native americans' rights - unit 6

american indian movement (AIM)

• biggest advocate for rights!

  • focuses on applying existing laws and treaties to guarantee that national and state governments live up to their legal obligations

  *madonna thunder hawk is an activist with AIM

native american relief fund (NARF)

• helps to hold the government accountable

  • fight to protect native american rights, resources, and lifeways through taking legal action, advocacy, and expertise

  *non profit that focuses on applying existing laws and treaties to guarantee that national and state governments live up to their legal obligations

the trail of tears

• indian removal act (1830)

  • westward expansion forces native americans to move to the west

    • deadly route used by natives when force off their ancestral lands (displacement of 60,000 people)

  *considered ethnic cleansing by the government - genocide (though it was determined not genocide)

  • they faced disease, hunger, and exhaustion because of this

forced assimilation

• assimilate: become part of a society or group of people

  • today, many native americans have become more like mainstream americans

termination policy (1950s)

• many local tribes created reservations: sovereign-independent nations of america

indian citizenship act (1924)

• made all native americans US citizens (known as the synder act)

  • suffrage (right to vote) - not given to all native americans until 1954!

indian civil rights act of 1968

• congress passed it to make sure tribal governments respect basic rights of indians and non-indians.

  • has all of the elements of the bill of rights and 14th amendment, such as freedom of speech, religion, trial by jury, double jeopardy, bail and punishment

issues on reservations

• there are 326 reservations in the US today

  • there are multiple issues that native americans face living on reservations: 

    • lack of jobs and employment → high poverty

    • poor housing and conditions

    • health → massive alcoholism, diabetic, and obesity rate-health care

    • lack of running water

    • high high school dropout rate

    • lack of access to technology and wi-fi

  *the pandemic further worsened the digital divide with many families living in reservations with children going to underfunded, government schools, they are severely behind on education standards since many cannot afford wi-fi and digital devices

mascots

• mascots, names, and logos of native americans in sports teams, franchises, and schools across the country – initially meant to honor and give respect to native americans, but they interpreted it as a symbol of the racism and discrimination they faced

  • examples

    • schools: stanford (indians to a tree), dartmouth (indians to the color green to keggy the keg), university of illinois (chief illiniwek to a deer to the belted kingfisher)

      • though some schools kept their mascots, but made sure to have permission from local tribes like florida state (florida seminole) and the university of utah (utah utes)

    • sports teams: the commanders (football team initially the the washington redskins), the cleveland guardians (baseball team initially the cleveland indians – philip yenyo was vital in this change) 

the dakota access pipeline (DAPL)

• a pipeline nearly 1,200 miles long to transport crude oil across four states, from north dakota to a terminal in illinois, in where it can be shipped to refineries

  • trump signed executive order to keep construction of the pipeline going – but biden has allowed the pipeline to continue to stay open while environmental review takes place

  *transports oil through native american reservations but led to many leaks

philip yenyo

• native american activist - changing racist and discriminatory mascots

  • fought to change the chief wahoo mascot and cleveland indians team name

nathan phillips

*“uncle nate”

• native american activist - fighting the dakota access pipeline (DAPL) with the sioux tribe

  • participated in a movement against the DAPL

madonna thunder hawk

• a civil rights activist and leader with AIM

  • also worked for women’s issues in the native american community and fought against the DAPL

native americans’ issues today

• many reservation have poor conditions

  • lack of jobs and employment - high poverty

  • poor housing and conditions

  • health - massive alcoholism, diabetic, and obesity rate-health care

  • lack of running water

  • high high school dropout rate

  • lack of access to technology and wi-fi

• mascots in sports

  • initially meant to honor and give respect to native americans, but they interpreted it as a symbol of the racism and discrimination they faced

• violence against native american women

  • often kidnapped and sold into the sex trade or murdered

• underrepresentation in government

• the DAPL