"We Are Not a Bargaining Chip"

Hello readers!

First off, I want to thank everybody for sharing and reading and all that, I really do appreciate it! My pageviews have EXPLODED!! You guys rock.

This post is semi-- sorta-- somewhat related to the series of posts I called Project Islam, in that it deals with discrimination. But the discrimination I'll deal with here is slightly different and, if I may say so, even sadder.

We had a guest speaker in my Ethnic Studies class (the same class which assigned me last week's project), and I will simply call him "Mike". This is mostly because I've forgotten his last name. Ha. Anyway, Mike came to our class a couple days ago to talk about the remaining Indian reservations in our area, White Cloud here in Nebraska, as well as Pine Ridge and Rose Bud in neighboring South Dakota. He was about in his late thirties, early forties, and had lived on White Cloud reservation since he was a teenager.

What I liked most about this guy is he didn't try to pretty things up. He told it straight. He even cussed a few times, and each time I saw my professor wince.

What he told us about mostly was the indifference of those just outside the reservations. He talked about how there'd be murders, and the authorities wouldn't come unless the victime was white. The mentality was "oh, it's just a drunk Indian". Nothing would be done. It was assumed that any dead Indian had died as a result of alcohol and their own stupidity. And literally, there was and usually still isn't any criminal punishment for offenses against a Native American. Basically, a white man can get away with anything as long as he doesn't do it to a fellow white man.

One of the most striking things I remember Mike saying is, you aren't sent to the reservations to "prosper, but you're meant to die." The policy for the Indians is "managing, not solving" the problems that are all too present. Violence is a big problem, but the fact that the violence is essentially ignored is worse. It's like we've forgotten that they were here first, and that the white man is encroaching on native territory. And yet we've pushed our culture, our rules, our stereotypes on them like we own them. We encourage them (somewhat) to build enterprises, they build and own casinos, which do financially help the reservation. But we don't allow them to thrive. We barely allow them to live.

Mike also told a personal story. He's not full native, or even half, but he mentioned his early life working on oil fields for sixteen years. This continues to be a common trade for natives on the reservation, unless you're lucky enough to get what minimal education they offer and find something slightly better. His grandfather, however, was full Native, and worked in the grain elevators here in Nebraska. He was thought for the longest time to be Mexican by the other employees. When it was discovered, however, that he was actually native, he was killed. He was beaten to death with a hammer by these men, and nothing was done.

The final thing Mike said was political. And though I proudly voted for Obama, I can see Mike's point in what he said. He said the president treated the laws concerning land protection and Indian rights a "negotiation point" with the opposing party, something to use and manipulate to his advantage. His exact words were "We are not a bargaining chip. We are a people." Native Americans have unalienable rights just like the rest of us, have endured more tyranny and destruction on their people than most Anglo-Saxxon peoples, and deserve respect for being the ones who welcomed the white man to the great land that is America today.