Rez Life
The systematic issues in the Rez life originates back in the Native Americans subjugation in the society which consisted on the discrimination in the society, appropriation of culture through sports mascots, racism as well art depictions. Additionally, the Native Americans have been subjected to subsatancial intergenerational and historical trauma that have contributed to major public health crises such as alcoholism and suicidal threat. Rez life also life in the reservations was not a very conducive environment specifically to the Native Americans. As a matter of fact, these reservations started as war camps prisons where for the individuals and their way of life, life was destructive and dismal. the foundational requirements were not met which led to suffering of the Indians in the reservations from malnutrition, low standards of living, poverty and economic development rates. The main objective of the reservations for the Indians was to put the Native Americans under the control of the United States government, conflict between the settlers and the Indians minimization and as a way of encouraging the Native Americans to heed on the white man’s ways. However, majority of the Native Americans were sujected onto researvations with devastating and catastrophic outcomes and effects that were long lasting. U.S. citizenship and plots of land were given to the families although the plots of lands were far from each other in most cases as well as limitation on housing.
Life here was destructive and dismal to the persons and their way and standards of life. They lived far away from the life lived by normal people implying that their life was more subjected to difficulties and challenges. The fundamental requirements and needs for the Native Americans were not cattered for hence they were not met in any way. The Indians really suffered. Alcoholism was a better norm of the day to them and remained to be a problematic to the individuals who lived on the reservations. However, to them this was not a major concern. In my argument and perception, I believe that thise Rez life was a result of numerous factors that surrounded and were subjected to the Native Americans. Which contributed to the way of life in the reservations.
Alcoholism has severly affected majority in the reservations.This life can be linked with by the pain of lacking employment opportunities which therefore implies that the resources to provide for the families are also inadequate, the overwhelming helplessness to life as well as the personal trauma that the people in the reservations experienced. All this results to despair to the individuals who perceived life as meaningless to them and the only way left is alcoholism which continues to be a severe threat to the individuals on the reservations. The native Americans are therefore perceived as alcoholics a stereotype that resulted to harm on the economic, social and emotional aspects of these people. Additionally, the stereotype is dismissive and condescending leading to numerous hinderances in the job market. Failure to secure employment opportunities in the job market will therefore contribute to the agony way of life that is experienced by the Indians as they are unable to meet their daily life requirements leading to more sufferings and poverty. Conversely, since the presentation of alcohol by the Americans to the Indians, the stereotype has continued to exist. The colonialists therefore had an impact to the Rez life.
Indian Health Service was and continuous to be underfunded hence inadequate resources for addressing the physical and mental health health issues that are resulted by the abuse of alcohol and drugs. This underfunding is the systematic issue on the treatment of the United States government to the Mative Americans and should carry the blame for inavailability of treatment and not the Indian Health Service. Limb or life continuous to be the main long standing maxim basing on the Natives healthcare implying that unless the life of an individual is threatened by something, treatment in that case is discretionary hence alcoholism treatment together with its underlying contributers falls under the cracks.The have a historical trauma and social economic situations direct role to the alcohol abuse for Native Americans.
The Native American community also experiences a crisis on housing in the reservations. Most people live in homes that are multi-generational and overcrowded. The communities in the reservation are mainly composed of extended families relatives. Most communities have a huge housing shortage problem since they are unable to afford building their own homes due to the hard economic situations and the harsh environment subjected to. Approximately, in the reservation, there are like 2500 residents with roughly two-hundred and twenty available homes which implies that more than twelve people are housed by a single home hence tripling and doubling up of families to have a shelter.
Consequently, this results to health threat more so in the remote areas and rural settings where there is inadequate access to healthcare due to the overcrowding, inavailability of utilities and substandard dwellings all of which increases potential on health threat. Living in the homes that are multigenerational might be suffocating as it results to familial difficulties since different generations might be incorporate diverse expectations and rules in terms of aspects like cleanliness. Lack of housing therefore has contributed to lack of privacy of the individuals and the required space by a family for it to thrive accordingly. This posses a challenge in the standards of living of the Native Americans.
Racial and societal segregation also has an effect to the systematic issues that currently and used to affect the Native Americans. The negletion and avoidance by the settlers and the whites rendered the Native Americans depressed and felt that they were unwanted in the society and the only form of pleasure and company was engaging in alcoholism.the separation of the tribes by the U.S government in the allocated plots of land further kept away the native Americans making it easy to have them in small manageable groups subjecting them to the discrimination more. As a result, they engaged in alcoholism a stereotype that resulted to the negative health risks that continues to affect the Native Americans.
The mistreatments of the Indians by the United States government continued beyond the reservation system creation. The Dawes Act installed new allotment measures where reservation plots lands were administered to members of the tribe valid for a period of twenty years. The reservation plots of land would be the settlement for the Native Americans although this with time took another dimension. They would assist to solve the housing crisis among the Indians. However, due to the drastic decrease of the Indian, populations as a result of warfare or diseases, the allotments were dispensed by the government. To make the matters worst, there was patent forcing by the government to the Native Americans where the government finally took all land that was allotted out of the Indians trust. The trust.
Giving of the leases and patent to the Native Americans was considered as capable and competent an evaluation that was made on segregation techniques. Bidders that were not native Americans secured tenures on the rest. The policies were in effect during the nearly half-century forcing the Native Americans to loose huge acres of land approximately more than ninety million tribal land acres which was more than half of their holdings. As a result, it contributed to the house crisis that hit the native Americans thereafter due to lack of enough settlement land and resources to build their own houses. This was one of the precipitating factors that led to the systematic issues affecting the Native Americans.
The issues can also conversely by linked to the Indian boarding schools agonizing history of the 20th century. In this case, instructions to the Indian children was exclusively made in English, additionally, they were enforced to desert ways and customs of their tribe. This was due to the perceived notion of saving the man by killing the Indian ways. The oonly left option for the Indians in a modernized America was to adapt to the white’s culture which was the majority’s culture and learn English. However, these boarding schools in practice were brutal on the way the children were handled and the survivors personal accounts are heartbreaking. These schools can be termed as horror chambers for Indian children generations where they were subjected to harsh environment and cruelties that ranged from the sexual abuse to corporal punishment. The subjected harsh conditions and environment to the Indian children may have led to the feeling of neglection among the Indians by the society resulting to the systematic issues of alcoholism and poverty. Lack of quality education may have hindered the entry to the main job market leading to unsecuring of job opportunities among the Native Americans. As a result, this would lead to low standards of living leading to poverty among the Native Americans. The learning conditions in the boarding schools that were established for the Native American children were not conducive and conversely would lead to negative systematic issues such as depression among the Indians. In this perspective, the instructors in the boarding schools trained the Native Americans to the worst ever known kind of Americans. Learning of these new languages only ensured their marginalization. These boarding schools created hatred and internal among the Native Americans.
The historical trauma subjected to the native Americans had a better part to the system issues affecting the Indians. They were subjected to historical injustices in the society due to their race. This segregation formed the worst part of the Indians as they felt unwanted in the society. Negative perception towards them made them to opt to alcoholism. This stereotype even made it harder for them to secure employment opportunities compared to their white people counterparts effecting their living standards. This trauma can be viewed in the intergenerational trauma faced by the American Indians and can be linked directly to the substance and alcohol abuse and high suicidal rate among the Native American populations. This historical trauma can be explained as a collective damage both psychologically and emotionally resulted by the traumatic activities in the lives of the Native Americans.
The Indians experienced historical trauma through colonialization impacts like the forced removal for the settlement of the white settlers, assimilation from their Indian culture to the culture of the modernizing America wars and genocide. Additionally, they were subjected to historical trauma through reservations plots of land forced relocation, the epidemics that were fatal and the education where the Indian children were were forced to the boarding schools. Although many of the Native Americans did not experience these experiences that were traumatic such as the massacre of the wounded knee, a good number of generations still are affected by these traumatic events. The massacre resulted to more pain that was unanswered which felt even to date and is linked to the current violence, alcoholism and abuse of substances. Contrastingly, majority of the generations currently experience trauma through the treaty obligations current violations.