Racial Discrimination against Indians in America - Research Paper Example

? Racial Discrimination against American Indians Affiliated With obvious reasons, racism mostly reflects on African American in the United States. This is not true, especially for the American Indians, who experience a great deal of racial discrimination. American Indians are bitten by racism on every aspect without mercy of justice. American has been a home of the Indians who settle there even before Christopher Columbus. Racist usually take an excuse of the settlers especially their culture, beliefs, and their religion. From the historical point of view, it is said that Columbus was behind the name America, a claim that is absolutely untrue, the Indians had already given it a name. America is their vast come. American Indians are subjected to racial discrimination on the land they called home from the onset. The Department of Justice documented statistics showing that, the American Indians are often the victims of violence by up to 70 percent compared to African Americans and other races. This review is sought to investigate racial discrimination against American Indians on the vast land of the United States. It will also explore on the on their current living conditions and lifestyle. It is important to note that, racial discrimination builds a wide scope in economic progress. Keywords: Racism, American Indians, discrimination. Racial Discrimination against American Indians Racial discrimination against American Indian is a long-lingered racism trend in the United States. The source is dated back since the arrival of the pilgrims. Historical injustice against American Indians accounts for the present prevailing disparities that are sunk in controversy that pose a myriad challenges on the set policies. The breakdown of the Civil Rights Movement led to a reduction in racism. However, that did not end it at all as in the current time, American Indians are the most harshly treated compared to other races. This review is sought to explore the entire mystery of racism for American Indians, and how they are victimized under various circumstances. This review is aimed at creating awareness of the difficulties faced by Native Americans. The Source of racism to Indians According to (Francis, 1996), the arrival of pilgrims during the subsequent invasion of the continent led to a series of fights in a bid to grab much of the territory of the North America. These wars and massacres led to displacements, including the popular Trail of Tears. (p. 44) alongside, there was a massive restriction from access to food, establishment of treaties, along other inhuman activities (Champagne, 1994). As much of the territory was incorporated into the United States, according to Allen (2001), many Native Americans who survived were incorporated to reservations, and had their treaties massively violated without the hands of justice. Most of the Native Americans were forced to adopt American culture and values. This gap has led to racism up to date. Culture and Religious Rights Indian Americans are prone to cultural issues. These include rights to establish traditional religious beliefs, social ceremonies and language without fear. According to the famous sociologist Richard Schaefer (2011), the most disheartening issues of racism are the respect and honor of the cultural values and religion of Indians in the United States. There is a lot of fear to pass and maintain traditional culture and values by the Indians. For ages, Indians have fought and protested to protect their religious freedom from Acts of government that deny them some freedom, rendering some practices illegal and subject to prosecution. Alongside this, Indians are restricted from access to religious sites and possessing sacred objects. According the government law, they are prohibited from worshipping using ceremonies and traditional ways (Peyer, 2007). The Indian religion may be explained by the law that inhibits Free of Exercise. This is a form of American Indian jurisprudence. In all the Indian cases concerning religious issues addressed by the Supreme Court, the Court ruled out that, “the Indians claim to be too broad to merit Free Exercise Clause of protection,” ultimately, the court denied them (Schaefer, 2011) A perfect example of this was the case of Lyng verses Northwest Indian Cemetery Association. In the Court’s ruling, the Free Exercise Clause was rejected, owing to government plans of constructing a road through an Indian Sacred site. In another case of Lyng verses Northwest Indian Cemetery Protection Association, the Court granted ownership and permission to construct a Forest Service road through an Indian sacred site. As a way to deny Indians Americans of their freedoms, the court ruled in favor of Lyng owing that, the intrusion by Lyng to construct a road through the Indian sacred site did not violate the Indians’ First Amendment Rights. Education Systems and Learning Institutions Racial discrimination in schools is common. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, major towns have an astonishing number of Native students being arrested. From the current United States Curriculum, schools teach in favor of America’s ancient cultures and directly ignoring stereotypes that are in Indian logs, mascots and Indian name. This is a straight form of racism in educational systems. For a long time Wisconsin Indian educators have called for accurate information about historic background about their own culture to school, discouraging the mode of learning that intimidates other students (Pewewardy, 1993). The Native curriculum which is based in the middle of Sisseton has been noted for a high level of quality education. Native and non-native students could converse as the school taught in the Dakota language. There is a clear gap between the school and tribe. The administrators of schools hardly attend tribal education and the Native community does not support the current setting. While it is critical to have Native role models in Indian schools, very few Native employees are there, including teachers and other non-teaching staffs. Practically, when in the Indian America teachings, two approaches are subject in lesions. One of them is based on burying culture. This approach is aimed at referring the Indian American culture as dead. The second approach is reflected in such a way that it makes students look like tourists, where they visit cultures. In both approaches, there is no tool provided for the non-Native students to actively participate in interactions with the American Indians. These teachings focus on simplicity and lead to stereotypes, which are a key to modern-way racism (Sparks, 1994, p. 94). Indian Mascots and Logos in Schools These are obvious symbols of discrimination and industrialized racism. There is an increasing awareness that these symbols are teaching children to exercise racism. This has resulted in the removal of them in a number of schools and universities across the United States. For instance, Los Angeles Schools District banned mascots and logos. This move was advocated by the National Progress of American Indians and the National Indian Education Association, so as to discourage institutionalized racism. Social Economic Problems Indian Americans are subjected to harsh social economic conditions, attributed from bias and long term discrimination. For instance, proportionally high poverty rates, infant mortality, unemployment, and school graduation rates. The police service discriminates the Native Americans by agreeing to the policy of allowing only tribunal authorities to respond to emergency calls, and not the police. This move exempts the American Indians from their line of service (Brenda, 2000). Employment for American Indians Employment is one of the economic problems. The tribal government is the largest employer on reserves. Many Indians earn only social security, veteran’s income or disability compensation. There is a significant scarcity of jobs and harsh economic conditions that have rendered more than half the Native American population jobless and suffers. Besides, the salaries of those employed are disheartening, as most of them earn below the poverty lines (BIA American Indian Population & Labor Force Report, 2005). Voting Rights Discrimination Lack of voting alters social economic progress in the society. There has been a series of cases involving voting rights discrimination, along South Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Nebraska, and Thurston. The files by the American Civil Liberties Union in the year 2002 posed the biggest challenge to the voting laws of South Dakota. The file was subject to four Lakota voters who raise the issue of the amended section (Section 5) in 1975. According to the section, South Dakota could not get approval of around six hundred statutes that directly alter voting. The Union identified twelve unobjectionable cases that discriminated the American Indians. The main aim of the Union was to enhance equal racial participation in politics (Pevar, 2002). Imperialism The United States imposes imperialism on the Native Americans. Ancient scholar Edward once described it as follows: Imperialism results in settlement of past territories. When imperialism puts into practice, the attitude of taking over metropolitan center, the entire populace of the Native Americans has been subjected to these combinations of all processes for generations (Thornton, 1990, p 62). Housing Housing is a big crisis for American Indians. According to United States Census (2010), about three quarters of the country’s population of American Indians lives in tribal lands. The living standards of the Indian population on the land lack proper housing facilities. They are faced with inadequate housing. Reports documented that, The vast population of American Indians lives in substandard households. The most shocking of all is that, over ninety million of the overall Indian population is homeless while approximately 30 percent of the households are overcrowded leading to poor living conditions, health and sanitation (Indian Country Today, 2004). As most Americans enjoy housing utilities like fresh water, electricity supply in homes, easy access to telephones, and other important amenities, many Native Americans have no access to them, for them this is viewed as a luxury. This has increased the risk of their health, especially where they cannot easily access health care facilities and resources (Commission on Civil Rights, 2003). Health According to the Indian Health Disparities Fact Sheet (2010), American Indians mainly rely on the Indian Health Service for their medical coverage. The Health Care Improvement Act only covers 60% of the American Indians health requirements (United States Commission on Civil Rights, 2003). The health facilities of the Indian Health Service facilities are in a sorry state, rendering it unreliable in providing health care for many Indians. The need to modify their lifestyles to a Western way of life, has led to a health crisis in the breakdown of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart problems, high blood pressure, depression and many other fatal diseases. (Gone & Alcantara, 2007). Consequently, it is evident that the discrimination for the American Indians is distant from over, despite many raised concerns in a series of years. American Indians are directly discrimination in law enforcement, education systems, learning institutions, and the administration of Justice. All these facts are realities about the living conditions and lifestyles of the American Indians. It is important for the non-Native Americans and the administrators to take note. References Brenda, C. (2000). Boarding School Seasons: American Indian Families. Bison Books Corporation. Champagne, D. (1994). Native America: Portrait of the People. Detroit: Visible Ink Press. Gone, J., & Alcantara, C. (2007). Identify Effective Mental Health Interventions for American Indians and Alaska Natives. Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, 13, 356- 363. Francis, L. (1996). Native Time: A Historical Time Line of Native America. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin. Montour, J. (1996) Cloudwalker: Contemporary Native American Stories. Fulcrum (RF-YA). Peyer, B. (2007). American Indian Nonfiction: Anthropology of Writings. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. Pewewardy, C. (1993). The Red Road: Culture and Education of Native Americans. Milwaukee: Honor Inc. Pevar, S. (2012). The Indian Rights and Tribes. London: Oxford UP. Thornton, R. (1990). American Indian Holocaust and Survival: A population History Since 1492. Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press. Read More