Native American Immigrants Essay

Before the arrival of the European, Indian have already inhabited the places living by hunting animals and growing crops, having their own languages and cultures their land have been rooted there for generation after generation. But the Europeans, have taken those away from them, killing countless Indian with their diseases, and driving them out of their house, trying to convert them into Christian, viewing them as savage animal condemned them into an endless inexpressible sufferings. The North American Indians traditions and cultural been burn down in a matter of time, their traditions were obscured, and the chain of their recollections broken the moment when the European set foot on the New World. As the European tyranny increasing Indian habits started to change their becoming restless, and when they were pushes to their limited the Indian become more warlike, and more barbarous desperately fighting in order to earn some respect from the European. After American become independent the problem with Indian was still an issues, many war between Indian and the American has happen. More and more Indian having to move westward into the Louisiana territories continues losing their home and their lifestyles, they have also tried to bring this issues to court but was turn down, not only the Indian trying to adapted to the new environment, by creating their

Native Americans, or Indians, as they were mistakenly called, have been the “pathetic footnotes to the main course of American history” (Axtell 981). But James Axtell, the author of Colonial America without the Indians: Counterfactual Reflections, would beg to differ. He says that instead, Indians played a key role in making America great. James Murray gives another term to describe America’s greatness: America’s “exceptionalism.” Throughout his article Axtell makes many points as to why Indians played a vital role in “American Exceptionalism”. He even says that America wouldn’t have been colonized nearly as soon if the Indians were gone, because Columbus would know he was not in the Indies and move on. So because they simply existed in the first place, Axtell says they were significant in the history of our country. Furthermore, he says Indians specifically played a vital role in the exceptionality of America’s early economy, culture, and historical events and places.

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,

A second historical tradition is whites refusing to give non-whites the rights they legally possess. Laws were passed that forced Indians to conform to white institutions, convincing Indians they were the world’s stupidest people. The history of Indians was manipulated to fit the needs of the intermediaries. Deloria hypothesizes that Indians are probably invisible because of the tremendous amount of misinformation about them. Understanding Indians means understanding Indian affairs. However, there exist many myths about Indian affairs. To address “Indian problems” task force reports are demanded. “The conclusion of every task force report is that Congress is not appropriating enough money to do an adequate job of helping Indians” (Deloria 1969). Paternalism is a favorite subject of task forces. However, government paternalism is not a serious problem, while private sector paternalism is. The problem is that since no one asked the churches, white interest organizations, and universities to come, it’s hard to ask them to leave. Over time tribes have discovered that they must band together to make themselves heard. Indians have two mainstream organizations; The National Congress of American Indians and The National Indian Youth Council. Tribes have also found that by handling problems amongst themselves they are more successful than when trying to adapt to the white value system. However,

Decades of discrimination against the Native American people including the Indian Removal Act, the Trail of Tears, and the Massacre at Wounded Knee has led to a so called “compromise” and the much needed formation of the American Indian Movement to try and keep Native American culture and customs alive. This unfair treatment and discrimination has been fueled by many different people and reasons, but ultimately boils down to the greed and intolerance of the white man. Numerous indian tribes were already living in the United States when the european people settled here. The act of living and existing in nearly complete peace for a great deal of years started its swift decline in the years leading up to 1830, again fueled by greed for land and materials along with intolerance of the indians obliterated any chance of fair treatment, or the two groups living in complete peace again.

The Native Americans have come across long journey of difficult times since the occupation of their land by European settlers. There are still two sides of a coin- a world of civilization and a world of underdeveloped society in this one country- USA. The paradox is that the constitution which seems to be a model of democracy to many nations of the world lacks a lot for not acting accordingly. Those organized and unorganized struggles of Native Americans were challenged by the heavily armed white majority settlers. This history is among the worst American experience because of the massacre and the violation against human right. In order to be heard, they protest, occupy land, and write books. The Native Americans have raised several

American Indians have been discriminated against since the Europeans came to North America. They were driven from their homes and forced to surrender their land. They tried to build an alliance with France during the Revolutionary war, but ultimately they were defeated by the English. From then on, they were referred to as “savages”. The Proclamation of 1763 tried to separate the Native American land from the American colonial land. In the end, the American Indians lost their land and were forced to occupy smaller land areas, referred to as reservations, which were given to them through treaties. In 1979, a report from America’s Compliance with Human Rights Accords stated that

Native Americans have felt distress from societal and governmental interactions for hundreds of years. American Indian protests against these pressures date back to the colonial period. Broken treaties, removal policies, acculturation, and assimilation have scarred the indigenous societies of the United States. These policies and the continued oppression of the native communities produced an atmosphere of heightened tension. Governmental pressure for assimilation and their apparent aim to destroy cultures, communities, and identities through policies gave the native people a reason to fight. The unanticipated consequence was the subsequent creation of a pan-American Indian identity

The first issue at hand for the Native-Americans is poor academic achievement. It has been that…”the Native-American lives and education has been under the control of the federal and state governments” (McNamara & Burns, 2009, p. 135). This is due because the unfortunate

America is traditionally a country of immigrants. Very few people today have relatives who were Native Americans, many of them because of religious persecution, and others because of they were just looking to start a new life on the exciting untouched frontier. For instance, in Florida, the first arrivals were European, beginning with the Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon who explored the land in 1513, following French and Spanish settlement during the 16th century. From the past, America was seen as a country of opportunities. People from all over the world have moved here looking for better opportunities. There are a lot of reasons why immigrants should live in this country, but I would like to mention three of them.

If people look at the history of Indian immigrants in the United States, many children today in college are the first ones in their nuclear family to attend college in America. To go even further back in history, many Indian parents’ came to America with nothing, while having everything back in the motherland. For example, many of the Indian parents came to the United States poor and with no family. On the other hand, in the motherland they are considered rich, have people working for them, and family. This implies the amount of sacrifice they have done. The sacrifice is not done for them, but is done for their children. According to a study done researchers, “Asian American immigrant mothers had greater inappropriate expectations of their children than the nonimmigrant mothers (European American and African American)” (Bowman & Stoott, 1994; Cannella, 1998; DeaterDeckard, 1996; Garcia Coll, 1996; 693). Many people believe that immigrant mothers, specifically Asian Indians, have inappropriate expectations because the mothers would like to see their children be successful. The mothers would not like their children to go through the same amount of trouble and hardship, as they went through when they came to the United

Native Americans have been forced out of their culture over time, forced into assimilation, lost their rights, and have lost their land due to policies and laws by the whites that can’t bear the Native American way of life. There used to be many Native American tribes all throughout North America, and now these tribes are spread across the country and are blended into the rest of the population. The native ways have changed drastically in the last two centuries due to relocation programs, Indian boarding schools, and the way to classify which tribe each person belongs to. Native Americans have endured so much pain, which results from everything they have lost over time, and they have constantly paid the price for their ethnicity.

The culture of every ethnic group is beautiful in its own way and worth cherishing. Today, America is known as the great melting pot not for the number of immigrants it has but rather because of the wonderful cultures and traditions the immigrants brought with them. Immigrants do not need to forgo their mother tongue, significant celebrations or customs to become American. However to be socially accepted, they will need to learn English, take part in celebrating national holidays and fulfill their patriotic duties Americans like every other U.S citizens.

The European colonists and the Native Americans of North America had very different views on nearly everything they encountered in their lives. Living in vastly different cultures lead both groups to have two extremely different outlooks on four main topics; religious beliefs, the environment, social relations, and slavery, differences which the colonists used to their advantage when conquering the peoples of the New World.

What I am most proud of, is the fact that I am a hardworking immigrant. In today’s divided society, immigrants are stereotyped as “non-contributing to society” or “largely uneducated”. This ignorant stereotype is a constant reminder of how hard I should work.