The history of the United States government’s treatment of Native Americans (also called Indigenous People) is a sad and cruel one filled with broken promises, 从部落土地上被迫迁移, murderous conflict bordering on genocide and an adamant refusal to respect basic human rights. 从安德鲁·杰克逊到尤利西斯·格兰特再到卢瑟福·海斯, 到富兰克林·罗斯福等现代总统, Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon all supported legislation and rulemaking that diminished if not eliminated tribal control over land and denied them adequate health care, 教育和住房支持. The goal of presidential administrations and the Congress was to provide economic and financial opportunities to the “white man,，同时也使印第安人陷入极度贫困.
美国对印第安人的控制和忽视留下了可悲的遗产.S. 美国政府在安德鲁·杰克逊总统的领导下正式成立. 1830-1850年间, 部落政策由1830年的印第安人迁移法案强制执行, which initiated a removal of tribes largely from southern regions to land west of the Mississippi River. Jackson and his supporters saw tribes such as the Seminoles as a threat to economic expansion and development requiring the overwhelming power of the military to push them out by force.
一旦删除, the tribes sought to start a new life on makeshift reservations that were basically internment camps designed to leave the tribes with little chance of retaking their ancestral homelands. 部落首领, 然而, 没有接受移除政策和预约系统而没有战斗. 1876年，在南达科他州，拉科塔部落与美国第七骑兵团交战.S. 军队在一系列战役中，通常被称为伟大的苏族战争. 在小大角战役中, 楚楚, 还有夏安族和阿拉帕霍族, 包围了第7骑兵团. 乔治·阿姆斯特朗·卡斯特上校. Custer and 270 of his men were killed, in what came to be called “Custer’s Last Stand.”
The conflict between the 7th Cavalry and 楚楚 continued on as the military sought to respond to the white settlers who feared the tribes. In 1890, the military gathered 楚楚 to disarm them at Wounded Knee in eastern Montana. The battle led to 250 men, women and children of 楚楚 being slaughtered. Wounded Knee became infamous as a cruel example of the extent the United States would go to control the tribes and force them to accept the reservation policy.
也是在这个时候, 传说中的内兹珀斯部落首领, 约瑟夫酋长, 领导了一场反对美国政府的抵抗运动, which removed the tribe from their ancestral lands in northeastern Oregon and sought to place them on a reservation in Idaho. 约瑟夫酋长 and his tribe fought the removal effort as they moved northward to seek asylum in Canada. 这个部落遭到了美国军队的追捕. S. 骑兵. 经过数月的战斗, the Nez Perce tribe was stopped 40 miles from the Canadian border and 约瑟夫酋长 was captured. 在堪萨斯和俄克拉荷马州被关押之后, he and what was left of his tribe were removed to a reservation in Washington state. 当他投降时, 约瑟夫酋长 uttered what has become a memorable quote that summed up the plight of Native Americans seeking to retain control of their homeland in the face of US. 军事力量. 正如约瑟夫酋长在1877年所说:
“我厌倦了战斗, 我们的酋长被杀了…天很冷, we have no blankets; the little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them have run away to the hills, and have no blankets or food. No one knows where they are… I want to have time to look for my children, to see how many I can find. 也许我能在死人中找到他们! I am tired; my heart is sick and sad, From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.”
在削弱和控制各个印第安部落的政策的延续中, 国会于1887年通过了《冰球突破豪华版网页版》, 是谁发起了所谓的“分配”计划,” in which tribes were given 160 acres of land for farming to provide them with ways to attain self-sufficiency. The land was substandard and as a result gave the tribes little opportunity to develop effective and profitable farming. 直到1934年富兰克林·罗斯福政府执政, 通过了惠勒-霍华德重组法案, that returned some land to the tribes and permitted the tribes to form corporations and launch businesses. The aim of the legislation was to begin a period of “assimilation” of the Native Americans into the American society and economy. 这些“同化”的努力, 然而, were half-hearted and without much support to enhance the livelihood of the tribes.
直到20世纪70年代和80年代，美国政府才开始采取行动.S. policy toward the Native Americans entered a self-determination and autonomy phase, which expanded somewhat educational and health care opportunities and also allowed various tribes to enter the gaming/casino phase of economic development. The Indian casinos proved to be a financial windfall for some tribes and gave Americans the false belief that the Native Americans were finally moving forward after years of neglect. 在现实中, many of the gambling venues created few jobs and were subjected to the vagaries of a weakened economy.
Currently, one in three Native Americans live in poverty with a median income of $23,000. 2022年，印第安人的失业率为11%.1%，远高于全国平均水平. 此外, 新冠肺炎大流行给美洲原住民带来了沉重的贫困打击, crowded living conditions and lack of access to health care led to mortality rates that were nearly three times as high as other American groups. 印第安人的预期寿命是73岁.7年，而全国平均水平为78年.1, although some tribes on reservations have much lower life expectancy as mental illness, 药物使用, 粮食不安全和自杀继续影响着太多的印第安人.
It is important to remember that the Native Americans were not granted citizenship until 1924, 尽管这些土著居民是新大陆的第一批定居者. 然而,, 贪婪, 种族歧视, cruelty and neglect on the part of the United States government and indeed the American people led to second class status for these first Americans. While some small steps have been taken to lift the Native Americans out of abject poverty and second class citizenship, there remains a long and difficult road ahead to correct the neglect and abuse that has affected so many of our Native American brothers and sisters.