Contemporary Native American issues in the United States are issues arising in the late 20th century and early 21st century which affect Native Americans in the United States.
Demographics
A little over one third of the 2,786,652 Native Americans in the United States live in three states: California at 413,382, Arizona at 294,137 and Oklahoma at 279,559.[1] 70% of Native Americans lived in urban areas in 2012, up from 45% in 1970 and 8% in 1940. Urban areas with significant Native American populations included Minneapolis, Denver, Phoenix, Tucson, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Houston, New York City, and Rapid City.[2]
In the early 21st century, Native American communities have exhibited continual growth and revival, playing a larger role in the American economy and in the lives of Native Americans. Communities have consistently formed governments that administer services such as firefighting, natural resource management, social programs, health care, housing and law enforcement. Numerous tribes have founded tribal colleges.
Most Native American communities have established court systems to adjudicate matters related to local ordinances. Most also look to various forms of moral and social authority, such as forms of restorative justice, vested in the traditional culture of the tribal nation. Native American professionals have founded associations in journalism, law, medicine and other fields to encourage students in these fields, provide professional training and networking opportunities, and entree into mainstream institutions.
To address the housing needs of Native Americans, Congress passed the Native American Housing and Self Determination Act (NAHASDA) in 1996. This legislation replaced public housing built by the BIA and other 1937 Housing Act programs directed towards Indian Housing Authorities, with a block-grant program. It provides funds to be administered by the Tribes to develop their own housing.
Societal discrimination and racism
Universities have conducted relatively little public opinion research on attitudes toward Native Americans. In 2007 the non-partisan Public Agenda organization conducted a focus group study. Most non-Native Americans admitted they rarely encountered Native Americans in their daily lives. While sympathetic toward Native Americans and expressing regret over the past, most people had only a vague understanding of the problems facing Native Americans today. For their part, Native Americans told researchers that they believed they continued to face prejudice and mistreatment in the broader society.[3]
Journalists have covered issues of discrimination.
LeCompte also endured taunting on the battlefield. "They ridiculed him and called him a 'drunken Indian.' They said, 'Hey, dude, you look just like a haji—you'd better run.' They call the Arabs 'haji.' I mean, it's one thing to worry for your life, but then to have to worry about friendly fire because you don't know who in the hell will shoot you?
— Tammie LeCompte, May 25, 2007, "Soldier highlights problems in U.S. Army"[4]
Affirmative action issues
Federal contractors and subcontractors such as businesses and educational institutions are legally required to adopt equal opportunity employment and affirmative action measures intended to prevent discrimination against employees or applicants for employment on the basis of "color, religion, sex, or national origin".[5][6] For this purpose, an American Indian or Alaska Native is defined as "A person having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains a tribal affiliation or community attachment." However, self-reporting is permitted, "Educational Institutions and Other Recipients Should Allow Students and Staff To Self-Identify Their Race and Ethnicity Unless Self-Identification Is Not Practicable or Feasible."[7]Self-reporting opens the door to "box checking" by people, who, despite not having a substantial relationship to Native American culture, either innocently or fraudulently "check the box" for Native American.[8] On August 15, 2011 the American Bar Association passed a resolution recommending that law schools require supporting information such as evidence of tribal enrollment or connection with Native American culture.[9]
Racial achievement gap regarding language
To evade a shift to English, some Native American tribes have initiated language immersion schools for children, where a native Indian language is the medium of instruction. For example, the Cherokee Nation instigated a 10-year language preservation plan that involved growing new fluent speakers of the Cherokee language from childhood on up through school immersion programs as well as a collaborative community effort to continue to use the language at home.[10] This plan was part of an ambitious goal that in 50 years, 80% or more of the Cherokee people will be fluent in the language.[11] The Cherokee Preservation Foundation has invested $3 million into opening schools, training teachers, and developing curricula for language education, as well as initiating community gatherings where the language can be actively used.[11] Formed in 2006, the Kituwah Preservation & Education Program (KPEP) on the Qualla Boundary focuses on language immersion programs for children from birth to fifth grade, developing cultural resources for the general public and community language programs to foster the Cherokee language among adults.[12]There is also a Cherokee language immersion school in Tahlequah, Oklahoma that educates students from pre-school through eighth grade.[13] Because Oklahoma's official language is English, Cherokee immersion students are hindered when taking state-mandated tests because they have little competence in English.[14] The Department of Education of Oklahoma said that in 2012 state tests: 11% of the school’s sixth-graders showed proficiency in math, and 25% showed proficiency in reading; 31% of the seventh-graders showed proficiency in math, and 87% showed proficiency in reading; 50% of the eighth-graders showed proficiency in math, and 78% showed proficiency in reading.[14] The Oklahoma Department of Education listed the charter school as a Targeted Intervention school, meaning the school was identified as a low-performing school but has not so that it was a Priority School.[14] Ultimately, the school made a C, or a 2.33 grade point average on the state’s A-F report card system.[14] The report card shows the school getting an F in mathematics achievement and mathematics growth, a C in social studies achievement, a D in reading achievement, and an A in reading growth and student attendance.[14] “The C we made is tremendous,” said school principal Holly Davis, “[t]here is no English instruction in our school’s younger grades, and we gave them this test in English.”[14] She said she had anticipated the low grade because it was the school’s first year as a state-funded charter school, and many students had difficulty with English.[14] Eighth graders who graduate from the Tahlequah immersion school are fluent speakers of the language, and they usually go on to attend Sequoyah High School where classes are taught in both English and Cherokee.
Native American mascots in sports
A student acting as Chief Osceola, the Florida State University mascot
American Indian activists in the United States and Canada have criticized the use of Native American mascots in sports as perpetuating stereotypes. European Americans have had a history of "playing Indian" that dates back to at least the 18th century.[15] While supporters of the mascots say they embody the heroism of Native American warriors, AIM particularly has criticized the use of mascots as offensive and demeaning.
While many universities and professional sports teams (for example, the Cleveland Indians, who had a Chief Wahoo) no longer use such images without consultation and approval by the respective nation, some lower-level schools continue to do so. On the other hand, in the Bay Area of California, Tomales Bay High and Sequoia High have retired their Indian mascots.
(Trudie Lamb Richmond doesn't) know what to say when kids argue, 'I don't care what you say, we are honoring you. We are keeping our Indian.' ... What if it were 'our black' or 'our Hispanic'?In August 2005, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) banned the use of "hostile and abusive" Native American mascots in postseason tournaments.[17] An exception was made to allow the use of tribal names if approved by that tribe (such as the Seminole Tribe of Florida's approving use of their name for the team of Florida State University.)[18][19]
— Amy D'orio quoting Trudie Lamb Richmond, March 1996, "Indian Chief Is Mascot No More"[16]
Could you imagine people mocking African Americans in black face at a game?" he said. "Yet go to a game where there is a team with an Indian name and you will see fans with war paint on their faces. Is this not the equivalent to black face?
— "Native American Mascots Big Issue in College Sports", Teaching Tolerance, May 9, 2001[20]
Environmental justice
Environmental justice academic case studies examine the erasure of indigenous culture and ways of life, resource exploitation, destruction of sacred land, environmental and indigenous health, and climate justice.[21] From the arrival of white settlers, explorers and colonizers, Native Americans have suffered from genocide, introduced diseases, warfare, and the legacy of environmental racism persists in modern day.[21] The environmental justice movement has largely left out the Native American experience, but findings[by whom?] have shown that Native land is being, and has been, used for landfills, dump sites, and locations to test nuclear weapons.[citation needed] However, while these uses cause harm to the peoples health, they are not always unwanted.[citation needed] The Mescalero Apache welcomed the proposal to have a monitored retrievable nuclear waste storage facility built on their land because over one-third of the tribal citizens were unemployed, and they lacked enough housing and any sort of school system.[22] Jamie Vickery and Lori M. Hunter have stated that the natives are being coerced into accepting the nuclear waste storage facility by their own economic hardships, which in turn has been caused by the US government direct exploitation and marginalization.[23]Historical depictions in art
Secotan Indians' dance in North Carolina, watercolor by John White, 1585
American Indian on five-dollar silver certificate, 1899
1892 sculpture by Alexander Milne Calder, installed on the Philadelphia City Hall.
During the 16th century, the artist John White made watercolors and engravings of the people native to the southeastern states. John White’s images were, for the most part, faithful likenesses of the people he observed.
The artist Theodore de Bry used White’s original watercolors to make a book of engravings entitled, A briefe and true report of the new found land of Virginia. In his book, de Bry often altered the poses and features of White’s figures to make them appear more European. During the period when White and de Bry were working, when Europeans were first coming into contact with Native Americans, Europeans were greatly interested in Native American cultures. Their curiosity created demand for a book like de Bry’s.
A number of 19th and 20th-century United States and Canadian painters, often motivated by a desire to document and preserve Native culture, specialized in Native American subjects. Among the most prominent of these were Elbridge Ayer Burbank, George Catlin, Seth Eastman, Paul Kane, W. Langdon Kihn, Charles Bird King, Joseph Henry Sharp and John Mix Stanley.
During the construction of the Capitol building in the early 19th century, the U.S. government commissioned a series of four relief panels to crown the doorway of the Rotunda. The reliefs encapsulate a vision of European—Native American relations that had assumed mythic historical proportions by the 19th century. The four panels depict: The Preservation of Captain Smith by Pocahontas (1825) by Antonio Capellano, The Landing of the Pilgrims (1825) and The Conflict of Daniel Boone and the Indians (1826–27) by Enrico Causici and William Penn’s Treaty with the Indians (1827) by Nicholas Gevelot.
The reliefs by European sculptors present versions of the Europeans and the Native Americans, in which the Europeans appear refined and the natives appear ferocious. The Whig representative of Virginia, Henry A. Wise, wrote about how Native Americans might think of the reliefs: "We give you corn, you cheat us of our lands: we save your life, you take ours." While many 19th-century images of Native Americans conveyed similarly negative messages, artists such as Charles Bird King sought to express a more balanced image of Native Americans.
During this time, some fiction writers were informed about and sympathetic to Native American culture. Marah Ellis Ryan conveyed the culture with sympathy.
In the 20th century, early portrayals of Native Americans in movies and television roles were first performed by European Americans dressed in mock traditional attire. Examples included The Last of the Mohicans (1920), Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans (1957), and F Troop (1965–67). In later decades, Native American actors such as Jay Silverheels in The Lone Ranger television series (1949–57) came to prominence. Roles of Native Americans were limited and not reflective of Native American culture. By the 1970s some Native American film roles began to show more complexity, such as those in Little Big Man (1970), Billy Jack (1971), and The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976), which depicted Native Americans in minor supporting roles.
For years, Native people on U.S. television were relegated to secondary, subordinate roles. During the years of the series Bonanza (1959–1973), no major or secondary Native characters appeared on a consistent basis. The series The Lone Ranger (1949–1957), Cheyenne (1957–1963), and Law of the Plainsman (1959–1963) had Native characters who were essentially aides to the central white characters. This continued in such series as How the West Was Won. These programs resembled the "sympathetic" yet contradictory film Dances With Wolves of 1990, in which, according to Ella Shohat and Robert Stam, the narrative choice was to relate the Lakota story as told through a Euro-American voice, for wider impact among a general audience.[24] Like the 1992 remake of The Last of the Mohicans and Geronimo: An American Legend (1993), Dances with Wolves employed a number of Native American actors, and made an effort to portray Indigenous languages.
In the same period, the TNT Network presented a television movie on Geronimo, as well as two others on Native American historical figures, and a six-part documentary series on Native history, all within a 14-month period.
In 2004 producer Guy Perrotta presented the film Mystic Voices: The Story of the Pequot War (2004), a television documentary on the first major war between colonists and Native peoples in the Americas. Perrotta and Charles Clemmons intended to increase public understanding of the significance of this early event. They believed it had significance not only for northeastern Native Peoples and descendants of English and Dutch colonists, but for all Americans today.
Wanting to make the film historically accurate and unbiased, the producers invited a broadly based Advisory Board, and used scholars, Native Americans, and descendants of the colonists to help tell the story. They elicited personal and often passionate viewpoints from contemporary Americans. The production portrayed the conflict as a struggle between different value systems, which included not only the Pequot, but a number of other Native American tribes, most of which allied with the English. It presents facts and seeks to help viewers better understand the several peoples who fought the War.
In 2009 We Shall Remain (2009), a television documentary by Ric Burns and part of the American Experience series, presented a five-episode series "from a Native American perspective". It represented "an unprecedented collaboration between Native and non-Native filmmakers and involves Native advisors and scholars at all levels of the project."[25] The five episodes explore the impact of King Philip's War on the northeastern tribes, the "Native American confederacy" of Tecumseh's War, the US-forced relocation of Southeastern tribes known as the Trail of Tears, the pursuit and capture of Geronimo and the Apache Wars, and concludes with the Wounded Knee incident, participation by the American Indian Movement, and the increasing resurgence of modern Native cultures since.
Terminology differences
Common usage in the United States
Native Americans are more commonly known as Indians or American Indians, and have been known as Aboriginal Americans, Amerindians, Amerinds, Colored,[26][27] First Americans, Native Indians, Indigenous, Original Americans, Red Indians, Redskins or Red Men. The term Native American was introduced in the United States by academics[who?] in preference to the older term Indian to distinguish the indigenous peoples of the Americas from the people of India, and to avoid negative stereotypes associated with the term Indian. Some academics[who?] believe that the term Indian should be considered outdated or offensive. Many indigenous Americans, however, prefer the term American Indian.[28] Others point out that anyone born in the United States is, technically, native to America. In this sense, "native" was substituted for "indigenous". Today, people from India (and their descendants) who are citizens of the United States are called Indian Americans or Asian Indians.Criticism of the neologism Native American comes from diverse sources. Russell Means, an American Indian activist, opposes the term Native American because he believes it was imposed by the government without the consent of American Indians. He has also argued that the use of the word Indian derives not from a confusion with India but from a Spanish expression En Dio, meaning "in God".[29]
Furthermore, some American Indians[who?] question the term Native American because, they argue, it serves to ease the conscience of "white America" with regard to past injustices done to American Indians by effectively eliminating "Indians" from the present.[30] Still others (both Indians and non-Indians)[who?] argue that Native American is problematic because "native of" literally means "born in," so any person born in the Americas could be considered "native". The compound "Native American" is generally capitalized to differentiate the reference to the indigenous peoples.
A 1995 U.S. Census Bureau survey found that more Native Americans in the United States preferred American Indian to Native American.[28] Most American Indians are comfortable with Indian, American Indian, and Native American, and the terms are often used interchangeably.[31] The traditional term is reflected in the name chosen for the National Museum of the American Indian, which opened in 2004 on the Mall in Washington, D.C..
Recently, the U.S. Census Bureau has introduced the "Asian-Indian" category to avoid ambiguity for descendants of people from India.
Gambling industry
Sandia Casino, owned by the Sandia Pueblo of New Mexico
Gambling has become a leading industry. Casinos operated by many Native American governments in the United States are creating a stream of gambling revenue that some communities are beginning to use as leverage to build diversified economies. Native American communities have waged and prevailed in legal battles to assure recognition of rights to self-determination and to use of natural resources. Some of those rights, known as treaty rights, are enumerated in early treaties signed with the young United States government. These casinos have brought an influx of money to the tribes; according to tribal accounting firm Joseph Eve, CPAs, the average net profit of Indian casinos is 38.85%.[32][clarification needed]
Tribal sovereignty has become a cornerstone of American jurisprudence, and at least on the surface, in national legislative policies. Although many Native American tribes have casinos, the impact of Native American gaming is widely debated. Some tribes, such as the Winnemem Wintu of Redding, California, feel that casinos and their proceeds destroy culture from the inside out. These tribes refuse to participate in the gambling industry.
Crime on reservations
Prosecution of serious crime, historically endemic on reservations,[33][34] was required by the 1885 Major Crimes Act,[35] 18 U.S.C. §§1153, 3242, and court decisions to be investigated by the federal government, usually the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and prosecuted by United States Attorneys of the United States federal judicial district in which the reservation lies.[36][37] An investigation by The Denver Post in 2007 found that crimes in Indian Country have been a low priority both with the FBI and most federal prosecutors.[38] As of November 2012 federal resources were being reduced while high rates of crime continued to rise in Indian Country.[39]Often serious crimes have been either poorly investigated or prosecution has been declined.[38] Tribal courts were limited to sentences of one year or less,[38] until on July 29, 2010 the Tribal Law and Order Act was enacted which in some measure reforms the system permitting tribal courts to impose sentences of up to three years provided proceedings are recorded and additional rights are extended to defendants.[36][37] The Justice Department on January 11, 2010 initiated the Indian Country Law Enforcement Initiative which recognizes problems with law enforcement on reservations and assigns top priority to solving existing problems.
The Department of Justice recognizes the unique legal relationship that the United States has with federally recognized tribes. As one aspect of this relationship, in much of Indian Country, the Justice Department alone has the authority to seek a conviction that carries an appropriate potential sentence when a serious crime has been committed. Our role as the primary prosecutor of serious crimes makes our responsibility to citizens in Indian Country unique and mandatory. Accordingly, public safety in tribal communities is a top priority for the Department of Justice.Emphasis was placed on improving prosecution of crimes involving domestic violence and sexual assault.[40]
Passed in 1953, Public Law 280 (PL 280) gave jurisdiction over criminal offenses involving Indians in Indian Country to certain States and allowed other States to assume jurisdiction. Subsequent legislation allowed States to retrocede jurisdiction, which has occurred in some areas. Some PL 280 reservations have experienced jurisdictional confusion, tribal discontent, and litigation, compounded by the lack of data on crime rates and law enforcement response.[41]As of 2012, a high incidence of rape continued to impact Native American women and Alaskan native women. According to the Justice Department 1 in 3 women have suffered rape or attempted rape, more than twice the national rate.[42] 80% of Native American sexual assault victims report that their attacker was "non-Indian".[43] As of 2013 inclusion of offenses by non-native men against native women in the Violence Against Women Act continued to present difficulties over the question of whether defendants who are not tribal members would be treated fairly by tribal courts or afforded constitutional guarantees.[44] On June 6, 2012 the Justice Department announced a pilot plan to establish joint federal-tribal response teams on 6 Montana reservations to combat rape and sexual assault.[45]
Public health
As of 2004, according to the United States Commission on Civil Rights: "Native Americans die of diabetes, alcoholism, tuberculosis, suicide, and other health conditions at shocking rates. Beyond disturbingly high mortality rates, Native Americans also suffer a significantly lower health status and disproportionate rates of disease compared with all other Americans."[46]In addition to increasing numbers of American Indians entering the fields of community health and medicine, agencies working with Native American communities have sought partnerships, representatives of policy and program boards, and other ways to learn and respect their traditions and to integrate the benefits of Western medicine within their own cultural practices.
Alcoholism
The community suffers a vulnerability to and a disproportionately high rate of alcoholism.[47] Alcohol abuse is widespread in Native American communities. Native Americans use and abuse alcohol and other drugs at younger ages, and at higher rates, than that of all other ethnic groups.[48] Consequently, their age-adjusted alcohol-related mortality rate is 5.3 times greater than the general population. The Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s National Household Survey on Drug Abuse reported the following for 1997: 19.8 percent of Native Americans ages 12 and older reported using illegal drugs that year, compared with 11.9 percent for the total U.S. population. Native Americans had the highest prevalence rates of marijuana and cocaine use, in addition to the need for drug abuse treatment.[49]Tribal governments have long prohibited the sale of alcohol on reservations, but generally, it is readily for sale in nearby border towns, and off-reservation businesses and states gain income from the business. As an example, in 2010, beer sales at off-reservation outlets in Whiteclay, Nebraska generated $413,932 that year in federal and sales taxes. Their customers are overwhelmingly Lakota from the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.[50]
Acknowledging that prohibition has not worked, in a major change in strategy since the late 20th century, as of 2007, 63 percent of the federally recognized tribes in the lower 48 states had legalized alcohol sales on their reservations.[51] Among these, all the other tribes in South Dakota have legalized sales, as have many in Nebraska. The tribes decided to retain the revenues that previously would go to the states through retail sales taxes on this commodity. Legalizing the sales enables the tribes to keep more money within their reservation economies and support new businesses and services, as well as to directly regulate, police and control alcohol sales. The retained revenues enable them to provide health care and build facilities to better treat individuals and families suffering from alcohol abuse.[51] In some cases, legalization of alcohol sales also supported the development of resorts and casinos, to generate revenues for other economic enterprises.
Consequences of alcoholism
Native Americans and Whites have the highest rates of Driving Under the Influence (DUI). A 2007 study conducted by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) reports that 13.3% of Native Americans report past-year DUI.[52]Of 1660 people from seven Native American tribes, the lifetime prevalence of alcohol dependence ranged from 21%-56% for men and 17%-30% for women among all tribes. Physical and sexual abuse significantly increased the chances of alcohol dependence for men. Sexual abuse and boarding school attendance increased the odds of alcohol dependence among women.[53] Native Americans, especially women, are at high risk for alcohol-related trauma, such as rape and assault.[54]
Unintentional injuries due to alcoholism
Unintentional injuries account for the third leading cause of death for Native Americans and the leading cause of death for Native Americans under 44 years old. Unintentional injuries include motor vehicle crashes, pedestrian-related motor vehicle crashes, drowning, and fire-related injuries. From 1985 to 1996, 1,484 Native American children died in motor vehicle crashes, which is twice the rate for white children.[55]National estimates of alcohol-related motor vehicle deaths show that Native Americans have a 250% higher death rate compared to the US population.[56]
Cancer
Studies have indicated that there is are fewer cases of cancer in Native Americans than other ethnic groups. However, cancer is prevalent in Native Alaskan women and Native American women as the leading and second leading cause of death, respectively. Death rates are 70% of that for whites, indicating that the ratio of death by cancer to new cancer cases is the highest for Native Americans compared to other ethnic groups.[57] Women have been diagnosed with later-stage breast and cervical cancer. Native Indian and Alaska Native people are disproportionately prone to colon and lung cancer. In some communities, this is consistent with a high prevalence of risk factors such as smoking.One research about the Pacific Northwest Native Americans found that there were many misidentified rates of cancer between 1996-1997. This misclassification was due to a low Native American blood quantum, resulting in an over-reported amount of Native Americans diagnosed with cancer. Because the research took data from the Oregon State Cancer Registry, the Washington State Cancer Registry, and the Cancer Data Registry of Idaho to research tribes in the respected states, their findings show that cancer rates among tribes in the US are heterogeneous.[58]
However, data collected from cancer cases are limited. Regardless, experts have suggested that Native Americans experience cancer differently than other ethnic groups. This can be due to genetic risk factors, late detection of cancer, poor compliance with recommended treatment, the presence of concomitant disease, and lack of timely access to diagnostic and/or treatment methods. According to researchers, addressing underlying risk factors and low screening rates by implementing aggressive screening programs can prevent cancer from forming in Native Indian and Alaska Native communities.[59]
Diabetes
Native Americans have some of the highest rates of diabetes in the world, specifically Type 2 diabetes. Although mostly diagnosed in adults, children are increasingly being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes as well. Type 2 diabetes may be manageable through healthy eating, exercising, oral medication, or insulin injections.[57]A study published in Environmental Health Perspectives found that the prevalence of diabetes found in Native Americans of the Mohawk Nation was 20.2% due to traces of pesticides in food sources, where elevated serum PCBs, DDE, and HBC were associated. Mirex did not have a connection.[60]
Major cardiovascular disease
Heart disease accounts for the number one cause of death among Native Americans, causing them to have twice the rate of cardiovascular disease than the US population. High rates of diabetes, high blood pressure, and risk factors (unhealthy eating and sedentary lifestyle) contribute to the increased risk of cardiovascular disease.[61]Mental health
Native Americans are at high risk for mental disorders. The most prevalent concerns due to mental health include substance abuse, suicide, depression, anxiety, and violence. High rates of homelessness, incarceration, alcohol and drug abuse, and stress and trauma in Native American communities might attribute to the risk. According to The Surgeon General's report, the U.S. mental health system is not equipped to meet the needs of Native Americans. Moreover, the budget constraints of the Indian Health Service allows only basic psychiatric emergency care.[62]Suicide
Suicide is a major public health problem for American Indians in the United States.Prevalence of suicide among Native Americans
The Suicide rate for American Indians and Alaskan Natives is approximately 190% of the rate for the general population.[46] Among American Indians/Alaska Natives aged 10 to 34 years suicide is the second leading cause of death with suicide ranked as the eighth leading cause of death for American Indians/Alaska Natives of all ages[63]Youth who have experienced life stressors are disproportionately affected by risky behaviors and at greater risk for suicide ideation. Suicide rates among American Indians and Alaska Natives youth are higher than those for other populations. The rate of suicide for American Indian/Alaskan Natives is 70% higher than for that of the general population and youth between age 10 and 24 are the most at risk.[64]
College students are also among those most at risk for suicide; select data from the National College Health Association National College Health Assessment (ACHA-NCHA) found that approximately 15% of American Indian students reported seriously contemplating suicide over the past 12 months, compared with 9.1% of non-American Indian students; 5.7% of American Indian students reported attempting suicide, compared with 1.2% of non-American Indian students[65]
Suicide prevention
Prevention aims at halting or stopping the development of individual or social problem which is already evident. Prevention is different from intervention and treatment in that it is aimed at general population groups or individuals with various levels of risk.[66] Prevention's goal is to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors. Suicide prevention is a collective effort of organizations, communities, and mental health practitioners to reduce the incidence of suicide. Social workers have an important role to play in suicide prevention. Social workers are the largest occupational group of mental health professionals in the USA, thus they play a significant role in the national approach to preventing suicide.[67] The social work approach to suicide prevention among Native Americans identifies and addresses the individual’s immediate clinical needs, community/environmental influences, and societal risk factors.Possible programs to improve native health disparities
Indian Health Service
The Indian Health Service (IHS) was established within the Public Health Service in 1955 in order to meet federal treaty obligations to provide health services to members of federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes. The IHS consists of three branches of service: the federally operated direct care system, independent tribally operated health care services, and urban Indian health care services.[68]Affordable Care Act
In addition to the Indian Health Services, researchers have data suggesting that the Affordable Care Act supplements Native American healthcare. With the two services, tribes have greater flexibility in health care availability. Tribes have direct access to IHS funds, which can be administered via contracts and other arrangements made with providers. However, it alters trust relationships.[69] The Affordable Care Act provides an opportunity for uninsured adults to gain Medicaid coverage. Although half of the uninsured adults are white, increases in coverage expand to all races to substantially reduce racial gaps in health insurance coverage.[70] With new outreach and enrollment efforts, streamlined enrollment systems, penalties for not having health insurance coverage, the availability of newly created health insurance exchanges, and the expectation under the ACA that everyone will have insurance coverage, enrollment in Medicaid will increase in low-income communities.[71]The Indian Health Care Improvement Act, which is part of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, does not guarantee a health care arrangement of the kind Americans have generally come to expect—namely, comprehensive inpatient and outpatient services available on the basis of need— a critical point when considering the IHS, which is often mistaken for a Native American health insurance program. According to the governor of the Pueblo of Tesuque Mark Mitchell, IHS does not cover everything that insurance does.[72] It is not an entitlement program, unlike Medicare or Medicaid. The IHS is a series of direct health care services provided at IHS facilities. A key distinction between IHS health services and insurance concerns the policy framework and logic of budgeting that underpins them.
This produces a fundamentally different dynamic than that which drives programs such as Medicare or Medicaid, or especially private managed care plans. The IHS does what it can with the resources it is provided by Congress but is not obligated to provide the services required to meet the broader health needs of Native Americans in the pursuit of measurable outcomes.[73]
The Oregon Experiment
In 2008, Oregon initiated Medicaid to 10,000 of a randomized 90,000 low-income, uninsured adults to participate in what is now known as the Oregon Medicaid health experiment. Within 4 study groups of one study, researchers observed that utilization of primary care services will increase, as more individuals will begin and continue to use medical care. The study was limited to the Portland metropolitan area.[74] Researchers concluded that investment in primary care could help attend and mitigate the health care needs of individuals.[75]Trauma
Trauma among American Indians can be seen through historical and intergenerational trauma and can be directly related to the abuse of alcohol and substances among American Indian populations.Historical trauma
Historical trauma is described as collective emotional and psychological damage throughout a person’s lifetime and across multiple generations.[76] American Indians experience historical trauma through the effects of colonization such as wars and battles with the U.S. military, assimilation, forced removal, and genocide amongst others. Even though many American Indians did not experience first hand these traumatic events, they continue to be affected by them. Events such as the Wounded Knee Massacre are examples of historical trauma that span across generations. On December 29, 1890, over 200 Lakota were killed. More than half were women and children who were unarmed. Soldiers even shot women in the back who were fleeing. Unanswered pain from the Wounded Knee Massacre is still felt and has been related to present day substance abuse and violence.[77]The loss of lands are also instrumental to the effect of historical trauma on American Indians. Four-fifths of American Indian land was lost due to the Dawes Allotment Act of 1887. The U.S. government gave American Indian men sections of land and opened the “surplus” to white settlers and government interests. The understanding of American Indian’s relationship to land is much more than a physical place, it is the bases for their entire worldview and well-being. The psychological effects of the Dawes Allotment Act can be better appreciated when looking at American Indians relationship to the land, which is similar for all Indian tribes. The land is the origin of the People, who came out of the earth, and is the interdependent and spiritual link to all things.[78]
Impacts of intergenerational trauma
American Indian youth are confronted with the burden of intergenerational trauma; trauma experienced by family members that is passed from one generation to the next. Often youth begin to take on these traumas and can abuse alcohol and drugs to the point of death in some cases. This can contribute to American Indian adolescents exceeding the national average for alcohol and drug related deaths; being 1.4 and 13.3 times higher.[79] A study looking at two generations of American Indians and their relationship to psychological trauma found that participants who experienced traumatic events early in their lives were usually related to substance abuse of the offender. These experiences have shown to be associated with the beginning of their own substance abuse.[80] The abuse of alcohol and drugs are unhealthy coping mechanisms that many American Indians learn to use at a young age. A person’s substance abuse can be described as a defense mechanism against the user’s emotions and trauma.[81] For many American Indians, alcoholism is a symptom of trauma passed from generation to generation and influenced by oppressive behaviors and policies by the dominant Euro-American society.[82]Boarding School
Many American Indians were assimilated into the Euro-American culture through boarding schools that were designed to civilize them. “Kill the Indian and save the man” was the motto and belief.[83] After hundreds of years of discrimination, American Indians have developed a heavy sense of shame about their trauma. Shame can be described as the belief that one is bad, horrible, impaired, tainted, dishonorable, worthless, and more.[81] Participants in a study who are survivors of American Indian mission schools reported that Native Americans were thought to be "dirty" people who needed to be treated with dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane (DDT), a pesticide used for insect control, before entering class each day. Accounts of DDT powder was applied to their hair occurred in the 1946 and 1957. Participants indicated a need for assistance to address their suffered abuse.[84]DDT was used during WWII as a pesticide for insect control, eliminating typhus in parts of Europe and controlling malaria and dengue fever.[85] After DDT was made available to the public for commercial use, birds, fish, insects, and humans were dying because of the chemicals. Many states tried regulating the chemical[86][87] and eventually the Environmental Protection Agency placed a ban on DDT.[88]
