Osage Reservation Research Paper

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Health Effects on the Osage Reservation “Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didn’t have any kind of prison. Because of this we had no delinquents. Without a prison, there can be no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys and therefor among us there were no thieves. When someone was so poor that he couldn’t afford a horse, a tent, or blanket, he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift. We were too uncivilized to give great importance to private property. We didn’t know any kind of money and consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by this wealth. We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, and no politicians, therefore we were not able to cheat and swindle one another. We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don’t know how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamentals things that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.” This quote was stated by, John (Fire) Lame Deer, a wichasha wakan (The Holy Man). He made his home known as the Pine Ridge Reservation; he went out into the world becoming known among the Lakota and American public. This trimester inside the Political Science class, we have been studying the topic of how democracy affected the Native Americans. In the beginning quote it tells us a story. It tells us how natives lived a free life, no rules or anything, because no one would think of doing such delinquent things, until they created laws (the government) provoking people to do so. The government told the natives to create and enforce rule to make them civilized people, to make you understand that it was for the worse of Native Americans. When it comes to down to it, there are many different things that democracy did that affected the Native Americans, today I will be focusing on a main issue everyone has due to democracy and that is health.

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