The following is based on Dr Beverly Tatum’s excellent book, “Why Are All The Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?” (1997):
Growing up Native American or American Indian is not well understood, not like growing up black or white in America. There are 750 different Native peoples, like the Sioux, Hopi and Navajo, each one different from the next. But since the coming of the white man they share a common history, an experience that makes it useful to talk about them as a whole.
Most people who grow up in America who cannot pass for white go through these four stages:
- race does not matter
- experience of racism
- making sense of your race or ethnicity
- becoming proud of your race or ethnicity and moving forward with a secure sense of who you are
Blacks and Asian Americans go through these stages, though some do not make it all the way through. Same for Native Americans, but with one huge, important difference: stage 3 is way harder.
Native Americans have come through a full-blown genocide that has not only wiped out their numbers but much of their cultures – their language, customs, history and understanding of the world. The very things you need for stage 3.
Blacks and Asians have rich. living cultures to fall back on – to understand who they are and where they come from. It allows them to build an identity, a sense of who they are that is independent of White America, which they will need to stand up to its racism, to not sink into despair, insecurity and self-hatred.
No such luck for most Native Americans: they just have bits and pieces left of their cultures from the war and disease of the 1800s and, even worse, the forced assimilation of the early 1900s.
In the early 1900s Native children were taken from their families and sent far away to boarding schools. There the government cut them off from their families to turn them into white people, teaching them to feel shame for being Native – instead of pride like their families would have taught them while passing on their culture.
Native Americans gave up their culture to become White Americans. But because of how they looked most were never fully accepted as White Americans. Because White America is more than a culture – it is a race. The melting pot only works for white people.
So trying to make Native children into white people failed profoundly. Many turned to drink or crime or even to ending their lives. Many lived in poverty. Worse still, they had little they could pass on to their children in the way of a culture, leaving them defenceless in the face of a white racism that tells them they are no good.
For Native Americans to function well in an America that is still racist they need roots in their own culture so they can be proud of who they are – because they will certainly not get that from trying to be white.
See also:
- growing up in America:
- Native peoples:
- genocide
- The Wigger Fallacy
- White American culture
- How to help end racism
excellent post as usual. we need more native american/american indian history in schools, we need to put more emphasis on the important role of native americans both in US history and in todays society.
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>they need roots in their own culture so they can be proud of who they are
Wow, very interesting. Yeah, I’ve only realized in the last year how important it is to know who you are (however you define that) in a confident, self-assuring way to stand up to racism. Standing up to racism is really hard when you have internalized racism because you’re basically buying in to the lies that says you’re worth less.
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Good post.
However, it was Portugal first. Then the Spanish. Then the Whites, unless of course you consider all of the above “whites”
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great post and blog.
I also think native americans are the least represented in american culture, I can’t even think of anyone who is fully native american and famous.
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I totally agree with almost all of the points here, but being black myself, my heritage is very fragmented. Lost history and records. We have no idea where we came from…(between slavery and interracial connections) our family only grasps at a few straws here and there. Not that there is a comparison to the genocide and injustice of Native America, but I also don’t think we should assume that all blacks “know who they are…”
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They should have one of the richest cultures ever. I’ve always been curious about Native Americans, but have only met one (as I know of). They seem pretty elusive.
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I’m half Black (Louisiana Creole) and half Mexican/Native American (Modoc and Klamath tribes of southern Oregon).
I grew up going to reservations an we had an Indian School in my hometown of Riverside, Cali.(Sherman Indian).
We had a bunch of tribes with casinos in the area and the Natives seemed pretty well adjusted.
Maybe the casinos are Geronimo’s revenge against a country that oppressed it’s natives
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I also believe through all of the pain and trials widely unreported in mainstream media, Native Americans have a strong sense of self they have and continue to fight for. Those I have recently had the pleasure to meet, are not without their heads held high.
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I am also of native american descent (I don’t know which tribe.)
One thing that is for certain. there is no full blooded native american in North America. The only full blooded ones are in patches of South America.
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homelessgirl: Excellent point about the invisibility of Native Americans. Asian Americans and blacks complain about how they are shown on television but at least they are there in some form. Small consolation, I know, but it would be worse – and was.
Jenice: Good point: black culture took a big hit too, though not as big as Native cultures.
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In so many cultures we try and make sense of who we are, and why such horrible things take place in this world. What happened to the natives of this land and my ancestors was a GENOCIDE 🙂 But I be TSALAGI , I know who I am 🙂 Peace my brothers and sisters
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I saw this documentary Rape on a Reservation about the high incidence rate of sexual assault on Native women on reservations.
http://current.com/shows/vanguard/92468120_rape-on-the-reservation.htm
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I am anishinabe mixed. I know the suffering still goes on today, the racism, the european forced mentality in the legal system and educational system. If we do not be as they, we are shamed. Look at my cousins who were shut out when whitey put up the border. All the natives down south (mexico) were locked out and called illegal immigrants as they continue to do what their people have done since their beginning….cross the lands to hunt for food. <<<>>>THEY ARE NATIVE AMERICAN! When will the natives revolt and stop the forced white man way and return to the truth…the native culture in this modern day. All cultures grow and develop new ways but these new ways are still from their culture not forced by the european mind which believes to be superior and the only right way. Huh! bad joke
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You’ve nearly saved my life. The deadline was so close, but thanks to your help I handed in my essay in time.
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Good post abagond.I currently live adjacent to native land mostly light skinned native Americans act white around white people and another way around their people. I am in no way saying all people of native American decent are this way for they are not but it goes to abagond point. I do feel like I should be honest though so I will say some of the most antisemitic anti-black thing I have ever heard in my life have came from people who consider themselves native American.
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In Tulsa Oklahoma one is required to take native American Indian studies to graduate.
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@Jane the Jew
Other races aren’t immune to being racist either. I am not surprised at the anti Semitic and anti Black comments. Many Arabs and other Asians can be racist too. And many Blacks internalized racism against darker complexions in their race. Racism just has to go.
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I did see an expose where women domestic abuse was really prevalent on the reservations. But the sad thing was the women could not report the abuse to local law enforcement. Because it was out of the jurisdiction of the police. Because they were on the reservation.
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* Domestic violence against women and girls*
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One thing odd I notice that many white people and non-Natives do is try to casually lump Asians and Native Americans into the same racial category because of the Bering Strait landbridge migration theory that Native Americans are the descendants of Asians who crossed the strait thousands of years ago. But this is idiotic because that train of thought is based on a theory not a hard fact that has been proven to be infallible. Also, Native Americans had their own culture before it was destroyed by the white man. Even if the Bering Strait theory is correct, thousands of years is an immeasurable eternity in terms of the individual human experience. I don’t think many Native Americans consider themselves to be Asian by any stretch, but many keyboard know-it-all’s are quick to point out how Native Americans are really “Asian”.
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@ Kiwi
I’m half-white and half-Asian and people have assumed I’m every race from Native American to mestizo to half-black/half-white. That’s right, I don’t have a drop of black blood but many people think I’m a light-skinned black guy. “Race” is not a real thing in biological terms because any healthy man can impregnate any healthy woman. People indigenous to different corners of the world often resemble one another. Where I’m from in California, many Samoans can easily pass for being black. Many people in India could pass for being dark-skinned Native Latin American. Certain Aborigines in Australia could pass as African. But race is often tied to culture. And in that respect, Asian culture is literally a world apart from Native American culture.
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“Navajo Kindergartener Told to Cut his Hair, Sent Home on First Day of School”
http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/08/navajo_kindergartener_told_to_cut_his_hair_sent_home_on_first_day_of_school.html
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Interesting video of the perception of race and Native identity in the New York times.
A Conversation With Native Americans on Race
(https://www.nytimes.com/video/opinion/100000005352074/a-conversation-with-native-americans-on-race.html)
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