Aboriginal Peoples: Racism in Colonial Context * The agent was the sole authority in this community and they had all the power to punish or deprive, this worked to break down the traditional authority system , so it basically broke down their social structures * A second element of denationalization was attempted destruction of culture * Natives relied on government handouts because they could not sustain their own lives (they were only allowed to hunt and fish when the Indian agent said they could * The federal government still control when they natives can hunt and fish * Condition on the reserve: no employment, except for those who serve Indian agent therefore poverty and hunger arose and became a serious issue * People faced with
As a result of European settlement, many populations of Native Americans were brought to near extinction. The hunger for a new and free word had blinded Europeans’ humanity towards the Native Americans that had lived in these lands for hundreds of years from the Atlantic to the Pacific in harmony and respect of their lands. The discovery of gold was of the most important factors that promoted violence against the Native Americans. When gold was discovered in California in 1848 it initiated a large amount of migrant traffic across the North American continent. This large influx of Americans brought more diseases to the Native Americans that devastated their tribes with great number of deaths.
Indian Wars erupted due to tension between the settlers backed by the federal government who were encroaching upon native land and the Native Americans occupying this land. The result of this tension led to Indian Wars such as the Sioux Wars which contained events such as the Wounded Knee Massacre in which federal troops killed 300 Sioux men, women, and children and the killing of General Custer during the battle of Wounded Knee which caused public opinion to turn even more against Native Americans. As a result of these Indian Wars all Native American tribes were effectively put onto reservations. The purposeful impairment and alienation of native culture was strongly emphasized by actions taken and legislation passed by the federal government of the United States. In Document A, Santana, Chief of the Kiowas, describes the destruction of timber and killing of buffaloes by soldiers who sit in camps where his people have lived for generations.
1 Some estimates claim 20,000 human sacrifices a year. The loss of human life would not only weaken the Aztec empire but brought hatred upon the people of the powerful city of Tlaxcala. Many of their own people had been sacrificed, and at the end, the people of Tlaxcala joined forces with the Spanish army to fight the Aztecs. 2 Aztec authority, Henry Nicholson said that among the Aztecs, “human sacrifice was practiced on a scale not even approached by any other ritual system in the history of the world”. Spanish sources report that over 80,000 victims were sacrificed at the dedication of the Great Temple in 1487.
Europeans Vs. Aboriginals : The contact that changes everything Throughout the 1600s to 1900s Native people’s culture has been greatly harmed due to the fact of European contact. Taking over land by killing off food supply thus forcing Aboriginals to sign treaties to destroying their culture by enforcing assimilation. Ever since the Europeans came to Canada they have been nothing good for the First Nations living on the Land. In the 19th Century, government policy changed from government-to-government relations with Aboriginal Nations to attempts to integrate and assimilate. This change was due to a number of factors: the decline of the fur trade; an end to most of the armed conflict between the various new arrivals; and, the desire for more land and resources for the settlers.
The genocide in Darfur, Sudan has already caused hundreds of thousands of Darfuris to die and cause more than 2 million people to be homeless. The genocide began in early 2003 when members of two rebel groups revolted against the Sudanese government in Khartoum alleging systematic neglect of the inhabitants of Darfur. The two rebel groups are the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) and the Sudan Liberation Army (SLA). The government responded by launching an assault against these two rebel groups. Black Arabs were being discriminated against because they were black and they were being told that they weren't in the right religion.
Unfortunately, because of such extreme poverty and no resources for food, the Batwa are disappearing. Those that have chosen to integrate into society are faced with constant discrimination and prejudice. “Batwa children say they dislike going to school because other children throw things at them and call them dogs” (Matthews, 2006, Para 12). The degrading has been so horrific that the Batwa people are ashamed of whom they are. In 1906 a young man named Ota Benga, lived one of the most degrading and appalling 12 years any one person could ever live.
All of theses ethic groups experiences some kind of racism, from White Supremacy, scientific, state positive and institutionalized racism, also segregstion and discrimanation. Racism towards Native Americans was very obvious and unconcealed. As settlers adapted and enter what they called the new world , killing the natives and taking their land was a big way they went about conquering. Surviving Natives were denied equality and often treated as outsiders , or wards of the state. Many of them were regualted to reservations, consituting just four percent of the U.S territory.
Native American children were removed from their homes on reservations for alleged maltreatment and thus placing them in adoptive Caucasian homes (Martin, 2007). Although many of them were truly removed for maltreatment, 99% of the children were removed because social workers believed that the children were victims of social deprivation do to the extreme poverty common on most Indian reservations (Martin, 2007). These acts on behalf of the child
When potlatches and other ceremonies were banned the First Nations lost a lot of their culture and oral history which led to big problems with the traditional governance system. Many artifacts were confiscated, and a lot of people got arrested for practicing illegal ceremonies. One of the worst things to happen to the First Nations was residential schools. They were designed by the churches to teach the values and language of the colonizing culture, by taking the children away from their families and making it mandatory to attend the schools. The children lost their culture, language, and spiritual practices.