Except for Native Americans Essay Example for Free

Except for Native Americans Essay These are very powerful words. Even though Native Americans were the first settlers’ of the continent, they were considered immigrants. This paper will discuss the issues these people faced, such as stratification, pluralism, discrimination, etc. It will also describe the role of politics, public policies and economics within this group. The tale of Native Americans, like other ethnic groups, is a tale of deceit. It began when Christopher Columbus and his European friends first came to North America. Columbus assumed he reached India; therefore he had no problems with calling the native people â€Å"Indians†. These indigenous people taught the Europeans how to survive on their continent. They were experienced in hunting and gathering so they felt it was only fair to share their knowledge to help a fellow man out. In return these men brought diseases to these tribes and forced them into a type of slavery. â€Å"As a conquered population, the subordination of Indians occurred through a highly conflictual process. An indigenous group invaded by a more powerful settler group can only capitulate or, more commonly, resist. This ordinarily makes for a high level of conflict and rejection of assimilation into the dominant group† (Marger, 2012). The North American settlers’ deemed the natives uncivilized and inferior (pertaining to technology). Contact and ethnocentrism is a factor of stratification but are not as important as competition and differential power. The land, as a valued resource, caused competition between Indian-white relations. The land was not viewed as private property. The Europeans’ technological skills are what gave them the advantage in war. â€Å"When the vastly superior arms of the colonialists were combined with the inability of Indians to resist the diseases introduced by the Europeans, it was inevitable that whites would prevail in the struggle for resources and that Native populations would decline† (Marger, 2012). The natives did not want to conform to the culture of the new settlers’. They were furious with them and did not want to take on anything they had. The notion of Indians as â€Å"savages† speaks to the prejudice and discrimination that was brought up earlier. This served as reasoning for stripping them of their land. Once it was established the â€Å"Indians† posed no threat to the Europeans, they produced a racist ideology that allowed them to treat these indigenous people as less than human. Some people were forced onto different reservations, thus birthing negative stereotypes, attitudes and actions. As if breaking the Native Americans down and shedding them of their land was not enough, the Europeans’ forced them to assimilate. Native Americans, in order to be a part of the American way, had to give up their religions and put Christianity in its’ place, â€Å"denying Indians native languages and substituting English, and reducing education to an effort to ‘civilize’ Indians† (Marger, 2012). Their children were separated from their families for years at a time when they were placed in boarding schools, run to by the government. They were taught to speak English, wear Westernized clothing, and pray as Christians (Marger, 2012). Government policies had two goals, in a nut shell, it wanted to â€Å"(1) eliminate the Native American population as an impediment to western settlement and the needs of an expanding American economy, and (2) eradicate Native American cultures and political forms† (Marger, 2012). No matter where the Native Americans reside, urban areas or on reservations, they are below the national average on majority of the socioeconomic measures (I.e. , income, education, health care, and etc. ) These give the Europeans more reasons to stereotype and discriminate. Indians were and are still on the bottom of the hierarchy and therefore the minority. To conclude, the natives have been through so much and have yet to come back from it all. Their land was taking over and they were forced to conform to the ways of the Europeans. The Europeans’ superiority meant their culture was more enhanced and therefore needed to be implemented. Discrimination was strong. The disdain for the natives was exemplified when their children were taking away from their families so they can be taught to speak English, and other ways of the West. Today, Americans are showing sympathy for the continued predicament of the Native Americans. Although we cannot take back what happened, expressing sympathy is a positive start. Reference Marger, M. (2012). Race and ethnic relations: American and global perspectives (9th ed. ). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning.