The Indian Issue

During our last class meeting, we discussed the history of Native American reservations, when and why they were established, and how they have changed throughout the years. As settlers in America moved West beginning in the 1850s, they began having issues with the natives of the region over natural resources. The settlers considered the natives savage, almost inhuman creatures and as a result, President Ulysses S. Grant instituted the “Peace Policy” in the late 1960s. The policy relocated the Indians to reservations where they were “civilized” and taught Christianity. And although the policy was meant to help the Indians by readying them for citizenship, it did more harm than good. This is because the Indians did not want to leave their homeland. They were forced onto reservations where the conditions were poor despite the stipends that the tribes received. Since they were away from their homeland, the Native Americans also experienced a sense of loss, a disconnection, that was compounded by the fact that they were unable to practice many of their age old rituals and cultural traditions. As a result, many of the Indians attempted to flee the reservations and this led to wars between them and the settlers, which resulted in utter devastation. The most infamous of these wars are the Sioux Wars on the northern Great Plains, which killed hundreds and hundreds of Indian men, women, and children.
In all, the Native American wars killed thousands upon thousands of Indians and those who weren't killed were still subject to hardship. The severity of this great tragedy is revealed not only in the numbers but also through its lasting effects, which can still be seen on modern Indian reservations and in the Indian community in general. The current state of most reservations do not show improvement as poverty, alcoholism, and unemployment are rampant throughout them. As the Indians are desperate for money, they also have resorted to building casinos to generate revenue. In addition, the Indians have lost many aspects of their culture and rarely practice the rituals and traditions that distinguish them from other tribes and peoples. And these are just a few of the effects of the great devastation. One could go on and on.
As a result, although we are not directly responsible for the tragedy, our ancestors were, and so I believe that it is our generation's duty to help the Native Americans in any way possible. I realize the state of our current economy is poor and I understand that our government cannot afford to give large sums of money to the reservations. However, there must be something we and our government can do. We must not merely discuss why and how the great devastation happened. The psychology of why it happened and what justification the settlers felt they had in relocating the Native Americans to reservations far away from their natural landscape and entirely altering their way of life is worthy of discussion. However, exploring the reason for the devastation is not what will help the Indians now. Rather, we should establish government committees and local organizations that will focus on the question of how to solve the problem because that is the only thing which will help the Indians now. Although we cannot take back what our ancestors did to the Native Americans, we have the capacity to help the tribes financially and we should. It is the least we can do.