Indians And Tribe Gambling Essays - , Term Papers

Indians And Tribe Gambling Indian tribes existed as sovereign governments long before European settlers arrived in North America. Treaties signed with European nations and later the United States in exchange for land guaranteed the tribes continued recognition and treatment as sovereign nations. Historically, state governments have been hostile to the concept of recognizing and dealing with tribes as sovereign governments. The United States negotiated numerous treaties which they continuously violated in pursuit of the Indians' lands and assets, and ultimately to impose their will on Indian tribes and people as they seen fit. These actions by the United States reinforce the colonialism theories and the four components of the colonization complex toward indigenous people in the United States. In this project I will expose Colonial practices by the United States toward Native Americans, past and present, the move to assimilate them, and the relationship of those practices to the current condition of the American Indiana. European colonialism uprooted and almost completely destroyed the North American indigenous population. The land grab and expansion west placed all native Americans into harms way. The establishment of the United States of America would be the defining point for the Native American Indians because this created a government with colonial motivation. According to Aguirre and Turner American Ethnicity, in order to create internal colonies government must actively participate and provide coercive force need to control those being colonized. The first rule of the colonization complex: forced entry into a territory and its population. (Aguirre & Turner p.28) American history easily provides us with the facts and intentions of early American settlers. After the independence from England America turned its attention toward Native Americans who were in the way of expansion. The desire for American settlers to move west only accelerated the entry into Indian Territory. All of America was India n Territory at one period and the first landings at Jamestown VA. Were the beginnings of the Indian colonization theory. The alteration or destruction of an indigenous culture and patterns of social organization is Aguirre & Turner second stage of the colonization complex. General George Crook commander of the Indian wars of the pacific north west and commonly known as America best Indian fighter recognized greed as nine tenths of the problem with the Indians. The quest for more land and gold were the driving force behind the destruction of the Native Americans. To justify the actions of killing Indians in the same manner as hunting a deer or a rabbit they had to present the Indians as savages. Instead of attempting to share the land with Indians it was decided to remove them. When Indians tribes refused to be uprooted from their native lands the justification for their destruction was inevitable, from the American governments prospective. The transition of the domination of the indigenous culture and it patterns of social organization, the third stage of the colonization complex occurs with the forced moves to Indian reservations. The tribes were remove from their native homelands and force into reservations. Completely destroying the Indians custom of living from the land and being in a harmonious balance within nature. When treaties were agreed, such as the Black Hills of Dakota, and the sacred land to the Sioux Indians the United States recognized the Black Hills as part of the Great Sioux Reservation, set aside for exclusive use by the Sioux people. However, after the discovery of gold there in 1874, the United States confiscated the land in 1877. To this day, ownership of the Black Hills remains the subject of a legal dispute between the U.S. government and the Sioux. These practices By the U.S. government complicate the trust and relationship native Americans have toward the official government to this day. The justification of prejudicial and racist beliefs is the center of the Indian demise. The belief that European culture, religion, manifest destiny and the natural superiority of the white settlers lead to the misunderstanding of the native culture, and the near complete destruction. The racist beliefs that the white way was the right way inspired mainly Eastern philanthropists, intellectuals and members of religious groups to argued for the total assimilation of Indians as ordinary Americans and the breakdown of tribal governments, which