Totem Pole Essay

Native American Shaming

When I say the words ‘totem pole’ what comes to mind? Do you picture big, tall poles reaching high into the sky with scary looking faces carved into them? Well that’s only half of the story behind the totem poles. The Native American culture expresses shame in various ways. The Native Americans were shamed in boarding schools, they shamed various other people with totem poles, and they feel shame with alcoholism. Boarding schools drained the minds and culture out of the Native Americans that were forced to attend them. Alcoholism is killing off the remaining Native American tribes that are still here. In the 1870’s, Native American tribes were forced out of their land and into reservations by Captain Richard H. Pratt.

They were taken from their families and forced into boarding schools. Some never saw their family again and others weren’t accepted when they returned home. Life for them was changed and, in most cases, not for the better. The Native American culture has many ways of showing different emotions and feelings. One very unique display of this is the Totem Poles. Tall tree-like poles, stretching high up into the sky, have all kinds of carvings from top to bottom with an array of colors. In the article, Totem Poles, it states: Poles used for public ridicule are usually called shame poles, and were created to embarrass individuals or groups for their unpaid debts or when they did something wrong. The poles are often placed in prominent locations and removed after the debt is paid or the wrong is corrected. Shame pole carvings represent the person being shamed.(5)
Even though it says that the poles were removed after the debt was paid, some poles still stand today. The article

They considered drunkenness ‘degrading to free me’ and questioned the motives of those who would offer a substance that was so offensive to the senses and that made men foolish. Most Native people who did drink alcohol were reported to show ‘remarkable restraint while in their cups’. Most drank alcohol only during social or trading contact with whites. Although drinking patterns since colonization grew almost exponentially, since 1975, drinking patterns among Native Americans have remained constant.( Alcohol 3)
As stated above, alcohol wasn’t received very well at first. Once they got hooked on the effect of alcohol, the data shows that the number of Native Americans that drink have not gone down since. Beauvais also stated:
In a review of existing data, May and Moran (1995), for instance, cited the rate of alcohol-related deaths for Indian men as 26.5 percent of all deaths and the rate for women as 13.2 percent. The gender disparity in consumption has not been seen among adolescents, however.( Beauvais 254)
The effect alcohol has on people is overwhelming. It can change your life in an instant. Drunk drivers kill loved ones right and left. This is the kind of life the Native Americans face every day because of alcohol and no self-control. They feel shame for what others do with alcohol and receive shame from families who lost loved ones because of