We the Indigenous People

Native American reserves, it sounds so weird to say. Imagine being the originals here and being told, “you have to live on reserves”. This topic is very important especially in today’s American society where a common phrase states, “no one is illegal on stolen land”, in regards to the immigration situation. Although Natives are the first on the land, it is very uncommon to hear of them in politics, movies, schools, and even on a regular day to day basis. Due to this thinking, many Americans believe that Native Americans live like the average American, however, the situation is much worse.

The phrase “no one is illegal on stolen land”, is relevant to both Native Americans and the current immigration problem in the United States. The dilemma of immigration is between the United States, and the Mexican border, whereas it is said that many Mexicans are crossing the border illegally. What makes this even more of an issue is that displacement drives migration, which is what the United States is doing by funding guns to gang wars in places like El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, etc. The immigration complication is relevant to Native Americans because they were the first here, and having their land taken away from them to live on reserves is absurd. Another important note is that in 1492, there was approximate, 112,000,000 Native Americans, and in a census in 2019 claimed to be around 5,000,000.

There are 562 Native American tribes/reserves, within the United States, which is not a lot considering how many tribes were here previously. It is important to know how the average American between the ages of 14-25 thinks about Native Americans, a poll consisting of three questions was placed on my personal Instagram to determine my peers' thoughts and opinions. The first question asked, ‘Do you know what Native land you are on?’, 30% of peers answered yes, while the other 70% said no. Another question was, “How much do you know about Native Americans? 68% said not a lot, and 32% said a fair amount. When I made a follow-up question to those people who did know about Native Americans, the responses were, “Dakota Access Pipeline protest by Native Americans”, and some recalled information that was taught in upstate New York schools. However, what is taught in schools is not exactly factual.  

Continuing on with the issues surrounding Native Americans, an important concern to address is the water crisis. A known water crisis is Flint, Michigan. It has been five years since the contamination of the water within Flint, and it is known throughout America, and as of 2019, now Flint has received the help that is needed, five years later which is absurd. Now as you are undergoing the shock of this, I will introduce the reality of the water crisis for Native Americans, for them, contaminated water has been a way of life. An example of this would be the water epidemic for the Navajo Nation. In the 1950s uranium has corrupted the Tribes water due to uranium and coal mining, and the effects of the polluted water are continued today. As stated before previously, water contamination effects many Nations/Tribes, primarily due to the fact that the majority of uranium and coal mining is planted on Federal Tribes. As bad as it seems, Native Americans persevere with the usage of contaminated water. You are most likely asking yourself; why is nobody helping? Well, this is on the account of no laws, rules, or regulations that enabled the act of cleanup to these sights.

Although in the misted of this crisis, there are a few people who are considered a turning point for Native Americans. Allen Salway is a notable activist. Salway is apart of the Navajo Nation, a college student, a writer, and an influencer. Known on social media as “lilnativeboy”. Salway apart of the eastern Navajo Nation located in New Mexico goes to college eight hours away from his home and has no mental support from his family as they are not there. Many health issues affect Salway from drinking contaminated water, issues that cause him to faint, and skin conditions, which are all derived from drinking contaminated water. These health issues will for sure increase as the years go on, as the effects of uranium in the water is detrimental. Many college students know the difficulty of needing money, so does Salway. This is important because Salway mentions that he works a job in Arizona for minimum wage; $11.00 per hour. Due to his job, he is unable to receive Medicaid, and with these progressive health issues, his bills are outrageously high. Now these are just external health problems, depression, anxiety, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and body dysmorphia are all present in Salway’s life, but there is no way for him to pay for the high cost of therapy without the insurance, and these problems are very relevant in many young Native’s lives.

These issues are significant considering the suicidal rate in the Native American community. In 2014, John Yellow Bird Steele, president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe witnessed 100 of the communities younger peers ages 12-24 commit suicide within the span of a few months. As of June 2018, the suicide rate of Native Americans is 150% more than the average American ethnic suicide rates. In one of the more poor tribes, such as Pine Ridge located in South Dakota, the life expectancy for men is 48, and the life expectancy for women is 52, therefore on average, the life expectancy would be 50. For the typical American, the life expectancy is approximately 80. That is an alarming 30 years less for Natives. The reality of this is due to suicide, and violence against the Natives.

Violence against Native women is a traumatic dilemma. Native women are the most targeted for rape in the United States. One in three native women will be raped in their lifetime, 86% of rapists being non-native. Prior to 2011, there were no laws to claim that these crimes were illegal. Many Native women are also distressed in human trafficking. This goes back to the mental issues derived from the complication that Native women face, and how without the proper help the suicide rate for Natives will continue to increase at a dangerous percentage.

The United States government also affects Native nation. Although nations usually have their own politics within their reservations, they still abide by the formal federal laws. The United States government shutdown taking place in mid-December to early January 2019, wreaked havoc within the Native communities. Wind River Reservation located in central Wyoming spoke out about the struggles endured within the weeks of the shutdown. A majority of the families within the reservation are below the poverty line, and the government typically sends per capita checks to Native families. What per capita checks are, are checks consisted of around $200, for oil and gas profits that the government makes off from drilling for oil on the tribe’s land. For many families, these checks are essential, as it is used to buy, groceries, and utilities. When the shutdown occurred, these checks were not given out, causing many families to be in predicaments. It is not only the people of the tribe not given their required money, but the tribe’s government is not receiving their designated amount of money. An increase in violence developed as well, due to the tribal police not being paid. The United States government shutdown hit their citizens hard, but the effects for Native Americans was an unacceptable low.

The United States government has always been demanding for Native Land for their natural resources. Exactly like the Wind River Reservation, where the government is fracking for oil. Chief Washakie allowed the government to drill for oil as long as some money was distributed to the tribe. The Native Americans held up their end of the bargain by letting their land be used, however, the United States government did not hold up theirs especially during the shutdown where many families had to pack up an leave. This, ‘demanding land’, is still not uncommon.  

In 2014,  United States senator, John McCain signed off sacred Apache land located in Arizona and known as the San Carlos Reservation to a copper mining company, issued without the reserve’s consent. It will be the largest copper mine but will cause environmental issues, and destruction to historical and religious land and artifacts, similar to the burning of the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France where many we worried about the preservation of the art, and beautiful historical architecture instilled within the building. Native American culture is just as important but is not known by the American people. Thus, the destruction of the land is irrelevant considering from the information gathered of who knows what land they are on, 70% of people do not. In conclusion to that, if people knew what land they were on, and gained more influence on the average American, preserving Native culture would be just as important as preserving the history and art of Notre Dame. The fight for sacred Apache land is still continuing as of April 2019.

Art, in forms of dance and music, is important to modern Native Americans as it is a way to protect their culture. Some forms of dancing are the hoop dance representing the never-ending cycle of birth and death. The ghost dance is an extremely important part of Native American culture; to connect with their ancestors, and their history; 150 Native men, women, and children were massacred for performing the ghost dance. Being able to present the dance now, is not only to connect with their ancestors but to bring power to the dance and their culture. Many instruments are included in the culture. Such as flutes, drums, and many other fiddle type instruments. When played, there are meanings and beliefs behind the musical presentation. The arts are important to the research as it preserves culture. With the arts there is an understanding as to how culture is kept as these instruments and dances were passed on for many generations, and since Natives have experienced a cultural genocide (the deliberate destruction of a group's culture based on the groups religions, politics, ideologies, ethical, and racial differences),  it is important to know how they keep their traditions alive for further generations.

When someone says “no one is illegal on stolen land”, it is not the about ownership of land. It is about the destruction of Native Americans culture on this land. The way the land was obtained, through mass killing. It is the history behind it. If Europeans came here unannounced why is it that immigrants can not, even if they are coming in a peaceful manner? The Europeans did not come in a peaceful manner, Native Americans did not disappear in a peaceful manner, their culture, food, were slashed, they were killed for practicing their dances. To this day, their water is filled with poison that will slowly kill them, so is that still not killing off Native Americans? Is it not ironic, how we as Americans are doing nothing to help our indigenous people, but rather letting history repeat itself. Is it because us as Americans do not know the truth?

Well, now you do.

So let us as Americans do something.

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Salway, Allen. “Lilnativeboy is Creating a Collection of Curated Educational Essay, Short Stories, and More.” Patreon, 2019,

https://www.patreon.com/lilnativeboy

Salway, Allen. “Gun Violence Has a Major Impact on Native American Communities in the United States.” Teen Vogue (Politics and News), 14 June, 2018,

https://www.teenvogue.com/contributor/allen-salway