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Health issues among native americans
Health issues among native americans
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Native American’s experience transference of historical trauma across generations and genders. The frequencies illustrate that across all generations of Nez Perce tribal members are aware of and feel with frequency the historical losses of their people. There is little empirical data available to show prevalence among larger samples or across Native American cultures. Additionally, there is no measurement of causation or how environmental factors influence the transference of historical trauma from one generation to the next. A better understanding of the epigenetic transference of historical trauma and how the current environment that triggers the mental and physical health disparities Native Americans experience will contribute to explain
into the Native American way of life and some of the hardships that can befall the victims
In Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging, author Sebastian Junger deeply reflects on the ancient tribal human behaviors such as loyalty, dependence on the surrounding community, and cooperation, as well as how modern-day society has deviated entirely. Junger theorizes that such deviation from communal societies to individualistic societies is the principle reason depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and suicide rates in veterans are incredibly high and increasing at such an alarming rate. Junger supports his thesis with multiple credible sources, as well as realistic comparisons of ancient civilization behaviors to modern day behaviors. Junger explained what the tribal culture often entailed, as well as the main differences between tribes and American society.
suffering the Native Americans are plagued with as a result of the lack of acceptance towards
The removal of Indian tribes was one of the tragic times in America’s history. Native Americans endured hard times when immigrants came to the New World. Their land was stolen, people were treated poorly, tricked, harassed, bullied, and much more. The mistreatment was caused mostly by the white settlers, who wanted the Indians land. The Indians removal was pushed to benefit the settlers, which in turn, caused the Indians to be treated as less than a person and pushed off of their lands. MOREEE
American Indians have had health disparities as result of unmet needs and historical traumatic experiences that have lasted over 500 hundred years.1(p99) Since first contact American Indians have been exposed to infectious disease and death2(p19), more importantly, a legacy of genocide, legislated forcible removal, reservation, termination, allotment, and assimilation3. This catastrophic history had led to generational historical traumas and contributes to the worst health in the United States.2 American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) represent 0.9 percent of the United States population4(p3) or 1.9 million AI/AN of 566 federally recognized tribes/nations.5 American Indians/Alaska Natives have significantly higher mortality rates of intentional and unintentional injuries, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease and chronic lower respiratory disease than other American.6
Native Americans lived on the land that is now called America, but when white settlers started to take over the land, many lives of Native Americans were lost. Today, many people believe that the things that have been done and are being done right now, is an honor or an insult to the Natives. The choices that were made and being made were an insult to the Native Americans that live and used to live on this land, by being insulted by land policies, boardings schools and modern issues, all in which contain mistreatment of the Natives. The power that the settlers and the people who governed them had, overcame the power of the Natives so the settlers took advantage and changed the Natives way of life to the
Brave Heart clarifies, “when we talk about historical trauma I am referring to the theory that lifespan trauma is passed down generation to generation” (2011). Brave Heart illustrates that any trauma that is passed down generation to generation is historical trauma and therefore the trauma will continue, unless some interferes to stop the trauma affecting the next generation. The trauma that came out of the boarding schools is the trauma that was caused by Native American children being taken from their loving homes and placed into institutions that all they did was to take every cultural connection they had to their home and forced them to learn the American culture and the language. If that was not enough what the Native American children went through in the boarding schools when they came home was worst. This children felt like they did not belong because they had learn some of the American culture and at the same time they lost their own culture. As a result of the changes it made it hard for them to go back to the way it was before the went to boarding school. Brave Heart mensions, “ boarding school attendance affected entire family systems; individuals and family relationships; family, community and cultural attachments; and interpersonal communication” (2011:287). Brave Heart enlightens us that the damage of boarding schools caused Native American children to feel disconnected to their own community. Many of the children in boarding schools do not know how a family should be or how they should behave with their parents and loved ones. In addition, to the family relationships these children lack parenting skills that are thought throw them see how their parent treat them and their siblings, but for someone who was at a boarding school for the majority of their childhood they did not learn this skills. Brave Heart emphasis “ clinical
As stated in Addressing the Oliphant in the Room: Domestic Violence and the safety of American Indian and Alaska Native Children in Indian Country “The National Congress of American Indians declared violence against Native Americans, particularly those living on tribal lands, as the most critical issue faced by Native Americans.” What are the causes of domestic violence on reservations? This is an important issue because domestic violence is a huge issue on reservations and being aware of the causes can play an important role in helping to lower domestic violence rates and give less of a stigma on the stereotypes against Native Americans. Domestic violence includes, physical abuse, sexual abuse as well as psychological abuse, including a combination of all of these. The domestic violence is not limited to only certain tribes, but is common among many tribes all across the United States. Native Americans are known for being alcoholics and living in poverty, but there are many other factors that play into the violence that
Two-hundred years ago, there was a scientific study on the brains of Native Americans called the craniology and phrenology. The Europeans examined only indigenous people’s heads and were forbidden to use any European’s brains. The Europeans did three experiments, such as decapitating the tops of the heads and filling them with sand to see if their brains were smaller than blacks. The Europeans also looked at the bones and said that if the bones were in a certain way (such as natives cheek bones being up higher) the person was thought to be stupid. The last experiment the Europeans did to American Indians was that they had a small devise that they would put on the head and it would slice the brain open. There would be an award for retrieving a male’s brain that was five cents. By retrieving a woman’s brain the price would be three cents, and lastly a child’s brain which would be two cents. This is when the term redskin was invented (Poupart, 2014).
The United States Government was founded on the basis that it would protect the rights and liberties of every American citizen. The Equal Protection Clause, a part of the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, provides that “no state shall deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws”. Yet for hundreds of years, the US government and society have distressed the Native American people through broken treaties, removal policies, and attempts of assimilation. From the Trail of Tears in the 1830s to the Termination Policy in 1953, the continued oppression of American Indian communities produced an atmosphere of heightened tension and gave the native peoples a reason to fight back. In 1968, Clyde Bellecourt, Dennis Banks, and Russell Means founded the American Indian Movement to address issues concerning the Native American community and tackle the situation and position of Native Americans in society. Over the next few decades, the movement led to a series of radical protests, which were designed to raise awareness to the American Indians’ issues and to pressure the federal government to act on their behalf. After all of the unfair and unjust policies enacted by the U.S. government and society, all of the American Indian Movement’s actions can be justified as legitimate reactions to the United States’ democratic society that had promised to respect and protect their people and had failed to do so.
Native Americans have undergone a horrific past of genocide, discrimination, forced acculturation, miscommunication, and misunderstanding. They were frequently dehumanized and stripped of basic human rights. Treated as “savages” they were herded into areas of confinement and robbed of their language, culture, and way of life. In many instances of genocide, experts have noted a type of historical trauma that may be passed down through families, known as generational trauma. While the potential effects of this concept are not proven, the stories, images, and memories of thousands of Native Americans continue to be shared with their children, thus perpetuating, and never forgetting the pain and embarrassment that their people have experienced.
... I. McCubbin (2008). International and Cultural Psychology: The Kanaka Maoli :Native Hawaiians and heir Testimony of Trauma and Resilience
A long family tree of mistreatment and undue suffering in addition to present lack of resources and poverty has resulted in considerable distress among tribal members and families living within the majority of reservations today. As a result of such distress and despair, many Native American families living in reservations have been torn apart as alcohol, drugs and family violence have become rampant within their communities. Furthermore, the inaccessibility of most reservations combined with lack of resources proves challenging to provide proper housing for families. In addition, the American Indians make up a minority of the least educated, sickest and poorest people within our country. Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for Native American youths in the 15-24 age group and 2.5 times the national rate.
Native American Relations During the numerous years of colonization, the relationship between the English settlers and the Native Americans of the area was usually the same. Native Americans would initially consider the settlers to be allies, then as time passed, they would be engaged in wars with them in a struggle for control of the land. This process of friendship to enemies seemed to be the basic pattern in the majority of the colonies. When the English landed in Jamestown in 1607, the dominant tribe of the area was the Powhatan (which the English settlers named after the leader of the tribe, Powhatan).
Many people today know the story of the Indians that were native to this land, before “white men” came to live on this continent. Few people may know that white men pushed them to the west while many immigrants took over the east and moved westward. White men made “reservations” that were basically land that Indians were promised they could live on and run. What many Americans don’t know is what the Indians struggled though and continue to struggle through on the reservations.