Cleaning Up Our Mess

I was quite intrigued by our discussion in class on Wednesday. I was
especially interested in the varying opinions people had about the
feelings that Native Americans have towards receiving help from the
"outside world" or the "White Man." This is is an interesting topic
when applied to schools. I found it ironic that some students who
have never set foot on a reservation or interacted with Native
Americans felt like they could make judgements like "Native Americans
are too prideful to accept any help from other people." I was
actually upset by this comment in a way because some of my most
meaningful and memorable experiences in my life have come on service
trips to Indian Reservations. From these experiences, I know that it
is more than possible for the "White Man" to work with Native
Americans in a manner that builds a bond as well as improves the
quality of life on reservations at least for a while. I understand
the idea that some (NOT ALL) Native Americans, often the older more
traditional tribal members, may seem to reject any sort of
relationship with or aid from outside of the reservation; I have
experienced this first hand to some degree on these trips but I do not
feel, as I think Professor Langholz also mentioned, that this
rejection from some gives us an excuse to avoid cleaning up the mess
that the "White Man" caused for the "Red Man." In fact, I feel that
using this excuse continues to perpetuate the negative stereotypes
that these NATIVE Americans have been given by good ol' "Amurcans."
I have some really conservative friends who are good ol' "Amuricans"
that live in rural and small communities near reservations and they
hold some pretty negative views about Native Americans and for some
reason feel that it is acceptable to talk about them as if they are
farm animals or worthless. I do not think these friends- I am
embarassed to give them credit as my "friends"- would talk about other
minority groups in the same sense. Why is this? I think it is because
we have, as a society, deemed it acceptable to cast ALL Native
Americans as lazy, uneducated, and unmotivated drunks with no values.
The truth is that there are countless white, black, brown, and yellow
men who are just as, if not more guilty of one or more of these traits
than any "Red Man." This is angering to me and I wish that more
people thought about this issue in this light.

I think that the "White Man" or more accurately society as a whole
needs to do a better job at "cleaning up" this mess. We need to
realize that we are guests on the Native Americans soil (not the other
way around) and that the "wonderful" scheme of putting all Native
Americans on reservations, in the inner city, and in the mandatory
boarding schools they used to have to attend (like the ones we have
discussed and read about in class) are perhaps the reason that they
are dealing with problems as an ethnic group. Perhaps, if Native
Americans would have been left to fully govern, educate, and take care
of themselves, they would not all be " lazy, uneducated, and
unmotivated drunks with no values" as many people believe (at least
subconsciously). Maybe the reservation and boarding schools is the
reason they "have no values" or are unable to contribute to society in
the manner that some people feel is appropriate and expected. I
believe there is hope for these people and I believe that it will only
come by a joint effort between the U.S. government and American
citizens (including "Amurcans") as well as Native Americans and their
leaders. I feel that the education system may be a great place for
this effort and transformation to start.