Native American Genocide Essay

In this paper, I will argue that the act of genocide as here defined, has been committed by the coupled States of America, upon the tribes and cultures of autochthonal Americans, done mass indoctrination of its youths. Primary support will be drawn from Jorge Noriegas work, American Indian Education in the United States. The paper will past culminate with my personal views on the subject, with ideas of if and how the United States might make reparations to its victims.In lieu of the well known and brutal Indian Wars, there is a gist of cultural destruction of Native Americans, which began no later than 1611. This method was one of indoctrination. Methods included the forced removal of children from their cultural milieu and enrollment of these children in educational programs, which were intended to instill to a greater extent European beliefs. As the United States was not formally a Nation, until 1776, it would not be fair to use demonstrate, forrader this twelvemonth in bu ilding a case against it.The most damaging, to the United States, are parcels of evidence that are drawn from events after 1948, the year of the Convention on Genocide. scratch line in 1778, the United States Board of War, a product of the Continental Congress appropriated grants for the purpose of, the maintenance of Indian students at Dartmouth College and the College of New Jersey? The young mint who had returned from the schools are described by Seneca leader, Cornplanter as, ?ignorant of every means of living in the Woods, unable to bear either Cold or Hunger, they knew neither how to build a Cabin, take a Deer, or kill an Enemy, they spoke our Language imperfectly, were therefore neither fit for Hunters, Warriors, nor Counselors they were totally good for nothing (Noriega, 376). Grants given to otherwise schools was just the beginning. In 1820, the United States make plans for a large scale system of boarding and day schools Noriega, 377).These schools were given the missio n to, instruct its students in letters, comprehend and mechanical arts, and morals and Christianity training many Indian leaders Noriega, 378). In the case of boarding schools, Native American children would be forcibly stripped from their homes as aboriginal as five years old. They would then live sequestered from their families and cultures until the age of seventeen or eighteen (Noriega, 381). In 1886, it was decided, by the United States federal political science that Native American tribal groups would no longer be treated as indigenous national organisations. The decision was made, not by the conjoint efforts of the Native American tribes and Congress but, by the powers that be the United States Legal System. This self-ordained power allowed Congress to pass a variety of other laws, directed towards, assimilating, Native Americans, so that they would become a part of mainstream white America (Robbins, 90) By this time the United States Government, had been funding over a do zen distinct agencies, to provide authorisation education to all native children aged six through sixteen.Enrollment was implemented through leverage given by the 1887 General Allotment Act, which made Natives dependent on the Government for Annuities and Rations (Noriega, 382). The practice of indigenous religions by these students was prohibited (Noriega, 380). Students were compelled to undergo daily instruction in Christianity. In addition, only the use of position was accepted within these schools. The food was not sufficiiently nourishing? health supervision was generally neglected? A sincere effort was made to develop the fount of school that would destroy tribal ways (Noriega, 382).While being held captive at these schools, the students were forced to learn an idealism completely foreign to them. They would study histories, which had no significance to there lives. The books talk to him the student of a world which in no way reminds him of his own, (Noriega, ). This is e xactly how the students must have felt as if they were in another(prenominal) world. To compound the torture, the students at these institutions were forced to work as maintainers and farmers in order provide for the continued existence of the very establishments, which were destroying them.The methods of forced labor were considered, by the educators to be a means of developing the native character, and as a way of financing further expansion of the system itself (Noriega, 379). The rigid military style enforced by the schools contributed to the assimilation of the Native Americans culture. The students began to not only think white but also to, work white (Noriega, 384). To this point, I have provided enough evidence to make a hypocrite of the United States.However, it is my intent to prove that the United States has performed a criminal act under International law. I will do so by describing genocidal acts committed well after the time of the convention on genocide. The governme nt activity was not satisfied with only educating the Native American youths, they wished to institute their victims as a virus, a medium through which to hurry along a calculated process of sociocultural decay (Noriega, 379). They turned their victims into witless traitors scatter their insipid ideas, and fracturing the cultural infrastructure.The apotheosis of this implantation project is clearly delineated in The Indian Self-Determination and Educational Assistance Act of 1975. In this act, the United States Government declared that educated Native Americans should be used to staff the various programs aimed at them by federal policy makers (Noriega, 356). These are the same programs which, the government has always viewed as the ideal vehicles by which to condition Native Americans to accept the values, and thus the domination of Euroamerica (Noriega, 387).Through the implementation of this act, nothing really changed? the curriculum taught in Indian schools remained exactly t he same, reaching exactly the same conclusions, indoctrinating children with exactly the same values as when the schools were staffed entirely by white people (Noriega, 387). In this way, the government attempted to mask the face of evil with one of familiar physical origin. It is a classic story of a wolf in sheeps clothing. These red acts have not ended, even with the convention on genocide. Indeed, the United States is guilty of committing a law, which it has promised to not only abide by, but also, to help enforce.Does this represent the Mainstream American Culture we so want to instill into the minds of Native Americans? We should begin taking a look at our own culture and worrying about its problems, before we start thinking about spreading it like a dreaded disease. The fact that Native Americans have arrived at this point with any of its culture go forth intact, is an astonishing feet in itself. It shows a character, which is ostensibly lacking, or at least not shown, wit hin the European and American cultures. Perhaps the United States should be more the pupil than the pedagogue.