal with what happened. But by not talking about it and acting like it never happened is another slap in the Native American’s faces. They deserve for us to at least recognize what our people did to them, even if it was so many years ago.
In response to the question regarding what can we do in our everyday lives to help what we have done to Native Americans in the past. Native Americans once had everything taken from them because of new people moving onto their land. This was one of the biggest genocides that have occurred to this point in history. However, it goes unnoticed very often because of what we are taught when we are younger. It is difficult to think of a way to change this back to the way things are, because it probably is not possible. This being said nothing we do may ever fully give Native Americans an even playing field because of the past. However, there are a few things that can be done to help the current situation.
A teaching assistant in Sam’s class added a little viewpoint on this and he said the main thing we can do is to educate people. I completely agree with him and believe we need to teach young children and teens about the reality of how the United States of America became ours. How we were not the first settlers on the land, and the struggle Native Americans had with people killing and stealing their land from them. Our citizens must know the reality of why Native Americans are discriminated against and why they experience so many terrible things. If the citizens of the United States realize the cruel acts that have happened to Native Americans in the past, then maybe some things will change. We need to understand why Native Americans have become so bad off. Our history books usually leave out many details about the bad the United States has committed in the past. Instead of teaching only the good, we can benefit from learning the bad also. If we learn the wrongs our ancestors have committed we can learn form them and not make the same mistakes.
Native Americans were part of a massive genocide once the first settlers from Europe arrived here. For the majority of people to not realize and understand this is a crime in itself. Our curriculums and textbooks must teach students the reality of what happened in the past in order to learn form our mistakes. If we are not taught of the mistakes we had previously made, then this may happen again. There is not much we can do to restore the wrongs of our ancestors, but educated our youth is the main cure to the current problem. If more and more people become aware of the cruelty Native Americans have been faced with, we can grow as a country and help them integrate back into society. Education is the main fix to the problem and teachers need to begin spending more time on teaching the reality of America’s past.
I think something that everyone can do to help out in his or her everyday life is just simply to educate oneself. Personally, I feel we have a huge lack of knowledge regarding certain topics today and Native Americans are one of them. I can speak for myself and I am sure many others by saying I do not know a true Native American or honestly know very much about their culture and traditions. If I were simply educated on this like I was on something like slavery I feel that I may understand it better. Therefore, I think what most people can do is simply just educate oneself.
In response to question four about Native Americans, I think there is a small, simple role that we can play in changing the lives of Native Americans- we can change the way people perceive them. We can do this by simply recognizing that they have been wronged, which sounds obvious, but most of us don’t even do that. Many people are so ignorant to what happened to the Native Americans by the Europeans (whether they are your ancestors or not). In tying in another question posted on this site about Native Americans and how little kids are taught about them in school, I know I learned the truth about Native Americans later in life and while I was in school I learned all the happy aspects of their culture and way of life- not that we completely destroyed it. This simple recognition can go a long way! I think students should be taught about Native Americans as we are taught about the Holocaust. Worldwide, we revere the Holocaust and what happened there and the stories of many are infamous. Do we know any single story of any family or person, like Anne Frank, that survived the genocide against Native Americans? No.
I am a little annoyed at the class members who keep saying “what do you want us to feel guilty about? We didn’t do it- other people did! How are we responsible?” Um did Sam ask you to say sorry? No. He just wants us to RECOGNIZE what happened. I can’t wait until we look back on our academic careers and realize how much ignorance on this subject was taught. It’s like America as a whole is trying to cover up the fact that we were bad guys. We’ll put any other mass-murder or genocide in textbooks and school lectures, but God forbid we talk shit on AMERICA in schools! It DOESN’T MATTER if it was YOUR ancestors or not- it still happened. Were all of our ancestors Nazis and involved with killing enormous amounts of Jewish people in World War 2? No. Do we still feel compassion and recognize it and study it? Absolutely. So why not this genocide? Why is everyone acting like they’re being so attacked?
Although I am completely ashamed to admit this about a member of my own family, I think this information provides a good example of what ignorance versus recognition of this genocide can look like and how simply recognizing it can help: I remember about six months or so ago my mom was telling me a story about a conversation she had with a guy at her work. In whatever issue they were discussing, Native Americans came up and my mom said “oh they’re all uneducated alcoholics”. This makes me cringe because that is just so rude and ignorant. Yes, it is true that many Native Americans are not well educated. It is also true that many Native Americans are on drugs or alcoholics. But, hello? WHY do you think they are like that? Oh I don’t know, because we took everything from them and forced them into small living areas where they became depressed and poverty stricken?! Maybe. Maybe that’s a reason.
So what can we do? We can educate. Tell the people who don’t know. Tell the people, like my mom, who are so rude and ignorant when looking at Native Americans that they are wrong for doing so. RECOGNIZE IT- it’s really easy!
I agree with this post. While I often feel helpless and feel like there is nothing I can do, recognizing it is something that everyone can do to make a little bit of a difference. I think that we can help out simply by telling our friends and family about what we learned in class. For example, you said that your mom is ignorant about Native Americans. I don’t really know if my parents are ignorant about the issue or not because we’ve never talked about. The next time I talk to them, I’m going to tell them about what we learned, and I also told my roommates about the lecture. I think that is really the best thing we can do to help.
I think the main thing we can do is to stop exploiting Native Americans and their lifestyle (or our misinterpretation of it) for commercialized profit. We are constantly being bombarded by symbols, sports teams, and logos trivializing the Indian culture and its practices in order to create a trendy or romanticized idea (of which is fallacious because all we are doing is proving our own ignorance and insensitivity). We claim to be “honoring” these cultures by naming our euro-American “traditions” after the peoples who we genocided. Isn’t it enough that we took their land, massacred their people, and brought foreign and unavoidable disease to their villages, do we really have to also publicly embarrass them by forcing them to be a part of the culture that they no doubt resent? This forced globalization of euro-American (and I say EURO-American in order to emphasize the differentiation between the NATIVE Americans and the EURO Americans, or the people that dubbed themselves American AFTER the native peoples had already been inhabiting said land)culture is wrong and insulting – who are we to decide which practices are right? Are our Christian ideas upon which “America” was founded really being at all injured by the views (polytheistic or otherwise) of a people who pose no threat to us, militarily or economically? We must educate ourselves and others on the practices of the Native American people in order to extinguish or ignorant and empty ideas and opinions of their culture. We focus so much on political correctiveness in education – yet what are our guidelines for this situation? We learn of past genocides and wars, yet the wars occurring now (if you even call these “wars,” they are more unwinnable social battles), continue to progress without public knowledge or a second thought. The Genocide occurring now in Sudan can be compared in this light: it’s an atrocious occurrence that gets almost no news coverage, yet is as bad as any other suppression of people, war, or genocide that has happened in the past and that we put so much emphasis on. Do we not teach these lessons so that the same mistakes cannot happen again? We see ourselves as a world of fairness and equality, yet we ignore wars that are happening in other places, and even the injustices that are occurring in our own country! Education is the main way to escape the perpetuality of ignorance, in any situation. We must take charge of our opinions and inform ourselves on the events not only of the past but of the present, so that we can make an effort to stop them! To reiterate what has been said in class, I do not mean that we should make an effort to help these peoples because we feel a sense of guilt – many of us do not, for we had no part in what happened, however by letting it continue to progress and their civilization deteriorate, we are guilty by way of ignorance.
I think that the biggest thing that students like us can do is to acknowledge what happened to the Native Americans. Personally, I'm disgusted with the US government's ignorance towards this issue. I still can't believe that I did not learn about the actual truth of the genocide until High School. When I was in elementary school, we only talked about how we the settlers made agreements with the Indians and maybe that the settlers tried to push the Native Americans off their land. We never discussed the reality of the situation. When I learned about the genocide of Native Americans I was very upset. I can't believe to what detail people go to keep the truth hush hush.
It’s almost as if some white person was playing chess with the Native Americans. Thinking of every move they can make so the white person would be always ahead of the Native American and that they would not have any way to win the game. At the end, the white person says, “Aha now there is no possible way that you can advance in this game and win.” When the Native Americans are suppressed this much from the United States, I’m not surprised that they have the highest addiction, unemployment, and suicide rate.
The Native American genocide is a topic that hits home for me. I am one eighth Native American—and unlike most people—I still heavily associate myself as one. Like Sam talked about in class a couple weeks ago, in order to be Native American one must still mentally and physically associate themselves with that culture. Not only do I mentally associate myself, but I also still have ties with the reservation back in Niagara Falls, New York. Since my great-great uncle was the chief of the Tuscarora tribe (the sixth nation later added into the Iroquois), a lot of my relatives still remain on the reservation, struggling. When I’m home from school during the holidays, I am constantly reminded of my struggling ancestors because not only does my family have my great uncle’s head-dress hanging up, but we have pictures of my people on the reservation. Throughout my entire life, I have grown up with hearing the struggles my family had to go through as Native Americans. In second grade, my dad would walk to school and get asked by his teachers “how many people did you scalp on your way here?” As a junior in high school, my oldest sister tried to urge people to change the mascot of her Illinois school, but along with being shunned by her teachers, kids all called her a “stupid redskin who should go back to the reservation.” Even me, not that long out of high school, faced comments about how Native Americans didn’t care, since we were the “indigenous people.” Honestly, I have contemplated the girl in the video’s question for a long, long time. Although more and more people are becoming complacent about the matter, I think people should take a stand against things such as mascots. Whether people like to believe it or not, mascots such as the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians is hugely offensive. Not only is the term Redskin demeaning, but the actions that the mascots do in games is downright disgusting. They hold their fake axes, walk around with outlandish clothes, do “battle calls” by slapping their hand to their mouth. It is completely disrespectful to my culture and, above all, ignorant. How would people react if a mascot was a black person walking around and fulfilling their stereotype, as a “savage” or “indigenous” peoples. Our society would flip and say it is wrong and most definitely not politically correct. So why aren’t people doing that for Native Americans? Respect is paramount and when sports teams are glorifying this culture in an unfit way—it needs to end. I mean think about it, people walk around with SHIRTS and HATS of a red-skinned Indian with a huge grin and a feather. How much more offensive does that get? President Andrew Johnson once said, “the only good Indian is a dead Indian” and though I think we’ve come a long way since then, I think we, as a society, need to step up, show we care, and take a stand against these teams and mascots. No more ignorance. No more turning a blind eye.
When initially asked what to do to help mend the situation one becomes perplexed and bewildered. Questions begin to formulate in one’s head. What can me, one-person do to help make this massive issue go away? What can I do to bring back the lives of the lost Native Americans and how can I retrieve their land.
Reality is that this is not what is being asked of us. No it is nothing, nothing we can do to bring back the fallen lives of the Native Americans. No we cannot turn back the hands of times and save the lives of the people who were slain during genocide. What we can do however is educate. Many of us are ignorant when it comes to the Native American people. Our knowledge of their history is limited to the stories of the first thanksgiving with the pilgrims.
Our school systems should integrate more information into the curriculum. Children should be informed about Native Americans at a young age, Many children are not even familiar with the term. If they were given just the term Native American they would display faces of confusion.
What I do not agree with is that we as American should give them an apology. Were the actions of early Europeans wrong, absolutely but I personally did nothing wrong to offend a Native American. Everything my family members or I have has been earned. Am I supposed to give my house and land to the Native Americans and say I send apologies from my deceased ancestors?
If this is the case why shouldn’t blacks be offered an apology form every white American for being held as slaves .The reason is because the whites that are living today are not the ones who held, owned, slashed, beat, mistreated, and downright demoralized blacks. Also the blacks living to day were not the ones chased, oppressed, beat down, whipped, and mistreated. Similarly I should not have to openly express an apology for others mistreating ancestors of the Native Americans. Especially when my ancestors, being as though I am African American, probably did not oppress them that severe. We do owe the Native Americans though. We owe them the right to be understood and recognized as humans. We owe them the right to be in as much American history as any other race or culture. We owe it to them to be open and to befriend them and try our best to understand their oppression. We owe it to them and to our American culture to make mend of this entire situation. We should unite as a nation to overcome this hurdle. Because of that, our debt to the Native American and American culture, I will apologize so that we could move on and strive to be an equal and just nation.
I feel as if there may not be much we can do as individuals. It is hard to achieve anything in a solitary manner. One needs to unite with people who share the same goal and interests as they do. It is only when we unite with others that we find we can reach or even exceed our goals. I don't feel as if Dr. Richards wants us all to jump up drop out of college and devote our lives to Native American rights (although this would be a worthy and noble cause, indeed!) I feel as if he wants us to know! Be informed! Be conscious, aware consumers of what was fed to us from such an early age. No tales of genocide were ever spoken about! Here? In America! NOooo! Not in my land! But yes! Your land! Or our land, whichever you prefer. Or even better still, their land! Yes sir, it is their land. By knowing this and opening your mind to the far off concept that millions of people were slaughtered to obtain this, is one small way any individual can make a difference. Dr. Richards kept repeating the fact that this is red land. This is not only the color of their skin, but the color of their blood. Their blood was poured back into the earth by men of a different color, in order to spread their resources and form their own society. We have completely neglected these people. Dr. Richards wants us to realize this blazing hole in the fabric of the American flag. We have cast aside a whole group of people and said they are not important. Their problems don't exist. We killed their forefathers with guns. And now we will kill their future generations with poison. Not a literal poison. But a poison that is generated and fueled by hate, ignorance and indifference. WE CANNOT LET THIS CONTINUE. I feel that the average student, joe the plumber, whomever, should know this: JUST BY KNOWING WHAT WAS DONE WE HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE! Not a profound superb difference, but one nonetheless. We have changed our thought pattern. Changing of thoughts usually leads to a changing of actions. The actions of everyone's fathers has left us with this hole in our souls. What can be done to repair the damage. LOOK AT THE DAMAGE THAT WE HAVE ALL CAUSED! That is what Dr. Richards wants. We have to see past ourselves, past the blame game. We need to take ownership of this plight and help Native Americans out of the mire and filth we did not hesitate to put them in. It starts with one. A common purpose can unite a people. The settlers had a common purpose bent on destruction of a people. We need to have a common goal of raising them up to the people they once were, before we tried to obliterate them and their heritage.
This is a very question, and it is one that I don’t have an answer too. After learning about Native Americans in class I feel like I want to do something, but I don’t know what I can do. How could I, a student at Penn State, make a difference in the lives of Native Americans? I don’t really think that there is anything we can do. I was very intrigued by the video that Sam showed us. Something that really stuck out in my head was when the one guy said that he thinks it’s wrong that America is spending so much money in Iraq when they should be taking care of their own country. That’s a really good point, we should be taking care of our own country. It’s our fault that the Native Americans are in the position they are in now and I think that the Government should do something about it. Why is it that in all presidential races they make so many promises, but none of them ever say anything about helping Native Americans?
I definitely agree that the first step to making things better is education. I don't understand why so many people don't like history. Every problem that a country or a certain group of people have ever had… somebody else throughout history has had the same problem and figured out a way to deal with it. It just drives me crazy that people know the names of those idiots on Jersey Shore but they can't tell you who won the French and Indian War. I can almost guarantee that there are a couple people in our SOC 119 class that don't know who won the Revolutionary War! Reducing Americas ignorance is a good first step.
What happened to the Native Americans is a disgrace. Obviously immigrants to this country walked in with their advanced technology and fought an unfair fight. I am probably a descendent of these immigrants so I’ll just use we. We pushed them off of their own land, killed them, and set up our own communities in the new United States of America. The “barren” land that gave the persecuted Europeans new opportunity is really a red land that we stripped from the first peoples. It might have been done by my really, really distant relatives, and that does not make me feel good at all, but what happened is in the past. Hakuna matata. There is a problem that worries me though. A lot of people who live in America today do not ever think about the Native American population. They are a forgotten people to most of the citizens of this great country. I completely understand why this is a bad thing. However I do not think simply accepting what some of our ancestors did to the Native Americans does them enough justice. I have already accepted what happened, but that does not do anything for their population. I also do not think that educating Americans about the genocide that occurred here on our own soil is enough. Teaching young kids in schools about what truly happened to the Native Americans would be helpful. Maybe the future of this country would acknowledge the Native Americans, and they would know what actually happened. This does not mean that these kids would grow up wanting to do something for the Native Americans. People would still be starting on different levels. If people were educated about the stories of the past but took no action, then people might think about Native Americans differently but the Native American population would still be very poor, less educated, and contain negative behaviors such as heavy alcohol consumption. Sure, Native Americans would be more content though knowing that the rest of the country is cognizant of the fact that centuries ago their relatives stole land forcefully from the Native Americans. This still does not accomplish enough for the present Native Americans. It won’t change their situation. Even if the government gives them more resources or better land it would not help enough. I think that the government has to help the Native Americans by providing a higher quality of education for the young Native Americans. They could probably do this by creating incentives for teachers to go to Native American reservations. Increasing education for Native Americans could address some of their other problems too. Increased education is positively correlated with income and socioeconomic status. Also, with more education, hopefully Native Americans would become less dependent on alcohol and would decrease their numbers of suicide. Overall, I believe that more can be done than just accepting what happened to Native Americans. I think we can be more active and do feasible things to increase their chances of succeeding in the world. I might never see an even playing field for all races in my lifetime, but we should be able to do things to at least close the gap.
I don’t really know what much we could do. We are too much in the hole to dig things out. I believe that it is too late. What can we do? Yea, it is very sad to hear about the Native Americans getting pushed away from their native land and feeling abandoned. I feel a great amount of sympathy for them. There is no right or wrong action to be performed because so many people think otherwise. This world that we live in is too corrupt and filled with many horrific events which leaves many of us at a state of anger. Just as the Native Americans are so upset because they feel as though “we pushed them away from their native land, African American have something to be upset about also. We are all upset about something, and nothing has not, and will not be done to end all this madness. It sucks. It really does. I wish there is a way that the United States could compromise with the Native Americans so they can now feel accepted on the land that was once theirs. Also, Native Americans can’t feel that they are the only victims in this world because they are not the only ones who experience some form of disrespect. African Americans were also put in a predicament that they are still struggling with still to this day. Discrimination. Racism and discrimination has been going on for quite a long time now and it seems that no matter what actions are done, we will still continue to hear disrespectful comments made either to us or about us. Years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood up for what he believed in and he fought and fought, time and time again just to end the discrimination and the segregation. Although some parts of this country became accepting, there were still many ignorant beings out there who just cannot accept people of color. As a result, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated by an asshole who felt threatened by his outspokenness. Still to this day, African-Americans are still being discriminated and segregated against. For what? Because of the color of our skin. It makes no type of sense. We are now in 2010 and nothing has changed. It doesn’t seem as if anything will stop the nonsense, so the only thing that we could do it to just deal with but still stand up for our rights. So in conclusion, Native American just have to deal with this predicament until something happens, because it doesn’t seem as if the United States will be fighting to help them out anytime soon. Lastly, correct me if I’m wrong, but years ago, weren’t there this amnesty action that the president granted any person who were of Native American descent granted a lot of cash?
As a student of a large university, I understand why it is so hard for us to see outside of our own society and really dive into another culture. From the statistics we see that Native Americans have the highest poverty rates, and highest suicide rates, but we never really stop and think about what we can do. I live in an area surrounded by Native American Culture. All high schools are named after different tribes and there is a local reservation. Each summer they hold events on the reservation of singing, dancing, shows, art, etc. I feel like schools need to focus more on the historical events of the tribes. We need to really dive into the trail of tears. We talk so much about slavery and the Holocaust so I think its time we take a minute and think about these issues.
Like most other students education seems like the first step to helping right the wrongs that the Native Americans have been put through. Stories of life on a reservation or just interviews with current Native Americans concerning what they are now feeling should hit our news and papers, making citizens more aware of the situation at hand. I feel as if the Native Americans felt more respected and cared about as the initial founders of our country, they would be happier to become a part of our society, while still maintaining their own identity and land. If the anger and injustice they felt was dissipated slightly, the alcohol and suicide numbers in their communities might decrease as well.
The biggest lie that I've heard was teacher teaching their class that when the settlers came to the United States that it was this whole "New World' that was completely empty. I mean come on. What is the likely hood that a part of a continent is going to be completely inhabited with human beings? When little kids believe what the teachers say, they never get the truth that Native Americans were here way before the settlers even thought to travel to the "New World". If teachers began to teach students about what really happened when the settlers came to America then the United States would not be so naïve about Native Americans today.
Besides acknowledging the truth about Native Americans, I think that students can be involved in becoming more aware of what conditions Native Americans are living in. As Sam said, Native Americans are by far the poorest people in our country. They also have the highest suicide rate and addiction rate. I definitely think that things need to be done to improve the Native Americans well being. Native Americans most likely have the highest suicide, addiction, and unemployment rates because as Sam put it, the King of the mountain is always making sure that they stay down. An example of this is putting them on reservations that have only a small piece of land and which is mostly useless. The land has very little natural resources so they can’t farm.
To make a difference in the lives of Native Americans, I think that the average person can play an enormous role. By simply telling other people what you know and educating people on this subject is an enormous help. Education is the key. Because the average American and student is unaware of the genocide of Native Americans and the living conditions in which these people now live, the average American and student, therefore, does not know that something needs to be done.
Once people become aware of this situation, they will then talk about it to their friends and families. If enough people talk about Native Americans’ living conditions, the world will see that this is a serious problem. Since the average person isn’t talking about it, the needs of Native Americans are being pushed aside. This can be related to LGBT issues. Since the average person and people who are LGBT were not talking about the issues in society caused by orientation, nothing was being done to fix the issues. Once the LGBT community and the average person started talking about it, changes started to be made. I believe that the same thing has to happen with the issues Native Americans deal with every day.
Aside from simply spreading your knowledge, the average person can help Native Americans in many other simplistic ways. Students can visit reservations and find out what the living conditions are really like. This will allow for a greater sense of knowledge to be spread. You can donate used books to schools are reservations, or write to your local politician voicing your concern about Native Americans. Ultimately, what that average person can do is spread his or her knowledge about Native American living conditions as well as your concern for their well-being. It is important to make people realize that Native Americans are people who have been shoved aside in our society.
I also think that once people spread their knowledge about Native American issues, educators will eventually hear this and teach their students about these conditions. It is important for people to learn about these issues when they are young. This way, young students can spend a life time (if needed) thinking about what to do. This allows the younger generating to come up with solutions that may be better than any of the older generation.
Ultimately, my thought about making a difference in the lives of Native Americans is to simply spread your knowledge. Without knowledge of the on going situation, there is no way a person would know to do something about it. This, I think, is our biggest problem.
I feel that just spreading the word could bring awareness to the problems with the Native Americans A lot of people aren't aware of what happens to the Native Americans or how they are treated and how they are the poorest group of people in America. I feel that if people just spread the word and didn't turn a blind eye to the problem then some change would come. I believe that if more people knew about the problem that Native American’s face they would be more likely to help, people help when they see that there are people in need.
The first thing I would do is educate kids earlier and better as to what the true history is and how that has led to the current situation for the Native tribes. the first step is to accept reality and stop the false belife that the Natives of this country were savages and we brought them civility when we brought savagery far more than civility and then we purpetuated the savagery for centuries. the next thing I would do is to endorse the Tribal casino's that many tribes have started in order to fund their people this won't solve anything but it will be a start. people fight these casino's in order to prevent the gambling or the crime but also to prevent the tax exemptions that the tribes are privy to. we need to work with the tribes to get them better support for schools and whatever else they need so they can thrive as they want to. we also need to educate people as to how the reservations work it's a mystery to most people me included. we need to remember that any suffering they feel is a direct result of our indiscretions both in the past and today.
I think that raising awareness is one of the best things we can do. I know you wanted to know on an individual level, and I think that whenever people make a derogatory comment on Native Americans, we can correct them. I also think that getting children to think about them in a different light would make a difference. If we have any children, we should teach them about how we basically killed an entire civilization—we can at least act decent to the ones who are here now. At least help them out so they don’t have such high suicide rates and alcoholism. And I think small changes like starting off with children would certainly help.
I think we could do what Sam told us to do. We need to learn about this situation as much as possible and tell as many people as we can. I, personally, have told at least 3 of my friends so far about this situation. It is so insane that we live on the land that was taken from poor, innocent people. We tell ourselves that we made peace with these people. We even created a holiday to celebrate this time in our history! We celebrate it every year with our families! When we can create a holiday to mask the time we spent destroying their lives, we may have gone too far. Learning about this in elementary school, dressing up like an Indian at times, now seems like mocking their culture. Genocide is not something we should celebrate in my church's preschool classes!
honestly, and it hurts me to say this, but i do not think the average person could do anything about this topic. we do not know enough as a culture in this day and age to really grasp what went on hundreds of years ago. sure we read about it in books but thats all heresay when it comes down to it. i do think though is someone wanted to do something they would have to physically go to these people and ask them what it would take to fix this, how did this happen to them specifically, why do you think it happened, and finally if we did try to help would you even take an apology. if they wouldnt accept our try to help whats the use? i know if i try to help someone and they dont want it, ok see ya later, because why try and try and try when your not going to accomplish anything. they have to want our help for our help to work. most of them probably do but im just throwing it out there that sometimes when a cut gets deep enough it never properly heals.
I know where a lot of the students are coming from when they ask what they can do about it, because a lot of the students think that this is over and done with. Or that they really do not think anything can be done. We can not physically reverse time and move everyone back to their origins or today we really can not give them back their land which would be the reasonable thing, but not possible. I think the best thing we can do is to educate everyone about passed incidents to make sure that they don't happen in the future. There is a lot of things that a lot of people would like to change back time to give some sort of warning before it happened. I do not want to sound completely off track but some things in history happened for a reason regardless if they were right or wrong. We sometimes have actions that we do not necessarily think about how they will affect us today, tomorrow, or years from now. Everything we do we need to start thinking that there will be a consequence for our actions. If we stop thinking about us and start thinking about we, we could make small changes that could lead up to something bigger possibly. Of course at the time it might seem like the right think to do as someone in the class pointed out survival of the fittest. This has been dated back to prehistoric ages where dinosaurs and other animals and probably even cave men fought over land. It was really about survival of the fittest and the man on the top of the mountain. But even today I (because I am white) am being blamed for slavery and stealing American's land when I probably had little or nothing to do with it as my family came from Ireland in the 1900's. I can still see how everyone says it is everybody's fault that this happened because the land that we sit upon to watch tv, to listen to a lecture, or even to walk to class was once red land. And yes I will take blame on that, that I am walking on land that doesn't belong to me but I have never bragged about this being the white land. I think we need to stop playing the blame game and everyone needs to stop blame storming and start educating everyone on this issue so, at least some of it, can be prevented in future instances. If and when it does happen again we will know what and how to deal with it. So to come full circle with your question I believe it would be best if we start educating kids at a younger age since the options of giving back land or moving everyone back to origins is not possible. We need to educate the kids and adults equally.
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jholzberg8 Reply:
February 27th, 2010 at 1:21 am
I agree with nick that the best way to "do something" about the situation is to educate people about what actually happened to ensure that it is never forgotten and that it will not happen again. Also, by learning more about our history and genocides that occurred, we gain a newfound respect for one another. I am Jewish and as the grandchild and cousin of 4 Holocaust surviviors, I know that I think the best way we can "do something" about the Holocaust is to educate people about what really happened to ensure that it is never forgotten and that history cannot repeat itself.
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As your typical American student, I can offer my insight as to what should be done regarding the genocide of Native Americans. The first thing that should be done, as was said by the TA in class, is education. Too many people are ignorant to this situation. Unless there are people who have met or know an American Indian, it may not hit home. So being educated is the first thing necessary because one cannot make a positive change without understanding the situation. Secondly, we need to understand that we, as students, are privileged. We did not do anything to deserve the right to live on land we own(keeping in mind for those whose parents are not first generation immigrants). It is pure luck that we were born into the families that we are apart of now, and people need to understand that there is another side to this story, one that is typically forgotten. Overall, one needs to acknowledge the problem and at least feel bad about it because physically there's not much one can do to fix the situation.
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aqm5110 Reply:
February 25th, 2010 at 4:36 am
I completely agree! I think that education can be a huge help. I mean going back to what we learn from, even the very beginning can be changed. I mean we learn as young children that Christopher Columbus is the great guy who helped to discover the Americas and that is why we devote a day to him every year. However, the truth is he was a terrible guy, who I almost lump with Hitler after everything I've learned, because of the cruel way in which he treated and basically slaughtered the natives. That, though gruesome, I think is something that needs to begin being taught at a younger age. I for one didn't fully discover this until maybe middle or high school. That’s, what 5 years, that I went through life thinking "oh yea! Chris Columbus was a great guy who helped discover the land we cherish. Sure we sure celebrate him ever year." No! I mean another example is with the children's film Pocahontas. You don't really think that John Smith and his buddies really just came over and peacefully took over the land and then just left to go back to England when they realized they were wrong right? I mean millions of native people were killed either through brutality or by diseases that many English settlers brought over and gave to them.
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lar5074 Reply:
February 28th, 2010 at 2:55 pm
I understand where you are coming from. It is hard to think of something that one individual can do, specifically a student, to fix a problem as giant and severe as this one. However, i believe that education is the best solution to this situation. It is only right for everyone to know their history, whether it be their own personal one, or the history of the land they live on. I have heard that certain schools at one time or another refused to teach students about the holocaust, because they believed it did not actually happen. I feel like this situation is very similar, as Americans we did something bad and we want to just brush it under the rug and pretend we did not do anything wrong. But we cannot do that, we need to educate people because we did make a mistake and we need to learn from that mistake so that we do not make more in the future.
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So the question is: what can do students do? I feel like all the students are attacking Sam because they feel like he’s saying these things almost in a “placing blame” way and is speaking about a solution. However, I don’t think that’s how it sould be taken. I think what Sam is doing is simply informing us of undeniable facts, plain and simple. What sucks is that there isn’t much we CAN do. Through years and years of expanding American land and colonizing their territory and placing the on reservations and going through mass amounts of warfare, the American government and fellow colonizers of America’s past has decimated their population and, in a way, left them to fend for themselves.
As for what can we do to “make things better,” well, unfortunately there isn’t much we can do because it’s not like we can give them the land on which society has created dwellings, buildings, and many other structures. No one would be selfless enough to give up their own home to become homeless for the sake of giving up the land their on to give back to Native Americans: it’s sad, but it’s true. What we can do is donate our time, money, and other resources that we can provide them with. We learned in class that they are THE poorest Americans, which is completely unfortunate. For the White Americans ancestors to have taken their land, they didn’t even compensate them in a way that would’ve left them capable, or in some way, able to manage with a new lifestyle (or at least teach them how to farm, seeing as the government at that time set aside “plots” of land for them to have, although it was very NON-FERTILE land that the Whites didn’t want so it wasn’t usable anyways). We can donate money to reservations or organizations whose aims are to help the Native Americans. After viewing the Aljazeera video in class, it was terrible to see that they struggle to just feed their families. The American government is spending billions on useless things and meanwhile, they can’t even set aside a set amount of money to assist those that the past American government has basically raped and left scrambling for life. It’s terrible. So, in answer, what we can do is donate time, money, and help in anyway we can.
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michele11 Reply:
February 26th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
I agree with you completely. I feel like a lot of people in this class think that Sam is personally attacking them on this as well as many other topics. In this situation I think that more people are asking what he thinks they should do not really because they want to do something to really better it, but more they know that there isn’t anything they can do and they are trying to prove him wrong; or even better yet they are trying to calm that inner part of themselves that he has offended and reassure themselves that there is nothing they can do so it is fine to sit and do nothing. It is hard to sit in class as a white person and hear what our country is trying so hard to suppress and forget about. One student asked when we will stop getting the blame and Sam said when we stop taking it on.
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michele11 Reply:
February 26th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
. I think that is the exact point; for some reason we do feel guilty about what our ancestors did so long ago and if you ask me, if we still feel this guilt generations later that really means something. I also think it means we all know that Native Americans are still being mistreated today. If we heard about this and didn’t feel any kind of way about it then maybe it would mean it was fair and we won fair and square, but for most of us it does make us uncomfortable.
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michele11 Reply:
February 26th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
Today we avoid this topic and put it aside on reservations because it is easier to ignore, than to feel this guilt and unsettling feeling about it. Overall, I know this was said, but just by knowing about the problem we are already making a difference. The only problem is so many people in the class were still trying to suppress those feelings and deny their responsibility. So more than education about the subject is our acceptance of it; I’m not saying take on the “blame” or feel guilty I am just saying really let it sink in and realize what they went through and are still going through as a people.
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michele11 Reply:
February 26th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
The next time you are at a sporting event of the Chiefs, the Indians, the Redskins, just remember what that really means. To us it may seem like a sign of respect but the best comparison I can think of (as a catholic girl) is someone dressing up as a nun for Halloween. That is sac-religious not respect and the mockery we have made of Indian tradition is the same disrespect.
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michele11 Reply:
February 26th, 2010 at 5:22 pm
After I wrote this post I wanted to look more into the issue and I found this video and it makes the same point I am saying. As individuals we need to recognize the discrimination, and as a country we need to pass more legislation to reserve their rights. They have already lost so much as a people; the least we can do is respect their religious traditions.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZhcoQ9gyMk
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I think there needs to be more emphasis in things like the media that portray the native people in a positive light because not only are they the poorest treated peoples in our nation, but many believe in the feathers in the hair, braids, tomahawk wielding stereotype that so many believe. I mean really, they are people just like you and me. They too shop at wal-mart and wear sweatshirts and live in a home, that’s right homes, not tee-pees. I know it may be shocking for some people to hear, but I think that is why education through the media could be the fastest and easiest way to reach Americans and help them to understand what is wrong with the current situation.
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This question leads me into thinking about the question that Sam’s wife asked before about why the topic at the “race table” is always about the relations between black and white. I think the whole purpose of Sam trying to educate us about what happened to the Native Americans is so that we can be aware. He repeated that many times in class saying that it is not about guilt, it is about us being aware of what is going on and not trying to make up some grandiose myth of how this nation was created to make ourselves feel better. I myself was educated about a few things in class on Tuesday, especially when it came to the Native Americans. Most of what young men and women learn about Native Americans begins with the watered down version of how America was settled. The pilgrims came and encountered Native Americans, the Indians taught them how to hunt and fish and then they all shared a wonderful dinner together. Of course there are a few things missing from that story but that is for another time. I think no one talks about the plight of the Native Americans (both past and present) because it is not presented in our everyday life. What I mean by that is we see the relationship between African Americans and whites everyday because our culture is saturated with things that will point out our differences. Today people feel so far removed from Native American culture, except for what is seen in textbooks and maybe story books that it can be easily pushed from our mind. We should also remember that history is written by the powerful. Sam used the example of Ronald Reagan giving his 1980 inaugural speech about how America was a barren land until poor destitute peoples came here to form a country. Because the history that America has with Native Americans is so bloody and sad and horrific (Trail of tears anyone?) it is not a part of history that wants to be remembered. African American history in America is surely remembered because there are people who still want to fight for it to be remembered. Is there anyone for the Native Americans? Who will remember for them when their voices are silenced? I agree with Sam when I say that acknowledging is the first step to being able to fix the problem that Native Americans face today. He says it’s not about guilt, but there of course, in my opinion, is a certain sense that even though you were not there you have still taken something away. It also comes down to our country prioritizing. What is more important, how the rest of the world views America and international relations or fixing the problems with the country that just a need a little, or in this case, a lot, of attention.
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Maybe spreading the word is all it takes in order for this blame to be taken off our shoulders. When I was younger, all I remember learning about in regards to the Native Americans was Thanksgiving, and Christopher Columbus finding America. History, by all means, justifies the genocide. And as I was raised, this was all I knew. This is the education that children are growing up learning as well. Not everyone will be fortunate enough to take a class such as this one and learn what truly went down in this country. Now that our awareness is increased, I think it only makes sense for us to inform others of this knowledge. A little reminder that we are living on red land may be all it takes for this country to accept its wrong doings and make a change.
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Whenever I think of the presidents of the United States, I can only name the first few, and the last few, however, there are some memorable ones in the middle, such as Andrew Jackson. I don’t know Andrew Jackson’s life story, but I have always said that he was the president I “hated” the most because he played a significant role in the Trail of Tears. The acknowledgement of the Trail of Tears, is as close as my education has ever brought me to admitting the genocide that took place on the very land we are standing on.
Sitting in class, and listening to the questions and comments people ask make it seem as though everyone is merely selectively listening to what Sam has to say. I lost count of how many times people said the same thing over and over again about “why should we get the blame?” But this is not about blame. At this point, pointing fingers will get us nowhere. I was not born in this country, but I have been living here for 10 years and I feel that it is my duty to do what I can to help others, whoever it may be. In the case of the Native Americans people have to stop selectively listening to what sounds like someone blaming you. Obviously, none of us have committed hate crimes towards Native Americans, but there is a crime we are committing and that is ignorance and omission.
Everyday people think about themselves, everything is “me, me, me…” but it is necessary to step back and see what is really going on around us. The Native Americans is just one small part of it. But how can we help them? How can we try to undo the harm that has been done to them? For starters we can begin to acknowledge them as living, breathing, real human beings and Americans. So often we think the “Real” Native Americans are extinct, the ones who hunted with bows and arrows, and wore ornate designs on their bodies. But now being “Native American” seems to be only a title. They have their own culture, just like white’s have their culture, Latino’s have their culture, Asians have their culture and blacks have their culture. We’re supposed to be one big melting pot, but the very first ingredients to the melting pot have been thrown out like outcasts in their land.
So what can we do? We can care. We can care enough to tell our friends and families. Care enough to bother to learn more about their culture. Care enough to take the time out to volunteer at a reservation. Care enough to stop thinking about the blame being put on “me, me, me” and instead try to do something about it.
It’s not about the blame. Open your ears and listen to every part of the discussion, don’t just hear what you want to hear, really listen and learn and be willing to attempt to make a difference in this world that we live in.
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Mr. Richards, I believe, has so many personal relationships with people of various cultural groups that to see any of them suffer is a great pain. Any sort of wrong committed against those groups, he takes it to heart like his friends. Him telling us there is little awareness of the whole incident of Native American genocide, is truth, but him telling us we should do something to spread awareness is him asking for help in some way. Can we really do anything about it ourselves? Well in some ways yes, and some ways not so much.
In a class of over 700 students, with everyone having different majors, we can do plenty. Journalists can go out and write blogs, broadcast journalists can talk over radio and other communications methods, sociologists can go see if Sam’s claims are true, psychologists can see why people choose not to think much of that part of American history, and other majors can do things to find ways to spread the message. That, I believe, is what Sam is asking for us to do. Just something as simple as putting a question about it on our facebook status, or on youtube, can do a lot.
I don’t think starting a huge campaign against the piece of history is what he’s looking for though. I don’t think walking up Pennsylvania Avenue with signs in our hands demanding awareness for Native American’s is a good idea, but I definitely believe more awareness should be made. If February is known as Black History month, why can’t November be considered Native American month?
One thing I feel shouldn’t be done is put blame on anyone currently living. It isn’t our fault about what happened because we didn’t go out there and kill any natives because we wanted their land. We were born after the fact where we didn’t have a say on the matter. We did nothing wrong to deserve any sort of criticism regarding the matter. If anything, go find the decedent of the American’s who committed the genocide and yell at them.
As I mentioned in one of my other posts, I think when children are able to learn and comprehend American’s history that they should be taught about what happened. There is nothing like a child who can go home to their parents and ask them why America killed an entire race of people. Of course, the trick is trying to teach them truth in that we were the greedy bastards who kicked people of their own land to claim as ours. Not very easy to do.
I can’t really recall when I learned about the genocide of Native American’s. Whenever that was though, I always believed that American was in the wrong.
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I think the only we can do is to recognize “Native” Americans as brothers and sisters and citizens in the United States of America. First off, remove the reservation tag from geographical areas throughout the United States. We need to get rid of that label. “Natives” are citizens. They need a good education, a good job, a good opportunity. I want to share classrooms, restaurants, sports’ arenas, and battlefields with “natives.” I desperately want to rely on them to improve the American way of life. I want them to be on Team USA. Do “natives” want to be on that team?
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MissFancyFeet Reply:
February 26th, 2010 at 1:17 am
I like where you're going with this. I find it completely ironic that we most typically recognize them NATIVE Americans, but we treat them like ALIENS! What’s up with that? Makes no sense, if you ask me. When I think back to my ancestors who arrived here in America and didn’t find it a big deal to move into stolen territory, I feel pretty disgusted. I like the idea of getting rid of the “reservation” label, as well. It’s like you’re bounding them inside this reserved territory, and if they set foot outside of it, you have the right to abuse/kill them? I don’t think so…I think that taking away this label would set them free, in a sense.
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jholzberg8 Reply:
February 27th, 2010 at 1:27 am
I think this raises a very interesting question. While we sit pondering what we can do to better the situation of Native Americans, I have to wonder what the Native Americans wish for us to do. I agree that they need a good education so that they can have more opportunities and be able to upwardly mobilize and become successful. However, do the Native Americans want to be assimilated into American culture and society? Because while I know they need our help, I don't know if they want to become part of our society? They have a very different set of traditions and cultural differences that might not necessarily work on a day to day basis in our society.
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Personally, I think something we absolutely need to do as everyday citizens is, as Dr. Richards mentioned in class several times, simply accept and acknowledge that terrible atrocities occurred with Native Americans since the colonists came to the New World. More importantly, terrible things are still be done to them as far as displacement of land and homes, as well as extremely high rates of poverty for the tribes not on reservations with casinos. I know that simply acknowledging that these inequalities exist will not solve anything, but as Dr. Richards mentioned, most people pretend Native Americans are not even there so Americans can feel proud of their beginning as a country, rather than ashamed and disappointed in their ancestors.
A few people said in class that "Well I personally didn't do anything, so what is my obligation, really?" If you continue to behave the way our parents, grandparents. and great-grandparents did, and do not mention the wrongs done, then you are no better than your ancestors who first desecrated the Native Americans' land. We are one people, and we all need to take responsibility for the actions of our American brothers. I should be clear: this philosophy applies in this instance because we all benefit from not talking about or acknowledging the acts done to Native Americans. If we don't talk about it, we still have a soul and we can go on proclaiming our superiority to the world. Obviously I hope you can tell that I would disagree with this approach.
Another thing we as average citizens can do is try to immerse ourselves, at least a little bit, in Native American culture. I'm not sure how many of you know this, but in April, there is a Pow-Wow presented by the Oneida tribe at Mount Nittany Middle School right here in State College. It definitely is a great experience and I strongly encourage as many people as possible to attend. It gives you at least a glimpse of the culture that America has been slowly crushing the life out of for over 200 years.
As the person who posted above me mentions, making the Native Americans a true equal part of our society is a must. This has to include removing the name "reservation" from those particular areas. This tag serves only to separate Native Americans from society, and gives the government cause to treat the reservations poorly, especially economically. Good schooling is also a must, but at the same time, we must make sure to put Native Americans in good, welcoming, accepting schools, not schools that will brainwash children to become "normal", mainstream Americans. Keeping the Native American culture alive is an absolute must.
Katie, I enjoyed the article the Collegian wrote about you -I hope the blogging is going well!
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I think the biggest thing we can do to begin the process is educate people. If everyone saw the video clip we saw in class, I think people might get the hint that these people need help. Like I said in my other response, before this class, I didn't know things were even close to being that bad. There is a long way to go when it comes to helping the Native Americans but education would be a big first step.
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This is a good question because what can we really do? I mean students and everybody else in America are so concerned about theirselves and family. So many things are going on in this world, and everybody is caught up in their own life. They deal with Issues that surround their family, friends, workplace, etc. There is no time left to think about anything else, (especially not something that took place number of years ago). But Sam mentioned in class today when he did the whole demonstration with students in the class. Like what do you want? Will an apology be good enough? The student did not respond, she did not know what exactly to say, because how sorry fix could anything after all these years. These people hearts have been cold towards Americans for so many years now.
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I agree with a lot of what people have been saying. I think the most important thing to do is educate people. You can't help change a situation if you don't fully understand it yourself. In another video, the girl was talking about how there was a study where a teacher told the students to draw a Native American and none of them knew what she was talking about, then she told them to draw an Indian and the first thing that came to their minds was a person with feathers in their hair and a weapon. But today, Native Americans have grown beyond that image. That's an image of how their culture used to be and I think white culture, black culture and every culture have matured from our great great grandfathers and what's happened in the past. I know Sam isn't trying to blame us for what's happened, he's just stating facts and trying to get us to think about what happened in our pasts. I hate being reminded about how whites treated blacks or how we killed thousands of Native Americans and took their lands but it's something that has to happen to remind us about what's right and wrong. But on the other side of it, it's like reminding every German about the Holocaust when not everyone supported it. We've been looking at the bad side of things when I'm sure there were englishmen who didn't support the mass genocide of Native Americans but didn't know or couldn't do anything to stop what was happening.
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Another thing we could do is try to make being a Native American more acceptable in America. There are rarely tv shows or movies featuring Native American peoples and I think if we saw Native Americans in our everyday life we'd be more accepting of them. I think there's a barrier because a lot of Native Americans and their tribes exclude themselves from the regular American ways of life. I'm not saying they should change their beliefs or religious ceremonies but if they moved into neighborhoods and became more integrated in our society they'd be more accepted.It would take a while because it's the same situations that blacks were in during the civil rights time period, there were black neighborhoods and white neighborhoods and there was a clear line of what was acceptable. But because blacks forced whites to recognize how unfairly they were being treated it made it easier to be accepted.
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First of all, I plan on telling everyone I know to take this class. What we talk about in SOC 119 may barely scratch the surface on this issue (as well as many others), but it makes you open your eyes. Sam pretty much SHOUTS it into the crowd during class: “We don’t talk about it because if we did, we would have no soul!!” And it may sound harsh, but…it should be! I fully believe that, like the TA mentioned in class, the first step is education. The only way you can get people to truly care about an issue is to educate them about it. You could say to them “These people are living in poverty because of us,” but that doesn’t necessarily make them want to care. You have to set the scene for them, give them details, let them SEE…and THEN they might start to care, like I have. And then maybe they’ll pass it on to everyone they know, Iike I have started doing. It’s a chain reaction.
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I think that Sam has really opened my eyes to the struggles which Native Americans must fight just to get ownership of land they were promised years ago. While there seems to be some hope for the future in that some claims like those of Canada's Indian population are being recognized and appreciated, many other groups are still losing their land to this day. Native Americans have had a much higher appreciation for the land and what it can provide them. They attach a spiritual component to their land and, as a result approach the sale of those lands with great worry.
Native Americans are still being taken advantage of to this day. What little portion of land they have been permitted to live in by the US government is being reacquired for use as toxic waste sites. Scientists have even come forward to contend the effects of living near this waste are not harmful. Americans must ask themselves if these practices would be similarly condoned in white communities.
Native Americans are in dire need of a strong and powerful voice. They need some influential groups to assist them with their strategies to fend off whites who want to harm their interests. Since Native American communities are the same with poverty, they don't have the influence necessary to change these problems on their own. The American people must come forward and aid Native Americans in their quest for self-determination and independence. The time has come for us to stand up and say the abuses must stop. The United States must acknowledge our past treaties and let them manage their lives free of harmful white influences. We can not afford to allow this excellent cultural resource to be continually raped of its land and self-esteem while we stand by carelessly.
We as Americans need to let the Native Americans be and let them have there land that they so rightfully deserve. I believe it is completely wrong what we have done in the past and what we are continuing to do today. Native Americans are a very important part of our American history and we need to start treating them this way. We need to start donating money, time, helping with education and doing anything we can possibly can do too help these people. Their land has been stolen away and it is not right. Today it seems as everyone is all for themselves but what the government and the American people need to do is help all people. This will bring us together and make us closer and stronger as a country. Sam has really opened my eyes to what is going on and I really did not know too much on this subject before but now that I do I believe something needs to be done.
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I think that education truly is the key to what we can do. I know that I, personally, really don't know much about Native Americans. I think that by learning about it, and then going out and teaching what we learned we could really raise awareness so that people understand what is going on. I'm studying to be an elementary school teacher so I may be biased but I really do think that by being educated on all different controversial issues that some of us know nothing about, we can really changes America's perspective. This is what makes education so powerful. When we know what is going on, we can actually do something about it.
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I am not sure if there is something specific that students can do, but I think there are things we can do as a society. As the majority of people responding to this blog have already stated, we need to have more education. This kind of ties into one of the first videos that was posted by a student about when education should begin, but I think the most important thing we can do is educate people within our society. I know what I am about to say sounds extremely ignorant, but it is the truth. From elementary school, I learned about the pilgrims versus the Native Americans and how the Native Americans were here before us. Although I knew we fought for this land, I never knew that it was the largest genocide in the world's history. I am twenty one years old, and to be honest, it is completely unacceptable that I am just learning that the killing of Native Americans was the largest genocide. I think that people are just completely unaware of how current these issues still are. Granted I have never been a big history fanatic, but I did not realize how much the Native American people are still struggling to regain their sense of self and make do with the small amount of land that they were "given" or the land that the government "left" them after the US took the rest. I did not realize how rampant alcohol, drug, and physical abuse ran within the Native American reservations. I think that we are all just so concerned about ourselves, that we just do not take the time to realize the consequences of our actions, because it is always about me me me.
I think if we learned from a young age that people are struggling and that not everyone has an equal chance, we would be a lot more willing to help others. We are taught that we can do anything we put our minds to, but as we have learned in this class, that is only part of it. I think people hesitate to help others when they believe that if those people work hard enough they can succeed. The truth of the matter is that everyone could use a little help and I think we need to instill the value of helping others from a young age. We need to teach young kids that we as a society cannot improve unless we all work together. If we all worked together, maybe we all could become equal to some degree. I think that we also need to be more open about the struggle of Native Americans. It is not something we really talk about within our culture, so I think it needs to be made more public. As a society, we need to raise awareness about the issues facing us today.
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As I sat in class on Tuesday, I didn't know exactly how to respond to Sam's lecture. In one way, I felt like Sam was making us feel guilty for our ancestors coming over onto this land, but on the other hand it made me feel really bad for Native Americans who were kicked to the curb when our ancestors kicked them aside. I didn't know whether to feel defensive or to feel guilty. The truth is though, is that we are all guilty of this, which is why no one takes personal blame for the actions that have been taken. Sure, Native Americans are living in complete poverty, suffering, and are disregarded by the government, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't take steps to become aware of how we can help them. How exactly we should go about helping others become more aware of this is the task at hand. For one, there is a huge stereotype that is pretty inevitable in our world. Like the one girl said in another question posted, children do not know who Native Americans are, but instead, they know them as Indians with feathers around their heads and holding weapons. But, Native Americans, in many ways, are just like us. As someone stated above, they shop at Wal Mart and integrate into our culture in many ways. How can we help to become more aware, though? I think it roots in education. I never was aware of how much we took from them until someone told me. I think kids need to know who Native Americans are and what they are all about. If people aren't told, they will never know. With that said, I think we need to also become more aware of the poverty they live in and how we can help them to get out of that. If we ever give ourselves the chance to become more aware of their conditions, we will find ways to support them. In addition, I think it is important that we somehow immerse ourselves in the Native American culture. By understanding it, we will have a much better handle on how they live, what their traditions are, and what they believe in. This will also help to further educate ourselves about them and to fully understand. Native Americans are a very unique culture, much different from any other, which is why it can be difficult for us to understand. I think if we, the people of the United States take steps to understand Native Americans more and find ways to help them, we will be a much better nation as a whole.
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The summer before my freshman year at Penn State I visited the Pine Ridge Reservation that Sam talked about in class this week. It was part of an outreach/immersion trip with nine other students that was paired with a class in Native American Spirituality. Like Sam said, these are some of the poorest people in our country. The Pine Ridge Reservation lies within two of the poorest counties in the United States. The unemployment rate is around 80% and alcoholism is about the same. During our time on the Rez, we heard from some of the wiser and experienced voices of the Lakota (Sioux) community. They told us that one of the greatest things we could do to help them was to talk about our experiences on the Reservation and to share our stories with others. The history and the current situation of Native Americans is something that is rarely, if ever discussed, and that needs to change.
I guess I must first describe the setting of the Rez. It took us about three hours to drive from the airport on to the Reservation. The Reservation is miles away from any large towns, and lacks any legitimate industry—which contributes to the high unemployment. The Rez is very spread out; you can see open land on both sides of the one road that runs through the reservation. For the first three days we conducted a bible camp for the kids that lived on the Rez. We would drive a van in the morning to pick them up from their homes, which were groups of ten to fifteen people living in trailers. Many children were orphaned or had parents in jail. At the bible camp, the kids clung to us as if our piggyback rides were the only thing that could rescue them from the reality they faced. They have seen more hardship in their childhood and adolescence than most people have in their entire lives. For the rest of our stay we participated in cultural experiences like hiking in the Black Hills, a Sweat Lodge ceremony, and visiting the site of the Battle of Wounded Knee.
Over the holidays, South Dakota, and specifically Pine Ridge, has been hit by devastating snow and ice storms, eventually leading to a State of Emergency being declared. Heating houses is the biggest expense from November until May. The coordinator of my outreach trip has recently contacted us asking us for funds for propane. Heat in our homes is something that many people take for granted. So on the grand scheme of things, it is educating others and spreading the word that can help. However, donations never go to misuse on the Reservation either. There are a number of things that one can do to alleviate the pains on the Reservation the problem is that no one wants to think about them.
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I don’t know the true answer about what we can do about kicking the Native Americans out of their land many, many years ago but I have one suggestion, which is to try and learn about the relocation of Native Americans and their feelings about what was done to them.
My parents were born and raised in Wisconsin, about 20 miles from Green Bay. Once they got married and my dad joined the Army, they were stationed to their first area and have not moved back to their hometown since. Of course, they always talk about where they grew up and we have been there to visit family at least one time per year since I was born. My mom and dad would always reference back to an Indian Reservation right outside of their town. Unfortunately, these Indians are outcasts in my parents’ hometown.
After Sam gave this lecture the other day, I called my mom to find out her past experiences with the Native Americans and why these people are considered outcasts. She told me how when she was little, her father worked for a sanitation service that did services for the Indians at the reservation. My grandpa had a darker olive skin so he kind of fit in at the reservation and all of the people there were very nice and welcoming to him. She further explained how her best friend was an Indian and her dad would take her to the reservation on the weekends so she could spend the night with her friend. Then, she said that her best friend was not like the other Indians at her school. Other Indian girls would hang out in a bathroom and beat up any white girls that entered, so she would not use the restroom all day in fear of them beating her up. My mom went on to explain a different set of feelings that her parents had for the Indians. An Indian boy once invited her to the Sadie-Hawkins Dance and her mother explained that she “could be friends with the Indians, but never date them.” Even though my mom’s parents were very accepting of the Indians, they did not fully accept them as an equal. Also, she said that the Indians wanted their own school, separate of all of the white residents in the town. My mom said that they gave the Indians “really nice homes and they just trashed them.” I asked her what these really nice homes were and she said trailers. I tried to explain to her how these people were probably feeling after people in the town took their land and placed them on this smaller piece of land called a “reservation.”
She got really defensive about the whole thing. I guess that’s how many of us are feeling about this subject as well. Since we may not be able to change the current condition of Native Americans in the United States, including the high unemployment rates and such, the least we can do is spread this new learned knowledge about what has happened to Native Americans. Also, we can open ourselves up to hear what Native Americans are feeling about this situation.
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I think a lot of people seem not affected and lack emotion toward the subject because a lot of people are ignorant and indifferent towards what happened before. In this country, many people are aware of massive genocide occurred during settlement period but people seems to forget what they have done to others and only care what they have now. People simply ignore about the history as they think this incident is irrelevant to their personal lives. To them, genocide is just an incident that happened in the past and they think they are not related in anyways. They do not realize the fact that this tragic incident has switched their or other Native American’s lives. If this land was not taken by any of new settlers, the lives could have been completely different. If new settlers didn’t get over took this land, there could settlers wondering around and find hard time to live. The position of Native American could have been completely switched from white settlers. Can you imagine you been put into same position as Native Indians are now? We will be wondering about to survive this bias and prejudice world. We would have no choice but become like what Native Indians are now. When we see ourselves put in this position, wouldn’t we blame other for what they have done? Of course we would. We will not only blame others but we might ask back what we used to have. Do you still think what Native American blaming is relatively irrelevant to you? Or are you just indifferent? These questions and problems can be solved when we start to understand their position. It does not mean you feel sympathy and apologize all the time. I am simply saying acknowledge what has happened. Acknowledge I mean put your thoughts and think that we are all part of this incident. It is not just a conflict between our ancestor and Native American ancestors. It is not just between white people and Native Americans. Everyone, who is in this ‘red land’, is part of this problem. With such a mind and mentality, people will see what can be done to understand and put themselves in equal position as Native Americans. Then, this will bring actions to set justice. As you can see, defining who are to be blamed is not the solutions to solve this conflict. It’s the matter of how you are putting yourself to change this difference. I think this simple practice can be applied to any other problems in the world. First set your mind and mentality that you are responsible. Having such a connection to the problem will make you more passionate towards this subject and try to do something about it. As there is old saying if there is a will there will be a way to these problems.
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I had mentioned this is class as a comment, but I didn’t really get to elaborate. I feel that one of the things that we can do now in our generation is to stop buying products with negative depictions of American Indians. For example, Argo Corn Starch and Land-O-Lakes have negative stereotypes of American Indians and we can prevent these images from going out there. We support teams like the redskins and the braves which depict the wrong stereotype. Want to know why American Indians have the highest rates of alcoholism, drug use, and suicide? Because they have to constantly face these images of what the general public really thinks of them.
You don’t see any teams named Negroes, and if it happened, there would be an outrage. Darko toothpaste was taken off the shelves, and Aunt Jemima had to get redone multiple times to satisfy the NAACP and other black organizations. Notice the mascots like the Indians and the Warriors with Indians in teepees and feathers that cover the walls of public schools. That is not everything that the culture is and what it represents. It’s so much more, but all we know is the Powwows and tribal chants and what we have seen from TV and cartoons.
These people were the natives to this land and this country. I can’t say that I’m proud to be an American when this is what we know was taken from people who it originally belonged to. What I find ironic is that now, if someone steals something or is treated unjustly; we have laws in place that protect the owner of the property. Yet, we did the same thing, and we have laws preventing what we did to happen to anyone else.
I feel that one of the reasons I feel so strongly about this topic is because of one of my former Professors, John Sanchez. He was showing us the numbers in the US and at Penn State. He is one of the only three American Indian professors within the Penn State community. When he spoke of these stereotypes and how it affected his daily life, I could see it in his eyes and his heart that it physically was a struggle. Being black and of an African background, I know what it’s like to feel like there is no way of beating the system or being conceived as a negative thing, but they face these things ten times worse.
I feel that we don’t help because it doesn’t effect us. Like, when we were discussing the difference in the schools in Chicago. It’s a huge difference. But, those who are rich aren’t going to give all that to kids they don’t know when they want the best for their kids… it’s the same concept. We care, but we have to sacrifice something of our own lives to help, and most of us don’t want to take that extra step. Why take away from our cushy lives? “Luckily, it’s not me who was born on a reservation.” And it sucks… but that’s why we don’t care. It’s not us.
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I believe that the purpose of Sam's lectures are to get us to think in a different way than we usually do. There isn't really any big agenda item that he is pushing other than that he wants us to come to an understanding that there are certain wrongs and differences amongst our population. The goal of this class is not to feel guilty or ashamed of your race, the goal is to understand the different footings that we are on between white, black, asian, latino, etc. I believed for a long time that the choices we make in life are largely responsible for how we turn out, but now I see that there are blaring differences in how white people are treated compared to minorities. I think the best thing that we can do is stop allowing the small voice inside of us control our subconscious thoughts and actions towards other races. I'm not saying everyone is racist because certainly that is not the case but there are certain things that we see in our daily lives that we don't even realize are hurtful or demeaning to others. Taking steps to become more aware of our own actions in the world of race relations and moving towards understanding and communicating with each other across the race table will go a long way to bridging the gap between the races. Once we can start moving past blaming each other for the mistakes of our ancestors we can take action to improve how society functions as an equal ground between all peoples. As an individual, I want to stop making generalizations about people based on the color of their skin or how they dress or talk. I want to share the knowledge I've learned from this class with my family and friends and inform them of things they've never thought of before. What I don't understand is how anyone can sit in this class and not do anything with the information they've learned. I don't think giving certain races a "free pass" is appropriate because achieving equal ground will only come about through mutual efforts among our populous. If you sit in class and listen to Sam and then go back into your day to day life without connecting anything from the classroom to real life then you are just as much responsible for the ongoing problem as are the people in the statistics we see in class. If you are given the information and then choose not to act on anything then I blame you in part for your ignorance.
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I have four exams next week, and I have a business proposal do. I am actively involved in a couple of groups associated with Penn State. We meet about once a week on average. I need to find a summer internship. I want to go out a lot, while I’m still a college student. I have a girl studying abroad that I try and skype on a daily basis. What I’m trying to say is that I’m a busy college student, and I’m sure the majority of Penn State students have these same priorities. So if Sam proposes things for me to do, in terms of helping others, I don’t think I would have the time to be fully committed to those causes. Maybe, I could make time, but then I would be neglecting my other needs and wants. Maybe that makes me a selfish person, but in my opinion I have enough going on, and don’t want to take the time to take up a hopeless cause.
This class has been great in terms of opening my eyes to the injustices around the world. It really has, but I don’t think there have been any realistic options presented in terms of helping the less fortunate. Like I said, I am just a college student with a lot going on, so is it really my responsibility to take up a cause for others? It may seem harsh, but life’s not fair, and I’m not obligated to help others. I have before though, such as going to feed the homeless, building housing for the poor, etc., but at this point in my life I just have a lot going on.
I just finished Disposable People, and that author told us that we should learn, join, and then act. Let’s say I did join one of his groups, and then helped out as much as I could, then I’d be neglecting my own wants and needs. Also, if I’m out there fighting for slaves all over the world, then what about the Native Americans or the other minorities in America that are treated unfairly on a daily basis. It just seems that we are getting so much thrown at us at once, and are being asked to make the changes that are necessary. I am just a college student, who is trying to get good grades, have a good time at Penn State, and eventually obtain a well-paying job. Does it make me a bad person, because I choose not to act on these problems? I’m sure some of you would say it does. I’m focused on myself at the moment, but maybe down the road I will make the time to do whatever it is that needs to be done to help others.
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There are many things that can be done to help Native Americans. But it will take a mass effort to get that done. Really, what do Native Americans want? Because we cannot give back their land. That is a little out of the question. We can give them an apology, but what the hell does that do, nothing! What happened to the Native American people in this land is unforgivable. Our founding fathers really contradicted themselves from the start. We are supposed to be a land of equality, unless you were a Native American or African American. That is hypocrisy at its finest.
Back to the main topic, I do not know what the hell to do for Native Americans. I do not even know any Native Americans. I think that they should be taken care of for our lack of care for them for so long. Give them free health care; oh wait that will not even happen for us. Give them monetary support and good education, oh wait we can barely do that for our people already. Well, I’m shit out of luck on ideas. How about we all pick up our shit and move out. The Natives can have their land back and we will leave a big thank you note for them, for putting up with us destroying their land for hundreds of years. Well that will never happen either.
Honestly, I never oppressed Native Americans, so I firmly and confidently say that I have no reason to feel any remorse or responsibility for them. I am sorry but that is how I feel. Sure this land is “red land”, but come on, where does this shit stop. My ancestors came off a boat never touching a single Native. They have no responsibility and neither do I. So call me an insensitive asshole, I do not care. The same can be said for slavery. It seems that some people want there to be retribution or restitution made for slavery. I never owned slaves, nor did any of my ancestors. So frankly It is not my problem, and I have no hand in that either. I am just an American brought into this world not by my own choice, but living the American dream on land that does not belong to any of us. I will build a house someday on “red land” and I will enjoy it. I will continue to go to Indian casinos from time to time, and I will consider that my reparations for their suffering. I believe in survival of the fittest. We had the guns the natives did not, sorry; I did not make that decision.
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This is a question that I struggle to understand as well. What can I personally do to basically say sorry to the Native Americans for what many generations ago did to them. And the only thing that I can come up with is to learn about it, respect them, and not let anything like this happen again. Most Americans don’t talk about this issue because of the guilt and lack of wanting to deal with what happened. But by not talking about it and acting like it never happened is another slap in the Native American’s faces. They deserve for us to at least recognize what our people did to them, even if it was so many years ago.
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In response to the question regarding what can we do in our everyday lives to help what we have done to Native Americans in the past. Native Americans once had everything taken from them because of new people moving onto their land. This was one of the biggest genocides that have occurred to this point in history. However, it goes unnoticed very often because of what we are taught when we are younger. It is difficult to think of a way to change this back to the way things are, because it probably is not possible. This being said nothing we do may ever fully give Native Americans an even playing field because of the past. However, there are a few things that can be done to help the current situation.
A teaching assistant in Sam’s class added a little viewpoint on this and he said the main thing we can do is to educate people. I completely agree with him and believe we need to teach young children and teens about the reality of how the United States of America became ours. How we were not the first settlers on the land, and the struggle Native Americans had with people killing and stealing their land from them. Our citizens must know the reality of why Native Americans are discriminated against and why they experience so many terrible things. If the citizens of the United States realize the cruel acts that have happened to Native Americans in the past, then maybe some things will change. We need to understand why Native Americans have become so bad off. Our history books usually leave out many details about the bad the United States has committed in the past. Instead of teaching only the good, we can benefit from learning the bad also. If we learn the wrongs our ancestors have committed we can learn form them and not make the same mistakes.
Native Americans were part of a massive genocide once the first settlers from Europe arrived here. For the majority of people to not realize and understand this is a crime in itself. Our curriculums and textbooks must teach students the reality of what happened in the past in order to learn form our mistakes. If we are not taught of the mistakes we had previously made, then this may happen again. There is not much we can do to restore the wrongs of our ancestors, but educated our youth is the main cure to the current problem. If more and more people become aware of the cruelty Native Americans have been faced with, we can grow as a country and help them integrate back into society. Education is the main fix to the problem and teachers need to begin spending more time on teaching the reality of America’s past.
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I think something that everyone can do to help out in his or her everyday life is just simply to educate oneself. Personally, I feel we have a huge lack of knowledge regarding certain topics today and Native Americans are one of them. I can speak for myself and I am sure many others by saying I do not know a true Native American or honestly know very much about their culture and traditions. If I were simply educated on this like I was on something like slavery I feel that I may understand it better. Therefore, I think what most people can do is simply just educate oneself.
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In response to question four about Native Americans, I think there is a small, simple role that we can play in changing the lives of Native Americans- we can change the way people perceive them. We can do this by simply recognizing that they have been wronged, which sounds obvious, but most of us don’t even do that. Many people are so ignorant to what happened to the Native Americans by the Europeans (whether they are your ancestors or not). In tying in another question posted on this site about Native Americans and how little kids are taught about them in school, I know I learned the truth about Native Americans later in life and while I was in school I learned all the happy aspects of their culture and way of life- not that we completely destroyed it. This simple recognition can go a long way! I think students should be taught about Native Americans as we are taught about the Holocaust. Worldwide, we revere the Holocaust and what happened there and the stories of many are infamous. Do we know any single story of any family or person, like Anne Frank, that survived the genocide against Native Americans? No.
I am a little annoyed at the class members who keep saying “what do you want us to feel guilty about? We didn’t do it- other people did! How are we responsible?” Um did Sam ask you to say sorry? No. He just wants us to RECOGNIZE what happened. I can’t wait until we look back on our academic careers and realize how much ignorance on this subject was taught. It’s like America as a whole is trying to cover up the fact that we were bad guys. We’ll put any other mass-murder or genocide in textbooks and school lectures, but God forbid we talk shit on AMERICA in schools! It DOESN’T MATTER if it was YOUR ancestors or not- it still happened. Were all of our ancestors Nazis and involved with killing enormous amounts of Jewish people in World War 2? No. Do we still feel compassion and recognize it and study it? Absolutely. So why not this genocide? Why is everyone acting like they’re being so attacked?
Although I am completely ashamed to admit this about a member of my own family, I think this information provides a good example of what ignorance versus recognition of this genocide can look like and how simply recognizing it can help: I remember about six months or so ago my mom was telling me a story about a conversation she had with a guy at her work. In whatever issue they were discussing, Native Americans came up and my mom said “oh they’re all uneducated alcoholics”. This makes me cringe because that is just so rude and ignorant. Yes, it is true that many Native Americans are not well educated. It is also true that many Native Americans are on drugs or alcoholics. But, hello? WHY do you think they are like that? Oh I don’t know, because we took everything from them and forced them into small living areas where they became depressed and poverty stricken?! Maybe. Maybe that’s a reason.
So what can we do? We can educate. Tell the people who don’t know. Tell the people, like my mom, who are so rude and ignorant when looking at Native Americans that they are wrong for doing so. RECOGNIZE IT- it’s really easy!
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LyndsieS Reply:
February 26th, 2010 at 10:36 pm
I agree with this post. While I often feel helpless and feel like there is nothing I can do, recognizing it is something that everyone can do to make a little bit of a difference. I think that we can help out simply by telling our friends and family about what we learned in class. For example, you said that your mom is ignorant about Native Americans. I don’t really know if my parents are ignorant about the issue or not because we’ve never talked about. The next time I talk to them, I’m going to tell them about what we learned, and I also told my roommates about the lecture. I think that is really the best thing we can do to help.
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I think the main thing we can do is to stop exploiting Native Americans and their lifestyle (or our misinterpretation of it) for commercialized profit. We are constantly being bombarded by symbols, sports teams, and logos trivializing the Indian culture and its practices in order to create a trendy or romanticized idea (of which is fallacious because all we are doing is proving our own ignorance and insensitivity). We claim to be “honoring” these cultures by naming our euro-American “traditions” after the peoples who we genocided. Isn’t it enough that we took their land, massacred their people, and brought foreign and unavoidable disease to their villages, do we really have to also publicly embarrass them by forcing them to be a part of the culture that they no doubt resent? This forced globalization of euro-American (and I say EURO-American in order to emphasize the differentiation between the NATIVE Americans and the EURO Americans, or the people that dubbed themselves American AFTER the native peoples had already been inhabiting said land)culture is wrong and insulting – who are we to decide which practices are right? Are our Christian ideas upon which “America” was founded really being at all injured by the views (polytheistic or otherwise) of a people who pose no threat to us, militarily or economically? We must educate ourselves and others on the practices of the Native American people in order to extinguish or ignorant and empty ideas and opinions of their culture. We focus so much on political correctiveness in education – yet what are our guidelines for this situation? We learn of past genocides and wars, yet the wars occurring now (if you even call these “wars,” they are more unwinnable social battles), continue to progress without public knowledge or a second thought. The Genocide occurring now in Sudan can be compared in this light: it’s an atrocious occurrence that gets almost no news coverage, yet is as bad as any other suppression of people, war, or genocide that has happened in the past and that we put so much emphasis on. Do we not teach these lessons so that the same mistakes cannot happen again? We see ourselves as a world of fairness and equality, yet we ignore wars that are happening in other places, and even the injustices that are occurring in our own country! Education is the main way to escape the perpetuality of ignorance, in any situation. We must take charge of our opinions and inform ourselves on the events not only of the past but of the present, so that we can make an effort to stop them! To reiterate what has been said in class, I do not mean that we should make an effort to help these peoples because we feel a sense of guilt – many of us do not, for we had no part in what happened, however by letting it continue to progress and their civilization deteriorate, we are guilty by way of ignorance.
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I think that the biggest thing that students like us can do is to acknowledge what happened to the Native Americans. Personally, I'm disgusted with the US government's ignorance towards this issue. I still can't believe that I did not learn about the actual truth of the genocide until High School. When I was in elementary school, we only talked about how we the settlers made agreements with the Indians and maybe that the settlers tried to push the Native Americans off their land. We never discussed the reality of the situation. When I learned about the genocide of Native Americans I was very upset. I can't believe to what detail people go to keep the truth hush hush.
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It’s almost as if some white person was playing chess with the Native Americans. Thinking of every move they can make so the white person would be always ahead of the Native American and that they would not have any way to win the game. At the end, the white person says, “Aha now there is no possible way that you can advance in this game and win.” When the Native Americans are suppressed this much from the United States, I’m not surprised that they have the highest addiction, unemployment, and suicide rate.
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The Native American genocide is a topic that hits home for me. I am one eighth Native American—and unlike most people—I still heavily associate myself as one. Like Sam talked about in class a couple weeks ago, in order to be Native American one must still mentally and physically associate themselves with that culture. Not only do I mentally associate myself, but I also still have ties with the reservation back in Niagara Falls, New York. Since my great-great uncle was the chief of the Tuscarora tribe (the sixth nation later added into the Iroquois), a lot of my relatives still remain on the reservation, struggling. When I’m home from school during the holidays, I am constantly reminded of my struggling ancestors because not only does my family have my great uncle’s head-dress hanging up, but we have pictures of my people on the reservation. Throughout my entire life, I have grown up with hearing the struggles my family had to go through as Native Americans. In second grade, my dad would walk to school and get asked by his teachers “how many people did you scalp on your way here?” As a junior in high school, my oldest sister tried to urge people to change the mascot of her Illinois school, but along with being shunned by her teachers, kids all called her a “stupid redskin who should go back to the reservation.” Even me, not that long out of high school, faced comments about how Native Americans didn’t care, since we were the “indigenous people.” Honestly, I have contemplated the girl in the video’s question for a long, long time. Although more and more people are becoming complacent about the matter, I think people should take a stand against things such as mascots. Whether people like to believe it or not, mascots such as the Washington Redskins and the Cleveland Indians is hugely offensive. Not only is the term Redskin demeaning, but the actions that the mascots do in games is downright disgusting. They hold their fake axes, walk around with outlandish clothes, do “battle calls” by slapping their hand to their mouth. It is completely disrespectful to my culture and, above all, ignorant. How would people react if a mascot was a black person walking around and fulfilling their stereotype, as a “savage” or “indigenous” peoples. Our society would flip and say it is wrong and most definitely not politically correct. So why aren’t people doing that for Native Americans? Respect is paramount and when sports teams are glorifying this culture in an unfit way—it needs to end. I mean think about it, people walk around with SHIRTS and HATS of a red-skinned Indian with a huge grin and a feather. How much more offensive does that get? President Andrew Johnson once said, “the only good Indian is a dead Indian” and though I think we’ve come a long way since then, I think we, as a society, need to step up, show we care, and take a stand against these teams and mascots. No more ignorance. No more turning a blind eye.
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When initially asked what to do to help mend the situation one becomes perplexed and bewildered. Questions begin to formulate in one’s head. What can me, one-person do to help make this massive issue go away? What can I do to bring back the lives of the lost Native Americans and how can I retrieve their land.
Reality is that this is not what is being asked of us. No it is nothing, nothing we can do to bring back the fallen lives of the Native Americans. No we cannot turn back the hands of times and save the lives of the people who were slain during genocide. What we can do however is educate. Many of us are ignorant when it comes to the Native American people. Our knowledge of their history is limited to the stories of the first thanksgiving with the pilgrims.
Our school systems should integrate more information into the curriculum. Children should be informed about Native Americans at a young age, Many children are not even familiar with the term. If they were given just the term Native American they would display faces of confusion.
What I do not agree with is that we as American should give them an apology. Were the actions of early Europeans wrong, absolutely but I personally did nothing wrong to offend a Native American. Everything my family members or I have has been earned. Am I supposed to give my house and land to the Native Americans and say I send apologies from my deceased ancestors?
If this is the case why shouldn’t blacks be offered an apology form every white American for being held as slaves .The reason is because the whites that are living today are not the ones who held, owned, slashed, beat, mistreated, and downright demoralized blacks. Also the blacks living to day were not the ones chased, oppressed, beat down, whipped, and mistreated. Similarly I should not have to openly express an apology for others mistreating ancestors of the Native Americans. Especially when my ancestors, being as though I am African American, probably did not oppress them that severe. We do owe the Native Americans though. We owe them the right to be understood and recognized as humans. We owe them the right to be in as much American history as any other race or culture. We owe it to them to be open and to befriend them and try our best to understand their oppression. We owe it to them and to our American culture to make mend of this entire situation. We should unite as a nation to overcome this hurdle. Because of that, our debt to the Native American and American culture, I will apologize so that we could move on and strive to be an equal and just nation.
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I feel as if there may not be much we can do as individuals. It is hard to achieve anything in a solitary manner. One needs to unite with people who share the same goal and interests as they do. It is only when we unite with others that we find we can reach or even exceed our goals. I don't feel as if Dr. Richards wants us all to jump up drop out of college and devote our lives to Native American rights (although this would be a worthy and noble cause, indeed!) I feel as if he wants us to know! Be informed! Be conscious, aware consumers of what was fed to us from such an early age. No tales of genocide were ever spoken about! Here? In America! NOooo! Not in my land! But yes! Your land! Or our land, whichever you prefer. Or even better still, their land! Yes sir, it is their land. By knowing this and opening your mind to the far off concept that millions of people were slaughtered to obtain this, is one small way any individual can make a difference. Dr. Richards kept repeating the fact that this is red land. This is not only the color of their skin, but the color of their blood. Their blood was poured back into the earth by men of a different color, in order to spread their resources and form their own society. We have completely neglected these people. Dr. Richards wants us to realize this blazing hole in the fabric of the American flag. We have cast aside a whole group of people and said they are not important. Their problems don't exist. We killed their forefathers with guns. And now we will kill their future generations with poison. Not a literal poison. But a poison that is generated and fueled by hate, ignorance and indifference. WE CANNOT LET THIS CONTINUE. I feel that the average student, joe the plumber, whomever, should know this: JUST BY KNOWING WHAT WAS DONE WE HAVE MADE A DIFFERENCE! Not a profound superb difference, but one nonetheless. We have changed our thought pattern. Changing of thoughts usually leads to a changing of actions. The actions of everyone's fathers has left us with this hole in our souls. What can be done to repair the damage. LOOK AT THE DAMAGE THAT WE HAVE ALL CAUSED! That is what Dr. Richards wants. We have to see past ourselves, past the blame game. We need to take ownership of this plight and help Native Americans out of the mire and filth we did not hesitate to put them in. It starts with one. A common purpose can unite a people. The settlers had a common purpose bent on destruction of a people. We need to have a common goal of raising them up to the people they once were, before we tried to obliterate them and their heritage.
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This is a very question, and it is one that I don’t have an answer too. After learning about Native Americans in class I feel like I want to do something, but I don’t know what I can do. How could I, a student at Penn State, make a difference in the lives of Native Americans? I don’t really think that there is anything we can do. I was very intrigued by the video that Sam showed us. Something that really stuck out in my head was when the one guy said that he thinks it’s wrong that America is spending so much money in Iraq when they should be taking care of their own country. That’s a really good point, we should be taking care of our own country. It’s our fault that the Native Americans are in the position they are in now and I think that the Government should do something about it. Why is it that in all presidential races they make so many promises, but none of them ever say anything about helping Native Americans?
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I definitely agree that the first step to making things better is education. I don't understand why so many people don't like history. Every problem that a country or a certain group of people have ever had… somebody else throughout history has had the same problem and figured out a way to deal with it. It just drives me crazy that people know the names of those idiots on Jersey Shore but they can't tell you who won the French and Indian War. I can almost guarantee that there are a couple people in our SOC 119 class that don't know who won the Revolutionary War! Reducing Americas ignorance is a good first step.
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What happened to the Native Americans is a disgrace. Obviously immigrants to this country walked in with their advanced technology and fought an unfair fight. I am probably a descendent of these immigrants so I’ll just use we. We pushed them off of their own land, killed them, and set up our own communities in the new United States of America. The “barren” land that gave the persecuted Europeans new opportunity is really a red land that we stripped from the first peoples. It might have been done by my really, really distant relatives, and that does not make me feel good at all, but what happened is in the past. Hakuna matata. There is a problem that worries me though. A lot of people who live in America today do not ever think about the Native American population. They are a forgotten people to most of the citizens of this great country. I completely understand why this is a bad thing. However I do not think simply accepting what some of our ancestors did to the Native Americans does them enough justice. I have already accepted what happened, but that does not do anything for their population. I also do not think that educating Americans about the genocide that occurred here on our own soil is enough. Teaching young kids in schools about what truly happened to the Native Americans would be helpful. Maybe the future of this country would acknowledge the Native Americans, and they would know what actually happened. This does not mean that these kids would grow up wanting to do something for the Native Americans. People would still be starting on different levels. If people were educated about the stories of the past but took no action, then people might think about Native Americans differently but the Native American population would still be very poor, less educated, and contain negative behaviors such as heavy alcohol consumption. Sure, Native Americans would be more content though knowing that the rest of the country is cognizant of the fact that centuries ago their relatives stole land forcefully from the Native Americans. This still does not accomplish enough for the present Native Americans. It won’t change their situation. Even if the government gives them more resources or better land it would not help enough. I think that the government has to help the Native Americans by providing a higher quality of education for the young Native Americans. They could probably do this by creating incentives for teachers to go to Native American reservations. Increasing education for Native Americans could address some of their other problems too. Increased education is positively correlated with income and socioeconomic status. Also, with more education, hopefully Native Americans would become less dependent on alcohol and would decrease their numbers of suicide. Overall, I believe that more can be done than just accepting what happened to Native Americans. I think we can be more active and do feasible things to increase their chances of succeeding in the world. I might never see an even playing field for all races in my lifetime, but we should be able to do things to at least close the gap.
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I don’t really know what much we could do. We are too much in the hole to dig things out. I believe that it is too late. What can we do? Yea, it is very sad to hear about the Native Americans getting pushed away from their native land and feeling abandoned. I feel a great amount of sympathy for them. There is no right or wrong action to be performed because so many people think otherwise. This world that we live in is too corrupt and filled with many horrific events which leaves many of us at a state of anger. Just as the Native Americans are so upset because they feel as though “we pushed them away from their native land, African American have something to be upset about also. We are all upset about something, and nothing has not, and will not be done to end all this madness. It sucks. It really does. I wish there is a way that the United States could compromise with the Native Americans so they can now feel accepted on the land that was once theirs. Also, Native Americans can’t feel that they are the only victims in this world because they are not the only ones who experience some form of disrespect. African Americans were also put in a predicament that they are still struggling with still to this day. Discrimination. Racism and discrimination has been going on for quite a long time now and it seems that no matter what actions are done, we will still continue to hear disrespectful comments made either to us or about us. Years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. stood up for what he believed in and he fought and fought, time and time again just to end the discrimination and the segregation. Although some parts of this country became accepting, there were still many ignorant beings out there who just cannot accept people of color. As a result, Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated by an asshole who felt threatened by his outspokenness. Still to this day, African-Americans are still being discriminated and segregated against. For what? Because of the color of our skin. It makes no type of sense. We are now in 2010 and nothing has changed. It doesn’t seem as if anything will stop the nonsense, so the only thing that we could do it to just deal with but still stand up for our rights. So in conclusion, Native American just have to deal with this predicament until something happens, because it doesn’t seem as if the United States will be fighting to help them out anytime soon. Lastly, correct me if I’m wrong, but years ago, weren’t there this amnesty action that the president granted any person who were of Native American descent granted a lot of cash?
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As a student of a large university, I understand why it is so hard for us to see outside of our own society and really dive into another culture. From the statistics we see that Native Americans have the highest poverty rates, and highest suicide rates, but we never really stop and think about what we can do. I live in an area surrounded by Native American Culture. All high schools are named after different tribes and there is a local reservation. Each summer they hold events on the reservation of singing, dancing, shows, art, etc. I feel like schools need to focus more on the historical events of the tribes. We need to really dive into the trail of tears. We talk so much about slavery and the Holocaust so I think its time we take a minute and think about these issues.
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Like most other students education seems like the first step to helping right the wrongs that the Native Americans have been put through. Stories of life on a reservation or just interviews with current Native Americans concerning what they are now feeling should hit our news and papers, making citizens more aware of the situation at hand. I feel as if the Native Americans felt more respected and cared about as the initial founders of our country, they would be happier to become a part of our society, while still maintaining their own identity and land. If the anger and injustice they felt was dissipated slightly, the alcohol and suicide numbers in their communities might decrease as well.
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The biggest lie that I've heard was teacher teaching their class that when the settlers came to the United States that it was this whole "New World' that was completely empty. I mean come on. What is the likely hood that a part of a continent is going to be completely inhabited with human beings? When little kids believe what the teachers say, they never get the truth that Native Americans were here way before the settlers even thought to travel to the "New World". If teachers began to teach students about what really happened when the settlers came to America then the United States would not be so naïve about Native Americans today.
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Besides acknowledging the truth about Native Americans, I think that students can be involved in becoming more aware of what conditions Native Americans are living in. As Sam said, Native Americans are by far the poorest people in our country. They also have the highest suicide rate and addiction rate. I definitely think that things need to be done to improve the Native Americans well being. Native Americans most likely have the highest suicide, addiction, and unemployment rates because as Sam put it, the King of the mountain is always making sure that they stay down. An example of this is putting them on reservations that have only a small piece of land and which is mostly useless. The land has very little natural resources so they can’t farm.
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To make a difference in the lives of Native Americans, I think that the average person can play an enormous role. By simply telling other people what you know and educating people on this subject is an enormous help. Education is the key. Because the average American and student is unaware of the genocide of Native Americans and the living conditions in which these people now live, the average American and student, therefore, does not know that something needs to be done.
Once people become aware of this situation, they will then talk about it to their friends and families. If enough people talk about Native Americans’ living conditions, the world will see that this is a serious problem. Since the average person isn’t talking about it, the needs of Native Americans are being pushed aside. This can be related to LGBT issues. Since the average person and people who are LGBT were not talking about the issues in society caused by orientation, nothing was being done to fix the issues. Once the LGBT community and the average person started talking about it, changes started to be made. I believe that the same thing has to happen with the issues Native Americans deal with every day.
Aside from simply spreading your knowledge, the average person can help Native Americans in many other simplistic ways. Students can visit reservations and find out what the living conditions are really like. This will allow for a greater sense of knowledge to be spread. You can donate used books to schools are reservations, or write to your local politician voicing your concern about Native Americans. Ultimately, what that average person can do is spread his or her knowledge about Native American living conditions as well as your concern for their well-being. It is important to make people realize that Native Americans are people who have been shoved aside in our society.
I also think that once people spread their knowledge about Native American issues, educators will eventually hear this and teach their students about these conditions. It is important for people to learn about these issues when they are young. This way, young students can spend a life time (if needed) thinking about what to do. This allows the younger generating to come up with solutions that may be better than any of the older generation.
Ultimately, my thought about making a difference in the lives of Native Americans is to simply spread your knowledge. Without knowledge of the on going situation, there is no way a person would know to do something about it. This, I think, is our biggest problem.
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I feel that just spreading the word could bring awareness to the problems with the Native Americans A lot of people aren't aware of what happens to the Native Americans or how they are treated and how they are the poorest group of people in America. I feel that if people just spread the word and didn't turn a blind eye to the problem then some change would come. I believe that if more people knew about the problem that Native American’s face they would be more likely to help, people help when they see that there are people in need.
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The first thing I would do is educate kids earlier and better as to what the true history is and how that has led to the current situation for the Native tribes. the first step is to accept reality and stop the false belife that the Natives of this country were savages and we brought them civility when we brought savagery far more than civility and then we purpetuated the savagery for centuries. the next thing I would do is to endorse the Tribal casino's that many tribes have started in order to fund their people this won't solve anything but it will be a start. people fight these casino's in order to prevent the gambling or the crime but also to prevent the tax exemptions that the tribes are privy to. we need to work with the tribes to get them better support for schools and whatever else they need so they can thrive as they want to. we also need to educate people as to how the reservations work it's a mystery to most people me included. we need to remember that any suffering they feel is a direct result of our indiscretions both in the past and today.
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I think that raising awareness is one of the best things we can do. I know you wanted to know on an individual level, and I think that whenever people make a derogatory comment on Native Americans, we can correct them. I also think that getting children to think about them in a different light would make a difference. If we have any children, we should teach them about how we basically killed an entire civilization—we can at least act decent to the ones who are here now. At least help them out so they don’t have such high suicide rates and alcoholism. And I think small changes like starting off with children would certainly help.
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I think we could do what Sam told us to do. We need to learn about this situation as much as possible and tell as many people as we can. I, personally, have told at least 3 of my friends so far about this situation. It is so insane that we live on the land that was taken from poor, innocent people. We tell ourselves that we made peace with these people. We even created a holiday to celebrate this time in our history! We celebrate it every year with our families! When we can create a holiday to mask the time we spent destroying their lives, we may have gone too far. Learning about this in elementary school, dressing up like an Indian at times, now seems like mocking their culture. Genocide is not something we should celebrate in my church's preschool classes!
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honestly, and it hurts me to say this, but i do not think the average person could do anything about this topic. we do not know enough as a culture in this day and age to really grasp what went on hundreds of years ago. sure we read about it in books but thats all heresay when it comes down to it. i do think though is someone wanted to do something they would have to physically go to these people and ask them what it would take to fix this, how did this happen to them specifically, why do you think it happened, and finally if we did try to help would you even take an apology. if they wouldnt accept our try to help whats the use? i know if i try to help someone and they dont want it, ok see ya later, because why try and try and try when your not going to accomplish anything. they have to want our help for our help to work. most of them probably do but im just throwing it out there that sometimes when a cut gets deep enough it never properly heals.
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