Native American Land Rights Essay Example for Free

Native American Land Rights Essay As the Native population continues to grow and create an abundance of resources such as casinos, the White Man has found ways to take the land needed to sustain such growth away. The Native American population always has inhabited the land we now live on and we the Americans have come on to that land pushing them into reservations and controlled situations. With the growing flow of residents the American government has forced the American Indians to uproot themselves repeatedly causing the loss of several lives, as well as the loss of land that they had possessed for centuries. Over the years this tribulation caused friction between the American Indians and the American government to the extent that one tribe, the Sioux Indians hosted the invasion of Wounded Knee. Over the years the White Man has come onto Native lands and gradually pushed them out, using the land for whatever they have need to. In the 1800’s the White Man has taken several rights from the American Indians and tried to keep them under control under the guise of creating harmony, and putting them on reservations as an act of control. With the creation of the Dawes Act American Indians the American government gave land to the Indians on the reservations and noted it as creating harmony, but without the knowledge of Native Americans. In the mid-1900’s with the growing populations and the continuing need the American government came into reservations and took youth off the reservations and placed them in homes to educate and intergraded them into the civilized world creating less on the reservations to be responsible for. With the idea of work and a new life away from the hardships of life on the reservations the government offered to help integrate them into city life by giving them housing and education as well as the opportunity to work. When the Indians who chose to accept this offer arrived in the big cities they were surprised to find that they would be placed with several others in rundown motel rooms. They would be treated like the foreigners who had come from other countries, and they would have just as much luck as well. As a result of all the hardships caused by the American government and the control enforced by them, the American Indians grew increasingly upset and chose to rise up against the government to take back lands originally belonging to them. After years of being mistreated the Sioux Indians made the decision to take back Wounded Knee site of the last American and Native war resulting in the Siege at Wounded Knee in 1973. In the early 1800s and during the presidency of Thomas Jefferson, Americas policy had been to allow Native Americans to remain east of the Mississippi as long as they became assimilated or civilized. [ (Remini, 2001) ] The native peoples who chose not to be assimilated were forced to move into camps and to prepare to make the journey to the western side of the Mississippi. Congress came up with an idea to trade lands with the Indians from the east to the west, and then the ones who chose not to transition into the â€Å"civilized† way would be moved. Those who chose not to conform were taken from their homes and moved to camps, to begin a journey to a new and different land. This Journey would be later deemed the Trail of Tears, for the thousands upon thousands of lives that would be uprooted from their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs. During the journey More than two thousand lives would be lost as a result of illness and disease. When the journey was over land was allotted to the tribes, this was called the Dawes Act of 1887. As part of this act Families would get 160 acres, individual adult males would get 80 acres, and single minors would get 40 acres each. At this point Native women were ineligible to receive land. By 1891 the Dawes act was amended to dole out the land equally to all adults, but in doing so the amount was cut in half. Nearly a hundred years later after dealing with the Five Civilized Tribes and ongoing problems on the reservations the American government came up with the Indian relocation Act of the 1950s and 60s. This time the government came on to the reservations promising a college education and work for anyone willing to leave the reservation and come to the big cities and make their lives there. Several of these Natives agreed to leave, and were put on busses and taken places such as New York and Boston. When they arrived they were placed in run down motels with several others after the same thing. What these people were not tell was that they would have just as much chance of getting a job as any other foreigner coming from other continents. The gradual takeover of the native youth led to the Incident at Wounded Knee, witch began on February 27, 1973. â€Å"Founded in 1968, the American Indian Movement (AIM) is an organization dedicated to the Native American civil rights movement. Its main objectives are the sovereignty of Native American lands and peoples; preservation of their culture and traditions; and enforcement of all treaties with the United States. (Free Online Law Dictionary) The battle of Wounded Knee was in its self a part of the American Indian Movement in witch several tribal peoples banded together with one thing in mind. The take over at historical Wounded Knee began as a peaceful takeover, and ended in a 71 day full-on occupation of the area. The Sioux Indians were fighting for the return of land that they belived belonged to them. The take over was intended to raise awareness, and made the news and brought on a full scandal. Tribes from all over came to Wounded Knee to aid in the support of the tribes plea to get their land back. The siege was carried out much like that of the days of old with guns, and individuals riding around patrolling the borders on horse back. The incident began in February 1973, and represented the longest civil disorder in the history of the Marshals Service [ (United States Marshals Service) ]. The end result would be a long difficult process with the loss of two lives and several wounded on both sides, all this going on at the same time as the Watergate Scandal. The American government has been taking back the land of the Native peoples for years, some temporarily in deals with local tribes, others permanently. As stated in Wikipedia’s article on the Indian reservations,† With the establishment of reservations, tribal territories diminished to a fraction of original areas and indigenous customary practices of land tenure sustained only for a time, and not in every instance. Instead, the federal government established regulations that subordinated tribes to the authority, first, of the military, and then of the Bureau (Office) of Indian Affairs. † So then Not only has the government told Indians were they could and could not live they have also taken over the ownership of law on these reservations allowing for tribal laws to fall second to the American government. Are Native Americans, currently living in the same way? In research done by Edward Blakemore of the University of Dayton School of Law, he researches the use of land taken back from the Native American inhabitants. He states in part of his research this, â€Å"What little portion of land theyve been permitted to inhabit by the US government is being reacquired for use as toxic waste sites†(Blakemore, 1998). What Blakemore is trying to say is that the land that the government is taking back from the Native peoples is going towards sites that have a negative effect on the land, and that by doing so we are taking the land that they need and essentially throwing it away. Further research with this topic states that the government has looked at the Native American communities as synonymous with poverty, and yet we need to be helping the natives Americans in their long going quest for self-determination and sovereignty. Though America struggles to find room for its expanding population the Native American population seems to grow and yet the land they have seems to be decreasing. Why is it that some Americans have become so negative towards the native communities around them when they are the ones who lived here long before us. Through history the Native American population ahs fought with the white mand in an effort to remain as a equal party in the rights regarding land occupation. Through many wars and protests the people have shown that Native Pride is strong and that they will never give in, these are a people with a strong cultural tie to the land that we the white man now occupy, and call our own. Is it right what we have, and continue to do with the land we now reside on? Maybe, maybe not that is a question for each and every individual on there own, no one man can say. Blakemore, Edward, Native Americans, and Land 1998, http://academic. udaton. edu His90 History Channel, Indian Relocation Act of 1890, http://www. history. com Remini, Robert V. Indian Removal Act, 2001, http://www. freebase. com United States Marshals Service, The siege at Wounded Knee, 9/17/05, http://www. usmarshals. gov American Indian Movement Legal definition, Free online Law Dictionary, a href=http://legal-dictionary. thefreedictionary. com/American+Indian+MovementAmerican Indian Movement/a.