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Try to imagine how it would feel to be taken away from your home, having to change from a lifestyle that was familiar to you; a lifestyle that you wanted to lead but could not because those more powerful than you wanted to exploit your land. Native Americans all over the United States and Canada have been forced off of their land for the past two centuries. These struggling people have been denied their freedom to live by being placed in locations where their resources, culture, and identity are being taken away just to appease the people with a higher authority. The constant relocation of the aboriginal people has caused the destruction, to the point of genocide, of their tribes and the people living in those tribes.
In Mean Spirit, the Osage Indian tribe has been relocated to an area where their lifestyles have required major adjustments. The Osage Indians, like many Native Americans, have been relocated to a land that is not very good for living because the ground is full of minerals. When the earth is full of minerals, grass, trees and other green plants do not grow as easily and therefore the land has less wildlife and other sources of food that the Indians would normally rely on. A change in location including an adjustment in resources and temperature of the area such as the change that Osage tribe had to go through has had a great impact on the way of life of their people. It has influenced their lives by changing their lifestyles entirely, and as a result has altered their culture.
One way the Osage Indians have changed as a result of the land is they have become wealthy people from all of the minerals on their new ground. This recent wealth is very new to these people, resulting in unique expenditures that the White American people criticize. Many of the Osage Indians lived in small cabins and they had very expensive cars and or accessories that were completely useless to them. In Mean Spirit, Linda Hogan explains, "It was hard for the newly rich Indians to take their wealth seriously and most were more than happy to buy any and all of the gadgets the scalpers sold from their rickety tables and stands, no matter how much the prices had been marked up" (Hogan 57). In the novel the character Michael Horse is described arriving in his roadster, which is a funny spectacle considering most people view Indians as having simple lives; lives that do not include luxury items. Since accessories such as the ones that the Indians bought with their new wealth are items that most White people desire, the White people started to become jealous and the problems started to occur from there. Once the White Americans noticed the expenditures of the Indians they became envious of their money and they decided they would do anything possible to try to take the land back away from the Indians. In the Osage Indians situation, the White men started to kill the wealthy Indians in attempts to take-over their land.In Mean Spirit, which is based on a true story, the Osage tribe is struck twice with the negative effects of relocation. Not only do the Indians start to lose their culture as a result of the displacement but also they actually start to lose their lives. If that is not the genocide of a complete race then nothing is.
When a group of people such as the Indians, people whose lives revolve around nature and the environment, are forced to change their location, the end consequence is that they are also forced to give-up their lifestyles. Giving up ones lifestyle means that a person is giving up more than just their way of life, they are losing their beliefs, habits, and rituals. The identity of a person thus is completely changed or even lost.
White men in America have power because they have money and they have a set legislature with rules and people who make those rules. Native Americans on the other hand, have an entirely different structured system; they choose to lead their lives in a simple but constructive way. They are constructive for the reason that they know all the skills and tasks it takes to survive, and they require only that to survive. Although the organization of society is completely unlike the one of the White Americans, and contrary to what the White Americans perceive their organization to be, the Indians do demonstrate a sophisticated structure. Their configuration has a lot of positive and at the same time complex niches that construct their lifestyles.
Since the Indians have such simple lives, the White men know that they can take whatever they want away from them simply because they have the authority to do so. The White man resents the fact that some of the Indians that have been relocated have landed on land that hasought them lots of wealth. The reason the White man resents the idea of Native Americans having so much money is in the belief that these Native are very uncivilized people who would not know what to do with all the riches they have received from the oil of their land. The White man from many centuries ago until today has continued to live by the perceptions and beliefs that Benjamin Lincoln put into words in 17,
Civilized and uncivilized people cannot live in the same
territory or even in the same neighborhood. To be allowed
to remain in their homelands, therefore, Indians must
overcome white hostility by becoming civilized. (Wilson 158)
The Indians forced relocation and the murders are all the instances where the White people believe they are superior to the Indians simply because they are more civilized. By thinking they are more civilized they have the idea that they can control what happens to the less civilized people.
In the minds of the White people, Indians can easily overcome the prejudice and discrimination they face by becoming more civilized, meaning they need to live life more like the White Americans do. Changing the entire lifestyle of an individual concludes in the metamorphosis of a persons identity. The loss or complete change of identity has an outcome of a loss of culture and heritage. It is extremely difficult to nearly impossible to keep a persons heritage alive when their culture requires a certain lifestyle. The culture of Native Americans is a perfect example of how a change of lifestyle changes the entire culture of the people. Part of the tradition of the aboriginal people is going hunting, fishing, and doing daily tasks that require one to survive the day. When the daily chores are changed the ways of the Indian ancestors heritage begin to get lost in the tradition. One Indian from the Sayisi Dene Tribe recalls how most of her past was being forgotten because of their relocation. Their heritage was being changed because her people did not and could not hunt and fish like they used to. This girl was able to witness the entire transformation of her culture and people because she was only a child when her tribe was forced to relocate. When reflecting back on the past, this girl is able to reflect the following,
The pain from the relocation stays with us, no matter how hard we try to go forward. The damage is something we may never repair �as is evident in my community today. I know that before the relocation, my parents were proud and dignified, that they were skilled people like all the Sayisi Dene. When the government forced this relocation on us, our survival skills fell apart. (Bussidor, Reinart 5)
Partly why all the Sayisi Dene was having so much trouble retaining their culture was because the location they were displaced to was more North and much colder. As a result these people could not hunt and harvest because the majority of the time the land was frozen.
To add to the problems faced, the agreements the Canadian and United States governments made concerning relocation were usually made to sound appealing and then they wereoken. For example, with Sayisi Dene the Canadian government told them that they were going to have log cabins built for them on arrival, however, this was not the case (Bussidor, Reinart 7). When the Sayisi Dene was dropped off at the relocation in Northern Manitoba they spent weeks without any shelter or warm clothing. Mary Yassie, a member of the Sayisi Dene describes,
As the winter set in we had no other way but to live in a canvas tent for the whole winter. My dad eventually built a shack with scrap lumber across the Churchill river where some people were living. The wildlife and firewood in the area could not sustain the community. Without caribou the people had no winter clothing or shelter. They couldnt feed their dogs so they couldnt go trapping. (Bussidor, Reinart, 4)
The Canadian government assured the Indian people everything was going to be all right with their relocation but in fact nothing was okay. Most of the promises the government made were not followed through, so the Sayisi Dene was put in a very difficult situation.
The relocation of Native Americans that is taking place in both Canada and the United States has had serious effects on the aboriginal people. While both countries seem to be acceptant of various races it has not stopped them from committing the genocide of Indians. The White people are accepting of the Indians as long as they conform to his society. Since the entire Indian races culture has everything to do with nature and is contrary to the White mans culture, the White man has been trying to get rid of them. The White men do not like the idea of people having their own beliefs and views on life because they feel the life they lead is the life that everyone should lead. This life is a life that is surrounded with the quest for money and the evolution of society. Since Native Americans do not lead this kind of life that means they were incapable of development (Wilson 1).
Relocation is a serious issue facing Aboriginals in North America. These people are being denied their race and identity so that the White man can accumulate wealth. Genocide is being committed towards the Indians by the White man simply because the governments of both Canada and the United States are wanting to earn more profit. It almost seems as if both countries think it is okay to obliterate and destroy an entire race. Knowing how multi-cultural and ethnically diverse these two countries are, it would almost be inevitable that something like the genocide of Indians would be put to a stop long ago, but unfortunately it is still a serious issue that not enough people are concerned about.
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