UnThanksgiving

November is Native American Indian month it is only right to write a post on the quality of life for Native Americans living under the American Government. First of all I find it mocking that Native Americans, along with African-Americans, Women, Puerto Ricans etc. all receive a month of acknowledgement as if to say that your history only counts during this month and your contributions to the building of this country don’t matter after it is over. All of these groups make up the United States of America and their personal histories should be celebrated every month of the year right along with the White Male European History that is taught in every school across the country.
Since the founding of the United States of America Native American people have been instrumental in helping the European immigrants. In the beginning there was Pocahontas, a Native American girl who saved John Smith, an explorer, from being killed by her father, the chef. Pocahontas married settler John Rolfe and this union brought peace to the Native Americans for eight years. Another famous historic Native American is Sacagawea who helped explorers Lewis and Clark on their expedition through the lands that were obtained in the Louisiana Purchase. Sacagawea traveled thousands of miles leading the expedition from 1804-1806. She was the only woman on the entire journey and carried her infant baby on her back. She was instrumental in obtaining horses and other guides for the journey. Her help was invaluable to the health and safety of the explorers. Other famous Native Americans are Geronimo, Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, Chief Joseph and Crazy Horse who were all warriors who fought honorably for their people and preservation of the land they knew to be given to them by the Creator.
Today there are still Native Americans that are famous. Adam Beach is a Native American actor who has been in fifty films and TV shows. Ben Nighthorse Campbell was a U.S. Senator until 2005. He was the first Native American to hold a position in the U.S. Senate since 1933. Ira Hayes was a member of the team of Marines who raised the flag in Iwo Jima that raised patriotism during WWII. The photo is famous for its depicting of “American Freedom”.
Yet, even with these individual accomplishments of Native Americans the majority of Native Americans are still disadvantaged and can be argued to be the most disadvantaged people living in the U.S. Native Americans lack in political, social, and economic status in America.
Politically, as stated Senator Campbell was the first Senator since 1933. He is now retired from his position and now Native Americans have no representation in the Senate. Native Americans have also been politically repressed in this country not becoming citizens and obtaining the right to vote until 1924.
Socially, most Native Americans try to hold onto their ancestral heritage and traditions. However, many worry that too much assimilation into mainstream “American Culture” will have a negative effect. For example, the number of languages spoke by Native Americans when Europeans first arrived to America was about 300 different languages. Now about only 190 languages are still spoken. There is only about 40 languages spoken by people of all ages in the tribes. Moving to urban areas has had an impact on the social structure. Families were once considered the entire tribe, whereas today the family is viewed in European fashion consisting of a mother, father, and child.
Economically, things have somewhat improved but nothing that can really establish change. Education for Native Americans in the 1960’s averaged about eight and half years. Today, a majority of Native Americans graduate from high school. Yet, only 9% of all Native Americans go onto college. This is nothing if change is to be made. Other ways that Native Americans have made some economic gains is through opening casinos. Nevertheless, these small steps do not amount to much. The average income for Native Americans is still lower than the national average. Most hold low paying, unskilled jobs. Suicide and infant mortality rates are higher and life expectancy is lower than the rest of the United States. Alcoholism is also a big problem amongst Native Americans. This is a drug that was given to them by the European settlers.
Though there is much against Native Americans in the United States some have tried and risen against the power structure that systematically oppresses the masses of people, specifically Native Americans. A.I.M. (The American Indian Movement) is one of these groups that has tried to make strides for Native Americans. In 1968 A.I.M. was founded to work for equal rights, better living conditions, economic independence, and autonomy over tribal areas, and restoration of illegally seized lands for Native Americans.
A.I.M. brought attention to the grievances of Native Americans by having a series of public protests. They participated in the nineteen month occupation of Alcatraz in 1969 and then went on to protest at many other things that downplayed the role Native Americans played in American history. One of the more famous events was the take over of the BIA building (Bureau of Indian Affairs) in Washington D.C. in 1972 where A.I.M. members demanded the review of U.S. treaty violations and the establishment of improved educational and economic programs.
One of the most famous A.I.M. members and Native Americans of our current era is Political Prisoner Leonard Peltier. Mr. Peltier is a Chippewa Indian born on the Turtle Mountain Reservation in North Dakota. Mr. Peltier is being incarcerated for the murders of FBI agents Ronald A. Williams and Jack R. Coler who died in a shoot-out on the Pine Ridge Reservation. Mr. Peltier has been unjustly imprisoned since February 6, 1976. There have been many irregularities to the case. First, an FBI agent has changed his story on what type of car the other agents were following onto the Reservation. Initially, the agent said a pick-up truck and later changed his story to a red and white van, the same vehicle that Peltier owned. Second, three teen-age Native Americans said that FBI agents threatened and forced them to testify against Peltier. Thirdly, the marks from the firing pin from Peltier’s gun did not match those of the shell cases. These are all part of a larger issue at hand. It is ironic that during a time in American history when the FBI, under J. Edgar Hoover, with his COINTELPRO program targeted progressive organizations would set-up Mr. Peltier. Mr. Peltier has remained in prison for almost 30 years. Peltier is an icon of the Native American struggle and how the American government still represses Native Americans. Some have even argued that regardless if Peltier killed the agents it should not matter because it occurred during a war-like atmosphere on the reservation in which FBI agents were terrorizing residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation. Mr. Peltier has gained support from the following: Nelson Mandela, Rigoberta Menchú, Amnesty International, the U.N. High Commissioner on Human Rights, Tenzin Gyatso (the 14th Dalai Lama), the European Parliament, the Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, music artists Rage Against the Machine and Dead Prez, and many other leftist organizations.
Please follow the links below to learn more about Mr. Leonard Peltier and how to help him. His foundation is hosting a Christmas Drive to help the children living on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

www.myspace.com/freepeltier
http://www.leonardpeltier.net/documents/giftdrive.pdf
http://www.leonardpeltier.net/

American History 101

In the Unites States, there is not much of a dispute of who discovered the “New World”. Most believe it to be Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in 1492 A.D. Some will argue that Vikings had discovered Newfoundland in the year 1000 A.D. This is all irrelevant because no one can discover something that was already found.
Native Americans have been living on the soil we call “The United States of America, Canada, and Mexico” for at least 30,000 years. This has been proven through anthropology and archaeological discoveries. Yet, credit is given to a white European named Columbus. He is so respected and revered in this country that there is a National Day of remembrance for this individual called Columbus Day. If the masses of people knew and understood the REAL Christopher Columbus I wonder if Americans would still celebrate this man? Columbus was an explorer and looking for a new route to the East Indies. When he found America he called the people, “Los Indios” which means Indians, thinking he found the East Indies. So the name given to the Native Americans is historically inaccurate though accepted today. After coming to this “New Land” Columbus wiped out the native population of the Hispaniola. Columbus also kidnapped, enslaved, mutilated, and murdered the native people who greeted him with warmth. Despite all of these historical facts we look at Columbus as a hero.
There is a huge difference in culture between the Native Americans and emigrating White Europeans. First, Native Americans do not see the land as something that man owns. “We say, ‘Nahasdzaan Shima, Earth, My Mother. We are made from her,’ says George Blueeyes, a Navajo elder. You cannot “own” your mother; you cannot divide a member of your family.” The land is considered the Creator to Native Americans and all should be able to benefit from what the Earth has to offer. This is a complete rejection of Capitalism which is based on ownership and private property which was something that the Pilgrims did when they put up fences around “their” land. Native Americans saw this as insult to the Creator. Also, Native Americans see the land for what it is and see no need to improve on it and that this improvement will happen over time. Whites see progress as something that should happen immediately. White settlers and believers in Capitalism view progress only when something “better” comes to their lives. The second big difference was the language. Most Native Americans shared language and expressed themselves and their history through the oral tradition. Storytelling was very important to them. White Europeans used written documents to preserve history and document time. This difference directly affected the signing of treaties between whites and Native Americans. Since writing meant nothing to Native Americans many signed their rights away of land without knowing it. This made it much easier for the whites to cheat Native Americans.
Throughout modern history of the United States, Native Americans have been made to seem that they are savages and barbaric people. Pictures, Art, television, movies etc. have always made the Native Americans the enemy and a glorious John Wayne type character must save the settlers from these beasts. Again, I think if people knew the truth about the agreements and history between the Native Americans and White people (the U.S. government) they would think much different about the Native Americans.
When the first immigrants from Europe came to “The New Word” they would have died in the first winter if it wasn’t for the Native Americans who showed them how to use the land, hunt, and what plants to eat. Native Americans were even the inspiration for what we call our democracy.
The Iroquois Nation is a group of Native American tribes that lived throughout the Northeast. First which I don’t think a barbaric society would have is the power of the Iroquois came from the women. “Inheritance in Iroquois society was passed down through the women, who owned, controlled, and continued to live in the longhouse…his only possessions were his weapons and clothing…Iroquois women owned everything else.” The Iroquois was made up of the Mohawks, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, the Seneca, and the Tuscarora. They had fifty representatives called sachems from each of the nations which made up the council of the League. The League had a strong confederacy. This way of government greatly influenced the founders of the United States. Benjamin Franklin said, “It would be a strange thing if [the] Six Nations [of the Iroquois] should be capable of forming [and executing] a scheme for such a union… and yet that a union should be impractical for ten or a dozen English colonies, to whom it is more necessary…” meaning that he and other founders modeled the Iroquois League in developing our government.
Even sports were created by Iroquois Native Americans. The predominately white played sport of Lacrosse was invented by the Native Americans which were much more aggressive when played in its original form but tamed down for Europeans to play.
In the Southeastern region of the U.S. Native Americans felt the wrath of Europeans. In 1513 when Juan Ponce de Leon arrived in Florida his men destroyed the Native villages and killed and enslaved the people. One of the most effective ways for the Europeans to rid themselves of Native Americans was through diseases such as: measles, smallpox, chicken pox, cholera, typhus, influenza, and tuberculosis. White settlers intentionally gave blankets and other materials that were exposed to these diseases to the Native people because it would kill them. Native Americans were not immune or had any idea of these illnesses. So in essence the first users of biological warfare were not Islamic terrorists but the White European settlers that are now modern day Americans. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act which forced Cherokee and dozens of other tribes from this area to move to Oklahoma. Between the years of1830-1838 approximately 60,000 Native Americans traveled west walking the 1200 miles which was named “The Trail of Tears.” Many had to leave belongings behind and families were separated. About a quarter of the Cherokee died on this travel.
The Plains Native Americans are the most notable image of Native Americans which have a headdress, war paint, and on horse back. This image is also flawed. Though they did wear this ethnic clothing it was only in time of war or ceremony. Horses were not native to the United States until brought by Europeans. Native Americans were able to tame some of the horses that escaped. The introduction of the horse was a turning point in the lifestyle of the Plains Indians. They were able to use the horse to travel and hunt the sacred bison much easier. The Plains Indians were also affected by the white settler’s illnesses just as other Native American groups. For example, in 1837, the Mandan tribe, once 37,000 strong was reduced to 125 people. This area of the country was the middle passage for many white settlers to pass to get to the west cost where gold was being mined. An agreement was signed that Native Americans would allow whites to cross the Oregon Trail without being disturbed. Yet again whites broke this pact. In 1854 a cow owned by a white settler wandered onto a Sioux Camp even though the Sioux offered payment for the animal the emigrants demanded retribution. The commanding officer of the area, Lieutenant Grattan, went onto the Native village and demanded the person who had killed the cow. When the Native people resisted the American soldiers opened fired and killed a chief. This sparked three decades of bloodshed. Yet, the worst thing that could happen to the Plains Indians was the slaughter of the bison. This animal is very sacred to these groups of people. In 1800, there were about 60 million bison; by 1870 there were only 13 million; by 1900 the number had dropped to less than a thousand. Some professional hunters killed up to 1,500 bison a week. Most bison were killed and skinned and the meat was left to rot.
One of the most famous victories for Native Americans was the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1874. The U.S. soldiers, led by Lieutenant Colonel Custer, illegally went onto the Black Hills, an area very sacred to the Lakota people. Realizing the danger imposed many Native American warriors banned together under Sitting Bull, famous chief, to stop Custer and his men. Custer had split his men up and underestimated the strength of the Native people. Custer and his men were all killed by the native warriors led by Sitting Bull, Gall, and Crazy Horse (one of the most distinguished Oglala war chiefs).
As everyone living in the United Sates can tell Native Americans finally lost their battle against the U.S. government. Today most Native Americans live on reservations. There about 250 reservations in about 30 states. Native Americans did not receive citizenship until 1924. I find it ironic that the first people to live on this land were the last to receive the right to vote. Native Americans living on reservations must pay all federal and state taxes but pay no tax on reservation lands and property or income earned. Doesn’t this sound like taxation without representation considering the low representation in the government that they never accepted? As of today Native Americans are still fighting for equal opportunities and rights as many other groups of the minority are in this country.