Post by blackcrowheart on May 22, 2007 10:11:07 GMT -5
Native Americans neglected
By: Melissa Garber, Collegian Columnist
Every elementary school kid in America learns that this country was discovered by Columbus and that the first colonies were settled in Jamestown and later Plymouth. But how do you discover a land that had been inhabited for thousands of years? Our Eurocentric textbooks fail to explain the hypocrisy behind the colonization of America - an oversight that explains the condition of Native American tribes today.
In the early 19th century, more than a century after the colonists forced the Native Americans off of their land, tribes began to legally cede their land over to the United States. In exchange for over 540 million acres of land, Native Americans were relocated to reservations to make way for the expansion of America.
In return for the land, the Nation Congress for American Indians (NCAI) says, the US government made a federal trust commitment to the tribes; it is divided into three general requirements: protection of Indian trust lands, protection of tribal self-governance and provision of basic social, medical and educational services for tribal members. Basically, the reservations are protected by the federal government in a similar fashion to national parks.
Unfortunately, this trust is in desperate need of reform. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reported in 2003 that the persistent underfunding of federal trust commitments to tribes constitutes what the NCAI has called "a quiet crisis."
The federal trust responsibilities have never been met and its effects are detrimental to the Native population. The NCAI says Native American tribes have a 26 percent poverty rate, higher than any other ethnic group in the US.
Native Americans that live on reservations are governed by tribal leaders who exercise sovereignty through self-determination and self-governance. The individual tribal governments have sovereignty, except over currency and foreign policy, according to the Department of the Interior.
From 1944 to 1986, according to the Los Angeles Times, 3.9 million tons of uranium ore were mined on Navajo lands for the Manhattan Project and the arms race against the Soviets. The U.S. government paid private companies to operate the mines and coerced Navajo tribal leaders to open up their land to "uranium exploration." Federal officials convinced the Navajo's that the mining would aid the American war effort and provide jobs.
The Los Angeles Times adds, "The companies often left behind radioactive waste piles and open tunnels and pits. Few bothered to fence the properties or post warning signs, Federal inspectors seldom intervened."
The Federal government has yet to clean up the radioactive waste that has been decimating the Navajo population. The Indian Trust is a faint mark on the bottom of the government's priority list.
For decades now, the Los Angeles Times said, the Navajos have been breathing in the radioactive dust from the piles of waste; they have drank water from abandoned pit mines that filled with rain, then fed their livestock that water and ate the meat; children play in the mines and homes have been built using left over radioactive material.
The cancer rate for a tribe that was once revered for its "cancer immunity" in medical journals has doubled since the uranium mining. What is most tragic about these numbers is that the federal government is doing little to fix this dire problem.
The federal government has little interest in making an effort to discover just how bad the problem is and the Navajo tribal leaders are rendered helpless by the lack of federal funding.
The U.S. is barely adhering to their original Indian Trust commitment much less funding the removal of hazardous radioactive material from tribal lands. Neither the private companies nor the U.S. government that paid for those companies, have owned up to their responsibilities toward the native peoples and their tribal lands.
Negligence is a recurring theme in the federal government's policy regarding Native Americans. Since the 19th century, when the indigenous people were forced to relocate to allow American expansion with no compensation or for empty promises, Native Americans have been treated as second-class citizens in their native land. Exposure to radioactive material is just the tip of the iceberg when examining all of the atrocities committed against Native Americans.
The effects the radiation has had on the Navajo community are irreversible. The Navajo people continue to live in contaminated homes and drink contaminated water and eat contaminated meat and breathe contaminated air, without knowledge of the radiation they are being exposed to.
Even with information regarding the radiation, there is still no funding or resources to counteract the problem. The federal government is leaving it up to the self-determination and self-governance it granted to the tribes to fix the problem. The Navajo peoples' suffering is being routinely ignored.
The federal government has a responsibility to the Native Americans. When the native people of this country ceded their land for little more than 540 million acres, roughly two percent of American land, the government made a commitment to those people. Native American's were to receive government funding for the protection of their land, and basic social, health and education services.
It is apparent that with the cancer rates among Navajos doubling, with 26 percent of Native American's in poverty, and with the desecration of Navajo land by uranium mining, that these promises were not kept and were never intended to be kept.
By: Melissa Garber, Collegian Columnist
Every elementary school kid in America learns that this country was discovered by Columbus and that the first colonies were settled in Jamestown and later Plymouth. But how do you discover a land that had been inhabited for thousands of years? Our Eurocentric textbooks fail to explain the hypocrisy behind the colonization of America - an oversight that explains the condition of Native American tribes today.
In the early 19th century, more than a century after the colonists forced the Native Americans off of their land, tribes began to legally cede their land over to the United States. In exchange for over 540 million acres of land, Native Americans were relocated to reservations to make way for the expansion of America.
In return for the land, the Nation Congress for American Indians (NCAI) says, the US government made a federal trust commitment to the tribes; it is divided into three general requirements: protection of Indian trust lands, protection of tribal self-governance and provision of basic social, medical and educational services for tribal members. Basically, the reservations are protected by the federal government in a similar fashion to national parks.
Unfortunately, this trust is in desperate need of reform. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights reported in 2003 that the persistent underfunding of federal trust commitments to tribes constitutes what the NCAI has called "a quiet crisis."
The federal trust responsibilities have never been met and its effects are detrimental to the Native population. The NCAI says Native American tribes have a 26 percent poverty rate, higher than any other ethnic group in the US.
Native Americans that live on reservations are governed by tribal leaders who exercise sovereignty through self-determination and self-governance. The individual tribal governments have sovereignty, except over currency and foreign policy, according to the Department of the Interior.
From 1944 to 1986, according to the Los Angeles Times, 3.9 million tons of uranium ore were mined on Navajo lands for the Manhattan Project and the arms race against the Soviets. The U.S. government paid private companies to operate the mines and coerced Navajo tribal leaders to open up their land to "uranium exploration." Federal officials convinced the Navajo's that the mining would aid the American war effort and provide jobs.
The Los Angeles Times adds, "The companies often left behind radioactive waste piles and open tunnels and pits. Few bothered to fence the properties or post warning signs, Federal inspectors seldom intervened."
The Federal government has yet to clean up the radioactive waste that has been decimating the Navajo population. The Indian Trust is a faint mark on the bottom of the government's priority list.
For decades now, the Los Angeles Times said, the Navajos have been breathing in the radioactive dust from the piles of waste; they have drank water from abandoned pit mines that filled with rain, then fed their livestock that water and ate the meat; children play in the mines and homes have been built using left over radioactive material.
The cancer rate for a tribe that was once revered for its "cancer immunity" in medical journals has doubled since the uranium mining. What is most tragic about these numbers is that the federal government is doing little to fix this dire problem.
The federal government has little interest in making an effort to discover just how bad the problem is and the Navajo tribal leaders are rendered helpless by the lack of federal funding.
The U.S. is barely adhering to their original Indian Trust commitment much less funding the removal of hazardous radioactive material from tribal lands. Neither the private companies nor the U.S. government that paid for those companies, have owned up to their responsibilities toward the native peoples and their tribal lands.
Negligence is a recurring theme in the federal government's policy regarding Native Americans. Since the 19th century, when the indigenous people were forced to relocate to allow American expansion with no compensation or for empty promises, Native Americans have been treated as second-class citizens in their native land. Exposure to radioactive material is just the tip of the iceberg when examining all of the atrocities committed against Native Americans.
The effects the radiation has had on the Navajo community are irreversible. The Navajo people continue to live in contaminated homes and drink contaminated water and eat contaminated meat and breathe contaminated air, without knowledge of the radiation they are being exposed to.
Even with information regarding the radiation, there is still no funding or resources to counteract the problem. The federal government is leaving it up to the self-determination and self-governance it granted to the tribes to fix the problem. The Navajo peoples' suffering is being routinely ignored.
The federal government has a responsibility to the Native Americans. When the native people of this country ceded their land for little more than 540 million acres, roughly two percent of American land, the government made a commitment to those people. Native American's were to receive government funding for the protection of their land, and basic social, health and education services.
It is apparent that with the cancer rates among Navajos doubling, with 26 percent of Native American's in poverty, and with the desecration of Navajo land by uranium mining, that these promises were not kept and were never intended to be kept.