Native Americans and Discrimination

Native Americans still struggle with many challenges, mainly because of their race, but have gained much progress over the last few centuries. They have advanced socially, economically, and politically, and continue to advance each and every single day, but still face many problems. The struggles they face are nothing that they cannot someday overcome, as they have already made tremendous progress. Assimilation and Americanization has ruined much of the Native American culture, but many Native Americans today are looking to restore a part of that culture and become unique. Native Americans are forced to continue fighting for their civil rights as much discrimination is still upon them. They continue to receive religious discrimination, along with social, and political discrimination.

Social discrimination has always been evident among the Native American population. Many history books fail to note the discrimination that they faced, as much larger minorities were the center of attention. Native Americans also faced unequal segregation, with water fountains being labeled “whites,” “blacks,” and “Indians.” Native Americans were not granted citizenship until after African Americans were granted their citizenship. Their citizenship was granted with the Indian Citizenship Act, granted after WWI, which gave most Native Americans suffrage, and allowed them to leave their reservations to seek better opportunities. They faced attacks from white men, most notoriously with the Battle of Wounded Knee, taking away their land and forcing them to live on reservations. Although Native Americans consists of many tribes, they were all treated the same and faced the same discrimination. Today, Native Americans still face many social problems. In 1998, the Supreme Court allowed the construction of a Forest service road through an ancient site held sacred by several Native American tribes. This shows that even today, they face challenges with the government seeking control over their land. They also face many educational issues, and many tribes are deprived from the education that is available to most other American citizens. In Utah, for example, the Department of justice recently sued a local school district for not providing a school in a remotely isolated community. The students were forced to live in dormitories 90 miles away from home, while attending school. The struggle for social equality in the Native American race still continues, and hopefully one day people will accept them for who they are.

Political discrimination is also clearly evident amongst the Native American race. The government continues to struggle to recognize the tribal government, and acts accordingly. The constitution grants many of the rights that the Native Americans are guaranteed, in which the government is obligated to protect, but they still fail to protect many of these rights. The government believes that it loses control of the Native American population with the formation of Native American councils, Native Americans politicians continue to fight for Native American Participation in political elections, as the Native American population has very little impact on most political elections. Also, the government provides insufficient funds for the tribal government, along with the lack of training and technical assistance. Although all of these events seem negative, Native Americans continue to fight for sovereignty and political equality. The Native American Rights Fund continues to protect tribal sovereignty and the suffrage of Native Americans.

Finally, Native Americans continue to struggle economically. Many Native Americans are treated unfairly when applying for a job, as racial discrimination still exists. In 1991, the supreme court ruled that state laws did not have to justify the unequal religious freedoms that Native Americans received, just after two Native Americans were declined a job because they took peyote, or the tubercles of a peyote that has been considered illegal by many state governments. There have also been some positives in the struggle for economic equality for Native Americans. The Indian Allotment Act gave Native Americans much of the land that they lost, and gave them large sums of money to help preserve their culture and remain active. The United States government also passed the Snyder Act, which allowed the Bureau to teach irrigation and farming skills so that the Native American economy could be more self sufficient. Despite the passing of these acts many Native Americans still face poverty, and many are refused social security service and funds from the government because of their race.

Although the Native American race has progressed tremendously, there is still much work to be done in the struggle for equality in all aspects; economically, socially, and politically.