Indigenous people in the United States went through a systemic marginalization since colonizers came to their lands. Where they endured displacement, violence and discrimination. Which goes far back since when the United States first began a treaty between the government and the Natives. The Treaty with the Delawares of 1778 was one of the first treaties signed. “The Dawes Act of 1887 was a United States post-Indian Wars law intended to assimilate Indians into white U.S. society by encouraging them to abandon their tribally-owned reservation lands, along with their cultural and social traditions.” Longely Look at the political implications of this treaty; of the introduction of this act shows another reason as to why it was constructed specifically to undermine tribal unity. This treaty was designed to marginalized, to force assimilation, and another way to steal land from the Natives. This treaty was presented with that if tribes gave up their lands they would be granted U.S. citizenship. By granting them U.S. citizenship the hope was to keep them quite by granted them tribal government. In the end this treaty did nothing but destroyed their culture with the; loss of indigenous tradition and land across the U.S. It destroyed tribal communities and tried to pit our Natives against each other. Picotte As well as forcing children into bordering schools where they were abused and mistreated. On June 18, 1934 President Roosevelt signed the Indian Reorganization Act (also called the Wheeler-Howard Act ). Which reverses the U. S. policy favoring Native assimilation the Dawes act. This became the basis for United States policies that recognizes the rights of self-determination for Native Americans. “The law curtails the land allotment system, permits tribes to establish formal governments with limited powers, and allows the formation of corporations to manage tribal resources.” Wilma
The new deal was nicknamed the Indian new deal. This was passed to rectify what the United States did to Native Americans. This was used to build upon the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 which granted citizenship to the remaining indigenous people. Again as I stated earlier this treaty was designed to fix the issues and right the wrongs from the treaty of 1887. The Merium Survey that was conducted captured the extreme poverty on Indian reservations demonstrated the failure of this policy and assimilation. Wilma Senator Burton K. Wheeler of Montana the creator of the policy upheld the long-standing U. S.government policy of assimilating American Indians into the dominant populace. As a Progressive, he believed the “Indian Reorganization” bill he introduced in Congress in 1934 to permit limited self-government for reservation communities would assist Native Americans in becoming prosperous, self-sufficient members of the United States political economy. Wheeler was a populist with progressive leanings; who built a reputation as a defender of individual rights over the corruption of vested interests. He was addressing the relationship between American Indians and the federal government, Wheeler advocated a policy of limited welfare combined with education and health provisions to help full-blooded Indigenous people assimilate among their non-Indian neighbors with minimal government involvement.
Till this day Native Americans are other, marginalized, discriminated against, murdered and raped even though they are the natural citizens of the United States. For example in the 2018 elections the supreme court made it difficult for Natives to cast a vote. The law is requiring that voters must present a qualifying ID in order to cast a ballot. A State issued ID card isn’t valid unless it contains the voter’s current residential street address. This requirement is not fair and burdens Native Americans, plaintiffs in the case pointed out, many do not have residential addresses; they have their mail delivered to a post office box rather than to a physical address. This is voter suppression at its finest many Natives live on reservations which make it impossible to have a physical address. Although Indigenous people have been marginalized one thing that needs to be discussed more is violence against Native women. Which is often over looked and dismissed. “Native girls and women are more likely than average to be the victim of a violent crime.” Edwards. For many generations Native women have been victimized at some point in their lives. The criminal justice system still fails to protect these women, and with that comes the crisis of disappearing Native women. Native women go missing at higher rates than other groups of people. They are also at a higher risk for domestic violence and sexual assault. In the past decade, activists came to the government which responded to the problem of violence against Native American women with legislation seeking to close legal loopholes, improve data collection and increase funding for training of tribal police. Hudetz In a 2017 a report was generated by the Inspector General which highlighted the U.S. attorneys’ uneven track record with prosecuting serious violent crimes on reservations. That data must be collected under the 2010 law to help improve those prosecution rates. Native Americans have always been murdered and the violence Native Women faced in the past is factor in today’s violence against Native Women. What is congress doing about this issue? Right now there are seven States that have a task force to address the needs to make lives safer for Native Americans. These experiences that Native women have has prompted activists to advocate for more reforms that protect Native women.
In the reading The Round House Louise Erdrich touched upon the subject and interweaves of the narrative of Native American tribal law, treaty history and land dislocation with that of sexual violence. By interweaving and highlighting a Native’s family story. ” For years our people have struggled to resist an unstoppable array of greedy and unstable beings, Our army has been reduced to a few desperate warriors and we are all but weaponless and starving. We taste the nearness of defeat.” (pg 111) Through out the reading they discuss the issues the tribe faces as well as Joe’s mother who experienced a violent attack. Within this story you get a glance at what their lives look like.
Cited Sources:
Baur , R., & Thurman, P. J. (2004). Violence Against Native Women. Social Justice , 31, 70–86.Edwards, M. (2019, July 23). 7 States Step Up Efforts To Fight Violence Against Indigenous Women. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://www.npr.org/2019/07/23/743659569/7-states-step-up-efforts-to-fight-violence-against-indigenous-women.Erdrich, L. (2017). The round house. New York: HarperCollins Publisher.HistoryLink.org. (n.d.). Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://www.historylink.org/File/2599.Hudetz, M. (2018, September 5). Despite past reforms, Native women face high rates of crime. Retrieved from https://www.apnews.com/316529000f3c44988969ab22acfb34d7.Hudetz, M. (2018, September 5). Despite past reforms, Native women face high rates of crime. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://www.apnews.com/316529000f3c44988969ab22acfb34d7.Longley, R. (2019, June 25). Dawes Act of 1887: The Breakup of Indian Tribal Lands. Retrieved October 24, 2019, from https://www.thoughtco.com/dawes-act-4690679.Stoddart , W. M. (1996). Who’s Deal . Burton K. Wheller and The Indian Reorganization Act .
