The Disappearance of a Culture
Author: Kara T.
A Belief History of Land Loss
The Native Americans in North America have been losing land
since Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492. Then in the 1500/1600’s the Spanish
came over and captured and took them and their land. The French and Indian war
broke out resulting in many casualties. Then later United States then steps in
and takes more of their land. In 1830 President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian
removal act. In 1838, the Trail of Tears resulted in more than 5,000 Cherokee
deaths as they were being forcefully removed from their land. Things seemed to
be looking up in 1887, when President Grover Cleveland signed the Dawes Act,
which would allow the president to give land to Native American individuals for
reservations. In 1924, The United States passed a bill called the Indian
Citizenship Act which would no longer limit Native Americans becoming citizens.
In 1968 President Lyndon B. Johnson signed The Indian Civil Rights Act which
granted Native American tribes the protections of the Bill of Rights.
Native Americans today are still facing
issues of losing their lands because of American greed. Native
Americans have
been pushed away to small reservations in various locations in the United
States and now the government is allowing companies ruin their last bits of
land with pollution and environmental destruction. One of the most publicized event
is the Keystone Pipeline. This project was first proposed in 2005 by the
TransCanada Corporation and they had started working on phases of the line.
Obama vetoed the bill in 2015 that would allow the pipeline through Montana.
Then in 2017, President Trump signs a bill inviting TransCanada to apply again
for approval to build. In 2018, The Rosebud Sioux Tribe and the Fort Belknap
Indian Community file a lawsuit against the Trump administration for
violations. The pipeline is a big issue because it would run through the Fort
Belknap Indian Reservation. They have over 8,000 members living there. The
pipeline would enter into ancestral lands, sacred sites and historic sites. The
Rosebud Indian Reservation which is located in South Dakota is home to 35,000
members. The Pipeline would also cross into their home as well. The biggest
issue the tribes are worried about is contamination caused by spills. The
spills could not only damage their historic and scared sites, but also their
food and water supply. So there is must to lose and the State Department
estimated that the pipeline will only employ about 35 people when it is
completed but could potential hurt the thousands of Native Americans. This is
not the only battle going on with corporations and the government trying to
take action that can potentially ruin the environment and lives just to gain
better access to oil or other profitable material. The United States has put in
precaution to make it seem like they care about Native lands and people but
when it comes down to them making money, they always choose money over lives.
When Native Americans lose their land, they are losing apart
of themselves. An article from Eric Hemenway he talks about this loss of land results
in a loss of cultural identity. The tribe’s homes are where they bury their
deceased. Those sites are where they would perform religious ceremonies.
Without that land then they lose purpose of doing such activities. Losing land
also results in Native languages giving away to English. So now the children of
these tribes can no longer speak their native tongue or practice. They have
lost many traditions and their identity. American hegemony took this away from
the Native Americans living in North America. These issues have been going on
for some time now. The first major change was during the War of 1812. The
Native Americans “tribes had the freedom to dress as they chose, speak their
language, practice their religion, and access sacred sites and cultural
resources related to the geographic landscapes of their ancestors. After the
war there was quick changes to the Natives lives. They stared to change their
outward appearance to fit in with the American pressures but would practice
their traditions in private. The was still a dangerous act and they risked a
lot but they wanted their communities to hold on to their traditions and
practices. This article may have been talking about the effects of the War of
1812 on this community but the same things are happening today when the
government forces the tribes out of their land because of the government
wanting to use their land for energy or exploit the natural resources.
Author Bio: Kara T. is a student at IUPUI.
Sources:
https://www.narf.org/cases/keystone/
https://www.npr.org/2018/09/10/646523140/native-american-tribes-file-lawsuit-seeking-to-invalidate-keystone-xl-pipeline-p
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