The main big idea I learned about current Native American issues in this chapter is that they have gained a lot more respect and recognition nationwide. I loved the story about the town in the Philippines changing its name, so the tags could say made in Zuni. The government respects them more, Americans in general understand them and have started to join in their religious practices, which I’m not sure how I feel about that. After the seventies I feel like there was a big turn around.
I was surprised but happy that the government was giving money to tribes for lost land. The thing that surprised me the most was the amount of money that they gave them. Just imagine how much money the government would have if they had treated the Native Americans differently 300 years ago. I mean they gave one tribe alone over 80 million dollars.
I’m still split between whether casinos are a good thing or a bad thing for reservations. They bring in money, but not a lot of money, and they can arguably take away from traditional Native American culture and religion. How do you guys feel about them? Are they good or bad?
This reading was disappointing. I know yesterday I was praising Jake Page for finally putting positive events, but its reached a point where it is too much. I know as a fact that not all Indians are as successful as the Pequot or the Aguascalientes, I wanted to here about struggles Indians face today. How do casinos negatively affect the Indians? Situations were the mafia did or still does (?) take advantages of Indians? Is alcoholism still an issue? Which reservations suffer the worst economic problems and why? What are possible solutions?
Although I am criticizing Jake Page with all these unanswered questions, do not get me wrong I very much appreciated the happy stories he did give us. The most fascinating was that of the Pequot. Its such a miraculous thing that a group of Indians were able to connect with one person from their distant past and rebuild their culture...the idea of that is wonderful. It also greatly helps the story that the ended up making a lot of money and with that they were almost able to recruit Pequot around the world!!! It makes me very interested in my heritage...if I were to ever figure out I would want to honor them _________________ Melipe Fatho
I actually disagree with Felipe. I liked that Page talked about how things were getting better for the Native Americans. This whole book has been very depressing, and I like that Page is showing that there is some hope for the Native Americans. Also, Page still talked about instances when the Native Americans were not treated right or how their culture was being disrupted, at least in the section that I read.
On page 407 Page writes: “The momentum is shifting. The question now is not so much whether the Indians will ever assimilate into American society…They are learning to take what they want from American society without giving up their own identity.” This quote made me really happy, because for so long the Native Americans had been pressured to assimilate into American society and give up their own culture. But now they are learning to balance being both Native Americans and also part of American society, and I think the U.S. is starting to leave more room for them to be themselves.
In the section I read (group 2), the most interesting part for me was when Page writes: “Most traditional Indian people in fact do not make a distinction between religion and, say, politics or economics or even gambling” (424). I think it’s really interesting that Native Americans think this way. This goes back to what we talked about at the beginning of the class, how in Native American culture, everything is tied to tradition and ancestry and personal stories. I think it’s amazing that everything they do has a deeper meaning and religious aspect, and I also think it’s amazing that they have held on to this way of seeing the world despite white people trying to crush their culture.
Although Native American’s are able to have their own identity and govern themselves more, do you think much has really changed? Or does the U.S. still have ultimate control?
Monsieur Page said that "the question is becoming, how soon will the American public be able to accommodate in its capacious cultural and political body the existence of more than three hundred separate, independent, culturally unique, and determined entities called Indian nations?" (407).
.... Do you guys think this is true? We are living in this day in age, and for the most part (looking back to the first day of class) all we mostly knew about Indians was the stereotypes. I don't feel like Native Americans are a huge part of life today that is forcing the rest of the American population to adapt to their needs. Yes, there has been progress from the disregard of treaties, and massacres of innocent tribes, and that kind of thing, but to me that quote seemed like a WAY over exaggeration. What do y'all think?
It has been nice to hear about the positive impacts that the US government, and modern society has had on Natives. Even though 80 Million dollars does seem like a lot, and the people who are giving out this money to repay the Natives for their land, I do not think any amount of money could help fix what has been done in the past. That being said, money certainly can be beneficial, but how much is enough help fix what pas Americans have done?
It was nice to have a break from the more depressing subjects, and even thought there still are many undeveloped reservations out there it was good to hear about some that had made the best of things and were now thriving. It would be great if there was something in various Indian constitutions about drinking. Getting off their awful addiction would be a good place to start building a community and rebuild your culture. Casinos, although they did in someways seem to take away from some cultural aspects, seemed to benefit the natives as well. Unless they were to receive continuous government aid or something, I think Casinos is a good legitimate source of income for Indians.
If you believe casinos on reservations are bad, what might be a good source of income instead?
I liked the part in the beginning where, as there was the protest against Columbus day in 1992, the one Sioux man decided to declare it a celebration for the Indian culture that had survived. I think that when you are fighting against a certain cause, you can become so blinded by the hatred and oppression that you forget to find a cause that you think is worth standing for. Without a positive stand on the issue, there is no way for you to spread awareness and move forward. Sorry if that sounds unrealistically optimistic, like if we just spread positive energy, we'll change things, I'm not just saying that, though it could be partially true.
To answer Maggie's question, I didn't really like the idea of the casinos. It might be because they kinda wig me out anyway, but I felt like they were just one of the only options for the Native Americans to keep making enough money. It was, of course, a really smart way to make money, but I didn't like the idea of them having to use casinos, which have become such a large part of modern American culture, to keep their own culture alive.
Do you think that it would be possible for Native American culture to survive as it always did without having to use aspects of this modern day American culture?
To answer Abby's question, I think that using some aspects of American culture worked in their favor. I think there was no way of getting around American culture, so, as Page states, they learned to adapt it, and take from it what they were able to apply to their own culture and traditions.
Since no one has brought up the second part of the reading yet...I will! So in 1990 there was the Act called the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA). This was another positive step for Native Americans. The purpose of this act was to make sure that all sacred artifacts and things deemed culturally important were to be returned to the tribe. This meant that museums such as the Smithsonian had to return various artifacts and remains to their tribes. It also meant that any graves or archeological sites encountered had to be cleared by federally recognized Native American tribes. Page states that for the Native Americans this is "a landmark recognition of their cultural integrity". It certainly seemed like it to me. For once the Native Americans' culture was being seriously considered as something of legitimacy and importance. I personally thought that NAGPRA had a good effect on Native Americans. Anyone agree or disagree?
The NAGPRA section reminds me, this section had one of the best introductions in the entire book -- The Kennewick man, or Patrick Stewart? I thought that was really funny. Anyway, it reminded me of the conversation we had in class about the Kennewick man and the right to ancestral remains, and where the line should be drawn between respecting Indians sacred land and respecting federal law.
Some of the overarching issues were how exactly ancestral remains were identified and connected to a certain tribe, with some main problems being where exactly the remains are discovered and of course whether or not the tribe is federally recognized.
My question is, what do you guys think is so important about the Kennewick man that provoked the dispute over who owns the remains?
Also, I thought the part that talks about the U.S interfering with native religion, specifically peyote and its ritual practice. Even today, there is a lot of controversy over how church and state overlap and work together, so if you wanna check that part out, some of it is on page 432 and it makes for a great discussion.
Posted: Wed Apr 28, 2010 10:02 am Post subject: group 2
This reading caught me in parts. The Patrick Stewart ancient man debate was thought-provoking, but the part I'd like to mention was when Page brings up how whites and Native Americans categorize things differently, like religious icons and practices. I thought it was really interesting that "Most traditional in fact do not make a distinction between religion and, say, politics or economics or even gambling." I find that intriguing.
(Also, lol at there being an organization called NARF. Pinky and the Brain was an awesome show.)
My question is kind of a spin-off of Mac's. how do you think the population of Native Americans feel about their or their fellows' involvement in casinos? Do they interpret it as a way to retain their culture while making money or solely a money-making scheme that undermines their heritage?
I absolutely love the fact that many Native Americans own and operate their own casinos. I think it is perfect karmic justice that the once oppressed, become the big guys who capitalize on the stupidity of the oppressors. This debate over casinos is relevant in Massachusetts right now. Deval Patrick wants to allow gambling in the state which could prove very profitable, but there is always the risk of drawing in shady people, and when I say shady, I mean drug dealing, prostitution promoting people, which is never that great.
I was confused by the fact that Indians profited a million dollars a day from the casinos, yet individually earned less than three thousand dollars annually. How does that happen?
Hi guys,
I was in group one and I definetly agree with Felipe. I think that the profits Indians are now gaining from casinos is obviously great (I like steves explination of the casino karma) but I feel like I'm only getting half of the story. From other modern day readings I've read about Indians (mostly Sherman alexie) a very different story of poverty and racism occurs. Maybe this is just his personal experiance or unique to his tribe. (I don't remember what tribe he said he's a part of, I'm actually pretty sure he didn't know :/) he definitely thought of Indian casinos as a way for negative stereo types of the drunken, gambling, Indian to be formed, but he also never directly benifited from one. I would love to hear personal accounts of people from tribes with casinos and tribes without them to hear their differing opinions. I wonder if, for example, as a whole the Pequot tribe benifits but individual members feel a different way?
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