Dakota 38 Summary

Native Americans were colonized and forced to take on a lifestyle that was completely foreign to them. Even today, they are totally disenfranchised and forced to exist within a system that mandates their dependency on entities which actively discriminates against them. This systematic discrimination or racism, adversely affects the Native Americans in a way that causes conditions like deep depression, which leads to corruptible behavior like alcoholism, child neglect, and a high rate of suicide among young Natives. The environments of the reservations that they have been forced to exist on, in order to freely practice their natural way of life without the interference of Eurocentric mentality, have been compared to the conditions of third world countries.

Many of the Indians that left with the missionaries were gone for many years and did not know how much had changed back at home. In the story The Soft-Hearted Sioux a young man comes back home after receiving an education from the missionaries. He had left before he was taught how to survive out in the wild. He came back to dying and starving parents. He was brainwashed by the missionaries because he went against his family’s customs and told the medicine man never to come back and that God will save his father. He started preaching God’s words to his people and they left the community. His father was growing sicker and sicker and he needed food. His son went out everyday trying to get something but had no skills in hunting. His father had told him to go two hills over and he could find meat. With no concept of ownership, the son went and killed a cow that belonged to an American. Upon leaving with the meat he was chased down and attacked by the “owner” of the cattle. The son accidentally killed the man and fled back to his father’s teepee only to realize that he was too late and that his father had died. He was so conditioned by the white man that he had forgotten his ancestors’ ways of survival.

For the Lakota Indians, stories were passed down through the generations as a way of teaching lessons. Their creation story places an emphasis on maintaining a balance between man and nature. This balance was broken for the Indians when, after violating the Dawes Act, a treaty that gave them full rights to their sacred land, white men pushed them out of their homeland and forced them into a society that they never wanted to be a part of. In doing this, their culture was greatly diminished, along with their hope of a better future. Today, the Lakota Indians face poverty and other challenges that all stem from a time when their rights were violated, peace broken, and stories forgotten.

At first, it came as a surprise to me that there are still many tribes who are trying to become federally recognized and colonize land again just like before to continue their culture and identity. By now, I would had imagined that the Native Americans are at peace and can continue their traditions. However, I have come to discover that Natives Americans are still fighting for social justice when they have existed here way before Christopher Columbus discovered their land and called them, Indians. The impact that these social justice issues has on me is that the issues in which Native Americans face cannot be entirely solved. It is an impossible action to fix.

Popular culture has shaped our understanding and perception of Native American culture. From Disney to literature has given the picture of the “blood thirsty savage” of the beginning colonialism in the new world to the “Noble Savage,” a trait painted by non-native the West (Landsman and Lewis 184) and this has influenced many non native perceptions. What many outsiders do not see is the struggle Native American have on day to day bases. Each generation of Native American is on a struggle to keep their traditions alive, but to function in school and ultimately graduate.

Native American people have a unique struggle in society. This stems from cultural epidemics like drug addiction, alcoholism, obesity, and rampant suicide, but also systemic racism and a sort of cultural lag. This is not meant to be a critique of culture, simply an observation of the condition of the families I have helped serve over the course of this internship. To be “Native” has become a slew of stereotypical representations. Stereotypes do not represent reality, but they do affect how individuals view themselves, and limit their ability to become anything but what they are expected to be. This is called the self-fulfilling prophecy. If Native American children grow up in a closed network, such as a reservation or a boundary, they are presented

From its birth, America was a place of inequality and privilege. Since Columbus 's arrival and up until present day, Native American tribes have been victim of white men 's persecution and tyranny. This was first expressed in the 1800’s, when Native Americans were driven off their land and forced to embark on the Trail of Tears, and again during the Western American- Indian War where white Americans massacred millions of Native Americans in hatred. Today, much of the Indian Territory that was once a refuge for Native Americans has since been taken over by white men, and the major tribes that once called these reservations home are all but gone. These events show the discrimination and oppression the Native Americans faced. They were, and continue to be, pushed onto reservations,

Indian men, women, and children. This kind of neglect is what led to the Battle of Little Bighorn Creek, a battle that is talked about in The Great Plains, the book I chose my topic from. The reason this subject touched me personally is because almost everyone who presently lives on the Great Plains has a certain percentage Indian blood running through their veins, including myself. The neglect of the Native American Indian in America has been a problem for generations, but it is a part

Alexie, in his essay, talks about how his life was growing up on a Native American reservation in Washington state. A lifestyle that most Americans never know. Life as a Spokane Indian surrounding by a growing American society had its hardships, as Alexie explains. According to Alexie, most Spokane families living on the reservation lived a life that we in modern American society would label poverty, but the Spokane call it “middle-class.” Growing up, most of the food brought to the table in Alexie’s home was that of government surplus, thanks to federal sanctions on Native reservations, but his family managed to scrape by like any other Spokane, usually through a minimum wage income.

People often go through life without knowing what it’s like to be in another person’s shoes. Many outsiders view the United States today, as an undemanding country- with its citizens being able to have jobs and money whenever they need it and living life to it’s fullest. This is the commonly depicted idea of America, though this is not the lifestyle for many living here. Specifically, the Native American community has it the hardest currently. Native Americans have been consistently struggling with life since the Removal Act of 1830- causing mass groups of Natives to be forced onto reservation, ‘till the modern world of today- the 21 century. In the novel, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie, articles “Why Are Indian Reservations So Poor? A Look At The Bottom 1%” by John Koppisch,“The Absence of Native American Power” and “Drinking Behavior and Sources of Alcohol: Differences Between Native American and White Youths” they explain what the average Native American has to go through. Today, being Native American means to constantly struggle with poverty, alcoholism and loss of to try and get by in life.

The Dakota War was a war between the Dakota Tribe and the U.S government in Minnesota. The Dakota’s Chief, Little Crow, had given up 24 million acres of land to the government in exchange of goods and annuity payments from the government (Liberty and Power in America, p. 441). They had also agreed to live on reservations which vastly restricted their hunting territories due to the presence of white settlers. In addition, the annuity payments were always late or never received, and the land that the Dakota inhabited was not fertile which led them to starve. As more Dakota families were starving, Little Crow’s demand for food and supplies kept on being denied so the tribe started attacking local stores and settlements for food and supplies.

The Native Indian history of violence and debasement changed their views and self-image as well. This change later affects how they adapt to American culture and education after being dissuaded from embracing their own for so long. The violence and indifference shown towards the Native Americans during the “Trail of Tears” contributed greatly to this change. In this dreadful journey, Natives of all kinds were forced off

For most of my life, the word “Native American” had immediately made me think of feathers, powwows, and a society uncorrupted by civilization. However, in watching the movie Smoke Signals, a movie that depicts the modern Native American culture, I learned many other things. For one, I learned that many of the customs that modern Native Americans have are very similar to my own. I also saw that the family life of the Native Americans in the film had many of the same problems that my family had undergone in the past years. This film was unlike any that I have ever seen; therefore, it reached me on a very personal level.

We discussed how the narrative of dysfunction used to characterise Indigenous people and justify continued paternalistic colonial intervention. A narrative that conveniently ignores the conditions which led to the current situation, in which Indigenous communities display a high incidence of poverty and social dysfunction. Another quote I found on the forum states that “We (Canada) are the ones who have driven Indigenous peoples to have some of the highest numbers of incarceration, homelessness, substance abuse, high suicide rates” (Nestor, 2017). These conditions include the loss of land and sovereignty, generations of brutal violence and oppression, denial of access to sacred lands. Also, destruction of traditional economies and ways of life, and the legacy of forced assimilation, abuse and alienation from culture, language and history. All part of the genocidal war waged on Indigenous people by settler colonists.

The Native Americans and the United States have not always seen eye to eye on things since the beginning. The approach of the people of the white civilization has brought extreme agony and torture to the Native Americans. This was as a result of race playing a humongous part in humanity during this time, for this reason the Native Americans were looked down on and poorly treated by the white population. This was a strenuous point in time for the American Indians to adapt to society since their culture, attitudes, values, and beliefs were slowly being abandoned and the federal government wanting them to assimilate to the white culture. Since then the Native Americans have struggled to persevere on reservation lands, deprived of support, and for the most part hopelessness. There are many social problems that contribute to the delinquency of Native-American youth on the reservation. The community dilemmas that contribute to the failure of the Native-Americans younger generation are poor academic achievement, alcoholism, domestic violence, mental health issues, and unemployment. These horrendous matters will hopefully disappear in the time and Native-Americans will become successful in today’s society.