HISTORY OF DISCRIMINATION AGAINST NATIVE AMERICANS
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OVERVIEW
Like most indigenous groups when settlers first begin to colonise, Native Americans didn’t exactly see eye to eye with them. Their relationship was complicated. Tribes confronted and fought back as the Europeans tried to gain more of their land through wars and various negotiations.
Since then, Native Americans have endured centuries of extensive trauma, genocide, compelled migration, segregation and oppression which has lead to Native Americans-white health imbalances and generations of poor health.
WHY ARE NATIVE AMERICANS SOMETIMES REFERRED TO 'INDIANS'
In Canada, the term ‘Indian’ is not something that people should be saying casually in conversations, whereas in the United States, it’s commonly used. When settlers first arrived, they believed that they were on their way to India and insisted that they had landed there. So, when they met them, they immediately labelled and called them ‘Indians’ - thus, explaining why Native Americans are still referred to this in today’s official legislation.
THE 'INDIAN REMOVAL ACT'
In the early 1830s, around 125,000 Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land that their ancestors had settled on for countless generations. This included Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina and Florida. But by the end of this decade, after the Europeans had began to colonise, only a small number of natives were living in these southeastern areas - and the remaining ended up working for the ‘whites’ who wanted to grow cotton. Those who refused, were forced by the federal government to flee their homelands and travel long distances by foot to an allocated ‘Indian territory’ which was just across the Mississippi River. These lands were unwanted by the settlers. All of this was due to what was known as the ‘Indian Removal Act’.
On May 28, 1830, Andrew Jackson - who was president at the time signed this act’ into the law. The law allowed the government to negotiate treaties that were voluntary and fair - making sure that not even the president could compel Native groups into giving up their land. Unfortunately, President Jackson did not abide by these rules. He believed that he was granted the authority to remove ‘Indians’ from the southeastern lands.
Some of the northern tribes peacefully followed and resettled in the western lands that were seen to be ‘unsatisfactory’ to the ‘white man’. However, members of the ‘Five Civilized tribes’ - which included; Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole, Cherokee and Creek, didn’t want to give up the land that their ancestors had owned so easily.
THE TRAIL OF TEARS
The Trail of Tears refers back to the involuntary relocation during the 1830s (The Indian Removal Act). In 1836, the federal government unwillingly drove the Creeks (Native American Tribe) out of their land for the last time. 15,000 Creeks headed towards land in Oklahoma, but only 11,500 survived the trip. One historian writes that during the journey, some were ‘bound in chains and marched a double-file’. In addition, they did not receive any assistance from the Government, nor were they given any food or supplies. Thus, this became to be known as ‘The Trail of Tears and Death’.
The Trails of Tears is over 8115km long and travels through nine different states; Alabaman, Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Tennessee. In today’s age, this trail is run by the National Park Service and some parts of it are available to walk on via foot, horse, bicycle or car.
TAKING THE INDIAN OUT OF THE CHILD
The second half of the nineteenth century came along and European settlers were starting to grow concerns about the assimilation (to conform) of Native Americans in Canada. This was due to what was known as the ‘Indian Problem’.
Native Americans were like aliens as they were unfamiliar to white Americans. In the early years of the American republic, some officials including George Washington had the belief that ‘Indians’ were the problem needed to find a way to refine and civilise them. The goal was to propel them to convert to Christianity, learn to speak and read English fluently as well as endorse the European lifestyle and economic practices. In the southeastern areas, the tribes Chickasaw, Choctaw, Seminole, Cherokee and Creek were people who partook in these customs, hence why they are known as the ‘Five Civilized Tribes.
Some did not cooperate with this, and as a result, in both the United States and Canada a new idea was created. Native American children were taken out of their homes and away from their families and placed into different institutions. They were educated in boarding schools - so that their families and traditions could not affect the process of assimilation. However, these places were not like the traditional boarding schools that were treated with the utmost respect. These Indian Residential Schools were places where children were regularly assaulted physically, verbally and sexually.
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POLICE BRUTALITY IN TODAY'S AGE
The video above is about Chief Allan Adam's violent arrest
Adam was charged with resisting arrest and assaulting a police officer. A quote from the CBC news states that...
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"The March 10 arrest stirred controversy following the release of dashcam video showing an RCMP officer tackling Adam to the ground without warning, punching him in the head and putting him in a chokehold."