Then What?

So, after all of this talk about how Native Americans are disappearing, I decided to do a little research, because I was curious about if people were really exaggerating or if Natives were really not in the news. I was also intrigued when I read Hallie's blog about Natives being "missing". This got me into an investigative mode. So, I googled "Native Americans". The only things that came up were Wikipedia articles about Natives from the past. (We are seeing the whole Plains Indians with buffalo circa 1890 again.) Then there was a project from some person's elementary class about "the first thanksgiving" and how natives and the Pilgrims were friends. About 10 links down was a website with actual current information about Natives. It was the Indian Country Today Media Network, which of course I had never heard of. So now I am googling things I google. Thank God we live in a technological time or otherwise I would have had no information at all! So What I learned is that this website, Indian Country Today is actually a legitimate organization that is run FOR Natives BY Natives. They actually include indigenous peoples everywhere, not just in America and Canada. They include: " Canadian First Nations, South and Latin American Indigenous Peoples, Pacific Islanders, Australian Aboriginals and Indigenous Peoples in all corners of the world" according to the website. The more interesting part is that this organization was actually founded on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation,  which is owned and operated by the Oneida Nation of New York. The newspaper was headquartered in Canastota, New York until 2011, when it was moved to New York City, also according to the newspaper. This is the poorest reservation of them all and one of the ones that we have specifically mentioned in class. I also seem to remember that this reservation is the same one where Crazy Horse was killed. This reservation, seemingly is an important place, because it keeps coming up in conversation. First with the fact that that is where the Lakota people were forced to go, then the monument to Crazy Horse, and now the only actual website I could find about current natives was started on the Pine Reservation. If this reservation is of such importance, why have I never heard of it before? I think it is one of the moments we have also been taking about in class, that it's not that it wasn't important, it was just that it wasn't taught to us. Maybe that's how the government want us to think about it? Maybe that's how the Natives feel? Just leave us alone... you have already done enough damage. I'm not sure, but it is something that I will be thinking about, that I can assure you of.

So basically, my googling of Native Americans really only gave me more questions then it answered (no surprise there, it seems to be a reoccurring theme these days, and with all Native studies for that matter). Now I honestly want a more concrete reason why we hear so little of Natives in the news. Yes, it may be easier, but is it right? Probably not. Maybe the reason that Native don't want to be apart of the mainstream is because of all of the injustices they just have had enough and want us to just leave them. But what if we can't, what if now that we know we feel like we just can't sit by and ignore them any longer? Then what?

Native Map (which I wouldn't be surprised if it was incorrect). Notice the natural resources depicted by the little images. I really like the tipis and the log homes that are depicted, as well,  and the totems that are going on up in Canada.

Yet we have huge monuments for generals of every war ever, and this great leader gets a hastily thrown together rock formation? I guess I should be happy he got some recogniton right? (sarcasm)

Not really sure how to feel about this one...

Typical Plains Indian depiction of what "real Indians" look like (apparently even today)