Race and Ethnicity

1. Race and Ethnicity The Oppression of an Indigenous People By: Jeff Gray SOC 2630-042

2. Reflection Regardless of social stature in the world around us, there will always be issues of race and ethnicity, and with the world’s population on the rise, the migration of civilizations throughout the world introduce many new cultures into societies which know little or nothing about them. Not only does cultural assimilation occur, racial transformation becomes an issue of countries which social status and separation has become widely accepted, making a cultural change unpalatable to those who see themselves as the dominating population. With such issues, there comes ignorance and narcissistic beliefs which numerous misconceptions have been developed making it difficult for social acceptance and mere survival. For people of a dominating group (the majority) there is a fear of losing their status in the social and cultural ladder to subordinate groups. Because of stratification in many cultures, beliefs which are seen as different or misunderstood to what has already been established are shunned, however it isn’t just certain beliefs which such racism targets, it is also a physical appearance which contributes to certain actions and stereotypes from dominating races towards others, creating prejudices which are meant to keep the minority from socially progressing. In actuality all the minority people are seeking is acceptance into society in combination of equal and just treatment towards their race/s. These issues are not only found in immigrant groups, but in aboriginal groups as well. Take Native Americans for example, these people are indigenous to North America, yet they have been oppressed by a society and government which has labeled them as savages, or uncivilized. In our current times, there are still many issues which Native Americans face; such as quality of education, employment, and even issues of an unwillingness or lack of concern to learn their cultural beliefs and native languages by younger generations, which in turn will eventually lead to the loss of numerous cultures. Issues of race and ethnicity are not localized to a certain area; these issues are found throughout the globe in areas where if skin color isn’t different, religious beliefs are. For example, not too long ago in the 20th century, an individual persecuted millions of people because of their religion. In 2003 it was speculated that deaths into the hundreds of thousands occurred due to ethnic differences between Arabs and non-Arabs. In both of these situations, the skin color was the same or similar, however their religious and ethnic beliefs were different. Such conflicts (regardless of the severity) brought upon those who are seen as different, or their beliefs are seen as “socially unacceptable”, have an impact on the progression and recession of being socially accepted; it is an issue which will not dissolve anytime soon; however there are some within the social hierarchy that are becoming more aware of such issues and seeing them as what they are, discriminative injustices brought upon societies different than that of the dominating culture within the population of certain countries, regions, or areas. But this alone is not enough, as long as diversity is great, the opinions and practices of both the socially accepted and ethnically deprived will continue to create barriers towards progressing in a direction of what would be considered to be socially acceptable and content with who we are in relation to others while fully accepting the many different ethnicities, races, and cultural beliefs.

3. Out of Site, Out of Mind • Reservation lands designated by the Federal Government and NOT the many tribes. • Locations were/are economically less desirable • Ask yourself if this is coincidental or a plot to further destroy indigenous races in America. • Lack of resources and survival in areas remotely located are difficult and pose issues of health, as well as difficulties in improving the land, education, and economy. Background Photo: Cibuque, Fort Apache Reservation Settlement March 6, 2005 Author: Phillip Capper Source: Wikimedia Commons

4. Education Barriers • According to the American Indian Education Foundation, only 17% of Native American High School graduates begin college. • 1995 the OIE (Office of Indian Education) was nearly extinguished by congress and their attempts for budget cuts. • Not only is the government posing issues with education, geographical factors also play roles in who attends the public schools. There are instances in today’s society, where Native American children have to travel vast distances for an education, simply because their homes are remotely located. Navajo Boy on Horse in Monument Valley Arizona –May 2007-Source:WikimediaCommons-Author-PRA

5. Health Issues • Diabetes • Cancer • Alcoholism • Heart Disease Besides a lack of health insurance, like education issues, many people have to travel distances to receive below average health care. An Article by Rowland Keshena states that the IHS is “understaffed and ill-equipped”. This issue brings a barrier of receiving adequate health care to reservations quite difficult and a challenge which in many ways is being overlooked by the United States Government. The health concerns listed above may sound very familiar, however in communities that suffer from higher poverty rates and inadequate services due to being underfunded and poorly located are magnified greatly. Unfortunately this is a concern many Americans are unaware of or simply don’t care to learn about.

6. Overcoming Economic Barriers • Many Tribal lands have started casinos, though not as many are as grand as the one portrayed in the background, they provide more jobs and sources of revenue. Employment at these casinos are diverse, it isn’t just Native Americans and tribal members employed at these casinos, in many cases there are non tribal people employed due to a lack of population on the reservations. • Gaming establishments do not necessarily bring large amounts of revenue to some tribes. • Negative outcomes to casinos on tribal lands include a 10% increase of crimes, bankruptcy, auto thefts, and larceny (Evans and Topoleski , 2002). • Other means for revenue can be found in large scale renewable energy farms. Unfortunately resources such as wind is not constantly available, due to geographic locations of some tribal lands.

7. Despite economic revenues, 2007 depicts higher unemployment for Native Americans versus other races in the United States.

8. Summarization • Assimilation by education • Current Struggles within the Indian Nations of America • Ignorance of the American Public and the lack of concern within the government could result in the extinction of some nations within this nation. • Many tribes are becoming economically sound, while others are struggling to survive. • Many Native Americans live in suburban areas, however those that still reside on reservations face numerous dilemmas

9. Sources and Further Readings http://www.naihc.net/ http://www.nrcprograms.org/site/PageServer?pagename=aief_hist_newmillenium http://americanindianhealth.nlm.nih.gov/index.html http://www.lenapeprograms.info/Today/present_day.htm http://www.american-indians.net/today.htm http://revolutionaryfrontlines.wordpress.com/2010/03/25/native-americans-in-the-us-today-oppressed-and-ignored/ http://www.spotlightonpoverty.org/ExclusiveCommentary.aspx?id=0fe5c04e-fdbf-4718-980c-0373ba823da7 http://www2.nau.edu/~jar/INAR.html http://www.efc9.org/projects2011/tribalProjects/downloads/TribalEnergyFinance_Final3_.pdf