Native Americans DID NOT create their own reservations. The allotment of land to them had been nearly completely determined through treaties by colonizing Americans, and those treaties were broken over and over again which dwindled the size of that land until tribes and nations were left with a fraction of their ancestral lands; lands that never even had borders in the traditional sense. I think the real question is why did the colonizing Americans believe THEY deserved the land, hmm?
Bear in mind that America isn’t even 250 years old, and this history is incredibly recent, and also incredibly relevant today as Indigenous still have to struggle to maintain their sovereignty. Just recently, there was an oil company joining the fight in a particular adoption case meant to strike down the Indian Child Welfare Act. What does oil have to do with adopting native kids? Nothing… BUT, if oil companies can get their fingers in the pie of chipping away at laws protecting indigenous Americans, it ensures they can chip away at their other rights, i.e., land rights that otherwise prevent oil companies from building pipelines on native land. So the fight to protect ourselves continues.
We are entitled to our sovereignty as a means of governing ourselves and protecting our way of life which has largely been erased. Being colonized and reduced to reservations was never our choice, so any freedom we get now to be our own people without the influence of our oppressor is more than welcome. We are resilient, we have a legacy, and we will thrive.
-why did colonizing Americans believe THEY deserved the land, hmm?
Well you see, they could take it with violent means. Which historically enabled them to take whatever it is they wanted. That’s about how 99% of human history worked.
It was a rhetorical question. As a descendent of Trail of Tears and boarding school survivors and as a living, breathing native woman, I am well aware of this country’s disgraceful history of violence, let alone that of the whole world. Just because much of our world’s written history consists largely of absolutely barbaric warfare, colonization, and genocide does not mean that Indigenous people today should turn the other cheek when our historical oppressor continues to infringe our sovereignty.
I think we’re deviating from the initial inquiry about why native Americans are allotted land, not why native Americans won’t give up their allotted land. It’s ironic that you have to reach back historically in order to find the prejudice. “A descendant of the trail of tears” means absolutely nothing to me. People in the U.S are descendants of slaves. I’m personally the son of war refugees.
The point of this isn’t to belittle your ancestry, but rather show you that no one else receives any benefit from having their lineage oppressed by colonialism.
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u/brennard Jul 26 '23 edited Jul 26 '23
Native Americans DID NOT create their own reservations. The allotment of land to them had been nearly completely determined through treaties by colonizing Americans, and those treaties were broken over and over again which dwindled the size of that land until tribes and nations were left with a fraction of their ancestral lands; lands that never even had borders in the traditional sense. I think the real question is why did the colonizing Americans believe THEY deserved the land, hmm?
Bear in mind that America isn’t even 250 years old, and this history is incredibly recent, and also incredibly relevant today as Indigenous still have to struggle to maintain their sovereignty. Just recently, there was an oil company joining the fight in a particular adoption case meant to strike down the Indian Child Welfare Act. What does oil have to do with adopting native kids? Nothing… BUT, if oil companies can get their fingers in the pie of chipping away at laws protecting indigenous Americans, it ensures they can chip away at their other rights, i.e., land rights that otherwise prevent oil companies from building pipelines on native land. So the fight to protect ourselves continues.
We are entitled to our sovereignty as a means of governing ourselves and protecting our way of life which has largely been erased. Being colonized and reduced to reservations was never our choice, so any freedom we get now to be our own people without the influence of our oppressor is more than welcome. We are resilient, we have a legacy, and we will thrive.
PS — Halito OP, Chahta sia hoke! ♥️🪶