What do u think about native americans? (high school, gated)

[montanahogrider]

And Just for your info Mr. Drover, The Native American tribes in Montana such as the Crow and the Blackfeet and Flathead have been trying for years to attract some industry such as manufacturing to their reservations that would pay a living wage job as long as I can remember. And I'm 52 years old. They have been offering tax incentives and prime land and services to some small sucess.

[jimj]

Originally Posted by montanahogrider

And Just for your info Mr. Drover, The Native American tribes in Montana such as the Crow and the Blackfeet and Flathead have been trying for years to attract some industry such as manufacturing to their reservations that would pay a living wage job as long as I can remember. And I'm 52 years old. They have been offering tax incentives and prime land and services to some small sucess.

Not to mention they have some of the best rated schools in the state.
I don't believe you can have a seperate nation inside a nation and ever be successful, especially when you depend on the "largess" of the host nation. I guess the next thing I will see is "many years ago there were treaties made and not honored" and while this is very true from what I can see they never will be so what to do? Keep banging ones head against a wall for eternity or say ok, I'll show them and do it myself....
Many different cultures have come here, many by choice and some not but their culture has survived. Take the chinese for example who were brought here for the railroad. It seems their culture has survived ok.
I think we also need to drop this xxxx American lable because it is divisive. We are all americans no matter where we came from and should all be pulling for this nation to prosper instead of dividing it by labeling people.
Yes, there are black people here as well as indian,chinese,hindu,japanese etc. but the key is we are all americans!
I don't think that the reservations should be taken but I do think the seperate government and "nation" status needs to end. There is no reason that I can see that the people in these areas can't be productive just like everyone else, everyone has the same shot at education, the same opportunity to go for a job as everyone else or start a business. Is there racisim? Sure, it still exists but indians aren't the only ones to feel it's sting and if others can rise above it so can they.

[Drover]

Originally Posted by montanahogrider

I'm not so sure that assimilating the Native Americans in the rest of America would cause them to lose their culture. Norwegians, Scottish, Irish, and Germans still have places in America that their culture is practiced.

Here's the difference: Those of Norwegian, Scottish, Irish and German heritage have a reference point elsewhere as a continual source of their cultural instruction and information. And for what it's worth, these ethnicities in America are now enough generations away from their origins that they have taken on uniquely American forms that persons from the source countries don't really recognize it as their own. People from Ireland are baffled that we've turned St. Patrick's Day into a celebration and giant drinking party. A Scot would hardly recognize his cultural counterparts in Appalachians as members of his own people. My German colleague pointed out to me that what we consider German culture is actually Bavarian culture, and a stereotyped version of it at that, which ignores the other 3/4ths of German culture. Norwegian culture in America nowadays consists of putting wooden trolls in your front yard.

This is how far these cultures have strayed from their origins even with those origins still intact elsewhere for reference. Imagine how well Indian tribal cultures will fare when their only remaining grounded reference points are eliminated.

[A Neighbor]

Have all the reservations in America worked? They are not doing very well here in MT. I grew up on one and live 20 miles from another. They have, since their beginnings been plagued by greed from within their own population and because of this have always had problems with poverty, crime and social dependence upon the federal government. Sadly heritage is lost not because of a change of arena, but a personnel lack of desire to want to know where you came from. I know that I have a lot of respect for elders in the Crow tribe. I have treated them with respect and taken the time to understand the culture and traditions. This is not to say that I am a wanna be, but someone who took the time to learn and understand. I also have many friends who are native but I do not think of them in that manner, I think of them as an individual who has earned my respect by how they have acted. Everyone should be judged on their merits to society, not their race and not their ancestors actions.

[MontanaGuy]

The history of Europeans who moved into North America and displaced the native people who already lived there is one of the worst examples of two groups of human beings who interacted and everything went wrong. In the twenty first century I don't see much point in trying to blame each other for what happened in the 1800's. What's really important is planning for a better future. Someone mentioned on an earlier post that it's important to become a part of American society instead of remaining an outsider and I agree. As an American with Irish ancestry I'm similar to most Americans whose heritage is from a foreign country and the last few generations of my family have identified as Americans as opposed to Irish. I think that the reservations probably intensify the us versus them mentality and the feeling of hopelessness. I realize that native Americans need to value their heritage and ancestry like anyone else but I think it's more important to become part of American culture and contribute their skills and uniqueness like every other ethnic and cultural group. The idea of the reservation is at least a century old and it's a constant reminder of the misery of the past.

[DanielRead]

The Confederated Tribes of the Flathead Indian Nation are an example of what reservation should be like, they are doing very well, I think so anyways.

[DanielRead]

The Salish-Pend d'Oreille Culture seeks to preserve, protect, and perpetuate the living culture and traditional ways of life of thier people. The Salish-Pend d'Oreille Culture cherish the gifts passed down to them from thier traditional elders, and they treasure the hope and promise embodied in thier young people. The elders continue to give them guidance, and thier hearts are grateful for their wisdom., their dreams and vision, their knowledge, their songs and words. thier elders, and thier ancestors before them, received these gifts from the Creator, from Mother Earth, from the Grandfather; and it was and is their prayer that these things be carried on by the generations to come. they have always encouraged them to never give up, to keep living thier culture, to keep practicing thier ways. Their prayers are being answered in thier lives, in thier working to carry on thier ways, in passing these things onto thier young people. Thier native language, Thier traditional values of respect for all life, thier knowledge of how to live upon the land, thier nurturing and healing of one another as members of a tribe.

[A Neighbor]

Okay DanielRead, I will say now that I agree with your latest post. This is the type of tradition that I grew up with respect for. But I will always say that the reservation and the control by another government that comes with it has outlived it's usefulness. One set of rules or laws for everyone to abide by would eliminate a lot of hate, confusion and rudeness that is currently experienced by some, not all, people on both sides. Some of the things that I think (my own opinion based on my experience) might come out of doing away with reservations would be a greater appreciation for the land that tribal members own but under current rules are not allowed to do what they want with it. Elimination of having 20 or 30 different owners of a 1acre parcel of land. Being able to attract more business, because of not having to deal with different laws from what they are used to dealing with. Before you call me ignorant again, I would like for you two see my side of the story too.

[georgiainwyo]

Boy, there is a lot of information and comments to absorb in this thread! Getting into conversations about American Indians, both today and historically, could, and may, result in this thread going on forever! I'm not saying that is bad, I'm just saying there is so much to learn and so much to discuss. I am a "European American", so to speak, as my grandparents came to the U.S. in the 1910's from Czech. and Holland. I was raised in Wyoming and have lived several years in Montana, always near reservations. However, I "didn't know squat" about American Indians until this past year when I volunteered to be trained as an Indian Education for All trainer for educators here in Montana. Our training was intense and packed full of information, presentations by members of tribes, research, and more. But it was just the tip of the iceberg. Our concentration was on the 7 Montana reservations and their tribes. We had time to barely touch on tribes and history outside of Montana. I learned so much, and misperceptions I had had all my life were clarified. Our job as trainers is to go into schools and present to teachers resources that are available so that they may learn more and have resources to teach their students about this broad subject. We certainly don't claim to have all the answers and definitely don't know it all. I could go on and on here, but the bottom line is that I want to say that most Americans know very little about the history, current situations, or the future of the American Indian population. If anyone is interested in finding out about these resources please feel free to let me know and I'd happily share them with you. Thanks for your interest!

[jimj]

Neighbor, good thoughts...And to expand on that I wonder if it would be possible to take the reservations and subdivide them equally between the residents except for a city core, incorporate it with the current residents serving as the first city government and having elections after that. I would think the BIA should purchase all the infrastructure to set it up from city offices to fire trucks and set up the first pot of money for the budget and then desolved. I would think that being in control of their new city which would be a turn key operation would accomplish quite a few good things. Everyone in the city would then be in control of their own destiny but still a viable member of the U.S. to grow and prosper. No one could argue about handouts or being left out or shafted. Kind of a rebuilding effort similar to what was done with Germany or Japan after it was destroyed.