Wilma Mankiller

I believe the purpose of  this video being chosen to be used for this class is because Wilma Mankiller discusses many of the issues that native people still face today. Her discussion topic was “Context is Everything”. Too few Americans know about the history, culture, or issues of indigenous people. Native people are expected to live an American lifestyle and know everything about us but we are not challenged or encouraged to learn about native people. She discusses how when they lost an elder, they lose thousands of years of unique knowledge that was passed down from generation to generation. Native identity is obtained through their stories. Some tribes have developed programs to regain parts of their culture that was lost, such as, language and history. “There are over 550 very distinct tribal governments in the United States. Each one with their own history, culture, and language.” Each tribal nation select their leaders differently. The size of the tribe does not determine their sovereignty.

The treaty agreements often involved the United States government taking tribal land. Land has always been critical to the cultural survival of tribal people and their governments. Tribal governments now only control only a tiny fraction of their original land. Tribal governments have given up land and sacrificed lives to retain their rights to self-governance.

She also discussed the way that media has portrayed women and children. Women actually played significant roles in tribal society which the media failed to show. “Navajo women once controlled the economy of the Navajo nation by owning and managing the livestock”.

When most people hear the issues of tribal nations today they fail to understand the history and issues that Native people have faced in the past. It is discussed in this video how in American school, the children are taught that Europeans discovered American and they are not taught that Native people were on this land for thousands of years before Europeans arrived. This issue has bothered me since the beginning of this class. Most people would think as a history teacher, you should know this isn’t true…..why would they teach this to their students? I don’t understand why they would intentionally misinform the students!

Indian Affairs

The source that I chose to review is US Department of the Interior Indian Affairs. I chose this website to review because it was very informative. This site gives information on things such as education, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, laws, tribal governments and many other topics. I think that the perspective that this site is meant to convey is to provide answers to common questions that people might have.

In one section of this site it explains tribal government. “For thousands of years, American Indians and Alaska Natives governed themselves through tribal laws, cultural traditions, religious customs, and kinship systems, such as clans and societies.  Today, most modern tribal governments are organized democratically, that is, with an elected leadership. Through their tribal governments, tribal members generally define conditions of membership, regulate domestic relations of members, prescribe rules of inheritance for reservation property not in trust status, levy taxes, regulate property under tribal jurisdiction, control the conduct of members by tribal ordinances, and administer justice.  They also continue to utilize their traditional systems of self-government whenever and wherever possible” (bia.gov). 

            I think this website was chosen because it has so much information about a lot of topics and explains them thoroughly. The information that I have read on this website has not changed my views but I learned a lot of things that I didn’t know. Like for instance, information about the Bureau of Indian Education. “The BIE school system has 184 elementary and secondary schools and dormitories located on 63 reservations in 23 states, including seven off-reservation boarding schools and 122 schools directly controlled by tribes and tribal school boards under contracts or grants with the BIE.  The bureau also funds 66 residential programs for students at 52 boarding schools and at 14 dormitories housing those attending nearby tribal or public schools.  The school system employs approximately 5,000 teachers, administrators, and support personnel, while an estimated 6,600 work in tribal school systems.  In School Year 2006-07, the schools served almost 48,000 students” (bia.gov).


Reference:
Frequently Asked Questions. (November 22, 2013). US Department of the Interior Indian
            Affairs. BIA. Retrieved on November 23,2013 from http://www.bia.gov/FAQs/index.htm.