Fighting against the use of Native-American stereotypes on drink labels and sports team mascots is an admirable endeavor. However, these issues are nothing but superficial symptoms of a larger problem. Yes, I get offended when I see Native Americans portrayed inaccurately, but I do not lose much sleep over it. What keeps me awake at night are the real economic and social injustices faced by Natives everyday.
Native Americans are and always have been the single poorest segment of the population, well below both blacks and Latinos. Some of us do get reparations from the federal government. Surprised? Well, when my check for $30 came this year, I was not jumping for joy and forgiving the white man for his sins. Even if the dollar amounts were real, throwing money at the situation is not the answer. If people think that receiving pity money from the U.S. government will make their life any easier, I invite them to take a tour of one of the many fine reservations that were set up for us to live on.
Get a grip.
The real issues lie not in something superficial like social stereotyping or even debates over monetary compensation. As with most minority communities, the social and economic structures Native Americans face should be the real cause for alarm.
Native Americans were forced to move onto reservations so they could be watched and managed. Natives would not assimilate, so the U.S. government decided to corral them into areas of mostly unusable land, hoping that if they were forgotten they would go away.
The United States granted the Indians the right to govern themselves, but then would not negotiate with them. The government has broken virtually every single treaty it has made with Native tribes. This is not an encouraging track record.
As a result, many reservations have become places of corruption and political upheaval. Too often, tribal governments cannot stay in power for any length of time, and when they do they are largely ineffectual.
Schools in and around reservations are generally horrible. Before we can even consider why there are not more Native-American professors at Northwestern, or any other institution of higher learning, we need to address the issue of why there are so few Native American students graduating from high school.
In my senior year of high school, roughly 60 percent of the eligible Indians on my reservation received their diplomas. There is simply no motivation or incentive for most young Native Americans to pursue their education off the reservation.
I was raised off the reservation; I sometimes wonder how much that affects my current situation.
A substantial percentage of Native Americans live at or below poverty level simply because they are not educated. They cannot get jobs off the reservation because they do not have the skills necessary for employment. These may seem like excuses, but they are not. It is reality.
All the griping about sports and liquor mascots may help comfort a politically correct conscience, but it does not begin to address the real issues.
