Native American Racism In America

There exists in our community a monster, a monster as old as mankind itself. This monster is known by many names; some call it racism, others discrimination but the only thing certain about this monstrosity is that it can be overcome if we all unite to fight against it. Racism is “a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race” (Merriam Webster). Racism has multiple causes ranging from living in a secluded community, to the basic instincts of mankind which likes exemplify the differences found in others not like themselves. Racism can destroy the foundations on which a community is laid upon and can intrude upon the peace and sanction of many of its members. By informing members of the community on the reasons why racism continues to persist, encouraging acceptance and providing further education on how to relieve racial tensions, we can resolve the issue of racism once and for all.

How can counselors work to lessen the effects of racism and discrimination that have impacted Native Americans and Asian Americans?

Racism has been an ongoing problem for decades, but now it has evolved into more complications rather than black people versus white people and wanting equality.

Natives are constantly being overlooked or wronged by the U.S. government. According to the 2007-2011 census the highest national poverty rate was Native American and Alaskan Natives with 27% of people living below the poverty line. An example of just how much Natives are hurting is the Navajo tribe in the Arizona region. Most people don’t have running water or electricity to their houses, and some live on as little as seven gallons of water a week. In the past, the United States government made major acts to remove Natives from existence. An example of an act is the Dawes Act, which was made to make natives more like white people. The next act was the Indian Removal Act better known as the Trail of Tears. This is one of the worst attempt of removing native Americans. The US government forced all Indians to move west with force. This is named the trail of tears because on the way west many died, were raped, and killed. Recently, the Obama Administration have been attempting to give reparations to some of the wrongs done by the US government. One settlement is the $554 million being paid to the Navajo tribe for the mismanagement of funds and natural resources. The way to keep from this happening again is for the federal and state government to allocate funds to native americans allowing them to get out of poverty. This also removes the need to rent out their land, which people mistreat.

In this essay, I will compare and contrast how Spain, France, England, and America viewed and interacted with Native peoples differently as they colonized North America. It is reported that roughly three hundred and fifty thousand Native Americans called the area known today as Florida home, when Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon landed his fleet of ships on the coast in the early 1500’s. As we have discussed and learned when the Native people were colonized by outsiders it was not a great day. The Natives of Florida were not immune; war, slavery, disease, and extremely low child birth rates took a devastating toll on the Florida tribes. A charter penned by Ponce de Leon, known as the encomienda, granted Spain the ability to enslave the Natives of Florida. Forcing them to work in the crop fields and essentially making them the major labor force; constructing and designing the buildings occupied by the Spanish. The oppression did not end there. Around the middle of the 16th century the Native people were declared to be free, but only on paper. The Spanish royals felt that the Natives needed to educated in the ways of Catholicism, and those that did not want to conform could be punished up to and including death.

The conquistadors ventured to the America’s in approximately the 1500s. During the process of settlement the conquistadors, led by Hernan Cortez encountered numerous natives who originally inhabited the land. When two unfamiliar civilizations encounter each other the end result can be unpredictable. Each human being has an unique thought process. Therefore numerous spaniards viewed the native americans as a peaceful, and kind civilization, while on the other side of the bridge, several spaniards like Hernan Cortez viewed the indians as a threat to their wellbeing. However, Bartolome de las Casas viewed the native Indians in a different manner. Bartolome de las Casas viewed the natives as a genuinely kind civilization, therefore the people

In addition to social structure, another aspect of the European misconceptions towards the Natives is they also strive to procure the Natives’ local resources. In 1492, Columbus arrives in North America. He is determined to take the Natives’ gold from their land. “I... strove to learn if they had any gold...About sunset we anchored near the cape...to enquire for gold...” (Columbus 6 & 7).

This forced control of the Natives sparked revolts against the self-entitled Spanish out of frustration. This frustration is expressed in the article An Indian Explanation of a Pueblo Revolt when and eighty year old Pueblo man, whose life spanned the era of Spanish colonial rule, stated that “the resentment which all the Indians have in their hearts has been so strong, from the time this kingdom was discovered, because the religious and the Spaniards took away their idols and forbade their sorceries and idolatries.” This quote explains the immense frustration felt by the Pueblos caused by the forced assimilation and control of the Spanish in the 16th and 17th century through a harsh form colonialism that some would argue as benevolent paternalism or even an ethnic cleansing. This was true in almost all European colonialism attempts, and this quote shows the level of control these empires assumed while taking North America from the Indigenous people and how they did

When the word “Native American” is mentioned, the first thing most people will think of is Indian gaming. As many people know, only Native Americans can conduct gaming while people from other ethnicity cannot. This leads to the belief that it is an indirect way for the American government to repay the tribal government for taking their lands. This is partially true. The right to conduct gaming on reservations begins with the Indian Gaming Regulation Act (IGRA). Since its establishment in 1988, hundreds of tribes are able to negotiate an agreement with the governments to operate casinos on reservation lands. However, this is not the only intention of IGRA. Although Congress says that the real purpose of IGRA is to allow Indians to open

The coming of English colonizers presented the indigenous residents of eastern North America with the utmost calamity in their history. English colonists did not call themselves “conquerors” unlike the Spanish. They sought land, not domination over the existing population. Essentially, they were focused on displacing the Indians and colonizing on their property, not intermarrying with them, organizing their labor, or making them subjects of the crown. To the Spanish settlers, the large native populations of the Americas were not only souls to be saved but also a work force to be formed to excavate gold and silver that would enrich the mother country. Regarding Spain, national fame, profit, and religious mission combined in early English reasoning

So the profit can only be use to improve the education, welfare, and economic programs for Native American people. If they want to do anything else with the profit it would have to be approved first by the Department of Interior secretary (Indian Country Today Media network). The tribes get the profit only after the lenders and payout are paid first. In reality most Native American Indians don’t even profit from casinos at all.

Racism seems to be a cultural crutch that stems from the hatred and backwash of american history, leading us to believe it still affects us in a major way today. But what if we were colorblind? Would this change the way we see ourselves? Whether we know it or not racism and the concept of race itself affects everybody in day to day life. It affects us as a country, as a person, politically, and socially. As Coates makes it very clear that race on its own causes racism, not the other way around causes one to think that things could possibly be a little different. Including me. Unfortunately the the striking relevance falls onto my family tree as well. My Mother and her twin, my

There were two key reasons that led to the mistreatment of Native Americans- their differences and their small population. The Native people had different lifestyles than the white people. They spoke differently, ate differently, and had different jobs. Not only did they live differently, they looked different. They had dark skin and dressed in unusual clothes. Because of this, white people saw them as animals and saw it fit to treat them that way. Their population also led to their mistreatment. Because they were such a small group of people, they were easily thrown around and nobody cared about them. Being a minority, they would never have enough support to get their way. To conclude, because of their differences and smaller size, African

It shows that while the Spanish had an original goal of converting the natives to Christianity, somewhere along the way they lost control of their greed and their cruelty spiraled out of control. The Spanish conquistadors wanted the natives to give them gold, but the fact was that the natives simply didn’t have it in the enormous amounts that the conquistadors wanted. The conquistadors worked the natives until they died, or simply killed them. “For it is the Spaniards’ custom in their wars to allow only young boys and females to live being to oppress them with the hardest, harshest, and most heinous bondage to which men or beasts might ever be bound into.” p.2 This quote explains how when conquering the natives, the conquistadors killed everyone except young people, who were then subjected into human slavery. Over the summer, we had read a book called “Sold” by Patricia McCormick. The main character, Lakshmi, has her innocence taken advantage of and is sold into sex slavery. She is routinely tortured in the job she once thought was being a maid in the city. Although different in some ways, these two events are alike. THe natives never meant any harm, but the conquistadors took advantage of their innocence. “Terrible things that the tyrants did

Common people saw the New World as an opportunity to get rich fast, and countries saw this opportunity as a way to control the New World by taking all of the wealth in the region, and to assert their dominance by setting up colonies and by sending raiding parties, (like Spain’s conquistadors) to pillage the landscape and take everything and anything of value or importance. This was the large collections of gold, silver, bronze, and other precious metals located in the native’s cities and settlements, which the Europeans had quickly taken a large portion if not all of the gold from these people in the region. With these constant raids on the natives, it had taken a huge toll on life and infrastructure as the Europeans destroyed everything, and killed everyone that stood in their way of gold and riches. The Aztecs even compared the Spanish to pigs when it came to gold and other valuables, how they can never have enough of the metals, and how hungry they are for it. In the aftermath of all this madness and bloodshed, the natives were left with nothing. They could no longer support themselves and were forced to give up their indigenous ways and beliefs, all because some Europeans came over and took everything, all in the name of God and of the