Monday Reading COMP
| Native American Rights Day By Mary Lynn Bushong |
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1 What are your rights? Do you know? Most countries have the rights of their people spelled out in their constitution. This was not always so.
2 When America was first colonized, there were people already living here. Many of the colonists acted like the native people were not even human. The people did not live like the colonists did.
3 When the Spanish first came to the Americas, they looked for riches. Their interest in the people was in how they could be used to gain wealth. The religion of the Spanish did not give the native people a choice to practice their own beliefs. The only choice they were given was change or die.
4 The French were a little better, but they were not so anxious to have colonies. They treated the Native Americans more equally in trade. Their traders often intermarried with native families to make the ties between them stronger. Even so, they were not above being unjust to get what they wanted.
5 The other main group of colonists to the Americas was the British. They often suffered from a bad case of pride which affected their relationships with native people.
6 The settlement of Jamestown started badly for this reason. The colonists assumed they could just take the land which was already being used by local natives. Even with treaties, the colonists often broke their side of the treaty. Their actions show that they did not think Native Americans had rights even in their own country.
7 The same was not true further north where Plymouth was established. Those colonists knew that they were in debt to the native people. They became friends based on the idea that they were all equals. They built on land that was not used by any tribe and asked permission to do so. When they signed a treaty, it was for everyone's mutual benefit. That treaty was honored for more than fifty years until the original signers were dead. By then pride had overtaken many of the colonists.
8 All over America, treaties protecting the rights and property of Native Americans were few and far between. The native people were in the way of colonists' thirst for more land. When natives tried to fight back, they were often crushed.
9 In the case of the Iroquois, things went a little differently. They were never conquered as a people and kept their rights as a sovereign nation. This included the right to make treaties with other countries and to rule themselves.
10 Many of the other native nations were pushed into reservations in the west. Treaties were constantly being made and broken. The native people were made to feel ashamed of their heritage for the "crime" of being different from their neighbors.
11 Many of the Native Americans who lived on the reservations had little money, little education, and less hope. Their cultures and native languages were left to die out under the burden of drug and alcohol abuse.
12 During World War II, some Native Americans regained some of their pride. Navajo code talkers used their language as the basis of a code that could not be broken. Others were honored for their bravery and sacrifice in battle.
13 The native people realized that the obligations of the federal government had never been met. They might have been a conquered people, but they still had rights.
14 In 1969, native activists took over Alcatraz Island. Their actions brought media attention to native rights and the plight of their people. A group called AIM (American Indian Movement) was formed to safeguard those civil rights.
15 The federal government took notice. It changed its official policy from destruction of the native cultures to allowing them tribal self-rule. Congress also passed 52 proposals to help them establish tribal rule. Then they increased funding for health and education.
16 Since then, there has been a return in many areas of Native American culture; art, language, history, and their way of life. Those who once had their rights trampled, raised up their eyes and found they had power. By valuing their own culture, they are valued by others. They have regained much of their sovereignty, firmly taking back rights that should never have been lost in the first place.
Copyright © 2013 edHelper
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