The removal of the southern Native Americans was devastating to the Five Civilized Tribes. They were forced to leave their land and move to the west on reserved areas of land. Some left peacefully, others stayed and fought. The U.S. government tried to intervene and create treaties, but also enforced removal. The government didn’t do much to protect the Native Americans, nor were they able to enforce their own laws regarding Native American land and treaties.
The first form of legislation only allowed “federally or state recognized” tribes or individuals to sell artifacts and label them “‘Indian made’” (King, 40). Problem is that there are tribes and individuals that can trace their lineages but are still not recognized by either governments. Bill C-31 requires you to marry federally recognized Native Americans or risk your family losing that status down your linage and threatens to eliminate all federally recognized Native Americans “in fifty to seventy-five years” in Canada (King, 144). The horror behind the Bill C-31 is that the
From these two videos, I have a better understand of American Indian history overview. Especially from video Pride 101, Dr. Duane Champagne mentions the removal policy of Native Indians, and because of the policy, the tribes have to move from Southeast to Oklahoma. These two videos show audiences a long history and policy about American Indians and how struggled they had been through in a native land. After I finished from these two videos, I can see many parallels between the struggles the Native American Tribes and my people encounter dealing with the U.S. Government “You can never be part of Indian. You are or you are not.
Indian Logo’s that are used in school sports at any level were intended to invoke fear into the hearts of their opponents. Barbara Munson wrote in her selection about the use of Indian Logo’s as a vehicle of institutional racism. As Ms. Munson is Indian, she makes some very good points about how her family has been treated over the years and her views of Indian Logo’s in schools. Old western movies portrayed Native Americans in a bad way and no one has attempted to put a stop to that. But old western movies don’t have years of tradition behind them.
The Removal Act stated that the United States Government had the right to forcefully move the Native Americans to different lands as long as they compensated them for the land that they had to give up in the east. The US Government did not give the Native Americans any say regarding their move. Once the Removal Act signed into place they had to follow it. The move negatively impacted on the tribes’ health, their population and their way of living. Out of about 15,000 Cherokee that were forcefully moved to the West, about 4,000 died on the road there.
The below BIA created Blood Quantum calculation chart is used by the BIA to calculate a person’s degree of Indian blood, issuance of a BIA certified CDIB (Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood). Also, may be used by various Indian Tribal governments for enrollment into that Tribe. 'The BIA sets no minimum blood quantum requirement for acknowledgment purposes, but does require descent from a historic tribe. If your group decides to establish a blood quantum requirement for membership, that is your own decision. However, it is not required by the acknowledgment regulations."
Non Indian judges and social workers were failing to meet the needs of Native American families. These agencies failed to see the cultural difference between a Traditional American family and traditional Native American family. This issue brought many people to congress demanding a change resulting in the implementation of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978. The passage of the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978 is an almost milestone in congressional action to protect and maintain Indian families and tribes. The intent of the act is to stabilize Indian families by reducing the number of Indian children removed and placed in non-Indian adoptive and foster homes.
People who know nothing about American Indians, especially children like when I first saw it, think this is how Native Americans dress. They think that they all shoot bows and arrows just like in Pocahontas. In “Flight Patterns”, when William tells the taxi driver he’s Indian, the taxi driver thinks William is from India. “No, not the jewel-on-the-forehead Indian,” said William. “I’m a bows-and-arrows-Indian” (433).
The Schools are destroying Freedom of Speech According to the article written by John W. Whitehead, “The Schools are Destroying Freedom of Speech,” John W. Whitehead stated that teachers are hindering students from learning or being allowed to exercise their constitutional rights. Schools don’t have the right or authority to hinder students from not offend or cause harm to others. There were two occasions documented and went as far as to the Supreme Court, how teachers and administrations pulled the plug on several valedictorian students during graduations; while sharing a censored speech on their religion and their feelings, (John W. Whitehead, 2009). On occasions, teachers and administrators reviewed and had students to take out what they thought would affect the audience or what was against certain regulations of the school. However, the students felt the need to express their thoughts, ideas and feelings in the way they felt.
Des Moines Independent School District (1965) Issue: You Have the Right to Express Yourself Up to A Certain Point Three teens wore black armbands to a school in Des Moines, Iowa, to protest the war in Vietnam. School officials told them to remove the armbands, and when they refused they were suspended, and the parents sued the district, claiming it was in violation of their first amendment right of freedom of speech. When the Supreme Court got the case and looked it over they sided with the students they said “students and teachers don’t shed their constitutional rights to freedom of speech or expression at the schoolhouse gate”. The court did not grant students to an unlimited right ti self