January 16, 2019

Native Americans remain invisible in their own land

located:	USA
editor:	Yair Oded

The November 2018 midterm elections in the United States saw numerous historical victories, as record numbers of women, LGBTQ people, and Muslims were elected to Congress. One of the midterms’ most monumental milestone was the election of the first Native American congresswomen, Deb Haaland (member of the Pueblo of Laguna) in New Mexico, and attorney Sharice Davis (member of the Ho-Chunk Nation) in Kansas. Yet, despite the fact that Haaland and Davis’ election marks a new era in the representation of Native Americans in government, no substantial coverage or attention were attributed to the issue, and the majority of headlines on the topic merely captured the emotional embrace between the two women as they were sworn into office.

The mainstream media, however, is not the only entity that failed to properly address the issue, as Congress itself did not make a real effort to stress the significance of Haaland and Davis’ election.

Following centuries of continuous oppression of Native American nations, manifested in repeated encroachment of their lands and under-funding of federal programmes designated to protect them, the election of Native American women to Congress potentially marks the beginning of a new era in the U.S., in which Native Americans will acquire more agency to voice their needs and concerns and be, hopefully, better positioned to fight for their rights.

As the nation’s legislature, it would’ve been appropriate for Congress to highlight this critical juncture in a more significant manner and demonstrate to the public that a new chapter is beginning in the relationship between the American government and the Native population.

Congress brushing aside of this monumental victory for Native Americans indicates a more profound proclivity of the American government to disregard the former’s rights and treat them as second class citizens. Some instances of the government’s oppression of Native American reaches the headlines and wins national attention. One example of this was the brutal suppression of Native American demonstrators on North Dakota’s Standing Rock Reservation, who fought the efforts to pass Energy Transfer Partners’ Dakota Access Pipeline through their land. Alas, many Americans fail to realise that the struggle of Native Americans is a perpetual one, and that until this day they constitute one of the most vulnerable communities in the U.S.

This is particularly evident now as Native Americans reportedly suffer the worst hit by the ongoing government shutdown. Since its founding, the U.S. government has maintained a series of treaties and passed numerous laws aimed at protecting the well-being of tribal nations and their right to self-determination (in exchange for land). As part of these treaties, the American government is obligated to provide federal assistance and funds to its roughly 2.6 million tribal citizens living on and off reservations. Such services are mostly carried throughout the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Indian Affairs and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Indian Health Service; both of these agencies experience debilitating constraints under the government shutdown. Thus, millions of Native Americans experience a disruption in access to health services and suspension of federal monetary assistance, while thousands who are employed at the agencies are either furloughed or have to work without compensation.  

Despite the uproar emanating from within the tribal nations, and repeated pleas by Native American leaders (including the newly elected congresswomen) to resume federal support despite the shutdown, no government figure has yet to reassure them that their plight is acknowledged and shall be addressed.

It comes as no surprise, then, that the nation afforded nothing more than an ‘aww’ and a nod following the election of Congress’ first female Native American women, and failed to fully recognise how uplifting and pivotal this step is for a population that is all too often being regarded as invisible.

Photo: Deb Haaland for Congress