Discrimination Against Native Americans

Forty-eight years ago to date, the American Indian Movement (AIM) was organized. On that same year, Congress enacted the Indian Civil Rights Act. The purpose of the Indian Civil Rights Act was to accomplish two majorly significant points. First, it would ensure Reservation Indians many of the safeguards granted to other citizens by the Bill of Rights. Secondly, it would acknowledge the legitimateness of tribal laws within the reservations. Unfortunately, the American Indian Movement (AIM) and other supporting groups were not content or satisfied with the outcome and as a result created a disagreement and conflict between the two.

For several hundred years people have sought answers to the Indian problems, who are the Indians, and what rights do they have? These questions may seem simple, but the answers themselves present a difficult number of further questions and answers. State and Federal governments have tried to provide some order with a number of laws and policies, sometimes resulting in state and federal conflicts. The Federal Government's attempt to deal with Indian tribes can be easily understood by following the history of Federal Indian Policy. Indians all over the United States fought policies which threatened to destroy their familial bonds and traditions. The Passamaquoddy Indian Tribe of Maine, resisted no less

It is clear that throughout many years there has been an exemption of treatment when talking about the Native Americans in the United States. Supposedly every individual is endowed with the right of freedom, equality, and of seeking for happiness, but Native Americans were treated irrationally. From the discovery of America, to the founding fathers and settlers, the treatment and attitude towards Native Americans has been unsettling at best. The colonial policies toward the Native Americans affected the Indians in ways that changed their relationship between their tribes and the new nation. Cabeza de Vaca, Roger Williams, Cotton Mather, and Benjamin

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,

If one thing is to be respected and understood about the American Indians, it would be that their history and culture goes much further back than contemporary American history. Consequently, the relationship developed between American Indians and the United States is as unique as it is complicated. This unique relationship started because the American Indians were the first faces seen by fresh colonials from Europe. Despite this fact, the American Indians have faced cultural appropriation on a level that cannot be compared to any other ethnic group or minority. Any American who has been through kindergarten can associate Indians and Pilgrims with Thanksgiving, but how many of those Americans can tell about the Battle of Little Bighorn or the Alcatraz Proclamation? The unique relationship between the United States and American Indians has grown over time to allow for the level of appropriation that can be observed today. It is this unique relationship that has allowed the American Indian culture to be exploited because

Post-bellum America began in 1865 after the Civil War and slavery. Slavery continued in a different form; the African Americans were bound by law to their employer. The Native Americans were forced out of their land and into a different culture. The truth is one ethnic group was not more oppressed over the other. In order to examine the corresponding oppression of the African Americans and Native Americans in post-bellum America it is important to compare their transition into society.

The Removal of Native Americans was unjustified because the Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee have the right to stay in their territory and the Treaty of New Echota was not signed by all the Cherokee leaders. One reason the Native American Removal was unjust came from the Worcester v. Georgia case in 1832. The Cherokee nation challenges the Indian Removal Act and the Supreme Court served as judges. The Supreme Court’s decision in the case favors the Cherokee, they argued that the Cherokee nation was its own “distinct community...in which the laws of Georgia can have no force...but with the assent of the Cherokees themselves or in conformity with treaties and with the acts of Congress”(Supreme Court). This evidence suggest that the Cherokee nation owned the land they were on, not

Understandably, American Indians soon began to distrust and resent their white oppressors. Simon Pokagon put it nicely in his speech The Red Man's Greeting :

In conclusion the oppression of Native Americans is an often overlooked subject. It's important to learn about this and be aware of it because many Native Americans still live on reservations. Their oppression has not yet dissipated completely and not until recently, as recently as 1962, were they allowed to vote in every state. So we must be well informed in order to continue to dissipate Native American oppression and try to correct the mistakes of the

In the seventeenth century, European people begin to settle in the North America. They started to invest in the natural resources in the eastern America using the best resource they found in the land, captured Native Indians. Many poor European people migrated to North America for opportunity to earn money and rise of their social status. They came to the America as indentured or contracted servants because the passage aboard was too expensive for them. By the time many Native Indians and indentured servants die from the hard labor and low morality rate, masters of the plantation purchased more slaves from Africa to profit themselves. The “Virginia Servant and Slave Laws” reveal the dominant efforts of masters to profit from their servants and slaves by passing laws to treat slaves as their properties and to control servants and slaves by suppressing the rebellion using brutal force. Masters and rich planters sought to earn more profit from mercantilism, or trade, economic system by violating the civil rights of Native Indian, African, and poor European people and this thought and practice still exist today as a form of racism and segregation in America.

Everyone has different point of views. The Ottawa Federal government discriminated against the first nations elsewhere people from the government opposed their decisions. In the following paragraphs I would be discussing about the different stakeholders and their opinions on discrimination of the First Nations.

Two-hundred years ago, there was a scientific study on the brains of Native Americans called the craniology and phrenology. The Europeans examined only indigenous people’s heads and were forbidden to use any European’s brains. The Europeans did three experiments, such as decapitating the tops of the heads and filling them with sand to see if their brains were smaller than blacks. The Europeans also looked at the bones and said that if the bones were in a certain way (such as natives cheek bones being up higher) the person was thought to be stupid. The last experiment the Europeans did to American Indians was that they had a small devise that they would put on the head and it would slice the brain open. There would be an award for

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

The English say the Native Americans cause all the problems. Their drunkenness was their fault because no one forced them to drink. They would rather undergo penalty than pay the English. Native Americans were hateful to the English after all they did for them. According to Randolph, “these have been the most barbarous and cruel enemies to the English” (Randolph, par. 3). The Native Americans were the ones at fault according to the English. Around 600 English men and captains were killed due to the war the Native Americans caused. This whole scenario is a case of he said she said, both the English and the Native Americans were at fault, they both caused issues and refuse to admit it.

It is interesting to see that it was John who wrote down this document, so the word "devil" to which the natives worshiped may be the bias from John in some extent. Although what the natives did to their captives was cruel, there is an interesting fact that they did not commit murder or crimes a lot in their society which had no law or penalty to rule them. However, they had their own way of revenge, and I think that is why they were so cruel to their enemies, because they did not like people to intrude their peaceful life.