Philosophy / Vision Of Leadership

When most people hear of Native Americans, they cannot help but think of elaborate headdresses, red skinned warriors, and lively dancing. Although these aspects of Native American culture are fascinating, more important is where they fare in our society 's past and present. Restrictive laws and acts such as the Indian Removal Act, the Indian Reorganization Act, Fort Laramie treaties, and the Trail of Tears forced Native Americans from their lands. When settlers and the American government saw the resistance of Native Americans to forced assimilation, they resorted to racial discrimination and relocation to reservations. This history of discrimination has fueled calls for the United States government to pay reparations and the return of Native Americans to their indigenous lands.

As previously mentioned, society has a history of oppression and forced assimilation of the Native population. Today, society still fails to regard tribes as being sovereign nations within our nation. But, social movements like the Dakota Access Pipeline protests are shifting societies view of tribal nations as being autonomous. Media coverage of such issues is important because it reaches a wider audience and helps gain attention for tribal issues. Outreach programs like the one I work for also help to mediate between CPS and tribes on behalf of Indian children’s welfare and support the ICWA’s

Native Americans on the reservations are at socially and economically disadvantage compared to persons who reside in metropolitan cities. Life advancement opportunities and individual accountability for better living standards are almost non-existence in many Native American communities. The environment that is around young adolescents are very

Native American resistance against European assimilation dates back to the colonial period. Governmental pressures for adaptation and eradication of customs, communities, and identities through various federal policies gave Native Americans a valid reason to fight and preserve their culture. During the 1880’s, the United States government managed to confine Native Americans on poverty-stricken reservations with limited resources and supplies (Young, 1990). Although these conditions caused reservations nationwide to suffer, it produced a necessity for movements to end injustice and abuse. Tribal leaders attempted to reassert their independence and create new spiritual

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

Not until now did I realized that Native American Reservations have been suffering the side effects of poverty and unemployment. It is impossible to describe the many factors that have contributed to the challenges that American Indians face today, but many of the statistics and fact show how life is for many in reservations. The poverty in Native American Reservation can be described in no other form than third world. It is common to find people living under horrible living conditions and many vagabonds. Tribes have reported as high as 85% of Native Americans in reservations are unemployed.

     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

Prior to European colonization, North America was home to up to ten million indigenous people with distinct cultures and hundreds of languages. Within 500 years the population was halved through disease and genocide. Today, Native American’s make up 5.2 million or 2% of the US population. This population has suffered the trauma of genocide, dislocation, poverty and oppression mostly through policies and confrontations with the federal government. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 started the systematic relocation of tribes away from coveted land rich in resources and began the process of forced assimilation of Native American people. Today, reservations are populated by the poorest 1% of US citizens. Inadequate education, a political system of custodianship where the US government acts as a guardian to tribes, soaring unemployment, disproportionate substance abuse rates, and profound poverty have created a climate where native youth have turned to organized crime.

Debate has reopened on a subject surrounded by controversy and a shameful history. Dating back to the 1800’s, American Indian Reservations and treaty agreements are little-understood by today’s mainstream society. A recent article on Native American Policy addresses some important questions about whether Native Americans should be integrated into mainstream life in the United States, and if sovereignty and segregation are the best policy for American Indian welfare (“Native American Policy”).

The reservations were created for in order to “restore their sovereignty, preserve their culture, and grant them a better chance at equal opportunity” (Hg.org). These intents are valid, but, they have been defeated by a lot of social and economic challenges. Some of these problems include high rates of unemployment, infant mortality, school drop-outs, suicide, alcoholism, drug abuse, and poverty. Native Americans poverty, school drop-out, and unemployment rates are a lot higher than the national average (Krogstad). Subsequently, a lot of household heads leave the reservations in search for better economic opportunities (“Living Conditions”). The loss of tribe members also means the loss of family, social, community, and even emotional support. It is ironic and unfortunate that in trying to make up for the years of mistreatment of Indian Americans, the natives have been exposed to more ills, substandard living conditions, and unequal opportunities. The segregation of Indian Americans has only led to their discrimination and neglect by the American government and in order to reverse this trend, Indian Americans on reservations should be integrated into American society; this assimilation would enable Indian Americans to have the advantage of better and proper societal and economic

Integrity: The first and most important trait of a leader. Integrity gives a leader validity to always do the right thing. I have a deeper meaning stemming from my family that makes it crucial that I keep integrity first if I desire others to emulate my actions.

According to Webster’s Dictionary, leadership is the power or ability to lead other people, the act or instance of leading. I believe that Leadership is an art, the art to get others to follow and accomplish a common goal or task in a harmonic manner. A leader can be shown in all kinds of shapes and forms. To be a great leader many people believe it consists of modeling the way, inspiring a shared vision, enabling others to act, and encouraging the heart. Over the course of me learning how to become a better leader and being in leadership roles, I’ve learned that all these are very necessary to be a great leader.

What is an organization without a vision? The vision objective puts the organizations values and goals into simplified terms every member of the team can understand and share. The same holds true for our own personal goals and aspirations. We should develop our own personal vision statements to ensure we are staying current in the growing changes of nursing and healthcare technology/techniques, to educate and lead in the most efficient means possible. My vision revolves around the mission statement, “To provide the highest level of care,

From research we see that there are many qualities that people value in leaders. Some of these qualities include: having high standards, supportive, inquisitive, involved, honest and having integrity. When I think about leadership I think of a person who is self-aware and always striving for improvement. To be a good leader you need to know how your personal biases may impact decision making in various situations. Bias or values can effect how you interact with those you come in contact with on a daily basis. A good leader can set the tone for students, staff, and parents by being consistent and clear in thoughts and in actions. The leader is the foundation of the building.

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.