Native Americans
Racism Against Native Americans
Discrimination against Native Americans is the longest held racism in the United States. It dates back to the
arrival of the pilgrims and the subsequent invasion of the continent. In an effort to obtain much of North
America as territory of the United States, a long series of wars and massacres forced displacements (including
the well-known Trail of Tears), restriction of food rights, and the imposition of treaties. Ideologies justifying
the context included stereotypes of Native Americans as "merciless Indian savages" and the quasi-religious
doctrine of manifest destiny, which asserted divine blessing for U.S. conquest of all lands west of the Atlantic
seaboard to the Pacific.
Once their territories were incorporated into the United States, many surviving Native Americans were
relegated to reservations— constituting just 4 percent of U.S. territory— and the treaties signed with them were
violated. Tens of thousands were forced to attend a residential school system, which sought to reeducate them
in white settler American values, culture and economy.
To this day, Native Americans are the most harshly affected by institutionalized racism. The World Watch
Institute notes that 317 reservations are threatened by environmental hazards. While formal equality has been
legally granted, American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders remain among the
most economically disadvantaged groups in the country, and suffer from high levels of alcoholism and suicide.
Native American women are also at a high risk of sexual and physical abuse, recorded at three and a half times
higher than the national average. This estimate is very low because 70 percent of abuse cases go unreported,
often due to mistrust Native American women feel towards government and police. Seventy percent of the
violence experienced by Native American women is from non-Native American men.
Federal apathy and lethargy in prosecution of crimes against Native Americans is keeping the cycle of violence
normative and commonplace.
This violence and fear is now translating to the younger generations, as acts of physical and domestic/date
abuse are now becoming common among Native American teenagers.
Sources:
Huffington Post Cleveland Search Now
Source: http://www.dosomething.org/tipsandtools/racism-against-native-americans
Tribal Canoe Journeys
The Canoe Journey is an important cultural event for tribes around the Pacific Northwest. The event
shares native art, culture and history as well as brings tribes together from around the region to
celebrate their heritage and share songs, dance and food.
Conceived as the "Paddle to Seattle" in 1989 by Quinault Tribal Member Emmet Oliver and Frank
Brown of Bella Bella, British Columbia, the idea behind the first Canoe Journey was to paddle
traditional cedar ocean-going dugout canoes from Northwest coastal villages to the Port of Seattle in
time for Washington State's Centennial Celebration.
The historic voyage caught the interest of other Washington and Canadian tribes as an opportunity
to heighten interest in Native American culture, art and history among both tribal members and the
general public. In 1993, the first annual Canoe Journey was held, with paddlers from Canada,
Alaska and Washington voyaging from their home communities to Bella Bella, B.C. Since the
Paddle to Bella Bella there have been 20 Canoe Journeys.
The Canoe Journey is a drug and alcohol free event, offering paddlers a spiritual and personal
journey towards "healing and recovery of culture, traditional knowledge and spirituality."
Source: http://www.washingtontribes.org/default.aspx?ID=50
Click this link to see the Tribal Canoe Journeys page – more
info, interviews, etc:
http://www.washingtontribes.org/default.aspx?ID=50
NYO Games Alaska
Sheer power, unreal flexibility and explosive jumping ability – all tied to the rich cultures of Alaska Native peoples – are
on display as hundreds of youth gather in Anchorage for the annual NYO Games, April 24-26, 2014.
The two-foot high kick is one of the more popular events at the NYO Games in Anchorage's Dena'ina Civic
and Convention Center. ©Visit Anchorage/Roy Neese
There are only a few sports moments in which the athlete’s laser focus on the task at hand can
render an entire crowd silent: a long putt to win. A match point serve. A “Hail Mary” pass
hanging midair. It’s as if that instant sucks all the oxygen away from the crowd. Everyone holds
their breath, as if the slightest breeze could upset months of preparation and practice. But
nothing turns a raucous crowd as quiet as a library like a record attempt at the NYO Games.
Started in 1972, the NYO Games, previously known as the Native Youth Olympics, includes 10
events based on games past generations ofAlaska Native people played as a way to test their
hunting and survival skills, increase strength and maintain endurance, agility and the balance of
mind and body. The Eskimo stick pull, for instance, is based on a strengthening exercise that
Native hunters would do to prepare themselves for pulling seals out of the water. Although
events are based on traditional Alaska Native activities, the competition is open to all Alaska
students from seventh to 12th grade, regardless of ethnicity.
It’s an insight into Alaska's rich cultural heritage and a friendly competition for Alaska kids all
at once. About 500 students from across Alaska assemble in Anchorage each spring to
demonstrate their skills during the 2014 NYO Games. This year’s games will be held April 2426, 2014, in the Dena’ina Civic and Convention Center. Admission is free, so check it out and
cheer on the athletes. It’s an exciting time; in recent years decades-old records have fallen. If
you're visit to Anchorage doesn't coincide with the NYO Games, the Alaska Native Heritage
Centerhas regular demonstrations of Alaska Native games several times daily throught the
summer.
There’s a reason the NYO Games can inspire that hushed awe; not many athletes in any other
sport could accomplish what some of these athletes – middle and high school students – can do.
The best can hop 150 feet across a hardwood floor on their knuckles (the seal hop), launch off
the ground and kick more than 8 feet in the air (one- and two-foot high kick) or balance all their
weight on a single palm while stretching for a ball suspended almost 6 feet over their head (one
hand reach). And if you’re thinking “I could do that,” well you’ve got a chance to prove it.
The premise of each event seems simple – touch the ball, jump high, hold on for as long as you
can – but as height of the target increases or the distance required to advance widens, the skill
required quickly approaches the superhuman. Attempting one of the events yourself might take
your breath away quite literally. But watching these young men and women compete can
definitely leave you breathless.
NYO Games are hosted by Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc., the nonprofit social service agency
for Cook Inlet Region, Inc., with a mission to provide culturally appropriate services for Alaska
Native people to achieve self-determination through individual, family and community
development. The games include Alaska Native dance performances twice a day.
Source: http://www.anchorage.net/articles/nyo-games-alaska
*
Fast Facts: Native American Youth and Indian Country
GENERAL INFORMATION
are 566 federally-recognized tribes in 35 states in the Unites States.
A full list can be
downloaded from the Bureau of Indian Affairs by clicking here.
According to the 2010 Census, there are approximately 5.2 million selfidentified American
Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) living in the US, of whom 2 million qualify for
federal services.
(AI/AN) under the age of
24 living in the United States. More facts on youth available in our Native
American Youth 101.
Minority Health (OMH) estimates
that in 2011, 22% of AI/ANs lived on reservations or other US Censusdefined tribal areas while 60%
of AI/ANs lived in metropolitan areas.
CHALLENGES IN INDIAN COUNTRY
As a result of historical trauma, chronically underfunded federal programs,
and broken promises on the
part of the US government, Native Americans experience many health,
educational, and economic
disparities compared to the general population.
the population under-18
lives in poverty (NCAI Policy Research Center).
2010, the average AI/AN household income was reported at $39,664
while the national
average was $46,200, according to OMH and Duthu in American Indians and
the Law (2008)
respectively. In 2011, unemployment rates for AI/ANs nationally stood at
14.6% - twice the
average for white Americans (Bureau of Labor Statistics). Some tribal
communities report
persistent rates of unemployment above 80%.
and proper waste removal
systems (US National Library of Medicine).
patrol the more than 56
million acres of Indian Country.
*More information is available on the Center for Native American Youth’s
Native American Youth 101. Last
updated September 2013.
relied solely on the Indian
Health Service (IHS) system. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration
(SAMHSA) reports that only 1 in 5 AI/ANs have access to IHS services,
including mental health). This
is one factor leading to major health disparities among the AI/AN population
(IHS):
o Alcoholism mortality rates are 514% higher than the general population.
o Diabetes incidence is 177% higher, with the highest rate of type 2 diabetes
of any specific
population in the United States.
o Tuberculosis incidence is 500% higher.
STATISTICS ON NATIVE AMERICAN YOUTH
leading cause of death - 2.5 times the national rate – for AI/AN youth in the
15 to
24 age group (SAMHSA). In the US, between 1 in 9 and 1 in 5 AI/AN youth
report attempting suicide
each year (Suicide Prevention Resource Center).
th rates 2 to 5 times the rate of whites in the
same age group
(SAMHSA), resulting from higher levels of suicide and a variety of risky
behaviors.
75% of deaths for AI/AN
youth age 12 to 20 (IHS).
and 79% of youth in the
Federal Bureau of Prison’s custody are AI/AN (Bureau of Justice Statistics,
2004).
-11 school year, there were 378,000 AI/AN (alone)
students in public schools, while
49,152 students attended Bureau of Indian Education Schools (NIEA
Statistics).
50% in comparison to
over 75% for white students. Only 13.3% of AI/ANs have obtained
undergraduate degrees, versus
24.4% of the general population (National Indian Education Association).
children are
overrepresented in foster care – at more than 2.1 times the general
population – and 2 to 4 times
the expected level are awaiting adoption.
children of the same
race or ethnicity. In 2009, 7,335 AI/AN children were victims of child
maltreatment (NICWA).
ages 1 to 14 has
decreased by 9% since 2000, it has increased by 15% among AI/AN children
(National Court
Appointed Special Advocate Association).
More information is available on the Center for Native American Youth’s
Native American Youth 101. Last updated September 2013.
Source:
http://www.aspeninstitute.org/sites/default/files/content/upload/Native%20Youth%20Fast%20Facts%20Update_09
-2013.pdf
Click this link to see an interactive map
showing where Native American tribes lived in
what is now the United States:
http://www.native-languages.org/states.htm
Tribal Teens Fight Suicide Through Positive
Social Networking
'Silent Epidemic' impacts Native Americans more than general US population
Tribal youth from across the Northwest work on comic book panels on another track of the recent health promotion conference.
TEXT SIZE
August 01, 2011
Almost one in four Native American youths has attempted suicide, according to the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services.
A new initiative is in the works to combat those grim statistics through positive social
networking.
Brandon Trejo, 17, who lives on a reservation in eastern Washington state, knows a face
behind that statistic.
"One of my friends, he tried overdosing on a bunch of pills," Trejo says. "It didn't work. He
ended up going to the hospital and getting his stomach pumped."
Trejo was shocked and still doesn't understand his friend's actions.
Oregon tribal member Sarah Hull has felt the same shock, not just once, but multiple times.
The 16-year-old goes to a school off the reservation.
"I know from personal experience living in a Native American community and being around
people, depression is really common," she says, "because for a lot of people it's hard to find
your way to your culture or find your way to a certain passion when you don't who you are
and you're confused."
Audio engineer Brad Kaminski records a song by Sarah Hull.
Hull has found her way to a passion - music. She records in a makeshift recording studio set
up at a tribal health workshop.Hull lays awake at night trying to find the right words for a
song on the unusual theme of suicide prevention.
Fighting back
Her recording session is part of an anti-suicide/healthy living workshop organized by
the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board. The regional agency invited 60 students
from different tribes to come to Portland for a week.
According to suicide prevention coordinator Colbie Caughlan, the staff wanted help crafting
health promotion messages that would resonate with young people.
"Youth learn from youth," says Caughlan. "That's what has happened forever."
Conference organizers arranged presentations about suicide warning signs and healthy,
drug-free living. Then they set the young people loose with video camera, drawing paper,
notebooks or a music producer.
Caughlan hopes the experience will unleash a wave of uplifting social networking including
teen-generated web videos, music and even a comic book.
"If they say, 'Oh, then I went to a leadership conference,’ or ‘I did a suicide prevention
training and it taught me something so amazing that I actually helped save my best friend's
life,' those are the things people are going to hold with them and tell their friends."
This initiative was inspired by a successful web-based suicide prevention strategy in
Australia.
Breaking the silence
Todd Denny, one of the music mentors in Portland, has led musical workshops to combat
social ills on Northwest reservations for a decade. He believes technology could help break
the stigma around a difficult, sensitive topic.
"One of the big challenges with suicide in all communities, not just tribal communities, is the
silence and the secrecy," says Denny. "So a program like this allows people to break
through those barriers of silence and secrecy, to express themselves, to tell their stories."
Over the course of a week, some of the teens did that through traditional Native American
music. Others explored the suicide prevention theme through more contemporary genres
such as rap and hip hop.
Jordan Hill, 19, who sings and plays guitar, chooses his lyrics carefully. "Every song that I've
written is a message to somebody, which is why when I finally put out the album that I'm
working on, I want to name it 'Memoir' because it's a message to everybody."
Hill's message is slated to become part of a comprehensive online health resource created
for native youth by their peers. The multimedia campaign, called "WeAreNative," launches
later this year.
Source: http://www.voanews.com/content/tribal-teens-fight-suicide-through-positive-social-networking--126576073/163603.html
Click this link to visit a web page by for Native
American teens: http://wernative.org/
Click this link to see a slideshow about life on
the Pine Ridge reservation. Be sure to read the
introduction and captions:
http://billmoyers.com/content/slideshow-thepine-ridge-indian-reservation/
Click this link to visit the website of the
Duwamish tribe, Seattle’s first people:
http://www.duwamishtribe.org/
Source:
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Click this link to see an interactive map that shows how Native
Americans lost their land to settlers:
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2012/07/21/animatedmap-shows-loss-western-tribal-lands-1784-124688
Click this link to see a short video that presents one point of view about using
Redskins as a sports team mascot: http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/heresan-ad-about-rskins-that-its-makers-dont-have-the-money-to-show-duringsundays-superbowl/#.Uu2gK-0r8uh.facebook