Above is an outlook of the Spokane Reservation and how the houses are, showing poverty.
http://socgen180genocide.wordpress.com/
Degradation of Native Americans – Lack of Quality Education
Tuesday afternoon a drive through the Spokane Reservation, we see the local school, Native Americans in secondhand clothes, drunkards and a group of Native American boys playing soccer barefoot surrounded by worn down houses.
The Native Americans were put in reservations because most Americans saw them as an obstacle to America’s growth. Today there are more than half a million Native Americans in the United States and millions more elsewhere in the Americas. Still trying to cope with adjustment to white civilization, they are in all stages of development. A few have made money from oil and other natural sources found on their lands, but many live at near-starvation levels. Relocation programs have taken hundreds of Native Americans to work in cities; thousands of others cling to the security of their reservations, hoping to gain education and assistance necessary to develop the resources of their lands and become self-sustaining. Generally, the Native Americans are still proud of their traditions and heritage. But Native Americans generally also recognize that their standards of living must be raised.
We stop by a small house, which is Spirit family’s house. From one side of the street, we see the house and it doesn’t seem so safe, its not well painted and it has crumbling bricks. We go over and knock on the front door and a drunk man, with a beer belly and an unshaved beard opens the door.
“Where is hope? Who has hope?” –Arnold Spirit
“Who are you? What do you want?” The man said
We try to respond that we want to talk to Arnold Spirit, but Arnold cuts us off coming over and tellin g his dad he will take over from there. He invites us in and all we see are plastic chairs, tables, and room doors open to see mattresses on the floor. Arnold, who is also known as Junior in the reservation, is a Native American teenager with a lot of disorders, but a really good basketball player, he dropped out from the Native Americans school, Wellpinit, to go to a white school, Reardan, because his teacher inspired him. Arnold rearranges some chairs and points out to a chair so I can sit on it and then he sits on another plastic chair in front of me and waits…
“At the start in Reardan, it was difficult I admit it but there was no way back, Rowdy, my best friend was angry and my parents wouldn’t let me change back to my old school, Wellpinit, I just had to accustom. Now I feel popular, I can talk to everyone with out him or her first saying get out of my way redskin.” Arnold said.
Above is a drawing taken from the book and this is how Arnold describes his feeling of being Native American going to a white school
http://www.saraheachday.com
“I actually like Reardan way better, Penelope and Roger know I’m poor and that I’m Native American and I don’t get bullied about it, they’re actually my friends. But in Wellpinit, even though I’m Native American like them, I got bullied. Also, the education in Reardan is better, even though it’s a small town, its great and I can actually do something with my life, I have dreams and I can live up to them. Well, like my sister, before she died and after she got married, she was independent and she got the chance to see what the real world looks like from other perspectives than the basement.” Arnold adds.
As we were concluding the interview, we hear a knock on the door and Arnold gets up and answers. His face expressed he was surprised to see a man at his house, I overheard him calling him Mr. P, and then I recall that Mr. P was the teacher who inspired Arnold to go to Reardan. I was happy to see him, because now I could ask him some questions too. I walk over there and they look at me weirdly, I introduce myself and I ask if I could talk with him and very kindly he agrees. We go out to the back porch and we all three sit down there. Mr. P and Arnold start talking about Reardan, but then there is a silence so I start asking Mr. P.
“I didn’t mean to kill the Native Americans to save the child literally, what I mean is, we were meant to make them give up being an Native Americans, the culture, the songs, the stories, the dancing and the language but that was back in the bad days. I used to treat them really bad and I regret it all now. ” Mr. P said.
“I chose Arnold because he is a smart kid, he has hopes and dreams and I know that if he stays here he will end up like every one else here. He has to go out, he has to bring pride to this reservation, he deserves better than this and he can be something in life. On the whole, the kids who go to Willpinit are just for a pass time, we all know how the kids in the rez are going to end up, they’re going to end up like their parents, even though they have hopes and dreams, they’re going to be crushed because they keep staying on the rez, and on the rez, you cant succeed and fulfill your dreams” Mr. P adds.
The logo and the name of the NFL team the Redskins they have started a whole controversy with their mascot (A Native American.)
http://www.pbs.org/
We have learned about Degradation of Native Americans especially in the perspective of Education. In the future we see a change and hope for Native Americans, because now they can live all over America, although some choose to stay in the reservations.
Tanya Mukhi, Morgan Sands & Carlos Sanchez
Tanya M 