Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 5 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 18 years ago by
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To Native Americans: do you feel that it’s right that you still receive compensation or benefits for things that didn’t happen to you directly?
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Name : Acat, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, City : West Monroe, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Social class : Middle class,It is the nature of all people to set up the best circumstances they can for themselves, their families and their community. The compensations derived from the near extinction of Native Americans by ‘settlers’ of various invading nations were agreed to by the government of the United States as a means to set things right. Those ‘compensations’ originated as land grants (until the land was wanted by settlers moving west) that were frequently disputed or not acknowledged. Unfortunately, these original compensations never had the chance to compensate because of the continual ‘changing’ of them by the government. It was only after compensation was created out of ‘non-material goods’ (the granting of tax-free status, casino licensing, etc.) that the compensations remained stable. Essentially, casinos, tax deferments, etc., were compensations to the existing Native American nations, not individuals per se. And as a ‘nation,’ Native Americans should certainly defend in perpetuity whatever compensations were granted them. Imagine if you will, that once the ‘settlers’ moved in and annihilated 98 percent of the native population, the settlers then offered the remaining population a proportionately small piece of land to act as a ‘reservation.’ This is essentially what happened. But now imagine that the reservation happened to be sitting on deposits of oil worth a vast fortune. Wouldn’t those responsible be remiss if they did not use those resources to benefit the members of that reservation? And wouldn’t they be remiss not to defend the present and future ownership of those resources? Think of the casinos, etc., as ‘resources’ that have been granted and validated by our own U.S. government and the ‘resource/compensation’ as something that is owned and henceforth, generationally shared.
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Name : charles62, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Native American/Caucasian, Religion : Unitarian, Age : 43, City : Louisville, State : KY, Country : United States, Occupation : Teacher, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,What many non native people view as compensation toward Native Americans is actually part of our legal rights. Many Native peoples signed treaties with the United States government, these treaties are legally binding agreements that must be fully enforced. Many treaties stipulated that in exchange for land that the people would get a settlement, health care, and school among many other various rights. So please realize that these are not reparations or compensation, it’s a legal contract between the united states and each individual tribal group.
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Name : Kari, Gender : F, Race : American Indian, Age : 19, City : Seattle, State : WA, Country : United States,Yes, I believe it is right that we reap the benefits of agreements made between the American government and the tribes across America. You see, our sovereignty and any rights were negotiated with the U.S. government. It wasn’t pity money, it was treaties the U.S. government and our tribes signed that allowed us to benefit and make sure our people would last. There is not one thing wrong with that. In fact, the only wrong is that we as Indians do not stand up together more as we should. If we did that we would be a VERY strong minority.
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Name : N.N., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : Comanche, Religion : Bible believer, Age : 26, City : Cache, State : OK, Country : United States, Occupation : Manager, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,Charles, What you fail to realize is that Caucasoid Americans (White people) are still benefiting from slavery & divide & conquer tactics today. That’s how the wealth of this country was built, and the privilege that most whites have is because of their past degenerate behavior. (exterminating Natives, lying, deceiving, stealing, killing, did I say lying, etc.) So you are standing on the shoulders of your ancestors’ actions, and you are still benefiting from them. So why shouldn’t the Native Americans? I personally feel that it is insensitive, arrogant and ethnocentric to exterminate a people, deceive/manipulate the ones who were left, take all they have, and then ask the question you ask. Have you ever dealt with turmoil or tragedy by another race similar to the Native Americans? If not, then it will probably be very hard for you to understand.
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Name : D. Rich, Gender : M, Race : Black/African American, Age : 28, City : Memphis, State : TN, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,It depends on what you are talking about specifically. And what is the difference between Indians getting the same benefits as any other race? If you are talking about gaming/casinos and all of that, that is nothing more than a sound business decision. Reservations for federally recognized tribes (and there are a lot more tribes not recognized by the US than there are that are recognized) are pretty much the land of a sovereign nation within the US. And tribes can do pretty much whatever they want within state and federal laws. Also not all Native Americans get money, and the only way it is possible for people to receive money is to have enough blood quantum to even belong to a federally recognized tribe. Something only Natives have to do: prove how much Indian they are. And you can only belong to one tribe on paper. Not enough blood then you can’t be a part of that trbe. Otherwise everyone with a grandmother that was a Cherokee or Blackfoot princess would be trying to take advantage of these ‘benefits’. In short, there are things happening to Natives directly still. Your tribe has to exist to government regardless of how long it has been there, and you also have to prove to that tribe that you are a part of them. And that tribe might not even be getting those benefits you are talking about. It’s tough.
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Name : Terrence, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : American Indian, Age : 22, City : Albuquerque, State : NM, Country : United States, Occupation : Tattooist, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
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