The Denigration Of Native Americans

A fan once said “There goes the Redskins season” and most times they are right. Although some people find this offensive. Not for the season part but for the name of the teams. For at least two years now fans and simple people have debated whether or not the teams name redskins was offensive to the Native Americans. Some say that it was offensive to the native people, Others disagreed. Having a team named after you is always respectful but in this case it is very offensive to the native American people.

“Indians are like the weather.” With his opening words Vine Deloria Jr. sets up the basis for the rest of his witty yet substantial manifesto, Custer Died for Your Sins. The book, which describes the struggles and misrepresentation of the American Indian people in 1960s American culture, is written in a style that changes from ironic and humorous satire to serious notions, then back again. Through energetic dialogue that engages the reader in a clever and articulate presentation, Deloria advocates the dismissal of old stereotypes and shows a viewpoint that allows the general public to gain a deeper understanding of what it is to be an American Indian.

Army and the forceful action used to confine the natives, the construction on Indian land, and the massive slaughter of the buffalo which the Indians relied on in every aspect of life. The mistreatment of the Native Americans has been going on for hundreds of years, way before the Gold Rush began. The American government has taken land that they are unable to return to this day. They have deprived the plains Indians of their culture and freedom. Immigration from other countries was at its peak, but America still wasn’t able to call people, that had resided in the United States for many years, citizens. Even the Native American’s, that had lived on the continent before it was even discovered, were denied citizenship unless they were Anglo-Saxon Protestant. To this day, many look at the Indians as a joke; The Seminoles as “The Tribe that Purchased A Billion Dollar Business.” Children are being taught about friendship between the American Settlers and the Natives, they are being lied to. The upcoming generations won’t understand the horrors of unnecessary warfare against innocent people, and they will only know to take what they want, even if it isn’t rightfully theirs. America as a nation has to be stopped from draping curtains over the defeat of the plains Indians: their wiping out of an entire people, just as they did to the

Since the very first contact, the Native Americans have been treated as subordinates, being mistreated, shamed, embarrassed, and oppressed by white settlers. After the Revolutionary War in the late 1700’s, matters only got worse for the Native Americans. Population was skyrocketing due to a great deal of immigration of white settlers in the early to mid 1800’s, and there wasn’t enough space for everyone. With this came expansion, and to reach the goals they had set out for it, the Native Americans had to go. A prime example of this is shown in Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States,” where in chapter seven he talks about the forced removal of Native Americans from their lands, carelessness and failure by the American government to protect, and multiple slaughters carried out by the American military on the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Creek, Choctaw, Sac and Fox, and the Seminole tribes. Closely related is “Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee,” written by Dee Brown, his writings from chapter thirteen focus on the Nez Perces tribe that resided in Oregon, and their attempt at a journey in Canada, and other western Indian tribes’ affairs. To go along with Zinn and Brown, is Alan Brinkley’s “American History,” which posed an unbiased view of what modern day textbooks are informing students across the nation about what happened to the Native Americans. An article titled “The North American Indian Holocaust,” written by

“Custer’s luck! The biggest Indian village on the continent!” Supposedly, these were the last words recorded to have been uttered by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer before the infamous battle that would claim his life and the lives of hundreds of soldiers (Dippie 2). Nearly a century and a half later, this conflict is immersed in just as much controversy as it was the day it occurred. The Battle of Little Bighorn and Custer’s Last Stand is perhaps more famous due to the difficulty of differentiating the myths versus the facts, rather than its actual historical significance in the 19th century. The different interpretations via historians, archaeologists, and Native Americans have contributed to the positive and negative versions of the battle that exist today. However, by understanding the basics, conflict, and research that surrounds the Battle of Little Bighorn and Custer’s Last Stand, one can form their own opinion and better interpret the ways in which it is portrayed in media and throughout time by interested persons and descendent communities.

“To own the Earth, There is no word for this in the Sioux Language.” The Battle of Wounded Knee was the last battle of the American Indian Wars it was also one of the most gruesome battles that either side had seen. An estimated three hundred Indians lay dead while the US army had lost twenty five and thirty nine were wounded some of who would die later. This was one of the worst acts that the Americans have ever done to the Native Americans. One Native American stated later “it was as if the soldiers were crazed by the sight of blood and had appeared wild eyed as they shot again and again into some of the bodies.” Many Native Americans still hold grudges to this day over what happened to their ancestors on that sacred piece of land this

Just like this century actually runs longer thematically than just 1800 to 1900, the story of the Indians extends backward before the first shots of the Civil War were fired and stretches forward past Reconstruction. Throughout this elongated era, different tribes had different experiences. Some, like the nations of the Iroquois, started their travails with warfare of white Americans as far back as choosing between the French and British during the French and Indian War. Others, like the Seminole, had fought many independent wars against America (or Spain or Britain) in their homelands long before they faced the Civil War. Still others, like the Cherokee, had attempted to assimilate into white culture, were forced off their lands, thought they were “safe” on guaranteed reservation lands, and then were forced again to participate when the Civil War bled westward into Indian Territory. The concepts of racism and “whiteness” that flowed like a river through themes of religion, progress, immigration, territory, slavery, and Reconstruction during the “long nineteenth century” also affected Native Americans; the “war of a thousand deserts” fought by the native tribes of the Southwest was both a unique experience and a shared experience as almost every tribe fought their own wars against whites and sometimes against other tribes

PBS, n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2015. This article starts off by stating the problem for the early American settlers, which are the Native Americans, and then states how Andrew Jackson, the American President at the time, handled the Native Americans. The next couple of paragraphs talk about Jackson’s agreement treaties with the Native Americans and their movement westward. To try to avoid these movement plans, the Natives thought of non-violent rebellion strategies such as farming and creating a constitution. The next couple paragraphs explains President Jackson’s Indian Removal Act and explains the reactions of the American colonists. Many Indian tribes try to refuse to sign any treaties as long as possible, but eventually forced to by the American military; The Trail Of Tears among this forceful

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 Battle of the Little Big Horn is one of the most memorable battles between Native Americans and the Cavalry. In this battle the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes fought against the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes became the major victors of the battle with only 40 dead vs the great loss of the 7th Cavalry Regiment being 268 dead. This battle famously serves as a symbol of the clash between the “civilized” men of the United States and the “barbarian” Indian men of the West. The United States government became even more determined to rid Native Americans of their freedom because they were perceived as dangerous. Thus they became even more strict in their Indian

Assumptions. Representations. These two things play an important role on the way we view and think about things. Not understanding where the facts originated from or whose point of view is being represented it can cause a loss of communication where things can be misrepresented. Sadly, this has often occurred to many Native American stories because it’s mostly written through a non native point of view and stories begin to be not accurate.

As one begins to compare genocides and holocausts, it is hard to remain unbiased. Of Course there are dissimilarities, mostly semantic, between these two horrendous acts. Regardless, the fact is that both these words are used to explain the immense killings done with the objective of annihilating an entire race of people .Holocausts and Genocides are disgusting both in its drive and the scale of their destruction. Both should of never have happened.

Most of the textbooks fail to show what the Natives had to deal with the aggressive actions that the Europeans took against them, as usually most of the time the textbook shows only the attacks on the Europeans from the Natives

According to “nationalhumanitiescenter.org” The American Indians were known to be strong, alert and responded quickly, and also supple people, with bodies of a sudden violent backward movement or reaction. Before the Europeans came in contact, they wore only a piece of cloth to cover their private areas, but when the existence of Europeans came along, they began to wear shirts. Most of these natives had coal-black hair and shaved head, and a greasy substance were used to mark them. The newborns were also smeared, and left to move about freely in the sun. This was necessary to achieve a similar color of a nut even though they were already white. Their sense of sight and scent were above normal, which came useful in hunting.

I do not think the U.S. government pursued the correct policy in regard to the Native Americans, and they realized it too. At one point the congressmen, and even the president, realized how badly they treated the Natives and quickly tried to correct themselves, although that didn't work out well either. In an attempt to help they tried to "Americanize" them, which was essentially assimilation, which is a whole other racist issue. They passed the Dawes Act and abolished Native tribes, which they had absolutely no right to do, and taught their children that they were barbarians. What they did to the Natives was 100% genocide, they were very content with killing all of them if it meant that they could take their land. It was so sick that