Maya Charlesworth

 

 

Yampah Mountain High School

 

 

 

The Journey of Injustice

 

The History and struggle of the Native Americans

 

 

 

Maya Charlesworth

 

Senior Thesis Paper

 

Sonjia Linman

 

3 March 2015

 

Maya Charlesworth

 

Sonja Linman

 

Senior Paper

 

3 March 2015

 

 

 

 

 

Above is a picture of a pillar at the entry of Wounded Knee massacre grave sight, on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.  On December 29, 1890 the US Army’s 7th Cavalry surrounded a band of Ghost dancers. They told the natives to surrender their weapons when they only had one rifle which was being held by a deaf and blind native. There was a struggle and shot fired.The cavalry took this as a sign to attack the people and a brutal massacre broke out. Hundreds of natives were shot down or tortured. Many of the women were raped and had their bodies mutilated. Also, soldiers cut off  their private parts and kept them as trophies. Half of the people that were slaughtered at Wounded Knee were women and children. The massacre took up a five mile radius and to this day historians and archaeologists are still finding bone remains. At the grave sight there is a mass grave in the center where there is thought to be about 390 bodies of natives that were dumped in, after the soldiers mutilated and urinated on them before being buried. (Lakota Elder). This act of Genocide is never talked about in our culture today nor taught to our children in school. We look at the Holocaust and promise to never forget, and to never let it happen again, while this and many other unjust acts were committed in America and is just forgotten. In fact, Adolf Hitler studied America’s Indian Reservations because he thought they were a great plan to control people and applied it to the concentration camps in the Holocaust. That is what the reservations have become; they are now a  jail. To this day, Natives are still stripped of their rights, most are stuck in poverty. How could we have ignored this for so many generations? America, the bold and the free, are often too afraid to recognize our own injustices. Something needs to change, or the inevitable truth that history will repeat itself will happen. Native American culture has been long forgotten and the ways they have cultivated the land has long since surpassed. But it is not too late to regenerate the life of this rich culture. There are many thing to be learned from the traditionalists.  

 

 

 

The Native Americans have cultivated the American land for centuries before English settlers came and took it by force. They called the land Turtle Island. Many natives and Native right activists still use this term to this day. The story of creation goes that Sky Women fell down to the earth and brought water with her and covered all the land. Many of the animals swam down to the bottom of the ocean trying to get dirt to bring back the land. Muskrat had succeeded and had gathered some dirt which was placed on the shell of a turtle, which grew into land which we call North America today. The Americas were later named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci. (Wiki).

 

   Never given any rights, the Natives were forced out of their homelands and to this day live in poverty on reservations, stripped of their dignity and rights, forced to live like prisoners in their own country. Their rich culture and spirituality was taken from them. Many treaties and promises were broken by the English, the only thing that they came through with was taking the land. The Natives never thought of the land as something that can be sold and bought. There is not even a native word in any Indian nation for buying and selling land. “What is this that you call property? It cannot be the earth, for the land is our Mother, nourishing all her children, beasts, birds, fish and all men. The woods, the streams, everything belongs to everybody and is for the use of all. How can one say it belongs to him?” (Massasoit).

 

The Trail of Tears took place in 1838 and lasted a full year throughout the removal Indian Nations the lived East of the Missouri River. This included the Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek and Seminole tribes. In total, five Indian nations were forced to leave the land that their ancestors had occupied and cultivated for generations. By foot, wagon and horse, the natives were forced to trugge across Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Missouri, Illinois and Arkansas. More than 15,000 Indians were forced to make this journey but, as many as one fourth died.  At the beginning of the 1830’s, nearly 125,000 Native Americans lived on this land, but by the end of the decade, very few Natives remained anywhere in the Southwestern United States. "The evil Sir, is enormous; the inevitable suffering incalculable. Do not strain the fair fame of the the country...Nations of dependant Indians, against their will, under color of law, are driven from their homes into the wilderness. You cannot explain it; you cannot reason it anyway...Our friends will view this measure with sorrow, and our enemies alone with joy. And we ourselves, Sir, when the interests and passions of the day are past, shall look back upon it, I fear, with self-reproach, and a regret as unavailing." (Representative Edward Everett).

 

Andrew Jackson’s Removal Act of 1830 forced all the Indian tribes east of the Missouri River to be evicted. The Cherokee people were the only tribe to take this act to court, in Georgia. They also were compliant with the Englishman's ways. They learned their language, followed their beliefs and their religion. They also dressed liked the white man and cut of their hair. To the natives, their hair is the most important and sacred thing. The only reason they would cut their hair would be if someone in their close family died or there was a horrible tragedy. The Cherokee were so willing and believed that the White Nation would honor their promises. When they took the case to court, because they did not represent a sovereign nation, the Supreme Court refused to hear their case. The Cherokee people were still forced out of their land by gunpoint. I have always believed that the Great Creator had a great design for my people, the Cherokees.

 

(History).

 

"I have been taught that from my childhood up to now in my mature manhood I recognize it as a great truth. Our forces have been dissipated by the external forces, perhaps it has been just a training, but we must now get together as a race and render our contribution to mankind. We are endowed with intelligence, we are industrialist, we are loyal and we are spiritual but we are overlooking the Cherokee mission on earth, for no man nor race is endowed with the qualifications without a designed purpose... Our Mixed-bloods should not be overlooked in this program of a racial awakening. Our pride in our ancestral heritage is our great incentive for handling something worthwhile to our prosperity. It is this pride in ancestry that makes men strong and loyal for their principle in life. It is this same pride that makes give up they're all for their Government."

 

--Redbird Smith, stated in early 1900.

 

(Grandfather of principal Chief Cherokee Nation, OK, Chadwick "Corntassel" Smith).

 

For a more modern look at the conditions of the Native American people just look at the many reservations in our country. About 22% of our countries 5.2 million Native Americans live on reservations. The living conditions on the reservations have been cited as comparable to third world conditions. Which is saying a lot for a first world country like America. Many households are overcrowded. Is not uncommon for three or more generations of families living in a two bedroom house. Many Native American Indians are living in substandard housing. Forty percent of on-reservation housing is considered inadequate. Over all, 28.2% of American Indians are living below the federal poverty rate. On reservations, the poverty level is now reaching 38% to 63%. That’s substantial. (nna_living condition).  “There are 90,000 homeless or underhoused Indian families, and 30% of Indian housing is overcrowded and less than 50% of it is connected to to a public server.” (March 8, 2004, Indian Country Today).

 

What a jolting vision to see that magnitude of poverty and despair.

 

Yampah Mountain High School offers a senior trip every year to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota,  through the non religious corporation Re-member. For a week, volunteers through Re-member and made bunk beds, outhouses and ramps for the native people on the reservation. Teens at Yampah go to Re-member for their senior project but also, in return learn so much more. Elders and traditionalists come to Re-member teach American history, about the rich culture spirituality Re-member’s whole mission is to educate the rest of the country about a real and serious problem happening and to help and make a difference. The Pine Ridge Reservation is the second poorest community in the country and this outreach effort is making great headway in changing the lives of the Pine Ridge People.

 

While at at Re-member, volunteers get to experience a crime scene at the Wounded Knee massacre and are informed by a traditionalist about what really happened to the Lakota people, this is interesting because what children are taught in schools today and from many historians perspectives is far from the truth. Many genocides were committed on American soil and this has been swept under the carpet. “Those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat.” (Edmund Burke). Also, volunteers get to hike to the Badlands, once a sacred haven for the Lakota people, who were running away from soldiers. Only they knew how to navigate through the canyons there. When volunteers arrive they are greeted by Grandmother and Grandfather atop the canyon, welcoming them and is encouraging them to rest and be safe.

 

Activities that are done through Re-member include  making parts of bunk-beds, sanding, and staining and then assembling them first hand in people's homes. Volunteers also assemble wheelchair ramps and out houses.The complexity of the Lakota people’s problems includes many variables, but the most significant impact on the Lakota People’s sustainability would be the influence of the Anglo race. The "town" White Clay that is located on the border of Nebraska and Pine Ridge. In White Clay there are only liquor stores, then you cross the border to Pine Ridge, South Dakota where alcohol is illegal but it is found everywhere. When the unemployment rate is at 98% there is not much to do. Also, there are far too few stores on the reservation and no grocery stores for miles with fresh produce or healthy foods meaning diabetes is out of control, and health system has no money thanks to the Tribal Counsel, they make sure that none of the money in the reservation is trickled back into the community. “Council shall be composed of councilmen chosen by secret ballot by qualified voters of the tribe. Each district of the reservation shall be entitled to representation on the Tribal Council according to population. All positions serve two year terms. Elections are not staggered, so all elections occur simultaneously. The Secretary, Treasure and Sgt-of-Arms will be selected through the Tribal Council” (tribal relations). This is just a glimpse of the power of the Tribal Council on the Pine Ridge Reservation and many others, since there is no federal laws involved on the reservations the Tribal Council makes the laws and choses where the money is spent, which is almost never the community. There is a Medical Center on the reservation, but the necessary resources and up to date medical supplies, are not handy. Many people are born on the reservation and die and the reservation. The closest Hospital is about two hours away, and the few stores that are located on the reservation have little to no medicine. Everyone is so poverty stricken, the circumstances that the Lakota people live in day to day is absolutely devastating. Seeing the way that the people live is very humbling, they are still so strong after everything they have gone through. They are examples of how we should try to better ourselves. They've lived through genocide and they're still so strong.

 

Native American Spirituality was not so much an organized religion like most we know today, but a way of daily life. Tobacco was and is still a big part of the Native American life. Residential use of tobacco has had a devastating effect on the caucasians just as alcohol has had devastating effects on the Native people. In Woodland Indian rituals especially, tobacco was used for religious observances, in ceremonies and also daily and personal use by both men and women, but ever children. The tobacco mixture was called Kinnickinnie is a Ojibwe word literally meaning what is mixed. Tobacco was mixed in with herbs and inner bark of certain Willow trees. The mixture varied from each region to the next. The final mixture only had about one third of tobacco. Tobacco was used for communication between humans and the spirit powers. The manidog, (spirits) are said to be very fond of tobacco and the only way they could get it was through the Indians either by being smoked out of a pipe or a dry tobacco offering. The natives offered tobacco to the water before canoeing for safe travels. Also, they gave offerings to the spirits for calm weather and bountiful crops. In places in nature like rivers, waterfalls, oddly shaped rocks and streams, any places there was believed to be spirits living, offerings were given. Dry tobacco offerings are left on graves for the departed spirits. The natives use to balance tobacco and other spiritual act into their everyday lives, but in present day circumstances theirs spirituality has been stripped away by Ango religions like Christianity. Alcohol, drugs and other substances have had devastating effects on all natives. And now all the old ways are gone from present-day Indians.

 

The Chief kept a sacred pipe for the whole tribe called a peace pipe.With this pipe, treaties were settled between tribes and between individuals.Tobacco was a universal language between the people. When asking a Elder for special knowledge, a offering of tobacco was given. When a shamen agreed to help someone, the taking of tobacco was a indication of acceptance. (nlm.nih).

 

The medicine wheel is also a big part of Native American culture. Otherwise known as the Sacred Hoop. It is cultivated by many tribes, but each have a unique perspective of the Medicine wheel but is widely known as the representation of the circle of life. It is always clockwise or in the direction of the sunrise. The Medicine wheel can be art, from paintings to leather circle, to a physical construction on the land. Each tribe interprets the medicine wheel differently. There is four colors on the wheel, red, yellow, white and black.  Yellow is the start of the wheel because are represents the beginning of life and birth. Fire is the element of this piece of the wheel, for the reason that this is the spark of life and the mental aspect of life and also the East. Representing new beginnings, yellow also is the element spring of nature. The next stage in life is childhood which is represented by the next color on the wheel, black. Black is the color representing the season of summer is the aspect of emotions. The perspective of this color is very heavy which is why it is down to earth, literally, the element of nature of the black part of the medicine wheel is earth. The red part of the medicine wheel represents the physical side of the aspects of life, also the west and the Indian people. The red represents Elders or adults but can also represent parenthood. The session of the year is fall and the element of nature is water. And to come to the end of the wheel is white. Representing elders and also death the season of the year is winder. Offering a very soft and cold feeling to this part of the sacred circle. (nlm.nih). This is the spiritual aspect of life. The spirits if the departed like, the wind, which is its element. North is the direction of the white part of the medicine circle. Which completes the circle, like the circle of life. From the earth we come from and to the earth we go when departed. There are many other meaning to the sacred circle, like ceremonial plants like tobacco, sweet grass, sage and cedar. It also can represent the nationalities of the world. The medicine wheel is something we all could apply to our lives in many ways. Balance is the key to life from nature to our busy life now. Everything must be approached with balance and care and we must recognize the diversity of life and its aspects. Each element is fragile by itself, but when together and complete, it is whole and strong. Just like a table, it will not not stand if one leg is missing, it needs all four legs to stand and be sturdy and strong. Everything living thing and every sturdy structure this concept applies to.

 

“Despite nearly-insurmountable conditions, few resources, and against unbelievable odds, the Indigenous people are struggling hard to overcome decades of of neglect , discrimination and forced destruction of their traditional cultures to promote a life of self-respect and self-sufficiency.” (A.I.L.F.). Although natives still live on reservations, many live in major cities and are free to live anywhere now in the United States. About one-third  to one-half of Native Americans live in cities now and about 60,000 of the natives are now in Los Angeles - Long Beach California. The old ways may have been lost by the bustling life of the the 21st century, this why it is left to the Elders on the reservations to Strengthen and the traditions.

 

New age native artists have merged aesthetics that blend with traditional with modern styles. In sculpture and painting, Native artists have gained reputation world-wide. Native Americans enjoy crafts and Indian art. They use traditional techniques and forms. They have found a reliable market through tourists and serious collectors. “Native North American culture in both the United States and Canada is a national treasure. It’s renewal is everyone's renewal.” (Native American Indians Today).   

 

When all is said and done, its up to us to give a voice to the voiceless. A voice that must be heard, and no longer silenced. For these people are the base of all humanity. Their blood is in the soil of the land and in all of us. “Their roots water us.” (Tara charlesworth). The time to act is now, there are so many untold stories that need to be heard and American History that is taught in our schools has only skimmed the top of the real story. The living conditions of Reservations in the United States are now some of the worse in the world, comparable to regions that are still developing. Just as many on the Reservation communities are in crisis, like the state of our world. As humanity searches for the solutions for the world's problems, it is so simple where we should be looking. The way that the Natives cultivated the the land and had so much respect for mother nature and all her creatures and for one another is how everyone should be living. The cause is not hopeless and desolate, there is many ways that all of us can make a difference. Re-member, located on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota is a great place to make a difference and is one of the places in the United States that needs it most.  “We improve the quality of the reservation life through relationships, shared resources and volunteer services” (Re-member). Relationships are important in any situation which need to be changed and improved, for it is the basic human action of negotiating adikating. After all, we are all just human and are all connected, in order to change we have to come together. Through this education and outreach, the next generation of anglos and Natives should be informed of the genocide that happened, and should be expected to participate in the redevelopment and rebuilding of our nation's history.