Four Misunderstandings About Native Americans

Ok so while I was looking around on the net about different religions I came across some stuff on Native American religions which led to a few questions out there asking if Native Americans are extinct or going extinct; which, brought me the topic of the main stereo types that people put on us. At least the one’s that I’ve run into. I know that for a long time there were once about Natives being drunk and on this White Nationalist site they still use that same old song about us but really I think and hope that people aren’t that prejudice and ignorant on that topic so it is not addressed on here other than my point here. I don’t really want to get into the whole white man did this to us and all that. My parents and grand parents and so forth went through that but I barely did, I have no right to whine about it. So these are my top four misunderstandings that people tend to have about us.

1. Before Europeans came to the U.S most Native Americans believed in one creator. It really bothered me growing up when my teachers (I’m twenty four by the way) would read from the text that we believed in many gods. Even to this day people my age think that we had like “Rain Gods” and “Corn Gods”. We believed that there were spirits who did bring the rain and help our plants grow. If you want to compare to biblical religions then they could be thought of as Angels.
2. Not all tribes get a big fat government check nor do we all own casinos. There are some tribes whose reservations don’t even have floors in their houses. That’s right, they have a house but their floor is earth. I’ve never been to one of those reservations and I can’t imagine not having a floor but that’s how it is for some. Each reservation is kind of like a State within a State and while they too have a few of their own rules they, like all States go by Federal Law. Basically what I’m trying to say is that the government doesn’t just say, “Hey, you guys are Native American, here’s some free money.” If your tribe has a working government then your tribe may become successful and have income going to their people but it also depends on how “tourist” desirable it is as well. Side note: By working government I mean if the “government” of your tribe are honest and know what they are doing then you can be successful. For some reason my tribe seems to keep voting people who like to go to jail for embezzlement.
3. We do still exist. I was looking around on the net and found out that many people think that we are extinct. It is my personal opinion that we are going extinct but we are not extinct yet. I came to this opinion because while I was junior in high school I found out that (2001) there were only 0.06% of Federally recognized tribes in the U.S. Most of my family is about half Native American and there are a few of us who are full blood. As you go toward the West Coast you need to have at least ¼ Native blood in you to be considered Native American unless your parents are enrolled in the tribe to which they can enroll you but as you go toward the East Coast it’s more based on your heritage. Many of the tribes have such a low ratio that as long as your parents or grandparents are enrolled you can be as well or if you can prove that you are related to people from the tribe you are trying to be affiliated with. I think a lot of people might be confused and since our culture and languages are disappearing they think that we are.
4. Not all Natives smoke Peyote or other “medicinal drugs” I put that in quotes because even though half my life I grew up on the reservation, I wasn’t raised by many of our traditions and to me a drug is a drug. Different tribes have their own practices but what made it kind of rough for my tribe is that when the reservations here (Mid West) were being formed as long as you were Native you were put in that spot of land so my tribe while we identify as Paiute have a mixture of different Paiute branches whose beliefs slightly differed.

I also want to note that I placed my age and year I was a junior in high school is because while it is true that cultural ignorance is lessoning younger people only know what they are taught. The fact is we weren’t taught very much about our history. Even my younger cousins who are in elementary through high school only learn that we were here before Europeans and that there was a Thanksgiving.