Tomorrow (11/12) & Lecture Notes

Tomorrow (11/12) we'll be seing a video, "In Whose Honor?" which deals with the Indian mascot issue. It takes about 45 minutes. So I don't get behind in terms of lecture, I am going to post the rest of what I had planned to say about Native Americans based on Dr. Tatum's discussion of that minority group in her book (pp. 143-153). Also, don't forget the extra credit opportunities I describe in the previous blog post.
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LECTURE NOTES

I left off yesterday with the observation that one factor that has led to the increasing numbers of Native Americans is the fact that more people today are claiming their Indian heritage, which does not carry the stigma it once did.

3. Who qualifies as an Indian is a bewildering subject. Tribes each set their own criteria based on blood-lines (i.e., an illusory racial factor reminiscent of the ludicrous "one-drop rule" and other formulas for determining who was Black). It is also based on self-identification or native language fluency.

4. Half of the Indian population lives west of the Mississippi. Just six states contain half of the Indian population, Oklahoma leading the list. Only 22 percent of all American Indians (including Alaskan natives) live on reservations and tribal lands. Most of the rest live in rural areas nearby.

B. Dr. Tatum mentions some generally shared values among Native Americans:

1. Like Latinos, extended family and kinship obligations are considered very important.
2. Focus on GROUP; communal sharing.
3. Traditional Indian culture sees an interdependent relationship between all living things -- harmony with the nature. (Although, in their own way, they certainly did exploit it too.)

C. These Indian values were clearly at odds with the European or White settlers who were more individualistic and capitalistic. So, as Whites conquered these people, it was felt that we had to educate the Indian to the white man's ways (eg., embrace the idea of private property) so they could assimilate.

1. But as I noted previously, because white settlers had an interest in their land and its resources like gold, it often did not make any difference how much the Indians changed their ways: they had to be removed or exterminated. The story of the Cherokees is an excellent case in point.

D. After major hostilities subsided in the late 1800s, we established a reservation system to protect the Indians and facilitate this cultural conversion, along with setting up off-reservation boarding schools for Indian children who were forcibly removed from their families and people. (The Australians did this with the aboriginies.)

1. In my view, it seems counter-productive to separate them if your goal is assimilation. But as President Andrew Jackson believed in the case of the Cherokees, reservations were needed first and foremost for their protection and survival.

2. Dr. Tatum describes the awful nature of these boarding schools -- forced assimilation, hard physical labor, harsh discipline, emotional, physical, often sexual abuse -- one Lakota Sioux woman described it simply as "civilizing with a stick."

a. Basically shut these down in the 1930s.

3. Then, in the 1950s, federal Indian policy shifted to TERMINATION, which really opened up the reservations for resource exploitation (eg., uranium mines in the Southwest). Indians leaving the reservations were discriminated against, alienated -- turned to alcohol, suicide. (Which are huge problems ON reservations today where there are few opportunities - only a handful of Indian tribes have cashed in on the casino craze.)

4. The latest twist in the saga of how we've treated the American Indian is the SOVEREIGNTY MOVEMENT (a term Dr. Tatum does not use, but she describes in the first paragraph on p. 148. Actually, this movement dates back to the early 70s and the Nixon Administration.) And this movement has not been an unadulterated blessing, as Fergus Bordewich argues in his interesting book, "Killing the White Man's Indian." See xerox handout, pp. 328-329.

E. Dr. Tatum then goes on to describe the importance of preserving and strengthening Indian identity, which is important psychologically. (But I would add that Indian survival is also about economics, politics, discrimination, etc.) She argues, along with others she cites, that THE TRICK IS -- "Remaining anchored in a positive sense of one's cultural identity in the face of racism as an antidote to alienation and despair."

1. Obviously, educators have a crucial role to play in this process.

2. She notes the importance of studying American Indian History (just like Black history or Women's history, etc.). She talks about a history professor who apparently believed that we killed off all the Indians and, besides, that is something in the past and not relevant to today.

3. She tells the story of an Alaskan Native educator and how he succeeded in discovering this history and came back to teach it. Note how he explains what he did -- see middle p. 152. I believe there is no better defense of this than Fergus Bordewich's book, "Killing the White Man's Indian," particularly, Chapter 8, "The Hollowness of a Person Must Be Filled." See xerox excerpt pp. 273-274.
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That's all for now. I will provide the xerox copies referred to above in class tomorrow (11/12). As before, don't forget to incorporate the above lecture notes in your class notes. See you tomorrow.