The Problem Of Identity Politics And A Lack Of Leadership On The Left Is Nothing New

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

The 1960’s and 70’s were a turbulent time in the United States, as many minority groups took to the streets to voice their displeasure with policies that affected them. During this time period a large movement for civil rights, including Native American’s, would seek to find their voices, as largely urbanized groups sought ways in which they could reconnect with their tribe and their cultural history. In their book, Like A Hurricane: The Indian Movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee, Paul Chaat Smith, and Robert Allen Warrior take an extensive look at the events leading up to the three of the largest civil rights movements carried out by Native Americans. Beginning with the takeover of Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay by Indians of All Tribes in 1969; the authors tell in a vivid fashion of the Bay Area activism and Clyde Warrior 's National Indian Youth Council, Vine Deloria Jr.’s leadership of the National Congress of Indians, the Trail of Broken Treaties and the Bureau of Indian Affairs takeover, the Wounded Knee Occupation and the rise of the American Indian Movement.

Not just for Native Americans but for blacks, Muslims, Jews, and others, but even now we are dealing with Native American invasion and taking their land again, this time known as the Dakota Pipeline which is currently going on in North Dakota. The Dakota Pipeline is a large oil transmitting pipe that supplies oil across the United States but will be built on protected Native American land. The contractors have taken a look and have said that the pipeline would be a significant amount away from their land, but would be built under their water supply from Lake Oahe and would be at the closest 95 feet under the lake. But the Standing Rock Sioux haven't given up hope they have burought up that there have been over 3,300 incidents in which pipes have had leaks that have affected the environment drinking water and much more. The contractors have said that they have taken extreme precautions and have safety tested everything the Sioux aren't going to take any chances. Even as the Sioux and over 50 other tribes have protested there have been no clear winner of the battle on the Dakota Pipeline. The tribes have been protesting for months and though few have gotten violent many Natives and others with them have been arrested and thrown in jail, which is just another way people can attack the Native People to this

The pacifism displayed in the opening half of the period contrasts heavily with forceful campaign and protest movement in the latter. Pressure groups such as ‘The National Congress of American Indians’ and the ‘Native American Rights Fund’ despite slow progress, secured some landmark decisions, partially during the 1960’s and 1970’s. For instance, the successful land claim secured in the 1972 case Passamaquoddy vs. Morton, in which opened the floodgates for similar land claims, resulting in either monetary compensation or less commonly the return of their native lands. The method of campaigning through the courts was considerably successful, yet this alone given its sluggish progress can hardly be solely responsible for the eventual gains made. However this was not the only method adopted by the Native Americans, with a more militant form of protest employed from the 1960’s onwards. The ‘Native Indian Youth Council’ continued these legalistic approaches with more vigor to protect the Native Americans Youths. Whilst AIM took this further, responsible for large-scale

It’s evident that identity politics is nothing more than labeling as described in the case of Susie Guillory Phipps. She sued the Bureau of vital record for declaring her negro according to the state of Louisiana anyone with one-third-second would be labeled black. The government began to label the different ethnic groups and according to them it was all in the name of science. According to them the reason for the record keeping was for the prevention of genetic diseases. Before the nineteenth century there was no labeling for sexual preference. Since the beginning we follow the example of Adam and Eve assuming that is the normal and anything else unnatural and abnormal. The “normal” became so powerful that no one would question one could say

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,

Is it Red Face vs. White Face, or Red faces and White faces? Chief Seattle, in this oration to Governor Stevens, discusses the comparatives and differences between these two conglomerations of people using rhetoric devices such as similes, concession, repetition, and tone. Through the use of these devices, Chief Seattle sets in his purposes of both warning the White Faces that although they hold the current power, and although the Native Americans want to live as one, that they have some power as well, and show his fellow brothers and sisters that although they may be weak now, not only in numbers but in strength, that they have power and might and the ability to eventually seek revenge on those who do them injustice.

Many instances of life has terrible misunderstandings involving different ways of how we further see how everything should and should not be, and U.S. History is no exception to this phenomenon. The Indian reform movement of the late 1800s provides many examples of cultural misunderstandings and how unsuccessful the outcomes can be. As were seen in the actions and misguided beliefs of the white activists of that time, good intentions are often not good enough to create positive and effective change. The supremacist attitude that the reformers had towards the American Indian culture would only add to their experiences of injustice throughout the “development” of the New

The concept of white privilege helps to highlight the hypocritical nature of the American ideologies of democracy and meritocracy. Ask yourself: Do we live truly in a democratic system if the voices of our nation’s disenfranchised people are not heard? Or are we truly a nation that functions on a meritocratic system if every person-- regardless of socioeconomic background or race-- is not given the same opportunities for development? The concepts of white privilege and male privilege, as used by McIntosh, are meant to unveil the hidden schemes of American ideology.

The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe currently fights to save its only water source from natural gas and oil contamination. This troubling current event has a somewhat forgotten historical analogue where very similar themes presented themselves. The Kinzua Dam Controversy, which took place in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, resulted in the displacement of over 600 Seneca Indian families and the acquisition of a large tract of traditional Seneca Land for dam building. Additionally, the acquisition of Seneca land represented a breach of “The Treaty with the Six Nations of 1794,” which explicated prevented such action by the US Government. The dam and its construction, which primarily benefitted Pittsburg, inspired a heated discourse concerning the ethics of native relocation.

As American settlers had continued to populate the expansive land the United States of America which had lay before them, the Native Americans, who had resided there for hundreds of years prior to the Revolutionary War, had become increasingly troubled with every passing moment. Soon, they realized, they would be overtaken entirely by the settlers of the newfound nation. As such, in 1830, the Congress of the United States had passed the Indian Removal Act, which had forced all Native American tribes into specially-designated reservations, where their underlying spiritual bonds had effectively been permanently separated. Indeed, the Indian Removal Act had been extremely powerful, but not in ways that had been beneficial to either party. Hence, its passing and subsequent institution, manifested as the infamous Trail of Tears, had been an error on the part of the United States Congress, in all basic aspects of morality, politics, the Constitution, and practicality of survival and thriving. Specifically, moral aspects included concerns relating to driving Native Americans from their long-time homeland without their consent, alongside the breaking of their spiritual statuses. Political perspectives against the Indian Removal Act had revolved around the notions of value, progress, and improvement, paired with the ramifications and intentions of treaties passed by Congress. Constitutional viewpoints had protested against the Act in that they had insisted the lack of reasoned

One of the most celebrated protests happened February 1973 at Wounded Knee, South Dakota. This was the site of the 1890 massacre of the Sioux Indians murdered in cold blood by American federal troops. AIM occupied and seized the town of Wounded Knee for about two months, demanding changes in their administration and asking the government to honor their treaty obligations that were said to be forgotten. Only one Indian was killed during this protest and another one wounded. The Indian civil rights movement, like most other civil rights movements of their times did not win full justice and equality for their people. The principal goal to some Native Americans was to defend, and protect their rights as Native Americans. As to other Native Americans it was equality. Native Americans wanted to win a place in society as an equal to all groups that made up Americans. However, there is no single Indian culture or tradition in America, so the movement to unite all Native American tribes failed. The Indian civil rights movement, for all the limitations it had endured, did accomplish winning a series of brand new legal rights and protections, which gave them a much stronger position in the twentieth century. (Brinkley, 2012 page

In the early twentieth century oil and gas lead the US government to form a Navajo business council. Herbert J. Hagerman was hired by the US government to lead Navajo tribal councils and run the meetings. (Lee, 2010) In the 1940’s the Navajo nation changed tremendously. They no longer raised sheep or livestock, instead thousands of Navajo people went off to find wage labor to supplement their income instead. The tribal council industrialized itself. (Lee, 2007) In the 1970’s the Navajo nation was reorganized and the reservation had someone in control of the nation. Peter MacDonald was elected chairman of the council and made new powers direct the Navajo government. In 1998 the tribal council passed a Navajo Nation Local Governance Act that allowed local matters to be made by local level people, allowing more local authority. The current government structure is now an agency to the Navajo society, yet it is non-Navajo nature, and the people of Navajo have never sanctioned it. Today the Navajo Nation doesn’t have the self sufficient powers it once did. Congress and US Supreme courts have limited the powers of the tribal government. . Today, Supreme Court decisions still keep the Native Americans from having their ability to self determine, and give the Native Americans limited sovereignty. (Lee, 2007)

The film Precious Knowledge takes a deeper look into the defense and fall of the Ethnic Studies program within the Tucson Unified School District. During the standoff, as Arizona lawmakers bombarded the students and educators with threats and false claims. A major question surrounding the film is whether or not this program’s failure was preventable. Jeff Biggers approaches the situation from a politically centralized point of view, having written for The New York Times, The Nation, and The Washington Post, as well as, working with MSNBC's “All In” with Chris Hayes. Biggers writes the review “Arizona’s Precious Knowledge: Blockbuster New Film Chronicles Ethnic Studies Battle” where he looks at the bureaucracy behind the film rather than

On Monday, 30. February, Mark Charles gave a presentation on equality and racism and how white land owning man use their power to rule all over the world. Students and faculty who were at presentation showed dissatisfaction to Mark’s anger, passion and direction of his speech. Mark Charles is a speaker, writer, and consultant who was born in the Navajo Reservation. He is the son of an American woman of Dutch heritage and a Navajo man. His life is dedicated to understanding American culture, faith and differences among races. Charles seeks to understand American history in order to help solve problems that are devastate America. He is a member of many organizations which help Native American communities in their development. Charles also