The situation of the many Native American tribes today can be directly connected to the actions taken by the American government against them, the ever-increasing push for assimilation, and the discrimination and decreasing amounts of land they have had to learn to life with. About 20% of American Indians currently live on reservations, which are subject to extreme overcrowding, homelessness, and inadequate plumbing and heating facilities. Roughly 40-60% of these Native Americans live below the poverty line, while roughly 30% of natives everywhere in the US live below the poverty line. In comparison, about 15% of all Americans live below the poverty line. The overcrowding on reservations can be directly traced to treaties and acts throughout the years that have continually chipped away at Native land in order to gain more land for settlement. For examples, the Dawes Severalty Act aimed to break up reservations and recognize individual ownership in its place. This led to openings of land, and the Oklahoma land rush.
|
|
|
Additionally after World War II, the US government moved towards assimilation and withdrew support from over 60 reservations, which led to further loss of tribal land and reducing natives to even greater poverty. The Voluntary Relocation Program tried to bring natives into the cities, offering financial assistance in the beginning. These efforts to integrate American Indians into general American life have further deteriorated the state and extent of reservations.
The provision that the Supreme Court stated in Worcester vs. Georgia that states cannot govern or limit the rights of Indian nations still holds true today. Although American Indians are generally subject to local, state, and federal laws, only tribal and federal laws have jurisdiction on reservations. States only have power over reservations as designated by federal law. The ever-present struggle of Native Americans for rights and land has shown itself throughout the decades first with active resistance from tribes such as the Sioux and more recently through the protests of the American Indian Movement, formed in 1968 at as militant group with the goal of protecting Indian traditions and culture. These groups and others such as the National Congress of American Indians formed in 1944 have always inspired Native American to hold on to their past and to made demands in the present, as shown by the Declaration of Purposes and the Alcatraz Proclamation of 1969. Their determination has yielded some success which impacts their lives today. For example, the Indian Self-Determination Act of 1974 gave tribes control over schools and aid programs on their reservations and some were able to reassert previously tossed aside treaty rights. A shift in the portrayal of Native Americans by the media, as represented in the 1990s film Dances with Wolves, also helped them to gain public attention and sympathy as American moved into the 21st century. |