Have We Failed the Indians? Research Paper Example

What do we actually know about the times past of American nation formation? We generally learn some basic historical data in school. For most people knowledge of history is limited to those few facts. We are used to observing various cultural features among the USA citizens, we believe ourselves to be multicultural nation and normally feel fine about that. However, societal discrimination, racism and conflicts we face as an inalienable aspect of modern society, mostly have their origin in long forgotten past, of which we should better never forget in order to avoid the mistake of repeating own faults.

The history of American Indians is not something we enjoy recollecting these days. Most people feel truly sorry about the policy that was implemented by nation leaders in the times of American expansion. Some facts connected with so called “Indian Removal” are blots on our history. Still, there are scholars who justify pushing the Indians aside, as well as there are people believing Indians (and African Americans by the way too) to be an inferior nation, and have nothing to do with civilized society as far as they reject some popular socially accepted norms.

The “Indian Removal” is full of evidences of cruelty and brutality. “The Indian [was thought] as less than human and worthy only of extermination. We did shoot down defenseless men, and women and children at places like Camp Grant, Sand Creek, and Wounded Knee. We did feed strychnine to red warriors. We did set whole villages of people out naked to freeze in the iron cold of Montana winters. And we did confine thousands in what amounted to concentration camps” (Wellman 8). While being considerate toward Native Americans and expressing regret over the past, many people are still far from realizing how we probably failed Indians to become a prominent well-developed nation.

Do we meet Native Americans frequently in our daily lives? I would answer no rather than yes. Many people think that Native Americans have become extinct, that they have not survived till the present day. However, Indians nation with its amazing culture still exists, and actually does continue living not far from us. Nevertheless, most people have only an indistinct comprehension of the problem Native Americans are dealing with today. In their turn, Native Americans maintain that they keep on facing intolerance and neglect in the broader society. At the same time, African Americans, who also experienced years of enslavement, mistreatment and neglect, have achieved a position of an equal nation, with rights and possibilities being equal to those of all the rest of American citizens. Why have these two nations, having struggled through the age of discrimination and destruction, ended up so differently?

African American enslavement of which we know much today, has generated a feeling of guilt in many generations of “white” Americans. In this case, the mistakes of the past were if not completely rectified, then at least compensated.  At the same time, third-world living conditions are usual for the majority of Native Americans’ reservation communities. Unqualified health care, depressing poverty and poor quality education are an everyday fact of existence for most of the survived American Indians.  Among the most wide-spread causes of death are those related to alcohol abuse, and more local teens commit suicide than among any other racial group. Native Americans have a considerable infant mortality rate (Native Americans Today).

Why is that happening? Did we forget about past misdeeds that easily? Or are we not just feeling guilty enough to do something about the situation? Personally I feel truly sorry about poor conditions such a great culture is doomed to survive in. I also believe there are no reasons and excuses that could justify the way “white” Americans once failed Indians to live and develop peacefully.

Works Cited

Fleming, Walter C. “Myths and Stereotypes about Native Americans”. Phi Delta Kappan 88.3 (2006): 213.

“Native Americans Today.” Native American Heritage Program. 2008. 14 Oct. 2009. <http://www.lenapeprograms.info/Today/present_day.htm>.

Wellman, Paul. The Indian Wars of the West: Preface. Doubleday & Company, INC., 1934.