Summary Of United Shade's Of America Kamall Bell

The Indian race was not supposed to own land in America but in regard they were concentrated in slums adjacent to the cities. Here they were exposed to poor housing, lack of clean water and poor man related work that ranged from fishing and hunting thus they were regarded as second class American citizens. In response to these social status inequalities, the Indians staged demonstrations against the vices and afterwards grated accessibility to land and its resources. The land given to them was of low quality the low quality that they were classified as marginal land s that could not support farming. This shows that the American government was in support of the discrimination against these Indians. In support of the racial discrimination strategy, the state even ensured that no white citizen became poor or bankruptcy by buying their land parcels. These lands were then subdivided to the Indians who were later to be killed by the Americans in their efforts to get the land for their mining activities. The sequence of events showed how discrimination was the main agenda of the

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

(Horwitz,2). Now 547 tribes have to wait around to be able to protect those around them. “Can you imagine responding to call where there is clear evidence of a crime committed by an individual and you cannot arrest them? I think the community felt cheated,” Michael Valenzuela, the police chief of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe (Culp-Ressler,1). The quote shows how hopeless those who would normally have power to help can not, and though Native Americans are suppose to have sovereignty it seems to not be a true sovereign nation. If it is a claimed sovereign nation, then congress has to let them deal with all issues on tribal land no matter what the race and right now that is not happening. Once it does, maybe they can be better off and not have to worry as much.

Instead of the government respecting the right of the Indians to maintain their religious places, it invokes its power as the custodian of the public land by claiming that it has the mandate of utilizing any piece of public land for the benefit of the entire

As time went on and European and eventually American influence spread across the country, Tribes began to feel their sovereignty threatned as they could no longer deal with wrongdoers on their land the same way they did in the past. The Federal Government began intrude onto Indian Land. In 1817 the U.S passed the General Crimes Act1, whcih gave the Federal Government jurisdiction in Indian Country when a crime was commited if either the victim or derfendent was a non-Native. Then, in 1885, the U.S passed the Major Crimes Act2 which gave the Federal Government jurisdiction in Indian Country over major crimes, such as murder, when the defendent was a Native.

Since the founding of the United States, European settlers and Native Americans have had numerous disputes regarding Indian Territory. The European settlers and the Native Americas fought over land allotments, assimilation processes and basic human rights. However, Native Americans were not the only individuals to feel the effects of systemic racism. The Cherokee people who owned former slaves of African descent were called “freedmen.” Freedmen individuals felt the damages of systemic racism from the Native Americans and European settlers during the 1800s. Native Americans like the Europeans, also owned slaves during the Civil War. The Freedmen Controversy was and continues to be a volatile issue because the Cherokee Nation established certain practices, laws, and other tribal rights, which questions the membership status of the freedmen. The Cherokee Nation implemented multiple strategies to make this issue controversial for people of African descent and others as well.

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,

Power can be viewed as the ability to influence and/or control others. Another flaw about reservations is the fact that they are not totally governed by Native American representatives. The U.S. government actually has tight control over the majority, if not all, reservations (Perry, 2002, p 233). This tight control has left the Native American population powerless in terms of self- regulation. Despite the fact that Native American government do exist,

Native Americans in the United States have reported to come from many different tribes. American Indians are likely to experience violent crimes at more than twice the rate of all other U.S. residents. The rate of violent crimes committed against Native Americans is substantially higher than any other minority group in the United States. Yet, little or no attention is paid to them. According to information collected by the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), American Indians are likely to experience violent crimes at more than twice the rate of all other U.S. residents.

In 1978, the Supreme Court case Oliphant v. Suquamish stripped tribes of the right to arrest and prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes on Indian land. If both victim and perpetrator are non-Indian, a county or state officer must make the arrest. If the perpetrator is non-Indian and the victim an enrolled member, only a federally certified agent has that right. If the opposite is true, a tribal officer can make the arrest, but the case still goes to federal court.

To the Indian everything was cooperative that the mother earth gave for all to share equally. That freedom was to move and go where you wished without fences. He asked that to at least give the Indian the same rights as the white man, for as it stood at that point their dogs had more rights. (Foner, 2011) The Native American has a spiritual connection with the land they live on, as well as their tribe. It is like the roots Sequoia trees in the northern united states. They look at themselves as intertwined where they depend on each other. There are even special places in the United States that have sacred meaning to them. To them no price tag can be placed on them.

Through the years minority groups have long endured repression, poverty, and discrimination. A prime example of such a group is the Native Americans. They had their own land and fundamental way of life stripped from them almost unceasingly for decades. Although they were the real “natives” of the land, they were driven off by the government and coerced to assimilate to the white man’s way. Unfortunately, the persecution of the Natives was primarily based on the prevalent greed for money and power. This past impeded the Native American’s preservation of their culture as many were obviated of the right to speak the native language and dress in traditional clothing. Because of this cultural expulsion, among other

Europeans came to the United States and seized the opportunity to take advantage of the Native Americans and in order for them to do that they needed to take away Native nations’ political power. Europeans brought ideas of social control, social hierarchy, and criminal justice system to these Native nations to “delegitimize Native worlds and attack their constructs” (Ross, 14). Through these new ideas, Europeans establish superiority over them and attempt to assimilate Native Americans to European culture. When Native Americans were not assimilating, Europeans decided to make them criminals and incarcerate them. Incarcerating Native Americans, allowed for Europeans to gain political power over them and take their land and

The different sides of the clashing beliefs meet each other with violent opposition, but it is mostly the pro-government Indians who are the violent aggregators in this film. The civil war between the two extremes seems to be more than just the pro-government Indians harassing many of the traditionalists they come along. Nadell has also come up with a different theory as why this violence continues. Nadell believes that there are “two factors [which] appear to lie at the heart of this cycle of violence: Instrumental demand and racial self alienation” (Nadell 41). The instrumental demand and self alienation can be observed in the pro-government Indians. The pro-government Indians feel the need to rely on violence in order to gain the strategic benefit of intimidation of the traditionalists and material benefits such as “kickbacks from land leases” (Thunderheart). There is also racial self-alienation between the pro-government and the traditionalist. They are both supposed to be the same tribe and same people, yet they racially discriminate against each other because they have determined that the other half is doing a great injustice. The racial self-hate only provides more fuel to the fire as the pro-government Indians continue to harass and instigate the civil war between them.

"Alexie asks three questions across all of his works: ‘What does it mean to live as an Indian in this time? What does it mean to be an Indian man? Finally, what does it mean to live on an Indian reservation?’” (Basso). Indeed, he does, but does that necessarily imply that he does a good job of it? Certainly, he moves us beyond the many ridiculous stereotypes of Native Americans, that they’re alcoholics and lazy, that they all live on reservations and receive special treatment from the government, that they’re all chanting medicine men waving rattles (or giant black dildos) in teepees while their child roams through the woods, high on the peace pipe, searching for a talking elephant while mom is trying to figure out ways to use every part of the buffalo. These ridiculous stereotypes and generalizations are ripped apart in Alexie’s work, to great praise. And yet his work is left wanting. He wipes away the generalizations passed down by generalization, bringing Native American characters into the modern world, but ignores what makes each tribe different. Sure, he guides us to the realization that they aren’t all liquored up, and that the rate of Native Americans who achieve a secondary education continue to rise, and only 22% of Native Americans live on reservations, but he doesn’t point out that there are 566 federally recognized tribes. He doesn’t even give any specific detail about his own tribe, the Spokane, which he most often uses as the background of his