Mimi Jimmy

Research Paper
June 6, 2006

Abstract: The allegation of Native American genocide and the current definition of genocide is
such a controversial issue that is highly debated today. The attempt of “civilizing the savage” and
assimilation of Native Americans in early America is the issue at hand that has left behind
intergenerational emotional scars and impacts that contemporary Native American communities
are still struggling to overcome. Even though Native Americans are on the path of healing, the
healing of whole communities is slow to come. A greater understanding of the complexities
within Native American communities is needed to create a healthier living environment as well
as a greater awareness by mainstream society of the American history that the United States was
built upon.

The Aftermath of Native American Genocide and the Legacy it Has Left Behind

The history of the United States was not built on freedom, but on the genocide of Native

Americans. Today, the definition and parameters of the word genocide is highly debated

throughout the world and it is such an unsettled issue that it has become an academic field of

study. One of the questionable issues noted is the allegation of Native American genocide in the

United States. While is ever important to come upon an agreed definition of genocide to protect

and liberate human rights and to clarify such controversial issues of past and present, it is also

important to look at how the harmful actions have led to negative intergenerational impacts that

has filtered into the shaping Native American individuals within families and culture. With

Native Americans experiencing a reign of terror under the conquest of another during early

colonization, many people have not recognized the Native outcry of genocide but it has lead to

further crises of emotional wounds and scars that have become so internalized that it has brought

about a self-destruction within Native American communities.

According to William D. Rubinstein (2004), the word genocide was introduced in 1944

by a Polish Jew, Raphael Lemkin. By 1948, Raphael Lemkin convinced the United Nations (UN)

to implement the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (UN
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Convention). Rubinstein gave the UN definition, “according to the UN Convention, genocide

means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national,

ethnical [sic], racial or religious group, such as:

a) Killing members of the group

b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group

c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life designed to bring about its

physical destruction in whole or in part

d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group

e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Rubinstein also acknowledged the UN definition is different than how the general public

understands the word genocide and is likely to mean the purposeful killing of the entire or part of

a specific group of people simply because they are part of that group and with no other reason

(para.5).

Rubinstein pointed out that the two definitions do not fully agree with each other because

the general public’s view of the meaning of genocide is limited to intentional killings. He

reported a segment of the genocide outline of the UN definition is happening today with the

forced removal of children of “criminal or mentally impaired parents” (para. 6) Lisa M. Poupart

(2003) claimed a similar situation of the child removal policies in Native American communities

which is not considered by Rubinstein but falls under the same part of the definition of genocide.

The child removal polices occurred during the time of the residential schools and many

generations of school age children were removed from families and transported to schools with

means to assimilate the children into civilized society.

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In a recent paper I had written I had researched the effects of some of the genocidal

actions that the U.S. government had applied to the Native Americans in trying to assimilate

Native Americans into early civilization. I talked about how the implementation of residential

schools was a plan to “civilize” the Indian and to tear away the traditional culture and traditional

languages from Native Americans. With the required attendance of Native American children,

the children were forcefully removed from families and taken away to residential schools for

most of their lives that were sometimes hundreds of miles away. During the stay at the residential

schools, the children were sexually and physically abused as means of discipline. There were

babies born to Native girls fathered by school staff and near some of the schools there are

unmarked cemeteries full of Native American students and newborn babies. Some of the schools

performed experimental surgery on the children and some female students were sterilized. While

attending the schools, the students would be segregated into grade levels, sex and age therefore

separated all brothers and sisters and sibling contact was tightly controlled. With generations of

Native peoples spending most of their young lives away from family and growing up in a

segregated, destructive environment; the children grew up with no experience of human love or

the family unit. These generations of residential school survivors did not learn the ability of

parenting skills and abuses into native communities have brought on the struggles that we

continue to face today. (Jimmy M., 2006).

The residential schools are only one aspect of the argument of the genocide allegation.

Rubinstein regards the colonization of North America as an instance of “depopulation,” which is

without the purpose to kill (para. 14) but many Native Americans implicate these acts as

genocide. The European introduction of unknown diseases to Native Americans was not with

intentional thought of termination and cannot be considered an act of genocide claimed

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Rubinstein but Lillian Friedberg (2000) refuted this point by providing a cited 1763 letter from

Lord Jeffrey Amherst to Colonel Henry Bouquet that read, “You will do well to [infect] the

Indians by means of blankets as well as to try every other method that can serve to extirpate this

[execrable] race” (para. 18). Rubinstein does recognize the killings during the removal and

relocation of Native Americans to reservations in the West and considers these acts close to the

intention of murderous acts but not genocide.

Residential schools and the spread of disease are only a few aspects that are considered

acts of genocide on the Native American people and there have been more actions of

“civilization” that have led to the normalization of sexual abuse, physical abuse, emotional abuse

and alcoholism with the lack of love and parenting skills in Native American communities. It has

brought about intergenerational impacts that Native American peoples are continually dealing

with by trying to break the cycle of abuse. Many have internalized the Western practices that had

forced past and present abuses upon them (Poupart, para. 4). Native identity includes the

internalized oppression, towards oneself and others, which stems from physical situations and

personal experiences as well as their distinctive past experience of colonization. Poupart also

claimed that although Native Americans have internalized, live in and with contemporary

Western society, a part of their identities are still linked to traditional beliefs of Native ancestry

which is also incorporated in their daily lives. There is agreement between Friedberg and Poupart

on severe loss of culture and internalized oppression and this has become part of Native

American identities which lead to self destruction of the individual and family alike. Poupart

suggested that even though Native American people are not practicing traditional culture there is

still a close connection between the traditional values and beliefs in their everyday lives.
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The country of United States was not built on freedom and the American dream, but on

the attempted eradication of Native Americans. It is considerable to argue that the actions against

Native Americans can be labeled genocide and the suffering of Native Americans lasted centuries

and still continues today. It is not right to ask for acknowledgement when in Canada, the

government has taken responsibility and set in motion the steps to support Native Americans in

healing? Rubinstein ended his argument with the new area of “genocide studies” as either being

perceived as extending human rights and the ability to provide reparation for past mistakes or as

a section of “the culture of complaint” which lies in “guilt-ridden white middle-class liberals and

minority activists” (para. 19). In Canada, the justification seems to be the latter and in the U.S.,

the Native genocide outcry seems to be dismissed with a wave of the hand. Regarding Native

Americans, the government has denied the right of “justice for all” of the original inhabitants of

the land and survivors of destruction.

Today, the U.S. government does not have to implement destructive actions towards

Native American people because the internalized oppression has created self-destructive actions

within individuals and families. Residential schools have left their mark on survivors and several

of the following generations. Throughout the U.S. and Canada contemporary Native

communities, whether they are reservations or urban communities, many people face similar

struggles that were not part of the traditional lifestyle. Some of the struggles within communities

are high rates of divorce and poverty, low rates of education and employment, alcoholism, family

violence, sexual and physical abuse, incest, fetal alcohol syndrome, homicide and suicide. In the

Onion article they stated the findings of a study done by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs and

they said, “Our research revealed that most Native Americans view ‘the white man’ as a

deceitful, avaricious, exploitive mass murderer, just as their ancestors did” (para. 1). With a
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united view of the white man the Native communities have become so closely knitted that any

outsiders are viewed with skepticism.

The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe located in Auburn, Washington is a great example of a

community who has overcame many obstacles and became a self-sustaining tribe. The

Muckleshoot Tribe is a self-governing body with many self-supporting and self-care facilities.

They own and operate the Muckleshoot Indian Casino, Muckleshoot Indian Bingo, White River

Amphitheater, and the Muckleshoot Market & Deli. All tribal owned facilities have preferred

tribal affiliation hiring practices. The Casino and Bingo bring in much income for the tribe as a

whole and as well is put back into not only the tribal community but into Auburn as well.

Muckleshoot also has implemented programs and facilities to care for its tribal members. There

is the Elder’s building which has senior activities and health care. They have just had a grand

opening of the Health and Wellness Center last spring. The Health and Wellness center has a

pharmacy, Doctor and Dentist offices, counseling services and physical therapy available. It also

has a swimming pool, hot tub, sauna, daycare and weight lifting facilities with available personal

trainers and on-going health-related workshops. They have provided their own education system

with a Head Start program, a tribal school from K-12, and a Tribal College and are currently

reclaiming and revitalizing their tribal language. Muckleshoot has provided low-income housing

opportunities as well as assistance of tribal members owning their own home. Muckleshoot

Indian Tribe is a great example of a tribe with a mission to not only care for their members but to

offer support in all areas with the importance on education. Many reservations do not have the

additional opportunities of employment and support services and with Muckleshoot Indian Tribe

included, there are still underlying situations at hand.

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As a child, I have been raised and lived on a reservation for most of my life and have

seen the way other people have been labeled as they try to infiltrate such a tight-knit community

and I also have become aware of the community conflicts within. There are the urban Indians

who have been raised most of their lives in the cities and they are considered not to be “Indian

enough” to be fully accepted into the community. There are the “drunk Indians” who struggle to

stay drunk by begging for change and sleeping on the streets and even if they are from the local

reservation they aren’t accepted within the community. There is the “apple” or in other words,

the sell-out, who has moved away and become educated which usually goes along with the

assumed notion of trying to be “white.” Usually somewhere in there, there is always an actual

white man who has been adopted into a group of natives in the community but is still not fully

accepted on a community level. There is the Native from another reservation who is always

viewed as an outsider and never really becomes part of the community. There are family politics

that hand down inter-family conflicts so it is an ongoing dislike passed down through

generations. With the internal conflicts in reservation life as well as all the negative obstacles of

just trying to survive, Native Americans are constantly negotiating the conflicts within

themselves, conflicts with others as in friends and families, conflicts within their own

communities whether it is urban or reservations and then face the conflicts of surviving within

the greater society.

With the past and present distinctive experiences that Native Americans have been

through, it has created an “us and them,“ “insider/outsider” complex. Whoever is not with us is

against us and it used as a self-protection and survival tactic. The strong family ties within

communities are sometimes a great aspect but can be negative as well. With the alcoholism and

sexual and physical abuse introduced and normalized in Native American communities, it can
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create dangerous, enclosed atmospheres to live in and it is very difficult situation to get out of.

Any person outside the family or community trying to intervene on a person’s behalf, who is in

an unhealthy relationship, may be seen as an outsider therefore one of “them.” It can also create

huge family differences when a family member tries to intervene. Because such self-destructive

actions have become normalized in Native American communities, individuals who carry-out

actions of violence or abuse are protected within the families sometimes through family denial or

and people turning a blind eye and these actions are allowed to carry on. With the knowledge of

the genocide and residential school legacies, Native Americans have taken the steps to the path

of healing but the change is slow to come with people so resistant to any outsiders.

Even though some tribes are on the path of healing and self-sufficiency, there needs to be

further investigation to understand about the inner conflicts within communities as well as bring

a greater awareness of the Native American history and the complexity of Native American

communities to the mainstream society. Moving away from my home reservation, I have become

an outsider. Relocating near Muckleshoot reservation and not being a tribal member, I have

become an outsider. Attending Green River Community College and not being part of

mainstream society, I am and always will be an outsider. Infiltrating Native communities or

Native communities implementing further research the “us and them” and the “insider/outsider”

complex would bring about an understanding to Native American communities and may give a

solution, in whole or part, for Native Americans to come out the protective mode of survival and

be less resistant to change. This research could also bring about new ideas to complement and

further the healing processes already in effect. Bringing a greater understanding to the

mainstream society about Native Americans communities, the history and how it has led to the

complexities of Native life and survival may lessen the idea that Native Americans are getting to
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many breaks and special treatment. It may also dissipate the common attitude or question of the

mainstream society of the stereotypical lazy, uneducated Indians and their “choice” of lifestyle.

While the Native American outcry of genocide is still unacknowledged and highly disputed, the

country’s destructive actions of “civilization” and assimilation have left their toll on Native

Americans as a whole.
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