Are Native Americans Considered Foreigners in America?

What you are about to read is something that has bothered me for a long time. This is a very deep subject to which many people seem to be blind to (due to member reactions of me calling for remembrance of Native Americans).

I am only relaying my personal experiences and research as well as my encounters from West Coast to East Coast. I cannot begin to tell you how frustrating it is to be in a college level American History course and see that Natives are just passed over and upon trying to bring it up have some White person tell me to shut up because they lost a war. It is that very attitude that makes my blood boil. How did things get this way?

A couple months back in my Social Psychology course part of an assignment was to participate in an Implicit Attitude Test (IAT from here on out) of my choice conducted by Project Implicit.

Here is some info about Project Implicit

Project Implicit was founded as a multi-university research collaboration in 1998 by three scientists - Tony Greenwald (University of Washington), Mahzarin Banaji (Harvard University), and Brian Nosek (University of Virginia), and was incorporated as a non-profit in 2001 to foster dissemination and application of implicit social cognition. Project Implicit supports a collaborative network of researchers interested in basic and applied research concerning thoughts and feelings that occur outside of conscious awareness or control. Project Implicit expanded into a substantial web-based infrastructure for supporting behavioral research and education that is available to other laboratories. Finally, Project Implicit provides consulting, education and training services on implicit bias, diversity and inclusion, leadership, applying science to practice, and innovation.

There is a diverse list of topics you can choose to participate in and if you are interested you can take your own at this link Project Implicit

I participated in an IAT concerning Native American - European American and what follows is my results of the test as well as a comparison with the results of everyone else who participated in this study.

From my results letting you know what the test was about

This test measures the association between the social group 'Native American' and the attribute 'American'. Inherent in the name of the group itself lies the information that Native Americans are the original inhabitants of the continent of North America. The history of the group in the United States is unique in that a native population has rarely experienced its fate in modern history. In testing this association we are prepared for the ironic possibility that Native Americans may not be as strongly associated with their own land as are the European-ancestry groups who displaced Native Americans from much of their original territory.

I was not shocked by my results at all (in the bottom 5%), but to see how 42% of others responded lets me know that something is deeply wrong here in America.

Thank you for your participation. Just below is a breakdown of the scores generated by others. Most respondents find it easier to associate White Am with American and Native Am with Foreign compared to the reverse.

Your Result
Your data suggest a strong association of White Am. with Foreign and Native Am. with American compared to Native Am. with Foreign and White Am. with American.

Here is a picture of proof of my results compared to the others who have participated.



A closer view of the statistics



These stats confirm my life experience in education growing up in the USA. My parents moved a lot trying to find better jobs to support the family and as such I went through 13 public schools growing up.

I cannot remember any time when we observed Native Americans and their plight. Yes I’ve had teachers that would admit it was cruel, inhumane and wrong, but my problem is why not recognized as many other days are reserved for?
To be honest there are many I never heard of and here is a link with a list.

Holidays in United States in 2013

Black History Month------ Check

Memorial Day ------ Check

Presidents Day------ Check

MLK Day ------ Check

Thanksgiving-------- Has nothing to do with Natives/ it is a celebration of harvest-------Check

Valentine’s Day-------Check

Etc. Etc……

I mean we do Remember what happened right?

To me it is like being slowly erased from the collective conscience to only be a myth.

Native Americans account for less than 2% of the population and that includes those of mixed decent!

Population
5.1 million
As of the 2011 American Community Survey, the nation's population of American Indians and Alaska Natives, including those of more than one race. They made up 1.6 percent of the total population. Of this total, about half were American Indian and Alaska Native only, and about half were American Indian and Alaska Native in combination with one or more other races.
Source: 2011 American Community Survey

So we account for a small percent of the population.

Health Risk Factors from “The Office of Minority Health”

Health: It is significant to note that American Indians/Alaska Natives frequently contend with issues that prevent them from receiving quality medical care. These issues include cultural barriers, geographic isolation, inadequate sewage disposal, and low income.

Some of the leading diseases and causes of death among AI/AN are heart disease, cancer, unintentional injuries (accidents), diabetes, and stroke. American Indians/Alaska Natives also have a high prevalence and risk factors for mental health and suicide, obesity, substance abuse, sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), teenage pregnancy, liver disease, and hepatitis.

Other Health Concerns: American Indians and Alaska Natives have an infant death rate 60 percent higher than the rate for Caucasians. AI/ANs are twice as likely to have diabetes as Caucasians. An example is the Pima of Arizona, who have one of the highest diabetes rates in the world. AI/ANs also have disproportionately high death rates from unintentional injuries and suicide. In 2010, the tuberculosis rate for AI/NAs was 5.8, as compared to 2.0 for the White population. The Office of Minority Health

This is an article I located on the American Psychological Associations website.

When it comes to health care, rural minority communities suffer from a double-whammy: They have many of the same concerns as urban communities, plus other problems--such as isolation and the absence of basic infrastructure--unique to rural areas. And of all rural minority groups, American Indians and Alaska Natives have perhaps been the hardest hit.

Suicide rates among young Indian men, for instance, are the highest of any demographic group in America, says Jamie Davis Hueston, PhD, a psychologist at the Indian Health Service (IHS). Many other behavioral health problems--from substance abuse and alcoholism to depression and anxiety--are widespread. And there is a severe shortage of American Indian psychologists and other mental health professionals available to meet those needs.

"We're really the most underrepresented minority group in psychology," says John Chaney, PhD, president of the Society of Indian Psychologists and director of the Indians into Psychology (INPSYCH) program at Oklahoma State University. APA

This next piece comes from my college textbook “Sociology in our times – 9th edition” by Diana Kendall.

Pg. 294-295
Europeans justified there aggression by stereotyping the Native Americans as “savages” and “heathens” (Takaki, 1993). After the Revolutionary War, the federal government offered treaties to the Native Americans so that more of their land could be acquired for the growin white population. Scholars note that the government broke treaty after treaty as it engaged in a policy of wholesale removal of indigenous nations in order to clear land for settlement by Anglo-Saxon “pioneers” (Green, 1977).

The “Trail of Tears” was one of the most disastrous of the forced migrations. In the coldest winter of 1832, over half of the Cherokee Nation died during or as a result of their forced relocation from the southeastern United States to the Indian Territory in Oklahoma (Thornton, 1984)

I would like to add before continuing with what my Sociology text was talking about that 57 years later the Oklahoma Land Rush took place where white settlers could just place a flag in the ground and claim it as their own.

From an article I found in the Cornell library database titled “THE RUSH TO OKLAHOMA” by William Willard Howard originally published in Harper's Weekly 33 (May 18, 1889): 391-94

This account is by a trained observer who was present on the day the territory was opened and who remained there for some time afterwards. It appeared less than a month later in the pages of Harper's Weekly and provides a vivid picture of what occurred. It documents the massive stupidity of federal policy with regard to the disposal of the public domain, but it scarcely more than hints at the tragic consequences to follow for the Indian tribes who had been forcibly relocated to Oklahoma under solumn promises that their land would be theirs forever.

In this way the train was loaded to its utmost capacity. That no one was killed or injured was due as much to the careful management of the train as to the ability of the passengers to take care of themselves. Like their friends in the wagons, the boomers on the cars were exultant with joy at the thought of at last entering into possession of the promised land. At first appearances of the land through which the train ran seemed to justify all the virtues that had been claimed for it.

"We're done for," said a town-site speculator, in dismay. "Some one has gone in ahead of us and laid out the town."

"Never mind that," shouted another town-site speculator, "but make a rush and get what you can."

Hardly had the train slackened its speed when the impatient boomers began to leap from the cars and run up the slope. Men jumped from the roofs of the moving cars at the risk of their lives. Some were so stunned by the fall that they could not get up for some minutes. The coaches were so crowded that many men were compelled to squeeze through the windows in order to get a fair start at the head of the crowd. Almost before the train had come to a standstill the cars were emptied. In their haste and eagerness, men fell over each other in heaps, others stumbled and fell headlong, while many ran forward so blindly and impetuously that it was not until they had passed the best of the town lots that they came to a realization of their actions.

I ran with the first of the crowd to get a good point of view from which to see the rush. When I had time to look about me I found that I was standing beside a tent, near which a man was leisurely chopping holes in the sod with a new axe.

"Where did you come from, that you have already pitched your tent?" I asked.

"Oh, I was here," said he.

"How was that?"

"Why, I was a deputy United States marshal."

"Did you resign?"

"No; I'm a deputy still."

"But it is not legal for a deputy United States marshal, or any one in the employ of the government, to take up a town lot in this manner."

"That may all be, stranger; but I've got two lots here, just the same; and about fifty other deputies have got lots in the same way. In fact, the deputy-marshals laid out the town."

Look at that early example of misuse of authority! I guess it has become common place in today’s society and we have got used to it as being normal…… Back to my Sociology text.

Native Americans were subjected to forced assimilation on the reservations after 1871 (Takaki, 1993). Native American children were placed in boarding schools by the Bureau of Indian Affairs to hasten their assimilation into the dominant culture. About 98% of Native lands had been expropriated by 1920 (see McDonnell, 1991). This process was aided by the Dawes Act (1887), which allowed the federal government to usurp Native American lands for the benefit of corporations and other non-native settlers who sought to turn a profit from oil and gas exploration and grazing.

While this info is in a college textbook, I can assure you that Native Americans received only 3 pages of actual text out of the total 676 pages. Kind of matches our population statistics….

Even though it is watered down and condensed it does go on to say

Data continue to show that Native Americans are the most disadvantaged racial or ethnic group in the United States, in terms of income, employment, housing, nutrition, and health. In 2009 nearly one-fourth (23.6%) of American Indians and Alaska Natives were in poverty. The life chances of Native Americans who live on reservations are especially limited. They have the highest rates of infant mortality and death by exposure and malnutrition. They also have high rates of suicide, substance abuse, and school violence (CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 2011).

I brought up in another thread (Do you remember...? **memorial day**,) why is there no dedicated day of remembrance for the people whose land was taken?

Some responses were that there were lots of Natives who fought and died in the US Military Wars.

I can only wonder if that in their eyes is what they seen as a way out of the Reservation. Kind of like people that live in a small town join the military to get out of wherever they were at. Maybe it was the forced assimilation and indoctrination into the Anglo Saxon society. There could be some correlation.

What saddens my mind is that they would end up in other countries participating in what had once happened to their own family members.

Here is Native American Participation in the Wars by the number according to US Department of Veterans Affairs.

About 12,000 American Indians served during WW I.

More than 44,000 American Indians served in the military from 1941 to 1945, including 800 women.

More than 10,000 American Indians served during the Korean War.

More than 42,000 American Indians served in the Armed Forces between 1965 and 1975.

During the Gulf War2, more than 3,000 American Indians served in the Gulf region.

The latest data from the Department of Defense (July 2005) show that more than 24,000 among 1.4 million active duty military are American Indians, including nearly 3,900 women.

24,000 divided by 1.4 million equals 0.017%. That is but a meniscal fraction of the US Military.

So again I am wondering when there will be some sort of set in stone day of remembrance for Native Americans.
I have searched and this is what I have found. From the US Army Website

On Aug. 3, 1990, President George H. W. Bush declared the month of November as National American Indian Heritage Month.

I got out of high school in 2000. In those ten years I cannot recall one instance of this policy. Does can any member reading this recall any such experience in the US Public Education System?

Then to confuse the subject further from the Whitehouse website in 2010 came Presidential Proclamation--National Native American Heritage Month to which Mr. President Obama said

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2010 as National Native American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to commemorate this month with appropriate programs and activities, and to celebrate November 26, 2010, as Native American Heritage Day.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.
BARACK OBAMA

Once again look back at the last two Thanksgiving Day celebrations; do you remember the media calling them Native American Heritage Day?

There has been a declaration and a proclamation, yet can you remember seeing this in the American society?

In conclusion I leave you to ponder on my original concern and that is that Native Americans are viewed as foreigners in their own land. I have shown you stats and statistics, scholarly information, official websites, Presidential Declarations and Proclamations.

If attitudes do not change it does not look good statistically speaking. Will you remember the plight of Native Americans?

This land was taken and if not careful will be taken again. By force or legislation!

S&F for you Sir

I'm not American and don't know the history too well. But I understand what your getting at.

S's and Flag, good thread...

Although, from what I know a lot of the land was "sold" to the colonists, not that it was really fair bargaining to begin with.

What happened to Native Americans is a good example of what would happen if we found alien races less technologically advanced than us. Europeans really destroyed the lives, the freedom and culture that the American natives had, from north to south.

It might not be my fault directly but in an other way, for a white Canadian man like me, it's a shameful heritage.

reply to post by IntrinsicMotivation


Thanks for that thread IM it is really interesting but actually really sad.

The Australian Aboriginals have suffered a not disimilar fate, although they are a different people.
My thoughts are that native people are destroyed by the corporate greed - of what ever era.

I mean Europeans [ English I guess initially ] fled England / Europe - because of religious persecution and then for business opportunities and for a better life. Many were sent as convicts [ deported] and as indentured servants.

I am not making excuses but I do not think they deliberately set out to clash with the native people - In fact I thought in Jamestown there was evidence to show they collaborated initially with each other ?

The population growth / immigration to the land of America - just increased and increased - leading to tensions and competition. The settlers many of them were often led or influenced by people with profit on their mind - you know the type of people who would shoot their own grandmother for a buck. [ especially in the late 1800s]

They killed the buffalo and wolf and many of the creatures - they wanted to build a second London - smelly and crowded - they did it too [ NY].

I do not think The English or Europeans were originally like this - after all they are composed of native people too.

The people who populated North west Europe 12000 years ago would have been very similar life style wise to the American Indians - they were tribal and nomadic.

Even 2000 years ago the English were living in tribes - with many of the old ways still surviving - IMO opinion everything changed with the invasion of the Romans [ they did a similar thing to Europe / England in terms of invaded as rulers - they destroyed many of the old ways and built stone roads and towns.]

I wish we did not have this schism in the human species but we do and they have infected every land.

The question is - what can we do now ?




Th

Originally posted by theMediator
S's and Flag, good thread...

Although, from what I know a lot of the land was "sold" to the colonists, not that it was really fair bargaining to begin with.

What happened to Native Americans is a good example of what would happen if we found alien races less technologically advanced than us. Europeans really destroyed the lives, the freedom and culture that the American natives had, from north to south.

It might not be my fault directly but in an other way, for a white Canadian man like me, it's a shameful heritage.

Thanks for the response. I know you did not cause this directly and I am not trying to cast blame on any member here.

Can this not be compared to what the US military has been doing overseas in some aspects?

If we do not remember the past are we not doomed to repeat it?

reply to post by HelenConway


You are welcome for the IM. I am a man of my word.

I agree it was a shame what happened to the The Australian Aboriginals (not the European prisoners sent there).

I took a Humanities Mythology course and it was a shame to see how things changed in North West Europe, concerning original beliefs, once under Roman Rule.

Writings such as the Prose Edda by Snorri Sturlson were able to preserve some of the Norse mythology, but he had to write it from the perspective of being inferior to Christianity, or suffer being snatched from his home and killed publicly for his writings.

The Indian People were not given citizenship until 1927... At that time there were only 200,000 of them in the population, from an estimated 8,000,000 when white Europeans first came to the what became the USA.

reply to post by IntrinsicMotivation


The simple answer to this conundrum is that the Brittish convinced many of the natives to fight along side them.

The white man just did not come and simply dominate and take over.

reply to post by IntrinsicMotivationIn a Canadian context I would suggest that they are not regarded as 'foreign', but too often as 'other.'

Originally posted by IntrinsicMotivation
reply to post by HelenConway

 

You are welcome for the IM. I am a man of my word.

I agree it was a shame what happened to the The Australian Aboriginals (not the European prisoners sent there).
.

Yea well organised religion was another thing introduced about 450 years after the Romans invaded Britain.
Implemented as a great tool - run from Rome to control the people.

I would like to say that you cannot have selective compassion - it should be there for all or it is not there.

If you have an open heart IMO you cannot discriminate between men or even fail to feel compassion for the animals.

The English who were sent to Australia - have my complete compassion, they did not chose to be shipped to a foreign land for stealing a loaf of bread or killing a rabbit because they were hungry.

Many many of them died in prisons in NSW and Tasmania .. they did not want to leave their homes and families.

Originally posted by txinfidel
reply to post by IntrinsicMotivation

 

The simple answer to this conundrum is that the Brittish convinced many of the natives to fight along side them.

The white man just did not come and simply dominate and take over.

Your response is in line with the white people I mentioned in the op.

“Be Quiet Native American! You Lost The War!”

Their land was invaded and they sought out help, can you blame them?

One man’s terrorist is another man’s Freedom Fighter.

How will you feel when you find yourself in Native American shoes?

Let’s be real……

Native Americans helped the new immigrants from Europe survive in this land. Eventually those same immigrants would cause genocide to Natives and almost erase them from the books. Then not much later those same immigrants would treat their own people with disgust as they came over on the boats to America.

Land of the free home of the brave...

Past tense; when considering native tribes who shared the land that no one owned.

Do they like turkey on a day they try to forget?
Turkey helps us fall back asleep, comfort food?

reply to post by IntrinsicMotivation

This land was taken and if not careful will be taken again. By force or legislation!

S&F. Well done, IM.

But I would argue with your point that we should be careful or it will be taken? Has it not already been taken? How much of America is not mortgaged to the hilt to the bankers or outright owned by the federal government? Who owns the mineral rights? The people own nothing but paper and ink. And bills.

Maybe we're all Indians now. Only we have no timeless traditions or a true understanding of our own history.

reply to post by IntrinsicMotivation


Well I am white, not that it should matter but bravo!

Anyways deny history all you want, but there were tribes that sided with the Brits and other tribes that sided with the patriots and some stayed neutral.

reply to post by IntrinsicMotivation

More and more evidence is being found that is showing that "Native Americans" are not and were not the first to this region. I would argue that where in time do we draw the line 10k or 20k years ago? For example Kennewick Man reported to be Caucasian as well as others in the SW. Even how the first people got here is in doubt now.

Who Were The First Americans?



My state also recognizes Columbus Day as Native American Day....

Originally posted by ParanoidAmerican
For example Kennewick Man reported to be Caucasian as well as others in the SW. Even how the first people got here is in doubt now.

Who Were The First Americans?

That report is 10 years old. This subject changes daily. If you're going to challenge the status quo, best stay current.

Originally posted by txinfidel
reply to post by IntrinsicMotivation

 

The simple answer to this conundrum is that the Brittish convinced many of the natives to fight along side them.

The white man just did not come and simply dominate and take over.

That is not true - it is much more complex then that.
There WERE forced relocations leading to many deaths.
There WERE the Indian wars.
The British were fighting the 'American Britons' and others in the era you are talking about - th e time of the 13 colonies