Should Native-Americans be completely self determined, or should they just be Americans like everyone else?

Question

In a Native American studies class, just curious to see what respponses are. Should Native-Americans get special treatments assured in treaties, or should that just become a thing of the past and should be more integrated?

Personally I believe native communities and US state and fed governments should live up to the treaties. The state must help Native communities in the transition (which I feel they haven't), while at the same time having a system of treaty renewal completely ensuring the survival of Native traditions (and unfortunately due to assimilationist policies int he past, they should have a revival). What's your view?

Answer 1

Native people, and all people, absolutely have a right to self-determination. Taking away one's right to self-determination is an act of power and oppression. Oppression has Never been well conceived.

Natives should get their treaty rights witheld. It is a double standard for Natives to get ignorned in this respect. Not one Native treaty has been witheld in full. Supreme court decisions today are still based in blatant racism: Read "Like A Loaded Weapon."

There is no way this can become a thing of the past. Have you heard about intergenerational trauma? It is similar to PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). It says that people pass down trauma through generations. So descendants of Holocaust survivors can still feel pain even though they didn't go through the experience themselves. This is true for Native people as well. Continued oppression helps keep this cycle going. So, quite literally the past is with us today. We cannot heal these wounds by ignoring the past.

Also, Natives do not get special treatment. Even if their treaties were witheld, this would not be special treatment. Natives are oppressed. Even with treaties witheld they wouldn't be special etc.. they would be an independent nation. Are all independent nations special? Using such words makes it seem like Natives are getting something they don't deserve.

I agree with your opinion. We need to support Native self-determination. We all need to support each other. We should teach cultural respect and understanding.

And to counteract another users post: The land bridge theory is just a theory, it has more evidence to disprove it than to prove it. Read: "Red Earth White Lies"

I am a Native woman.

Answer 2

I lived near a Native American Reservation for a good portion of my life and i can personally say that reservations do WAY more harm than good. They set a portion of the people apart and make them different. Furthermore, the natives in my school often got special treatment due to what their ancestors had to go through. As a result you get a poor segment of the pop. with no ambition or drive to succeed. They sit on their asses and never leave the res while collecting fed, state, and local money for free and then have the nerve to complain about how the "white man" stole their land. We will never have equality with these people if we allow them to seperate themselves.

Answer 3

thats a pretty good questiion. I think though that natives should be self sufficient. However just because u want to keep your unique identity and culture should'nt isolate itself. It should be able to keep its cultural identity but at the same time borrow new technologies and ideas from other countries. That is the problem with many countries. by keeping there ways the same and not changing, they blocked themselves from keeping up with the rest of the world and thats wthy they are so under developed today. So i agree that natives should able to govern themsleves but at the sametime not allow ignorance block them from borrowing other ideas to there advantage.

Also francine you are a moron because native americans didnt just come from asia only. they are a mix race of many different peoples not just oriental asians that became isloated so long they became a new different peoples. You shouldn't be talking like that because asian people almost conquered europe twice. one time by the huns and one time by the mongols. The mongols where defeated by a muslim elite army of slaves from egypt. They conquered alll of russia and all of asia except japan. Europe was only lucky that the mongols wanted the middle east over europe 1rst. Also The huns invaded eastern europe.If you look at your map a country called hungary is on the map of europe( hun-gary) , it comes from the word hun. Who knows maybe you could be a hun? If you go to hun gary you see some people that do actually look asian. Also they where many cases where native americans mixed with whites but at times kept the child and passed it as white if they looked white enough. Also keeping it a secret and raising it to think that its pure white so that people wont know and there child wont be harrased anddeprived of rights that natives werent given at the time. You could be part native american and not even know it. Who knows?Goes to show you how much you really actually know about histrory francine. Look at the sources below way down. If you have any of these charcteristics you might be native american.

Also idahomike. thats your opinion, you are obviously more proud to be a american citizen then of your tribes sovereighnty. Some people have different loyalties. yours just happen to be the united states. Other indegenous peoples are more affected by the united states negatively so they dont agree with united states terms. You have just not experienced or understand what other native americans in reservations go through. They also seem like they get less economic aid then other ethnecities.

How ever even though i am also part native american i know that i can never understand what a real native american goes through. thats because i never was on a reservation.

I am also part spanish. my mom is puerto rican and my dad is dominican. As for those neo taino people. get your facts straight. Tainos are not arawaks. They are shown by recent scientific study that they are actually way more likely to be decendants of the collas peoples ( aymara group).

Answer 4

I agree with you entirely. There needs to be alot more gov't help for First Nations communities. Helkp that the Frist Nations people themselves choose.

As for the original question, I believe there should be an option, much like there is now. They can choose to live on the reserve land and be self-dictating (atleast in part) or move into mainstream community. It should never be one or the other.

Answer 5

Should be both. Their own Nations, tribes, cultures...all should be fully self determined. Though they should also still get to retain being an American, else they end up on, in a sense, landlocked islands with no citizenry to the U.S. which could end up a bad thing in some situations.

Answer 6

Yes, as those treaties are contracts. Of course we should get what is agreed upon. If it was any other form of contract that was being broken, people would sue left and right.

And to the idiots above me, yes we do exist and last I checked, I didn't exactly walk across any freaking land bridge. I can't believe that people are honestly that retarded. If ANYONE is American, it's us. Everyone else is hyphenated ;)
Our cultures and ways of life are the only real American ones out there.

Answer 7

first off...yingyang..thank you... Indigo...I think our native americans became CITEZENS finally in or around 1922 I think...also thanx to Alias.... Idahomik was just being an idiot..he only just had his coffeenbeer 4 breakfast lol. U go danagast...Queenof... and Francine there need to be flagged. ok...thats all... think about all this...NONE of YOU even thought about the CARE and Welfare of our Nations Elders and Grandchildren....but thats ok...i guesss

Answer 8

Their ancestors blew it for them... they lost... the invaders won... several generations have come and gone since the last piece of land was lost.... those alive today have no claim to any thing from back then... if they were born in the United States of America then they are American citizens... and they should act like it... or get out... some of their cousins up north would take them in........NOT.... they have it 1000% better than their ancestors ever did... they should start being what they are and stop crying about what they never were... they are Americans.... they should act like it.

BTW....I am a native American..... I was born here and I have served my country and have never been on welfare or had free land to live on or been exempt from taxes.... the so called Indian "nations" should be cut off... period.... they should pay there way just like every one else born here....

Answer 9

I don't think we should just abandon them and let them die. The US govt. wiped out their population so that only 5% of them remained after their massive genocide efforts. In addition, they took their children away from them to "civilize" them. I think the govt. is not doing ENOUGH!
They can't be Americans like everyone else because the " Americans" took their way of life away from them, and left them with horrible conditions and despair.
FRANCINE is an IDIOT!