Post by blackcrowheart on Sept 27, 2006 16:18:29 GMT -5
Alum describes challenges of life in 'Indian country'
Yau Ng
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Media Credit: Alex Snyder
Ann Dapice discusses "A Week in Indian County."
[Click to enlarge]
For Ann Dapice, when it comes to the situation of Native Americans in her home state of Oklahoma, one sentence sums a lot up: "Oklahoma does not like Indians."
Dapice, who is of Cherokee and Lenape heritage and is a Penn alumna, shared her views on the current status of Native Americans in Oklahoma yesterday at the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology by describing the current state of her hometown.
Her tale stressed the problems caused by apathy and ignorance.
The fact that three of Oklahoma's five congressmen voted for restrictions on Indian gaming but not to fund education or social services shows how little concern they have for the state's Native American community, Dapice said.
She added that Indian casinos provide an essential source of funding for education and social services.
Dapice also highlighted a disagreement over the taxation of cigarettes to show how important the smoke-shop business is to Native American life in Oklahoma and lamented what she sees as the exploitation of sovereignty - the quasi-independence granted to Native American tribes by the government.
"To me, the use of sovereignty to enable smoking and gambling is one of the saddest facts of Indian life," Dapice said.
She said that while Delaware and Cherokee communities are supposed to have separate sovereignty, in practice this is not necessarily the case.
The Delawares are not allowed to write federal grants for health, education and social services, Dapice said, adding that when a Delaware seeks treatment at a clinic, he is told that he must first attend Cherokee language classes in order to qualify for health services.
Not that such abuses are anything new, she said, adding that, it was estimated that the North American population before the arrival of Europeans was 12 to 18 million. By the year 1900, the Native American population had dwindled to between 300,000 and 400,000.
Dapice said there is documentation of the burning of Indian crops and villages by American troops; she added that some Indians were even killed for sport.
Many Indian tribes are "doing themselves in," Dapice said, because they are afraid to mingle with the community.
Native American students have the second-highest SAT scores next to whites, but Indians are also the group with the highest school-dropout rate, she said.
Dapice added that stories of being singled out and harassed at universities and high schools serve only to further discourage and frighten Native American students.
She emphasized that issues affecting the Native American community concern all Americans, and that even the land that Penn is on was once owned by Native Americans.
"There aren't many Indians, but I hope you realize that we are all in Indian country," she said.
Yau Ng
PrintEmail Article Tools Page 1 of 1
Media Credit: Alex Snyder
Ann Dapice discusses "A Week in Indian County."
[Click to enlarge]
For Ann Dapice, when it comes to the situation of Native Americans in her home state of Oklahoma, one sentence sums a lot up: "Oklahoma does not like Indians."
Dapice, who is of Cherokee and Lenape heritage and is a Penn alumna, shared her views on the current status of Native Americans in Oklahoma yesterday at the University Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology by describing the current state of her hometown.
Her tale stressed the problems caused by apathy and ignorance.
The fact that three of Oklahoma's five congressmen voted for restrictions on Indian gaming but not to fund education or social services shows how little concern they have for the state's Native American community, Dapice said.
She added that Indian casinos provide an essential source of funding for education and social services.
Dapice also highlighted a disagreement over the taxation of cigarettes to show how important the smoke-shop business is to Native American life in Oklahoma and lamented what she sees as the exploitation of sovereignty - the quasi-independence granted to Native American tribes by the government.
"To me, the use of sovereignty to enable smoking and gambling is one of the saddest facts of Indian life," Dapice said.
She said that while Delaware and Cherokee communities are supposed to have separate sovereignty, in practice this is not necessarily the case.
The Delawares are not allowed to write federal grants for health, education and social services, Dapice said, adding that when a Delaware seeks treatment at a clinic, he is told that he must first attend Cherokee language classes in order to qualify for health services.
Not that such abuses are anything new, she said, adding that, it was estimated that the North American population before the arrival of Europeans was 12 to 18 million. By the year 1900, the Native American population had dwindled to between 300,000 and 400,000.
Dapice said there is documentation of the burning of Indian crops and villages by American troops; she added that some Indians were even killed for sport.
Many Indian tribes are "doing themselves in," Dapice said, because they are afraid to mingle with the community.
Native American students have the second-highest SAT scores next to whites, but Indians are also the group with the highest school-dropout rate, she said.
Dapice added that stories of being singled out and harassed at universities and high schools serve only to further discourage and frighten Native American students.
She emphasized that issues affecting the Native American community concern all Americans, and that even the land that Penn is on was once owned by Native Americans.
"There aren't many Indians, but I hope you realize that we are all in Indian country," she said.