Discussion 1:
Part 1:
Controversies surrounding the "discovery" of America with specific details.The discovery of America is dated as early as 1492 and accredited to a renowned Spanish explorer, Christopher Columbus who is believed to have set out of Spain in a maritime expedition that would lead to the discovery of the Americas, introduction of Christianity and the eventual colonization of the country. Due to the determination of Columbus and his counterparts to discover, conquer and exploit new areas for the untouched wealth, he viewed and handled the local indigenous people as real impediments to his mission. There exist tripartite compositions of the controversies that surround the way in which Columbus, during his exploration mission in America, mingled with the natives who he referred to as Indians. In his exploratory conquest mission and the pursuit for the fresh riches in the new lands, Columbus and his teams compelled the local people to convert to Christianity, used excessive violence and slavery and is also associated with the outbreaks of new diseases that would have far reaching and generational effects on the American people. For instance when Columbus landed in the Caribbean on his first voyage in 1492, he gave orders for the capture and enslavement of six natives on the belief that they would be good servants, a sentiment he noted down in his journal. Columbus is also associated with the invasion of multiple grievous diseases in the new world. These diseases include small pox, measles, influenza, typhoid, chicken pox, whooping cough, anthrax and tetanus. These new diseases would eventually advance to alarming levels to the devastation of the natives. (America?)
Discussion 2:
Sovereignty is a claim for one’s own independence and exercise of absolute freedom without any external compulsion by any external force or rule. The Native Americans in America have for decades sought for such freedom in the US. Such freedom has been founded on the pursuit by the so called sovereign tribes to be acknowledged and respected by the federal government as independent states within the US. These sovereign tribes are deemed to exercise control over their tribal government and leadership.
Since the discovery of the America’s by Christopher Columbus, the debate about tribal sovereignty has persisted to date with no sign of arriving at any solid agreement. The debate revolves around who is entitled to sovereign among the many bodies that claim a hand in the activities of governance. Today in the US, the controversy still exists as to whether the states, the tribes, the executive, the congress or the legal system should own up the sovereign power. In order to overcome the federal influence to outdo tribal sovereignty, the civil movement in the US has been on the frontline to advocate for the respect and preservation of the tribal sovereignty. This struggle has to date compelled the federal government to create special organs and trusts that are entrusted with the role of offering protection to the tribal resources such as land. The quest for tribal sovereignty has yielded the tribal recognition of 562 tribes in the US today. These tribes are sovereign states recognized by the federal government. Tribal sovereignty gives the subject tribes the rights to rule and govern themselves, control their tribal businesses, control the property owned by the tribe, and justify their membership. The sovereignty further fosters strong intergovernmental close relationships and contacts between the federal government and the sovereign tribe(s). The recognition given to these tribes by the federal government allows them to enjoy such services from the federal government as healthcare and education. The sovereign tribes are however in full accord compliant to the rules and laws that govern the bigger country. They cannot claim to be sovereign to act in manners that contradict the American democracy or the rule of law for other tribes. ("Tribal Sovereignty")
Discussion 3:
The significance of numbers cannot be overlooked in any population. The continuity of any generation is founded on the ability of the communities to maintain good numbers that can keep the lifeline going. Numbers in this sense are necessary for the continuity of the society.
The significance of numbers is also realized at times of aggression. A good example for the applicable use of numbers is during the social movements. The success of such operations could only be possible with the sufficient manpower.
The security of a community in such a discriminative society as the US is against the Natives, numbers play a significant role in the mass action to fight such discrimination and push for equity if not equality. The communities with fewer numbers risk becoming extinct in such a huge and dynamic community. Numbers are therefore a reliable buffer and guarantee for the continuity of any group of individuals. Adding on to the security issues as contributed by numbers, any emissary would turn back with fear of numbers if they were planning to attack a huge community.
Discussion 4:
Native American invisibility is the lack of recognition mostly directed towards the Native Americans in various spheres of life. Such invisible Native Americans lack a status, rights, legitimacy, powers and privileges. The invisibility catastrophe has dominated the way in which the Native Americans are viewed and treated with contempt by the mainstream US. The invisibility is a deliberate denial for recognition even where it is deserved. It is the retrospective application of stigma or stereotyping as a form of looking down upon the Natives. A good example of such invisibility is the street people who are treated as if they don’t exist. Another good illustration of the Natives invisibility is the poor provision of health facilities to the native Indians who are left to obtain other medical funding other than the federal government. It defeats the logic of belonging to a country if an individual cannot enjoy the basic rights to which all citizens are entitled. The native Indians due to this invisibility also suffer the historical trauma for the atrocities committed against their people in the past.
Invisibility in the case of Native Americans has been presented as the outright inhuman discrimination on individual and communal grounds. The native Indians have historically been treated with contempt and are not viewed as legitimate US citizens. They all access substandard or no services from the federal government be it health, security or education. It is this invisible feature that has historically bred a bad blood between the Indians and the mainstream US citizens. A rectification for the invisibility problem is the adoption of a national culture that encourages the respect for all humankind regardless their origin. The federal government can initiate measures to ensure that all people access equal national resources as the first step towards recognizing the natives as complete human beings. The pursuit for equality both economically and socially can also be backed by some legislation that will protect the natives against humiliation or discrimination in any part of life.
Proper and objective census research would help a big deal to stamp out the issue of native invisibility. The federal government needs to get a clear understanding for the exact numbers of the natives, their location and their specific needs that ought to be addressed by the federal government. There is also a great need to adopt a national equality policy for all citizens regardless their color, language or origin. These individuals are by all means American and have the right to enjoy the American National cake like all other American citizens.
There is also a great need to engage in objective dialogues with the tribal governments in a bid to connect the urban Indians with the Non urban Native communities. This will be a reliable foundation towards cultivating a culture of equality all across the communities. This step will promote equal participation in national affairs such as the enhancement of Native political influence through participation in such issues as municipal, county and federal voting. The revitalization and protection of the Native cultures would also be another step towards the elimination of the invisibility problem. Acknowledgement and preservation of the Native cultures would be a promotion and their cultural heritage just like other communities. It’s a step towards equality.
Discussion 5:
The native communities in the Americas are faced with the poorest socio-economic services in the country under the pretext of their “foreign origins”. The native Indians are however on the receiving end and are face d with a unique set of challenging situations that compel them to devise a survival mechanism. They are for instance ignored by the federal funding. The federal government has been the historical leader in discrimination against all Americans of aborigine. The decision not to offer full government funding and support for key facilities such as health and education has contributed to the establishment of their urban cultures.
Urban tradition is the culture inculcated in the lives of the Native Indians living in the cities- Urban Indians. These Urban Natives devise these traditions in a bid to survive the discrimi8nated kind of life that they lead. Each society in the world is characterized by a unique culture and so the Urban Indians.
An urban Indian country is a reservation in which these urban Indians reside. These urban Indian countries also encompass other areas that are representative of other centers that are characterized by Native American occupation. These areas are basically located in Alaska and some parts of the continental America. The urban tradition is the culture that has developed over time among the urban Indian country occupants. The urban culture of the Indians is basically an outcome of the continuous attempts by these people to construct a niche that favors their existence since they have been neglected by the federal government in nearly all matters of social and economic wellbeing.
Discussion 6:
With the occupation of the metropolitan areas of the Americas by Indian American population, the changed lifestyles caused numerous tribulations for the people and poor health. The health issues of the natives were down looked by the federal government which concentrated the best health services in the affluent regions. Today, the native Indian Americans are encumbered by numerous challenges in their pursuit for good healthcare. Such challenges include transportation, lack of trust for the government healthcare, and expensive travel costs to the government health facilities which are scarcely populated. Despite the fact that a quarter of the Indian Americans living in Alaska being very poor and eligible to Medicaid, only a small percentage (17%) are under other programs. This kind of marginalization forces them to seek medical care from the Urban Indian health Organizations rather than the federal non Indian medical facilities.
The federal government has been accused of inadequate funding which is also too uncertain to the Urban Indian Health Organizations. This unreliable funding from the federal government has compelled the Urban Indians to turn to other sources of health funding.
Discussion 7:
The persistence of alcoholism and alcohol related problems among the Indians in the past and present has resulted in the formulation of various myths that seek to justify the epidemic that seems to be taking a great toll on the Native Indians. They seek to give an insight into the probable causers of the alarming levels of alcoholism and the effects thereof among the Native Indians. Alcohol was responsible for 17% - 19% of the Indian deaths in the period between 1986 and 1988. A combination of alcohol abuse and alcoholism were the leading causes of deaths among the Indians during that period. There are many cases of alcohol induced sicknesses amongst the Indians in America. Alcohol associated sicknesses have been reported all over the world and as such this cannot be narrowed down to be a problem for the American Native Indians. For instance cases of liver Cirrhosis have been reported in other parts of the world. The Indians are also assumed to have a different metabolism for alcohol that metabolizes the alcohol slowly than the people of other ethnic groups. They are claimed to have a unique biophysiological reasons that hinder their ability to manage alcohol in their body systems. This myth however lacks factual back up and thus unrealistic. The biological ability of the human body to metabolize alcohol is not unique for the Indians.
There is another myth which contemplates that Indian alcohol related problems are uniquely Indian. This myth was long debated until I was proved that there exist numerous similarities between the Indians and other ethnic groups in terms of drinking behavior. Alcohol related problems have been associated with all humankind not only in America but the entire world and so cannot be mystically referred to as an Indian American problem. Another myth questions the prevalence of drinking among Indians. It is backed by the belief that majority of the Indians drink alcohol. However, drinking patterns in the mainstream USA show that drinking varies slightly among the adult population. This disqualifies the assumption that prevalence to drinking among the Indians as an important variable in the epidemiology of drinking. Drinking is mostly an individual habit that cannot be generalized over a group of people like the Native Indians.
The myth supported by the belief that all Indians drink in the same manner or style also contributes to the epidemiology of drinking. However, problematic drinking patterns are associated with peers and tribesmen. This disapproves the myth since drinking styles and manners are often shared among clichés not Indians only. The myth has been demystified by the fact the all drinking adults display unique drinking habits that are determined by other personal and social factor but not their race. The alcohol problem myths that have been crafted to justify the great alcohol problems associated with the Native American Indians are merely imaginations that lack objective justifications. The response of the human body to alcohol is not in isolation unique for any single community. It is the great interest to understand the alcoholism and alcohol related issues among the Indians that have resulted in these myths that lack objective justifications.
Discussion 8:
Shamanism is a desire system that is dominated by spiritual, emotional, physical determination to explore, discover and gain knowledge about non-physical things. It is evident in the perpetuation of Eurocentric domination since the Europeans entered the Americas as innocent explorers and missionaries. The initial arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492 was not viewed as an offensive invasion until later days when he opened up slavery and forced labor. Whiteshamanism is used to refer to the altered state of consciousness or mind in order to interact with a new force. This new force was the Europeans who invaded the country. They at first used the brainwashing tact to win the attention of the natives and the mainstream Americas before the later use of excessive and ruthless force.
Discussion 9:
Before the invasion by the Europeans, they were purely hunters and gatherers and land was controlled by women. The activities of the Europeans in farming introduced forced labor and eventually evicted the Natives from their land to reserves. The concept of ownership came in later when the Federal government passed the Dawes Act in 1887. This law divided reservation land into small pieces for ownerships. This law was intended to bring to an end the nomadic lifestyle lived by the Indians and compel them into farming.
The new land tenure systems introduced by the Europeans opened up another era of competition for land ownership, ("Who Owns The Land? - North Carolina Digital History")
Discussion 10:
The American Indian movement was the strongest Indian group that was crafted and launched in 1966 by a small group of Chippewa’s. The group was formed to protest against the increased police brutality against the Native Americans. It was a deep rooted social movement that was made up of the young and old Indians, traditional experts and women. In 1973, the movement made a historical march to the bureau of Indian Affairs in Washington DC and took over the office for a whole week.
The trail of broken treaties was launched in November 1971 by the AIM. It was characterized by a march by at least on thousand agitated Native Americans. The procession managed to present their grievances to the federal government. For instance, they managed to present 20 demands to President Nixon for quick action. The Wounded Knee was a small village located in South Dakota and historically cherished for the Massacre of Native Americans by the US Calvary Battalion.
The National Indian Y00 individuals in 1973 with origins in the Oglala Lakota Indians captured the small village. This seizure was propelled by AIM members. Youth council had also been established in 1959 and it was founded by the Tuscarora tribesmen. The movement was successful in the opposition of the attempts by the US to take up a reservation land to construct a reservoir.
Alcatraz was another movement founded under the leadership called Mohawk Oakes. Its activities hit the spotlight in 1969 November when he led a group of Native Americans in a boat to claim the Alcatraz Island for occupation of “Indians of all tribes”. The procession took control of the Island that had been used in the past as a detention site. The control over the island by native Indians lasted up to 1970 when there began wrangles amongst the natives. The recruit students from UCLA deserted the site to resume classes.
The National Congress of American Indians was formed in 1944 as the first association that was made up of several tribes. It was meant to protect land rights for the Indians and push for better educational opportunities. ("UH - Digital History")
References
America?, Ask. "Columbus Controversy - Exploration - HISTORY.Com". HISTORY.com. N.p., 2016. Web. 1 May 2016.
"Tribal Sovereignty". The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. N.p., 2016. Web. 1 May 2016.
"UH - Digital History". Digitalhistory.uh.edu. N.p., 2016. Web. 2 May 2016.
"Who Owns The Land? - North Carolina Digital History". Learnnc.org. N.p., 2016. Web. 2 May 2016.
