Native Americans

Navajo Schools

Growing up around Native Americans I have seen the injustices they face and the negative stereotypes put on them. Throughout my school career in Arizona i was taught about the horrible things these people were put through. For example, when in the early 1900’s the Navajo and Hopi people were put into boarding schools where they could not speak their language, they were forced to cut their hair, and they had to practice european manners and had to eat there food. People from the government would come to there houses and take their children and put them into boarding schools. The Navajo and Hopi people tried to hide their kids from them to keep their kids. This is just one of the many injustices these people have had to deal with.

Navajo Reservation

Native Americans are separated by tribes like the Navajo and the Hopi. The people in these tribes specifically in the northern arizona area go through alot. For instance there are a lot of stereotypes that are set on them like, There alcoholics, there fat, they eat bad food. These are all stereotypes that I have heard from living there. They are true and false. When people from Europe came to the US we introduced alcohol the Native Americans. On the navajo reservation alcohol became such a big problem that it was banned on the reservation. Many of the kids i talked to or was friend with had all told me stories of their parents or family members being dependent on alcohol. Though some Native Americans have drinking problems, not all do just like some white people have drinking problems and others don't

There are many issues that these people have that is hard for other people to understand. For example on the Navajo reservation most people don't have electricity, gas, running water, easy access to water, and little to no healthcare.The reason it is hard for other people to understand is because they think all americans have all these things. There is really not a big native american presence in our media, so it is hard for people to even know about the problems, stereotypes, and injustices these people face. The stereotypes put on these groups of people can negatively affect them for instance,  a kid i knew at my middle school used to hear these stereotypes and would think that that is just what he is. He said things like “Im just stupid” or “i'm just going to turn into a drunk like the rest of my family”. These stereotypes are put into young kids minds and it is detrimental to their development. They hear these stereotypes over and over and soon they think that is who they are.

In conclusion, Communities can help this group by raising awareness and telling people what conditions these people are living in. the media can try to put the problems Native americans face on the headlines. The government can try to put the problems of the people in our country first instead of worrying about other countries, we can also try to eliminate the bad stereotypes about these people.