Russell Means: Obama's solution for 'Indian Problem' is dissolution

By Russell Means
Lakotah Republic

The inaugural address is THE most important speech a President EVER makes. Billions of People look at it. The speech is written over a period of many weeks by a whole team of writers. It is edited and re-edited. Each word and each phrase is scrutinized so as to not offend anyone.

“For we know that our patchwork heritage is a strength, not a weakness. We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus – and non-believers.” He has placed our successful AND peaceful way of life and Spirituality into the category of “Non-Believers!”

Then he uses the phrase “the lines of tribes shall soon dissolve.” What does he mean? Certainly, NOT the tribes of Israel. Who, but the American Indians are referred to as Tribes? We are the ONLY ones.

Obama’s “Final Solution” to the centuries-old “Indian Problem” is total dissolution. Click to View the VIDEO.
http://www.russellmeansfreedom.com/?p=817&preview=true

America's Indian Problem

The hospitality of the American aborigine, it is told, saved the early settlers from starvation during the first bleak winters. In commemoration of having been so well received, Newport erected "a cross as a sign of English dominion." With sweet words he quieted the suspicions of Chief Powhatan, his friend. He "told him that the arms (of the cross) represented Powhatan and himself, and the middle their united league."

DeSoto and his Spaniards were graciously received by the Indian Princess Cofachiqui in the South. While on a sight-seeing tour they entered the ancestral tombs of those Indians. DeSoto "dipped into the pearls and gave his two joined hands full to each cavalier to make rosaries of, he said, to say prayers for their sins on. We imagine if their prayers were in proportion to their sins they must have spent the most of their time at their devotions."

It was in this fashion that the old world snatched away the fee in the land of the new. It was in this fashion that America was divided between the powers of Europe and the aborigines were dispossessed of their country. The barbaric rule of might from which the paleface had fled hither for refuge caught up with him again, and in the melee the hospitable native suffered "legal disability."

History tells that it was from the English and the Spanish our government inherited its legal victims, the American Indians, whom to this day we hold as wards and not as citizens of their own freedom loving land. A long century of dishonor followed this inheritance of somebody's loot. Now the time is at hand when the American Indian shall have his day in court through the help of the women of America. The stain upon America's fair name is to be removed, and the remnant of the Indian nation, suffering from malnutrition, is to number among the invited invisible guests at your dinner tables.

In this undertaking there must be cooperation of head, heart and hand. We serve both our own government and a voiceless people within our midst. We would open the door of American opportunity to the red man and encourage him to find his rightful place in our American life. We would remove the barriers that hinder his normal development.

Wardship is no substitute for American citizenship, therefore we seek his enfranchisement. The many treaties made in good faith with the Indian by our government we would like to see equitably settled. By a constructive program we hope to do away with the "piecemeal legislation" affecting Indians here and there which has proven an exceedingly expensive and disappointing method.

Do you know what _your_ Bureau of Indian Affairs, in Washington, D.C., really is? How it is organized and how it deals with wards of the nation? This is our first study. Let us be informed of facts and then we may formulate our opinions. In the remaining space allowed me I shall quote from the report of the Bureau of Municipal Research, in their investigation of the Indian Bureau, published by them in the September issue, 1915, No. 65, "Municipal Research," 261 Broadway, New York City. This report is just as good for our use today as when it was first made, for very little, if any, change has been made in the administration of Indian Affairs since then.

Prefatory Note

"While this report was printed for the information of members of Congress, it was not made a part of the report of the Joint Commission of Congress, at whose request it was prepared, and is not available for distribution."

Unpublished Digest of Statutory and Treaty Provisions Governing Indian Funds

"When in 1913 inquiry was made into the accounting and reporting methods of the Indian Office by the President's Commission on Economy and Efficiency, it was found there was no digest of the provisions of statutes and treaties with Indian tribes governing Indian funds and the trust obligations of the government. Such a digest was therefore prepared. It was not completed, however, until after Congress adjourned March 4, 1913. Then, instead of being published, it found its way into the pigeon-holes in the Interior Department and the Civil Service Commission, where the working papers and unpublished reports of the commission were ordered stored. The digest itself would make a document of about three hundred pages."

Unpublished Outline of Organization

"By order of the President, the commission, in cooperation with various persons assigned to this work, also prepared at great pains a complete analysis of the organization of every department, office and commission of the federal government as of July 1, 1912. This represented a complete picture of the government as a whole in summary outline; it also represented an accurate picture of every administrative bureau, office, and of every operative or field station, and showed in his working relation each of the 500,000 officers and employes in the public service. The report in typewritten form was one of the working documents used in the preparation of the 'budget' submitted by President Taft to Congress in February, 1913. The 'budget' was ordered printed by Congress, but the cost thereof was to be charged against the President's appropriation. There was not enough money remaining in this appropriation to warrant the printing of the report on organization. It, therefore, also found repose in a dark closet."

Too Voluminous to be Made Part of This Series

"Congress alone could make the necessary provision for the publication of these materials; the documents are too voluminous to be printed as a part of this series, even if official permission were granted. It is again suggested, however, that the data might be made readily accessible and available to students by placing in manuscript division of the Library of Congress one copy of the unpublished reports and working papers of the President's Commission on Economy and Efficiency. This action was recommended by the commission, but the only official action taken was to order that the materials be placed under lock and key in the Civil Service Commission."

Need for Special Care in Management

"The need for special care in the management of Indian Affairs lies in the fact that in theory of law the Indian has not the rights of a citizen. He has not even the rights of a foreign resident. The Indian individually does not have access to the courts; he can not individually appeal to the administrative and judicial branches of the public service for the enforcement of his rights. He himself is considered as a ward of the United States. His property and funds are held in trust. * * * The Indian Office is the agency of the government for administering both the guardianship of the Indian and the trusteeship of his properties."

Conditions Adverse to Good Administration

"The legal status of the Indian and his property is the condition which makes it incumbent on the government to assume the obligation of protector. What is of special interest in this inquiry is to note the conditions under which the Indian Office has been required to conduct its business. In no other relation are the agents of the government under conditions more adverse to efficient administration. The influence which make for the infidelity to trusteeship, for subversion of properties and funds, for the violation of physical and moral welfare have been powerful. The opportunities and inducements are much greater than those which have operated with ruinous effect on other branches of public service and on the trustees and officers of our great private corporations. In many instances, the integrity of these have been broken down."

Government Machinery Inadequate

"* * * Behind the sham protection, which operated largely as a blind to publicity, have been at all times great wealth in the form of Indian funds to be subverted; valuable lands, mines, oil fields, and other natural resources to be despoiled or appropriated to the use of the trader; and large profits to be made by those dealing with trustees who were animated by motives of gain. This has been the situation in which the Indian Service has been for more than a century--the Indian during all this time having his rights and properties to greater or less extent neglected; the guardian, the government, in many instances, passive to conditions which have contributed to his undoing."

Opportunities Still Present

"And still, due to the increasing value of his remaining estate, there is left an inducement to fraud, corruption, and institutional incompetence almost beyond the possibility of comprehension. The properties and funds of the Indians today are estimated at not less than one thousand millions of dollars. There is still a great obligation to be discharged, which must run through many years. The government itself owes many millions of dollars for Indian moneys which it has converted to its own use, and it is of interest to note that it does not know and the officers do not know what is the present condition of the Indian funds in their keeping."

Primary Defects

"* * * The story of the mismanagement of Indian Affairs is only a chapter in the history of the mismanagement of corporate trusts. The Indian has been the victim of the same kind of neglect, the same abortive processes, the same malpractices as have the life insurance policyholders, the bank depositor, the industrial and transportation shareholder. The form of organization of the trusteeship has been one which does not provide for independent audit and supervision. The institutional methods and practices have been such that they do not provide either a fact basis for official judgment or publicity of facts which, if made available, would supply evidence of infidelity. In the operation of this machinery, there has not been the means provided for effective official scrutiny and the public conscience could not be reached."

Ample Precedents to be Followed

"Precedents to be followed are ample. In private corporate trusts that have been mismanaged a basis of appeal has been found only when some favorable circumstance has brought to light conditions so shocking as to cause those people who have possessed political power, as a matter of self-protection, to demand a thorough reorganization and revision of methods. The same motive has lain back of legislation for the Indian. But the motive to political action has been less effective, for the reason that in the past the Indians who have acted in self-protection have either been killed or placed in confinement. All the machinery of government has been set to work to repress rather than to provide adequate means for justly dealing with a large population which had no political rights."--Edict Magazine.

Why Indians love America so much

NEW DELHI - A survey concerning India and the United States has set off a debate here. Contrary to opinions in many other countries, especially Muslim-majority ones, the survey by the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes Project states that America's image is the best in India.

"Fully 71% in India express a positive opinion of the United States, compared with 54% three years ago," the survey says. Favorable opinion of the US in India was higher than any of the countries surveyed, including Canada (where it declined from 72% three years ago to 59%) and the United Kingdom, where it dipped considerably from 75% to 55%. Indians also had the most favorable opinion of the American people - 71% compared to 70% in Britain, 66% in Canada, 65% in Germany, 64% in France, 61% in Russia and 43% in China. The survey was conducted among 17,000 people in the US and 15 other countries from April 20 to May 31.

A healthy majority of Indians view Americans as "inventive" (86%), "hard-working" (81%) and "honest". Fewer than half associate the negative traits "greedy" (43%), "violent" (39%), "immoral" (33%) and "rude" (27%) with Americans.

Indians, however, echoed similar sentiments that at least one more country should check US military might. In India, 81% want a rival to US, compared to 74% in China and Russia. There was also dwindling support in India for the US-led "war on terror" (52%) , as well as the invasion of Iraq.

Though the survey was released in the second half of June, discussions continue to range about why Indians view America in such high regard, and better that what the rest of the world thinks. Some of the logic is rooted in the socio-economic interactions between the two countries.

Indian-Americans: Ethnic Indians in the US number a healthy 2 million, creating a conservative constituency of over 10 million friends and relatives back home who have a direct stake due to the benefits flowing from the US, such as in money sent "home".

It helps matters that Indians in America are doing quite well for themselves, raising aspirations. A study titled, "We the People: Asian Americans in the United States", released by the US Census Bureau, confirms that Indians are the best-educated, highest-earning, youngest and most likely white-collar workers among all major ethnic groups in the US, including native-born Americans. They are also among the top earners. Indian men had the highest year-round full-time median earnings ($51,900), more than the Japanese ($50,900) and well ahead of the national average ($37,057) and the Asian average ($40,650). Overall, the Japanese have the highest median family income ($70,849) followed closely by Indians ($70,708). Both were way ahead of the national average of $50,046.

Business Process Outsourcing: To add to the economic benefits is India's BPO outsourcing industry, which is growing courtesy of the US economy. Despite a virulent anti-outsourcing campaign in the US, a couple of daring financial frauds orchestrated by Indian call center executives as well numerous instances of abusive and racist hate-calls, there is a lot at stake.

A recent McKinsey report on the information technology-enabled (IT) sector has revised the previous global figure of US$17 billion to $21-24 billion by the year 2008, with India slated to garner 25% of the offshore market, of which the US is the largest source (60%). Estimates suggest that 200,000 to 400,000 jobs, mostly for a young international population, have moved from the US since the outsourcing trend began in the 1990s. The highest projection is by Forrester Research - a loss of 3.3 million jobs by 2015, including 1.7 million back-office jobs and 473,000 IT jobs - which will create a dent in the US job market of 140 million, and not the wreck everyone fears.

Apart from creating a section of the Indian population that has directly benefited from the US economy, there are other reasons for Indian affinity towards America. It is to do with culture, foreign policy, the command of the English language and the American way of life.

Quest for excellence: India until the 1990s was a different country. It modeled itself on socialist Russia, its Cold War ally since independence in 1947, where the individual was subsumed by the might of the state and bureaucracy. In the 1970s and 1980s, the only way to breach the stranglehold of the state was to move to the West or the Gulf countries, where Indian entrepreneurs excelled. Doctors and engineers were in demand in the West, but formed a very small percentage of the youth who wanted to break the shackles that forced everyone to conform to an abstract higher good dictated by the thoughts of Karl Marx and the rest.

This, many observers say, was a complete antithesis of the way Indians are and have been for centuries. Like Americans, Indians have done best when allowed to excel in an uncluttered environment where individual excellence is recognized. The pursuit of high performance and efficiency, rooted in liberal values and individual rights and democratic principles, is where India and US stand on similar ground.

The 1990s brought in change, economic liberalization and a management ethic. Giants such as General Electric and IBM set up offices in India, and other symbols of American gastronomy jumped in - Pepsi and Coca-Cola, Pizza Hut, KFC and McDonald's have fed an army of Indian kids.

Television: Another great binder has been television, and similar entertainment tastes due to the absence of a language barrier. Just a decade back there were no foreign channels in India, only boring government-controlled television. Satellite television has brought symbols of American life into Indian homes, including kids grown up on MTV lingo, Friends and HBO and who sound more American than the Americans. CNN and Fox are staple channels. They follow Christiane Amanpour in Africa as much as a pregnant Britney Spears or a heart-broken Jennifer Aniston. Mr and Mrs Smith registered a good opening, while Angelina Jolie is the woman most Indian men would like to possess (Brad Pitt remains the perfect hunk). Talk show host Jay Leno's jokes, including his takes on the Michael Jackson trial, abound.

Foreign policy: One critical aspect has also been American foreign policy in the past few years. Despite the revelations of the snide Richard Nixon-Henry Kissinger remarks against Indians in the early 1970s, there is a growing realization in India that the US wants to move beyond its Pakistan fixation of the past. There is more sensitivity to India's fight against terrorism. The tag of being the big bully of the world and the criticism of the invasion of Iraq remains. But Indians, too, now see foreign policy as such - an instrument through which a country should further and secure its own benefits. This has been the one basic tenet of American foreign policy for a long time, and one which now brings the two countries closer.

Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist.

Indians in America - Census Report

This Article will be Updated Soon.........

A report from the U.S. Census bureau about Asians and Indians living in the United States:

Total Asians— 10,171,820
Total Indian- 1,645,210

16.2% of all Asians are Asian Indians.

Indians had a larger percentage (71.4) of the populace between the ages of 16 and 64 than any other Asian group, except Thai (82.2%).

As a whole, Asians were more likely to be married than the general population. Furthermore, Asian Indians had a higher percent of married

people than any other Asian group (67.4%) and a lower percent of separated people than any Asian group (0.9%)

70.7% of Indian households consist of married couples, compared to 52.5% of all households and 61.8% of all Asian households.

24.6% of all Asian Indians in America are natural born citizens, compared to 31.1% of all
Asians in general. Of the total population, 88.9% are natural citizens.

6.6% of the total population are foreign-born, non-citizens. Compare this to 34.5 percent of all Asians that are foreign-born and non-citizens and the 45.8% of all Indians that are foreign-born and non-citizens.

A higher proportion (76%) of the foreign-born Asian population than the total foreign-born population (70) came to the U.S. over the past two decades. Forty-three percent of the foreign-born Asian population entered from 1990-2000. Over 50 percent of foreign-born Asian Indians entered the U.S. between 1990 and 2000. About 18% entered before 1980.

Out of the total U.S. population, 9.8% speak a language other than English at home, but also speak English "very well."
39.4% of Asians speak another language at home and additionally speak English "very well."
57.6% of Indian Asians spoke another language at home, and spoke English "very well" in '00.

Of the total population, 84% have at least a high school

Diploma. 24 % have a Bachelors Degree or higher.
80.4% of Asians have a High School Diploma. 44.1% of them have a Bachelors Degree or higher.
86.6% of Asian Indians have at least a High School Diploma. 63.9% have a Bachelors Degree or higher.

In 2000, about 71% of both Asian men and all men aged 16 and over, and about 57% of both Asian women and all women of the same ages were in the labor force.

Among the detailed Asian groups, Asian Indian and Pakistani men had the highest labor force participation rates (79% and 77%). These rates were also higher than that of all Asian men.

Of the general populace, 33.6% are in management professional, and related positions. Among the Asian population, 44.6% are in those positions. Among the Asian Indian population, 59.9 % are in those positions, more than any other Asian group.

The median yearly earnings for male workers is $37,057
The median yearly earnings for Asian male workers is $40,650
The median yearly earnings for Asian Indian male workers is $51,904, more than any other Asian group

Poverty rates for Asians and the total population were similar.
Asian Indians had a lower poverty rate than the total population (9.8% vs. 12.4%)

In terms of home ownership, about 2/3 of all homes are owned, not rented.
A little more than half of all Asians own, instead of renting.
A little less than half of all Asian Indians own instead of renting.

Indians In America

Asian Indians Their struggle as immigrant minority and major contributions to the American society Asian Indians come from an area with the second largest population in the world, but form only one of the smallest minorities in the United States. America was influenced by their religious and political beliefs long before the first immigrants arrived in the 19th century. The congressional act of 1947 granted them citizenship. Now, Asian Indians hold many important occupations (students, teachers, writers, musicians, scientists). Their most important contributions are geared toward engineering and the sciences. India was in a great shape up until the end of 19th century. When British arrived, the country was depleted of its wealth and resources. The poor had no choice but to come to the United States (The Land of the Free and the Land of Opportunity). The United States, due to the abundance of jobs and scarcity of labor, became a “Mecca” for immigrants from all over the world. The United States, in the nineteenth century, remained a strong magnet to immigrants, with offers of jobs and land for farms. Asians and Italians came for work, Russians came to escape persecution, and Jews came for religious freedom. Immigrants from all over the world including Europe, China, and Japan wanted to experience the freedom of improving your life and being able to take care for one’s family. East Indians represented a big group that wanted to take part in American culture. The large majorities from India were Punjabis, from a region called the Punjab. Most of Gielar 2 these immigrants were young men, between 16 and 35 years old. They left their families in India, and came here in small groups of cousins and village neighbors. Thus, the family and community ties remained very strong. They had several reasons to come to America. They were repressed by the British rule and had no land to farm on. To make matters worse, famine devastated India from 1899 to 1902. Thus, large-scale immigration began in 1906, when six hundred Asians applied to enter the United States. They came here in hopes of changing their lives around. Unfortunately, they soon found out that life in America was very challenging. Many Indians were farmers back in India, but when they came to the United States they had to take jobs no one else would. They also encountered prejudice. Whites sometimes associated the Asian Indian immigrants with blacks, Chinese, or Japanese. Very often, Asian Indians were blamed for the violence directed towards them. Whites did not want or try to understand Indian culture and traditions. The Indian poet, Rabindranath Tagore (a winner of the Noble Prize in literature) traveled to North America. When he applied for entry to the United States, Tagore encountered difficulties and when he finally made it to the country, he experienced racial prejudice in Los Angeles. He cancelled his tour and returned to India, saying in disgust, “Jesus could not get into America because, first of all, he would not have the necessary money, and secondly, He would be an Asiatic.” Despite of everything they encountered, the immigrants still believed that the life they left behind was much worse than thy life they faced in America. Gielar 3 Another major problem Asian Indians faced came from the white population. Many people felt threatened by the increasing multi-cultural population. Many Indians had limited opportunities to advance their careers due to prejudice. Frustrated because of their current situation, they opened their own businesses, which gave them a lot more freedom and control of their own lives. Furthermore, whites taunted the Indians because of the color of their skin and wearing of traditional turbans. They were called by insulting names such as “rag-heads” and treated as inferior beings. A California Sikh who came from India at that time said, “I used to go to Maryville every Saturday. One day a drunken white man came out of a bar and motioned to me saying, ‘Come here, slave!’ I said I was no slave man. He told me that his race ruled India and America, too.” Assimilation has always been an important part of American life. Furthermore, American immigrants found out that assimilation is not a one step process. They were forced to complete several steps on their way to being American. It was especially difficult for Indians because of their appearance (skin color, clothing, and distinctive speech). In East India, property ownership is a matter of pride. Unfortunately Indians were denied that simple right until 1947. Presently, Asian Indians own upward of 40 percent of all the motels in America with rooms of 150 and less. Asian Indians are following in the tradition of other immigrants, entering occupations or businesses that involve the entire family, said Bruce Stave, chairman of the history department at the University of Connecticut in Storrs. No figure exists, he said, yet stereotypes persist because when Gielar 4 high numbers of immigrants become employed in specific occupations, their visibility is obviously greater. Another reason why Asian Indians go into motel business is because it provides work for the entire family. Each family member can clean carpets, fix broken equipment, and paint if necessary. Shah, who has owned the Coronet Motel in Berlin for five years, is an assistant foreman for Advanced Products Co. in New Haven. His wife, Pretta Shah, runs the motel and takes care of the family. Sometimes when she comes to the registration counter, her diaper-clad son trails behind her. Not all the new comers are professional and well educated. These people opened their own small businesses such as restaurants and clothing stores, which serve many ethnic communities. Many people are under an assumption that someone who is called a Hindu follows the religion of Hinduism, which is not true. Some immigrants were Hindus, others were Muslims, and yet others were Sikhs. They follow a religion of Sikhism, a blend of elements from Hinduism and Islam. Back in their homeland Sikhs and Punjab were thought of a soldiers by the British government. To demonstrate their religious commitment, they never shaved their beards or cut their hair. They wore turbans, for their faith required them to cover their heads in their temples. Many of them share the name Singh (lion), a sacred to Sikhs. Many immigrants also tried to retain their diet based to religious beliefs. For example, Muslims don’t eat pork and Hindus are vegetarian. On the other hand, Sikhs eat mostly vegetables, fruit, and milk. Gielar 5 The major conflict between the old and the new is centered directly around the family life. The roles of husband, wife, and their children are strictly governed by their traditions. Many young people aggravate at the rules imposed by their parents, who seem much stricter than other American parents. One of the most difficult issues between the parents and their children has been the idea of dating. The idea of dating is unheard of in an Indian culture. Parents arrange the marriage between their children, and both kids have limited contact with each other until the wedding. Women marry very young based on Western standards, and men have total control over their wives, which are considered to be property of their husbands. This idea of an arranged marriage helps Indian couples to stay within the Indian cast system, which means that you cannot marry someone below yourself. It also has to do with the wealth of the bride or groom’s family. Fortunately, Indian kids raised in the United States understand that love is a very important determining factor in marriage. They do not learn this in their family homes, but when they go to school, their ideas of authority and making one’s own decisions are questioned. Asian Indians have greatly contributed to the Americas’ well being. For example, in 1893, Swami Vivekananda came to the United States. His eloquence and enthusiasm made him on of the most popular speakers in the assembly of religious leaders from all around the world. His ideas and thoughts have influenced many American Philosophers Gielar 6 and historians such as Aldous Huxley, Will Durant, and Christopher Isherwood. The East Indians have had other contributions in the fields of art and education. One of them is Zubin Mehta; a very well known music conductor and music director. His technical ability when conducting has made him famous around the world. In addition, Ravi Shankar, one of India’s outstanding musicians has influenced American Jazz as well as popular music. He has popularized music of the sitar, a Hindu instrument resembling a guitar. Mr. Shankar teaches sitar at the University of California’s Los Angeles Department of Ethno-Musicology. Boston is a very good example of a city that attracts immigrants of different nationalities. Boston universities attract many bright students from around the world, and the booming high-tech industry attracts a well-educated immigrant population. Foreign-born residents – 13 percent of the state’s population of 6 million – say that software, the Internet, and biotechnology provide a discrimination-free arena in which they are judged, by what they can do. And they do a lot, either through tenacity or with advantages of being educated in school systems superior to the American system. Also many bright students, who were denied acceptance to prestigious Indian schools, come to America and are easily accepted to top-notch colleges, including Harvard. Asian Indians contribute to our society in a variety of ways, ranging from deciphering our genetic code to observing the stars. Many Asian Indians work in the medical field improving the technology and prolonging our lives. Other Americans of Gielar 7 East Indian descent have made important contributions in the field of education. Such as Santha Rama Rau; in the field of American literature and Dr. Chakravakti; professor of oriental religions and literature at Smith College in Massachusetts. Many came to this country with hopes of some day returning to their homeland. Fortunately, once they saw the opportunity for a better life America offered, they decided to stay. Asian Indians were significantly changed by this experience; especially the second generation (children). In a positive way, they also have been changing America. Because of them, America became richer and more multicultural. When they left their homes in India, they faced years of hardships and prejudice. Fortunately, this bold move was not without benefits for both Indians and Americans.

Bibliography

Blanton, Kimberly. “ The land of high-tech opportunity; To immigrants from the far reaches of the globe, Boston is becoming a Mecca,” The Boston Globe. Globe Newspaper Company, Sunday City ed., December 20, 1998. G1. Daniels, Roger. “Asian Americans: Emerging Minorities,” New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1988. 33. Dayes, Walter. “U.S. Immigration Commission,” The Asian American Encyclopedia. 1995 ed. 22,76. Hess, Gary. “The Forgotten Asian Americans: The East Indian Community in the United States,” Harvard Encyclopedia of American Ethnic Groups. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1981. 12. Hundley, Norris. The Asian American, California: American Bibliographical Center, 1987. 38,39,45. James, Sandra. “Motels are good place to start in America,” The Hartford Courant. The Hartford Courant Company, October 11, 1992, A ed. B1. Koritala, Srirajasekhar. A Historical Perspective of Americans of Asian Indian Origin. 1997. 3. Millis, Harry. East Indians of the West Coast. Makers of America-The New Immigrants 1904-1913. 1981 ed. 32,38. Pavri, Tinaz. “Asian American Indians.” Gale Encyclopedia of Multicultural America. 1995 ed. 102,106.

American Indian/Alaska Native Education: Conclusion

Worldwide, the survival of indigenous peoples and their cultures is a compelling political issue. The breakup of the Soviet Union testifies, in part, to the strong claims that minorities make for self-determination. Elsewhere, Kurds, Basques, and other indigenous groups demand independence.

The United Nations recognized both the predicament and aspirations of indigenous minorities by declaring 1993 the "International Year for the World's Indigenous People." The current policy of Indian self-determination in the United States, while not perfect, approaches the ideal of freedom and cultural democracy envisioned in the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Tribal schools and colleges are helping change the negative environment on many reservations to one of hope. And the renewal of traditional Native cultures in and out of school is re-establishing a sense of community and is fighting the materialistic, hedonistic, and individualistic forces of the popular culture.

American Indian and Alaska Native concerns about land, culture, and community are concerns that all Americans need to share if we are to assure a future for all of our children.

For further reading

Brandt, Elizabeth. (1992). The Navajo Area Dropout Study: Findings & Implications. Journal of American Indian Education, 31(2), 48-63.

Cleary, Linda Miller, & Peacock, Thomas D. (1998). Collected Wisdom: American Indian Education. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

Donna, Deyhle (1992. Constructing Failure and Maintaining Cultural Identity: Navajo and Ute School Leavers. Journal of American Indian Education, 31(2), 24-47

Fedullo, Mick. (1992). Light of the Feather: Pathways Through Contemporary Indian America. New York: Morrow.

Gilliland, Hap. (1999). Teaching the Native American (4th ed.). Dubuque, IO: Kendall/Hunt.

Indian Nations at Risk Task Force. (1991). Final Report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 339587)

Jacobs, Don Trent, & Reyhner, Jon. (2002). Preparing Teachers to Support American Indian and Alaska Native Student Success and Cultural Heritage. ERIC Digest EDO-RC-01-13

Qöyawayma, Polingaysi (Elizabeth White). (1964) No Turning Back: A Hopi Woman's Struggle to Live in Two Worlds (as told to Vada F. Carlson). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.

Reyhner, Jon. (1992). American Indians out of school: A review of school-based causes and solutions. Journal of American Indian Education, 31(3), 37-56.

Reyhner, Jon. (2006). Education and Language Restoration (Contemporary Native American Issues Series. Philadelphia, PA: Chelsea House.

Reyhner, Jon. (Ed.). (1992). Teaching American Indian Students. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.

Reyhner, Jon. (2001). Teaching Reading to American Indian/Alaska Native Students. ERIC DIGEST EDO-RC-01-10.

Reyhner, Jon, & Eder, Jeanne. (2004). American Indian Education: A History. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.

Weatherford, Jack. (1988). Indian Givers: How the Indians of the Americas Transformed the World. New York: Crown.

Periodicals

Journal of American Indian Education, Center for Indian Education, College of Education, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1311.

Tribal College: Journal of American Indian Higher Education. P.O. Box 720, Mancos, Colo. 81328.

Organizations

American Indian Science and Engineering Society, P.O. Box 9828 Albuquerque, NM 87119-9828. Has chapters in high schools and colleges to promote math and science achievement among American Indians. Publishes Winds of Change.

National Indian Education Association, 700 North Fairfax Street, Suite 210, Alexandria, VA 22314. Lobbies congress on behalf of Indian education and holds annual conferences with Indian education workshops. Has state affiliates.

Note

This paper is a 2006 update of the author's now out-of-print 1994 Phi Delta Kappa fastback #367 titled American Indian/Alaska Native Education.

American Indian/Alaska Native Education: Language Revitalization

On October 30, 1990, President Bush signed the Native American Languages Act, Title I of Public Law 101-477. Congress found in this Act that "the status of the cultures and languages of Native Americans is unique and the United States has the responsibility to act together with Native Americans to ensure the survival of these unique cultures and languages." Congress made it the policy of the United States to "preserve, protect, and promote the rights and freedom of Native Americans to use, practice, and develop Native American languages" and recognized "the right of Indian tribes and other Native American governing bodies to use the Native American languages as a medium of instruction in all schools funded by the Secretary of the Interior." Furthermore, the act declared that "the right of Native Americans to express themselves through the use of Native American languages shall not be restricted in any public proceeding, including publicly supported education programs."

The passage of the Native American Languages Act was the fulfillment of Native desires so eloquently in such documents as the 1985 education policies of the U.S.'s largest reservation-based tribe, the Navajo Nation. The Navajo policies call for local control, parental involvement, and Navajo language instruction in the belief that:

The Navajo language is an essential element of the life, culture and identity of the Navajo people. The Navajo Nation recognizes the importance of preserving and perpetuating that language to the survival of the Nation. Instruction in the Navajo language shall be made available for all grade levels in all schools serving the Navajo Nation. After centuries of minority language repression worldwide, researchers are finding that bilingualism is an asset rather than a handicap. It is not necessary to forget a home language to learn a second "school" language and be academically successful in that second language. However, it does take time--about two years to become conversationally proficient and six to seven years on average to become fully (that is academically) competent in a second language. With well designed bilingual instruction such as has been carried out at Rock Point Community School, students can learn successfully academic subjects such as math and science and literacy in their Native language while developing near-native fluency in English.

American Indian/Alaska Native Education: Native Students At Risk

The final report of the Indian Nations at Risk Task Force documented that about one-third of Native students never finish high school. The review of research commissioned by the Task Force identified seven school-based reasons why Native students drop out of school:

1. Large schools that present students with an impersonal education
2. The perception that teachers do not care about Native students
3. Passive, "transmission" teaching methods
4. Inappropriate curriculum designed for mainstream America
5. The use of culturally-biased tests and the flunking of Native students
6. Tracking Native students into low achieving classes and groups
7. Lack of Native parent involvement

The most frequent reason Navajo dropouts gave for leaving school was that they were bored. A 1986 study commissioned by the Navajo Tribe found that the top three reasons dropouts gave for leaving school were: 1) bored with school (20.5%), 2) problems with other students (15.5%), and 3) retained in grade due to absenteeism (14.2%). The same study found that 37% of those who planned to drop out of school also reported being bored with school, while 29% planned to drop out because they had flunked classes owing to absenteeism as well as academic failure. Only 8% specifically gave academic failure as a reason (Brandt, 1992).

A number of studies show that dropouts, Indian and non-Indian alike, perceive their teachers as uncaring. In a recent study of Indian dropouts published in the January 1992 issue of the Journal of American Indian Education, Donna Deyhle quotes a Native student:

The way I see it seems like the whites don't want to get involved with the Indians. They think we're bad. We drink. Our families drink. Dirty. Ugly. And the teachers don't want to help us. They say, "Oh, no, there is another Indian asking a question" because they don't understand. So we stop asking questions. By interviewing dropouts and observing classrooms, Deyhle found that Navajo and Ute students did not have the academic language skills, specifically reading, to do the required classroom work, such as reading the textbook and answering the questions at the end of the chapter. This common type of classwork bores students when they have the academic language skills to perform it, but it is especially boring when students must sit quietly at their desks doing nothing because they cannot read well enough to do the assignment.

Typically, the type of extra help this type of student gets in special education and Chapter I remedial classrooms breaks the content down into smaller pieces and allows students more time to complete. This form of instruction can increase student boredom. Also, such remediation takes students out of mathematics, science classes, and other classes, causing them to miss valuable instruction.

Combating Substance Abuse

While research does not indicate that alcohol and drug abuse is a major reason for students dropping out of school, alcohol has long disrupted American Indian societies. Most efforts have not been successful, but a few new approaches show promise. The Alkalai Lake Band in British Columbia developed one such approach. Their focus is a community effort that draws on Indian traditional cultures to combat substance abuse.

In another effort, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of Montana have established a treatment center at Blue Bay. The center operates on the following healing principles:

1. The solution for the problems with alcohol and substance abuse must come from within the communities.
2. We must discover the life-preserving, life-enhancing values of our traditional culture.
3. An ongoing learning process is required.
4. The well-being of the individual is inseparable from the well-being of the community.

Their treatment program promotes peer support for sobriety, helping other tribes, identifying cultural attributes that may promote drug abuse, and optimism. At Chinle High School on the Navajo Nation, students volunteer to take a class where they learn leadership and peer-counseling skills by helping classmates with drug and alcohol problems.

A key element in all of these programs is peer involvement and cooperation, and attitude that, in itself, reflects traditional Native values.

American Indian/Alaska Native Education: Teacher Training

Special training to teach Native students is often considered unimportant. When I started teaching Navajo sixth graders in 1971, state certification requirements did not, and still do not today, mandate any training in Native education. I was lucky enough to start teaching near the first tribal college, which had recently opened its doors. Thus I was able to learn about Navajos and the unique requirements of cross-cultural education.

Culture determines out understanding of the world, patterns our social interactions, and shapes our tastes in food, music, clothing, color, and other matters. Furthermore, we take most of this cultural knowledge for granted. When students behave in terms of the cultural knowledge we acquired growing up, then we consider it normal behavior. However, if students act differently because they grew up in a different culture, we consider their behavior abnormal or bad. Teachers need to understand the dynamics of how children are socialized both into their home culture and into the school culture. And teachers need to be able to get students to think about culture and how it shapes their lives.

Sociocultural and Historical Foundations

First, teachers of Native students need an understanding of the findings of anthropology, sociology, and history. Those who have carefully studied Indian education have long recognized this need. For example, Robert Havighurst, who directed the National Study of Indian Education from 1967 to 1971, found evidence to suggest that "teachers of Indian children should be systematically trained to take account of the sociocultural processes operating in the communities and classrooms where they work." Teachers of Native students must appreciate the influence of culture in and out of the classroom. This includes the background and meaning of concepts such as ethnocentrism, cultural relativism, assimilation, and acculturation. This foundation also allows Native teachers to explain the non-Native world to their students.

Teachers of Native students also need to know the historical background of Native education. Most often they will not get this in standard educational histories. In fact, it is not unusual in those histories to find no mention at all of Native education. Many different approaches to Native education have been tried through history. The knowledge of past successes and mistakes will help the new teacher with ideas about what will and will not work. In addition, knowing the history of Native education will help the new teacher to sort through the maze of federal Indian education programs they may encounter in their work and to understand the intent of those programs.

Instructional Methods

Teachers need to be responsive to Native students, their cultures, and how they "learn to learn" at home. Through this sensitivity teachers can help make their classroom activities reinforce the child raising patterns of the Native children's extended families.

One approach is to use the experiential and interactive methods. Teachers need to get students out of lecture halls and textbooks and get them involved in "real" experiences--especially hands-on activities. These kinds of activities correspond to "learning from the land." The interactive component refers to how teachers must listen and respond to the concerns of their students. Many Native Americans tend to be global or holistic learners who think reflectively and respond to visual and tactile stimuli. They learn more effectively through cooperation rather than competition. Traditional curricula and textbooks that approach learning as sequential, linear, and literary or auditory unfortunately focus on Native students' weaknesses instead of their strengths.

Native students who appear to be proficient in English may have only conversational proficiency rather than the cognitive/academic proficiency required for successful schoolwork. Students with a conversational proficiency can use English in "context-embedded" situations on the playground and in the classroom. In such situations there are many clues that the student can rely on to provide meaning. However, in "context-reduced" situations (whether it be textbook work, teacher lectures, or other classroom activities requiring higher order, abstract language skills) the conversation-only proficient student is Limited English Proficient (LEP) and at a disadvantage.

Students who speak a Native language well but who are LEP can obviously benefit from teachers trained in bilingual and ESL teaching methodologies. In particular, teachers of Native students need a knowledge of both first and second language acquisition theories and practices such as Steven Krashen and Tracy Terrell's Natural Approach and James Asher's Total Physical Response.

Teachers of Native students who have lost their Native language need to be familiar with the international research on language restoration. Joshua Fishman in his 1991 book, Reversing Language Shift, points out that language restoration efforts restore culture and a sense of personal identity. This development of identity and reinforcement of traditional family values is probably the most effective way to combat alcohol and drug abuse and other aspects of cultural disintegration.

One promising solution to the problem of family identity loss being pioneered in New Zealand for the past decade by the Maoris, the original inhabitants of New Zealand. It is called the Kohanga Reo or language nest. Language nests are community based day care centers carried on in the Maori language and staffed with Maori elders. Language nests preserve the Maori language, provide a valuable service to working parents, and, most important, strengthen the cultural values associated with the traditional Maori extended family. Language nests also are being successfully pioneered in Hawaii with native Hawaiian children. These programs link elders and children, strengthen family values, and develop language skills. In New Zealand and Hawaii, the preschool immersion programs were first expanded into the elementary and secondary schools and then into the university level.

"Nativizing" the Curriculum

Textbooks dominate American education. While textbooks should less control the education of all students, it is especially critical for cultural minorities that textbook instruction be de-emphasized and supplemented. Commercial curriculum materials are usually irrelevant to minority culture students because these materials are written from a dominant culture point of view. Consequently, such materials do not relate to the students' experiential background. The message to students from teachers who use only commercial materials and who are not responsive to the sociocultural background of their students is that the culture of the school is more important than the culture of the students' homes. This is a form of cultural imperialism.

Teachers need to encourage school librarians, administrators, and school boards to acquire supplemental curriculum material appropriate to their students' background. They need to learn about oral and written Native literature suitable for classroom use, how to integrate Native history and government into social studies curriculum, and how to use ethnically sensitive science and mathematics in their classrooms. For example, at Sinte Gleska University on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota students are taught to develop culturally-relevant thematic and holistic units that address learning styles and cultural values.

Changing the curriculum to reflect their cultures of Native students can help create meaning for students who often do not see school as meaningful. In addition, teachers will have more success if they emphasize comprehension rather than surface forms of language, such as pronunciation and spelling. Of course if the surface forms get in the way of comprehension, they must be addressed, and students should be learning Standard English, including standard grammar, spelling, and pronunciation. Not because it is superior to their Native language or dialect of English, but because it will provide them access to the wider world, including greater access to jobs.

Students need to be able to relate what they are being taught to their prior knowledge and experience. This can be done most successfully when new material is presented in a narrative or story form, as comprehension is impeded when material is disconnected as it often is in textbooks and basal reading stories. In addition, the more senses that can be targeted in presenting the story the more chance the Native student has for comprehension.

A Balanced Approach to Reading and Writing

A balanced approach to reading and writing can foster higher-level thinking. For example, students can interview tribal elders, elected officials, and others in their native language. They then can write their own texts. This interviewing and reporting process can produce social studies curriculum material about the community and, at the same time, develop students' speaking and writing skills in tribal languages and English. It can also produce local versions of traditional stories for students to read. Teachers also can incorporate native language instruction through language experience stories and various student writing activities. Such instruction leads naturally to integrating content areas into holistic and meaningful units of study.

T. L. McCarty of the University of Arizona observed a thematic unit in a classroom on the Navajo Reservation. The students read Scott O'Dell's historical novel about the Navajos, Sing Down the Moon. Students responded to the book in journals and then were asked what more they wanted to do to learn about the historical period in which the book was set. Some students chose to interview elders, in Navajo, about the "Long Walk of the Navajos" and compiled a local history of the event. Others researched colonization and why people went to war. Another group rewrote pertinent passages in their history texts to represent the Navajo point of view (McCarty & Schaffer, 1992).

Thematic units like this one provide students real reasons for putting their reading, writing, and other academic skills to work. Students learn about the interesting world they live in and explore their relationship to it in active, participatory ways. The possibilities for developing similar units are limited only by students' interests and teachers' willingness to participate in and facilitate their students' learning.

Whole Mathematics

"Whole Mathematics" is a language oriented approach to teaching mathematics. Teachers use a variety of methods to help students put mathematical concepts into language. These methods are "direct use, " such as copying information from the board; linguistic/translation, such as translating a mathematical formula into a complete sentence; summarizing/interpreting, such as a student explaining in writing how they solved a problem; applied use, such as a student writing their own story problems; and creative use, such as having students write a report on a math project. As in whole language, writing activities work better if students write for a larger audience than just the teacher. This extended audience can include classmates, younger students, parents, and others.

American Indian students who do well adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing often fail when it comes to solving story problems that add a reading dimension to mathematics. There is a downward trend in Indian student standardized test scores in the upper elementary grades, where solving story problems becomes more important. In the primary grades, students should write story problems relevant to the world around them. That will help them understand what story problems are about, will help develop their language skills, and will give them an understanding of the real world applications of mathematics (Davison & Pearce, 1992; Reyhner & Davison, 1993).

A coordinated program to lead LEP students to success with story problems should include these activities:

1. Students observe how math is used all around them and discuss and write about the importance of mathematics.
2. Students discuss and write about the meaning of the mathematical process they use in specific cases.
3. Students explain, orally and in writing, their use of manipulatives to solve textbook mathematical problems.
4. Teachers show students a similar problem with just manipulatives and no numbers.
5. Teachers ask students to describe the steps they used to complete the problem.
6. Students make up a problem in which manipulatives can be used.
7. Teachers ask students to make up a story problem that uses the same mathematical operation they have dealt with in the preceding two activities.

Examples of language development activities including journal writing, vocabulary development, writing story problems, letter writing, and mini-mathematical projects. Students can keep mathematics journals in which they write their own definitions of new mathematics terms and communicate with the teacher. An example of a mini-mathematics project is for students to gather public opinion on a particular question and then to graph the responses. Such a project involves students in selecting a topic of interest, developing a questionnaire, interviewing people, and tallying, tabulating, and reporting their results.

American Indian/Alaska Native Education: Tribal Colleges

One of the most promising trends in Indian education today is the growth of the tribal college movement since Navajo Community College (now Diné College) opened its doors in 1969. While this college and others were started because of the low success rate of Native students in mainstream colleges, they also began developing unique tribally-specific curriculum. Lionel Bordeaux, president of one of the oldest tribal colleges declares "cultural preservation is really the foundation of the tribal colleges."

Tribal colleges today are serving student who never would have had a chance to go on to college. Not only are they teaching students, they are in the vanguard of improving the quality of life on their reservations. A two-year study of tribal colleges by the Carnegie Foundation concluded, "the idea of Indian-controlled colleges offers great hope to the Native American community and the nation as a whole." Most of these colleges have either received regional accreditation or on working on getting accredited. Interestingly, the BIA did not initially support the growth of independent tribal colleges.

Tribal colleges are moving to become more than just community colleges. In South Dakota, Sinte Gleska University and Oglala Lakota College developed four-year teacher preparation programs. Both Diné College in Arizona and Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas have also developed teacher education programs.

American Indian/Alaska Native Education: Validating Native Culture

In Light of the Feather: Pathways Through Contemporary Indian America, author Mick Fedullo tells of his experiences as an educational consultant in Indian schools. He gives examples of American Indian resistance and intercultural differences. He quotes an Apache elder who says that the students' parents,

had been to school in their day, and what that usually meant was a bad BIA boarding school. And all they remember about school is that there were all these Anglos [white people] trying to make them forget they were Apaches; trying to make them turn against their parents, telling them that Indian ways were evil.

Well, a lot of those kids came to believe that their teachers were the evil ones, and so anything that had to do with "education" was also evil--like books. Those kids came back to the reservation, got married, and had their own kids. And now they don't want anything to do with the white man's education. The only reason they send their kids to school is because it's the law. But they tell their kids not to take school seriously.

The cost to the student of rejecting the school's language and culture is a serious loss of future academic and occupational opportunities. However, the alternative of rejecting one's home language and culture can lead to tragic consequences as students become increasingly unable to communicate with their parents and other extended family members. University of California Professor Lilly Wong Fillmore writes, What is lost is no less than the means by which parents socialize their children: When parents are unable to talk to their children, they cannot easily convey to them their values, beliefs, understandings, or wisdom about how to cope with their experiences. They cannot teach them about the meaning of work, or about personal responsibility, or what it means to be a moral or ethical person in a world with too many choices and too few guideposts to follow. Another tragic consequence of the failure of educators to appreciate Indian languages and cultures is the well documented over-identification of Indian children as learning disabled and mentally retarded. These labels usually are based on assessments by monolingual, monocultural school psychologists using "intelligence" and other tests that measure "Standard" English language ability and familiarity with mainstream American culture.

Native students today vary from traditional to assimilated. Some are bicultural, capable of moving back and forth from white to traditional Indian culture. Because of the tremendous variation among Indians of different tribes and different degrees of assimilation, it is impossible to study "the Indian" and determine what is the best instructional approach for them. The many variations among Indian students point to the conclusion that a variety of methods should be employed.

Teachers can demonstrate that they care about student's background and support family values through modeling learning for their students. They can learn about the home culture of their students through home and community visits and by reading relevant ethnographic literature. They then can use this knowledge to change their teaching methods and to use classroom activities that will better motivate their students. On reservations this has been called "crossing the cattle guard," referring to leaving the fenced compounds that teachers live in next to the schools. Native families see teachers' participation in such Native activities as powwows as affirming the teachers' respect and concern for their students.

To be successful, educators must overcome their students' resistance to education and master the art of intercultural communication. To overcome that resistance Jim Cummins of the Ontario Institute for Educational Studies found that:

1. Educators must involve parents in the running of the school.
2. School curriculum needs to reflect the cultural background of the student.
3. Experiential and interactive teaching methods need to be used.
4. Testing must be used to help students learn effectively, rather than to sort and label students.

If teachers take this approach, they will employ a bilingual-additive, "English Plus" approach, which contrasts dramatically with the traditional assimilationist approach.

American Indian/Alaska Native Education: Schools

The task force looked at a variety of schools serving Native students American Indians. There were BIA boarding and day schools, increasingly under local control but still tied up with myriad government regulations; tribally controlled schools operated under contract and grants with the Bureau of Indian Affairs; and mission schools operated by various churches. Public schools served the largest number of Native students and tended to look like public schools anywhere, even when they were located on Indian reservations. While Indians have taken over reservation boards of education and established cultural centers and Native studies programs, these changes tend to be peripheral to basic state-mandated curricula.

The Indian Nations at Risk Task Force declared four national priorities: 1) Developing parent-based and culturally, linguistically, and developmentally appropriate early childhood education, 2) Making the promotion of students' tribal language and culture a responsibility of the school, 3) Training more Native teachers, and 4) Strengthening tribal and Bureau of Indian Affairs colleges. In addition, they adapted the six national goals from President Bush's America 2000 program into 10 national Indian education goals.

American Indian/Alaska Native Education: Indian Nations at Risk Task Force

Despite the changes brought about by the Self-Determination Act, testimony gathered at the U.S. Secretary of Education's Indian Nations at Risk Task Force hearings in 1990 and 1991 indicated that many Native students still attended schools with "an unfriendly school climate that fails to promote appropriate academic, social, cultural, and spiritual development among many Native students." Such schools also tended to exhibit a Eurocentric curriculum, low teacher expectations, "a lack of Native educators as role models," and "overt and subtle racism." These factors contributed to Native students having the highest high school dropout rate (36%) of any minority group in the United States.

On the brighter side, the Task Force found that "schools that respect and support a student's language and culture are significantly more successful in educating those students." In the process of gathering information,

The Task Force learned that there is a direct relationship between students' understanding of their culture and role in society and their ability to function comfortably in society and to achieve academic success. When students' relationships with the larger society are strained, their chances for academic success appear to diminish. . . .

Often schools have failed to make clear to students the connection between what they learn in school and what they must know to live comfortably and contribute to society.

The task force recommended "establishing the promotion of students' tribal language and culture as a responsibility of the school" and "training of Native teachers to increase the number of Indian educators and other professionals." Furthermore, they recommended that school officials and educators "integrate the contemporary, historical, and cultural perspectives of American Indians" and "give education a multicultural focus to eliminate racism and promote understanding among all races."

State governments were encouraged to "allocate specific funding for schools serving Native children to develop and use linguistically, culturally, and developmentally appropriate curricula," and the federal government was asked to "seek legislation to authorize the establishment of a national research and school improvement center for Native education." In addition, colleges and universities needed to "encourage scholarly work on curricula and textbook development that incorporates Native perspectives."

American Indian/Alaska Native Education: Self-Determination

Self-Determination

Despite reform efforts, the National Study of Indian Education in the late 1960s and the 1969 Senate subcommittee report Indian Education: A National Tragedy, a National Challenge documented the continued failures of Indian education. Civil rights activists and Indians put forward the idea that since the BIA had not been able to solve the "Indian problem" after more than a century of effort, the government should back off and offer assistance to tribes who would work to solve their own problems. In a special message on Indian affairs delivered on 8 July 1970 to Congress, President Richard Nixon declared:

the story of the Indian in America is something more than the record of the white man's frequent aggression, broken agreements, intermittent remorse and prolonged failure. It is a record also of endurance, of survival, of adaptation and creativity in the face of overwhelming obstacles. It is a record of enormous contributions to this country--to its art and culture, to its strength and spirit, to its sense of history and its sense of purpose.

It is long past time that the Indian policies of the Federal government began to recognize and build upon the capacities and insights of the Indian people. Both as a matter of justice and as a matter of enlightened social policy, we must begin to act on the basis of what the Indians themselves have long been telling us. The time has come to break decisively with the past and to create the conditions for a new era in which the Indian future is determined by Indian acts and Indian decisions.

In this message, Nixon recognized the Native aspirations for self-government that had led to the founding of Rough Rock Demonstration School in 1966, the first Native controlled school in modern times, and Navajo Community College (now Diné College) in 1968, the first tribal college. Self-determination was further operationalized with regard to education by the passage of the Indian Education Act in 1972 and the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act in 1975.

The Indian Education Act provides money for special programs for Indian children on and off reservations, while the Self-Determination Act allows tribes and Indian organizations to take over and run BIA programs, including BIA schools. Despite seriously inadequate funding, by 1992 the BIA was supporting 22 tribally controlled community colleges and 84 elementary and secondary schools operated by Indian tribes and tribal organizations. Canada has even more schools operated by "First Nations."

American Indian/Alaska Native Education: An Historical Overview

Historical Overview

Before Columbus and the invasion of Europeans, North American Indian education was geared to teaching children how to survive. Social education taught children their responsibilities to their extended family and the group, the clan, band, or tribe. Vocational education taught children about child rearing, home management, farming, hunting, gathering, fishing, and so forth. Each tribe had its own religion that told the children their place in the cosmos through stories and ceremonies. Members of the extended family taught their children by example, and children copied adult activities as they played.

The European invasion that began in the 15^th century brought tremendous changes to the life of Indians. Even more damaging than the aggressive warfare of the Europeans was the introduction of new diseases, such as smallpox and measles, for which the indigenous Americans had no immunities. Another element of the invasion was the missionary impulse of both Catholic and Protestant Christians. Missionaries did not recognize Indian beliefs and cast the Indian religions as the work of the Christian devil. Thus early efforts by Europeans at Native education by Europeans focused on converting Indians to Christianity.

The missionaries' demand for total rejection of traditional practices was too much for most Indians to accept unless disease and war shattered their traditional lifeways. In addition, the Europeans' racism and ethnocentrism were too ingrained for them to accept the Indians as equals, even if the Indians spoke, dressed, and acted like European colonists. Thus one answer to the "Indian" problem was to eradicate them through wars and to push any survivors westward.

With the establishment of the United States, the federal government was faced with the "Indian problem." To deal with Indians, the government established the Indian Bureau in the War Department in 1824. This office was moved to the newly established Department of Interior in 1849 where it continues today.

Because most pioneers saw Indians as an impediment to progress, the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) became a tool to allow more rapid westward expansion. For example, under President Andrew Jackson, the government established the Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. Through what is now being called "ethnic cleansing," the federal government forced the Cherokee and other southeastern tribes to leave their ancestral homes and to walk a "Trail of Tears" to a new homeland that they were promised they could have forever. However the westward movement of settlers quickly ended this "final solution" of the Indian problem.

If Indians could not be eradicated or isolated in an Indian Territory, then they would have to be civilized. Of some 400 treaties negotiated between tribes and the government before such treaty-making ended in 1871, 120 contained educational provisions to move Indians towards "civilization." Many of those provisions focused on making them farmers. Article 7 of the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie with the Sioux and their allies was typical of the provisions in later treaties:

In order to insure the civilization of the Indians entering into this treaty, the necessity of education is admitted, especially of such of them as are or may be settled on said agricultural reservations, and they pledge themselves to compel their children, male and female, between the ages of six and sixteen years, to attend school; and it is hereby made the duty of the agent for said Indians to see that this stipulation is strictly complied with; and for every thirty children between said ages who can be induced or compelled to attend school, a house shall be provided and a teacher competent to teach the elementary branches of an English education shall be furnished, who will reside among said Indians, and faithfully discharge his or her duties as a teacher.

Schools promised by treaties were often slow in coming, and the quality of those schools that were established was poor. Indians sometimes argued that the schools were only set up to tap into their treaty money. The spoils system of the time led teachers to being hired for their partisan political connections rather than their educational qualifications. Even after Civil Service reforms in 1892, hiring officials did not see that any knowledge about Indians was important, since BIA schools were designed to perform cultural genocide. In the words of Carlisle Indian School founder Captain Richard Pratt, such schools were to "kill the Indian and save the man."

There was a naive belief in the late 19th Century that if Indian youth were removed for just a few years from their parents and placed in boarding schools, they could be assimilated into white society, thus solving "the Indian problem." Indian Commissioner Thomas Jefferson Morgan wrote in his 1889 annual report to the Secretary of the Interior that "the Indian must conform 'to the white man's way,' peaceably if they will, forcibly if they must."

Initially the U.S. government funded missionaries to educate Indians, mostly using funds promised by treaty to Indians for land cessions. After the Civil War the Catholic Church developed the largest number of mission schools by using government funding. Protestants saw the Catholic effort as anti-democratic and they fought successfully to end all government funding of mission schools by 1900.

The federal government developed its own, Protestant-influenced school system of day and boarding schools. An off-reservation boarding school system was also started 1879 with the famous Carlisle Indian School in Pennsylvania. The education program in boarding schools consisted of one-half day vocational instruction and one-half day academic instruction in English and the "three R's." The vocational instruction involved the students growing their own food, making their own clothes, and generally maintaining the boarding schools. The goal of Carlisle was for students to permanently leave their reservations and assimilate into white society. However, instead of melting into white society, most Indians left from boarding school ill-prepared to live in either white or Indian society.

A government-commissioned study in the late 1920s, the Meriam Report, found many problems with the government's handling of its "wards" and concluded:

The philosophy underlying the establishment of Indian boarding schools, that the way to "civilize" the Indian is to take Indian children, even very young children, as completely as possible away from their home and family live, is a variance with modern views of education and social work, which regard the home and family as essential social institutions from which it is generally undesirable to uproot children.

The inauguration of Franklin Roosevelt in 1933 ushered in an era of change. President Roosevelt appointed the BIA's most vocal critic, John Collier, as Commissioner of Indian Affairs. Collier questioned the materialism of modern American society and valued Indian traditional religions to the chagrin of Christian missionaries. Collier battled BIA bureaucracy and his critics for 12 years with modest success. Unfortunately, after his departure toward the end of World War II, a conservative reaction set in and the federal government tried to terminate Indian reservations and finalize the cultural assimilation of Indians. Many were relocated to cities on the assumption that jobs were available. But, like the students of earlier generations sent off to boarding schools, many of these Indian workers later returned to their reservations.

Some of those who stayed in cities, as well as some who returned to the reservations, were radicalized in the urban experience. The American Indian Movement began in the 1960s in an effort to stop police brutality in Minneapolis and other cities. An Indian takeover of Alcatraz Island in 1969, a march on Washington and takeover of the BIA headquarters building in 1972, and a 71-day stand-off and shoot-out with the Federal Bureau of Investigation at Wounded Knee in 1973, were all part of the radical Indian movement before it subsided in the mid-1970s. The end of the radical period was brought about partly through the concerted and sometimes legally questionable efforts of law enforcement agencies to subvert or imprison the movement's leaders.

American Indian/Alaska Native Education: An Overview - Introduction

Introduction

After four centuries of precipitous population decline to a low of about 237,000 in 1900, American Indian and Alaska Native populations in the United States began to increase at the turn of the century. That increase now is accelerating. According to the United States Census, the Native population of the United States more than doubled between 1970 and 2000, from one million to almost two and half million. Half of this population lives in urban areas and less than a third on Reservations.

The 2,476,000 Native Americans represent some 500 different tribes, each with its own unique culture, and 200 surviving languages. But as population increases, American Indian languages and cultures are being lost, partly as a result of federal and state education policies over most of the last two centuries that called for the "Americanization" of Indian students.

A note on terminology is necessary here. I will follow terminology chosen by the Indian Nations at Risk Task Force. They preferred to use the term American Indian/Alaska Native for the initial reference to the indigenous people of North America and to thereafter use the short form Native. However, because of the historical use of terms such as Indian and Native American, I will use the terms somewhat interchangeably, especially the term American Indian or the short form Indian when it is clear that Alaska Natives are not being included for geographical reasons.

In the early 1970s Indian activism, part of the Civil Rights Movement, created an atmosphere that led to the passage of the 1972 Indian Education Act and the 1975 Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act. Self-determination is the idea that Indian people, not the U.S. government, should decide what is best for Indian America. This concept survived the subsequent decline in federal funding, but Native Americans are still uncertain what self-determination will ultimately mean for Indian people and Indian education.

In the early 1990s there was a revival of interest in Indian education that matched the interest shown in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Evidence of this revival included the Native American Languages Act in 1990, the release of the final report of the U.S. Secretary of Education's Indian Nations at Risk Task Force in 1991, and the White House Conference on Indian Education in 1992. This revival of interest was part of a recurring historical cycle. However, in the last few decades, in contrast to past episodes of concern, Indian people, rather than non-Indian missionaries and government officials, are taking the lead in lobbying for new laws, serving on Task Forces, and attending Indian education conferences.

Poverty and other social problems have plagued American Indians. They want political and economic equality, and they want to regain their Native identities, including their languages and traditions that historically were suppressed in schools. By recovering the past through a strong sense of identity and by using culturally appropriate curriculum and instruction, some Indian and Alaska Native students are achieving educational success that heretofore proved elusive.

In the 1990s, about 40,000 Native students (10% of the total) attended some 170 Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) funded schools, about 10,000 (3%) attended private schools, and over 300,000 (87%) attended public schools. In these schools, a disproportionate number of Native students achieve below national averages. For example, a 1991 Audit Report of the U.S. Department of the Interior's Office of Inspector General showed students in BIA schools achieving on average far below non-Native students and "generally not receiving quality educations." On the 2000 National Assessment of Educational Progress reading assessment, 40% of white fourth graders scored at or above proficient, compared to only 17% of Native American students. In math, 34% of white fourth graders scored at or above proficient, while just 14% of Native Americans scored as high.

This article will examine the current issues in American Indian and Alaska Native education, the status of Indian education today, and the work that Native leaders and others are doing to improve Native education.

Why do Indians do MS in USA

Today you would find all the so called bright people from India wanting to go to USA . Why is it so :

1. Everybody is doing it so it would be the right thing to do and you don’t really have to think it over for a while.

2. Parents have enough money so we can go and have fun in america for two whole years .

3. America the dream place . Even if they are not treated well there its a foreign land .

4. Don’t want to live in India coz of many problems here . Would rather serve another nation than try to stay here and make India a better place .

5. The easiest way to get out of India and indian problems . MS anywhere else would be much expensive and much difficult to get it .

6. The social status you get back at home . In India foreigners are treated as Gods and thus you think a hundred times before returning to India (if you don’t lke the foreign land and its treatment ) because back here people think you are a fool to come back .

7. The money you get there . When you convert it into indian rupees its a great deal but reality check says it is not enough to make a decent living in america but again when they tell people its around 20-30 lakh rupees you feel so good.

8. India allows dual citizenship, so you can be a first citizen of america and a second citizen of India and thus you can say you are connected to India.

HISTORY OF INDIANS IN THE US

The Early Days:

The earliest recorded Indian in the USA was an Indian from Madras, who visited Massachusetts in 1790. A number of Indians were brought to the USA by seafaring Captains to serve in their households as servants. Records of this period contain references to bright turbaned Indians participating in Fourth of July parades. In the early and mid-1800's a number of scholars became interested in Indian culture, history and philosophy. They formed associations to discuss their interest in India. This is how the terms "Boston Brahmin" and "Pundit" came to be used in American literature.

The Middle Years: "The trouble begins"

A number of Indians immigrated into Northwest USA and Canada. Most of them were from Punjab and were Sikhs. They worked in the lumberyards. A large number of them worked in laying the railroads in the western states of the USA as well. The main reason for their being in America was to save money and send it home to their families. Most of them had to relinquish their farm-lands to the British landlords in Punjab, because they couldn't afford to pay the taxes imposed on them by the British rulers. Droughts had destroyed their crops, but they were still expected to pay taxes to the British. If they didn't, their lands were confiscated. For most of these young men their only escape was as migrant laborers, because the British had blocked all attempts at gainful employment in India.

The lumber mill owners liked the migrant Indian workers because they worked long hours for lower wages (about half) than the European workers. The workers earned more than they could in India, so they worked hard and saved money. The US consular representative in India, discouraged Indian workers from going to the US. Indians were denied permission to immigrate and pressure was applied to the British to curb the flow. Mormon evangelists were discouraged from taking Indians back to the USA. The consul said to one of them, "the Indian is not fit for the American West".

In the meantime, the number of migrant European workers was growing in the Northwest. The migrant Indian workers were seen as "not really American" and a movement was started to ban them from working in the lumberyards. This was the beginning of the "Asian Exclusion League"(AEL). Consequently, a number of Indian workers moved down to northern California and worked on the farms. They were skilled farm workers because they came from the state of Punjab in India, which is mainly an agrarian state.

A number of the Indians had saved enough money to buy some land. They were sold land that was "unfit for the white man's inhabitation". However, they were able to become very successful farmers. The US government almost never allowed Indian women to immigrate to the US because that would mean that Indians could "put down roots" in the US by marrying and starting a family. The California state government passed a law which made it illegal for non-citizens or naturalized non-white citizens to own land. The Indians got around this by organizing co-operatives, which ceded ownership to some Indian children born in America. Some of the Indians entered into agreements with white persons who were given a profit share for saying they owned the land. But a large number of such relationships ended in white partner claiming, at harvest time, that the whole crop was theirs.

The AEL gained popularity in Canada and the northwest US. Their meetings commonly featured songs such as "White Canada". The lumberyards were forced to lay off all Indian workers and were banned from hiring anymore. The living conditions of the Indians deteriorated drastically. They were forced into slums. A large number of these workers lived in Bellingham in Washington state. In Bellingham, the AEL triggered a riot in which a huge mob of around 500 white men attacked Indian dwellings and workplaces. While the police stood by and did nothing, six Indians were injured and had to be hospitalized, 410 Indians were held in the Belligham Jail for "Protective Custody". By the end of the day of the Bellingham riot, all Indian workers and businessmen had been forced out of Bellingham.

The mayor of the city proudly announced in the railway station (where the Indians were herded onto trains to Northern California or Canada) that Bellingham was free of Indians. This happened on September 5, 1907 and was followed by similar incidents on October 2 at the Canadian-Washington State border. A month later the "Hindoos" were expelled from Everett, Washington. Three years later the entire community (including the mayor, the Sherriff and the district attorney) in Saint John, Oregon (near Portland) conspired in the forced expulsion of all Indians.

The modern years:

A large number of Indians came from Hong Kong and other areas in Asia too. Some Indians came as students to universities such as the University of California at Berkeley. It was during this period that the British and the US government started cooperating to limit Indian immigration. This policy was tested when the British informed the US authorities that a ship called the "Komagatu Maru" was headed to the US from Hong Kong with about 375 Indians. When the Maru arrived at Angel Island (the port of entry which holds terrible memories for Asian immigrants) the AEL had organized a huge mob to prevent the off-loading of any Indians. The persons on the ship were denied food and water for days and were prevented from landing. Finally, in exchange for food and water, they were turned away. The Indian population in the US and Canada grew very slowly during this period. It consisted mostly of students coming to study at universities. These students organized themselves into a few associations. Some of them supported the cause of Indian freedom from the British while some were loyalists to the British. The British stationed a full time secret agent named Hopkinson to monitor their activities and to cajole the US government into deporting the freedom seekers. The deportees were usually prosecuted by the British in India.

Hopkinson developed an efficient network of spies and was very successful in deporting a number of Indian leaders on the pretext that they were planning a revolution in India. It was under these circumstances that the "Ghadhar party" was formed in the US to support Indian freedom. They published newspapers for distribution in India that openly called for a freedom struggle against the British. An ongoing battle of wits raged between these Indians and the British-American nexus. Hopkinson was assassinated in an American courtroom, when he was testifying against an Indian (for deportation).

A number of these Indian freedom groups associated themselves with the German government during the second world war because the Germans promised them help in gaining freedom from the British. Hopkinson exposed a number of these links and a large number of these people were imprisoned in the US. After the war, the first war collaborators to be tried and deported were these Indians. Even the German nazi collaborators in the US were tried after these Indians. (In a way it seems like the war provided a nice excuse for the US government to deport these Indians.)

During this period a large number of Indians started to apply for naturalization. At this point US law only allowed whites to become naturalized citizens. But most judges couldn't decide how to classify Indians and a large number of them granted Indians citizenship. A New Orleans judge wrote about how dis-concerting it was to see a "dark white man" - the Indian - before granting him citizenship. A number of southern Europeans looked like Indians as well, so Indians benefited from this similarity.

A number of Indians were also getting married in the US. A few of the farm workers in California married Hispanic women. However, most of these marriages ended in divorce because of the cultural and religious disparities. The children that these couples had constituted a small Indian-Hispanic population which was quickly integrated into the Hispanic community because the children usually stayed with the mother after divorce. A few Indians married white women as well.

At this point the movement to formalize the exclusion of Asians from America was gaining momentum. The Chinese had already been excluded through the Chinese exclusion act in the late 1800's. A senator from California mounted a very popular campaign to exclude Indians. However there was a problem because Indians were immigrating to the US, not just from the Indian mainland but from other countries in Asia as well. But the US government was determined to stop them. Congress passed the "Immigration Regional Restriction Act" in 1917

over the veto of President Woodrow Wilson. It basically drew a line around the areas in Asia from which Indians and Filipinos were immigrating and banned them. Of course there was a provision to allow Europeans born in this region to immigrate.

The exclusionists had achieved most of their goals by now. Asian and Indian immigration was virtually banned. However, this wasn't enough. A movement was mounted to deny citizenship to the Indians in the US, take away the citizenship from Indians who had already been

granted citizenship and to apply the Regional Exclusion Act retroactively to deport all Indians in the US. It worked partially. A large number of Indians left. Many of them were denied citizenship, with the supreme court upholding one such decision that was challenged. On February 19, 1923, with Justice George Sutherland delivering the opinion, the Supreme Court held that East Indians were not eligible for United States citizenship because they could not be considered white or caucasian. A few Indians lost their citizenship. One interesting case was that of an Indian lawyer in California who had married a white woman. Under the law, if a man lost his citizenship, his wife automatically lost hers too. He challenged in court that if his citizenship was revoked his wife would lose hers too and then she would have nowhere to go because she was a white American. He retained his citizenship.

The 1920's were the period of the most immigration to the USA. Virtually all immigrants came from Europe. A large number of Americans trace their ancestry to these immigrants. Asians however, were banned from immigrating by law.

The new age:the "iron curtain" lifts:

Towards the end of second world war, President Roosevelt started to lift immigration restrictions on Asians. The Chinese Exclusion Act was repealed. The Indian Regional Exclusion Act was however, stuck in the congressional committee web. Roosevelt had to send his personal envoy to the hill to lift the ban on Indians. However, Indian immigration didn't pick up until after the immigration reform act was passed, making immigration a little less racist and a little more equitable.

Indian immigration picked up considerably in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of Indian doctors immigrating to fill the shortage of doctors created by the Vietnam war. The momentum gained during this time has led to the continuing increase in Indian immigration through the 1980s and the 1990s.

An Indian gentleman was elected to congress for two consecutive terms (from California) in the 1960s. Congressman Saund's eligibility to run for congress was challenged in court because he hadn't been an American citizen "long enough". However, the California Fourth District Court of Appeals ruled that by January 3, 1957, when Saund would take office, he would have been a citizen for the requisite amount of time. The Indian congressman's (Dulip Singh Saund) term ended with his death. Currently, there are a few Indians running for Congress (Peter Mathews - leading in polls, Neil Dhillon - lost his primary due to very negative adverstising by his opponent, Kumar Barve. Raj Uppulluri - lost his primary).

Most Indians currently immigrating to the US are either the family of US citizens or professionals. The Indian community in the US is currently the most well educated and prosperous one. Close to 89% of Indians in the US have completed high school, 65% have completed college and a stunning 40% have completed Masters or doctorate degrees. Their per capita income is the highest in the USA.

Their educational and income levels are higher than other Asian American groups, Whites, Hispanics and Blacks. (US Census figures).
Indians in the USA have ventured into almost every field and occupation, though most of them are professionals such as doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs and financial analysts.

Indians have held positions such as the sheriff of a county in Maryland, a member of the coaching staff for the San Francisco 49ers, etc. Zubin Mehta, as a conductor of the New York Philharmonic, is one of the most renowned Indians in the US. Ismael Merchant is a well established movie producer. Freddie Mercury (alias Farhud Balsara) of the rock band Queen was part Indian. Other established rock bands with Indians include Seven Mary Three, No Doubt (Tony Kanal-bassist) and Sound Garden (Kim Thayil). The founder of Gupta Technologies and the co-founder of Sun Microsystems are a few among a number of other pioneering Indian entrepreneurs. Close to 3000 Indian Americans work in the New York MTA, contributing to the management of the world's largest transit system. Miss Teen USA for the year 1994 is Miss Ratna Kancherla, an Indian American from Georgia.

I could go on and on about the variety of professions and fields that Indian Americans have contributed to, but it should suffice to say that Indian Americans have consistently contributed a great deal to the economic, social and cultural prosperity of the United States of America.

As you have probably learned from this document about the history of Indians in the USA, Indians are not new to this country and have been an integral part of the American mosaic for a long time. Most of the historical facts stated here are almost never taught in American schools and are generally ignored by the media. Since the number of Indian Americans is growing rapidly, it is essential that more of the American populace know this history. It can lead to more acceptance and integration of Indians into American society. A good understanding of this relationship between Indians and the USA may also serve as a foundation for better relations between India and the USA. It is about time two of the greatest democracies in the world started co-operating and working together. Perhaps with a better understanding of their past, Americans of Indian origin can contribute resolutely to developing friendly relations between the USA and India. The social, cultural and economic benefits to both countries could be immense.

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