M5 Discussion 1 Post Response

Please respond to each classmate's post. *Please use Textbook and course material as your source. Cultural Diversity: A Primer for the Human Services by Diller, Jerry V. 6th Edition https://www(dot)pbs(dot)org/video/unspoken-americas-native-american-boarding-schools-oobt1r/ 1. Marisa Trela posted: How was assimilation to be accomplished? In what ways did this practice affect Native American culture? What implications does this information have for human service practitioners? Assimilation was to be accomplished by wiping out the language and beliefs of Native American children through forcing them into boarding schools and isolating them away from their parents and community. The goal was to shape them to fit societal expectations of the western world. A human service practitioner should be aware of the impacts this generational trauma has, and that it can make someone from the Native American community wary of receiving any services due to “tremendous anger and mistrust” (Diller, 2019) which becomes a barrier to treatment. Native American clients tend to feel more comfortable working with a practitioner who incorporates their cultural values and beliefs into their treatment. (Diller, 2019) Are the characteristics described in the documentary and chapter consistent with your experiences and/or perceptions of Native culture? Where do most of your perceptions about Native Americans come from? How can you expand that picture? I would say the characteristics of the interviewees in this documentary were consistent with my experiences of Native American culture as this is my family heritage, and my mother is the first in her family to leave a reservation. Much of my family is proud of our culture, their resilience, and how unique their spiritual and world views are and what the Native American community has contributed to society overall. However, there is much resentment and anger still because of the lack of resources those on the reservation have and the level of discrimination they still face. When I meet new people and they learn about my background they assume that everyone in my family must be wise and stoic and reserved when that is a stereotype. Not all my cousins are spiritual, and many of those I’ve met from the reservation in my generation and younger are extroverted and exuberant and interested in mainstream pop culture. Alcohol and substance abuse are a significant problem in the community which I believe stems from generational trauma, so I don’t feel the documentary delved as deeply into that side as they could have. If you had been forced away from your family, community, and culture (as Native children were until the mid-1980s) how might you have turned out differently? Would you have learned all could about your own culture afterward? If so, how? If not, why not? I would likely be resentful of the government, possibly the white community knowing this was what my family had been forced into. I do personally have strong feelings about this because of my family, so I’ve heard horror stories about the abuse that took place in these boarding schools my entire life. I believe that I would either be passionate about wanting to know everything I could about my culture and language and connect to that sense of identity, or I wouldn't want to face everything that I was kept from learning because of the traumatic way in which this was done. Reflect on the intentions of the Relocation Act of the 1940s. Do you believe it could have been a benefit to the Native people to integrate more fully with the dominant culture, had they been given the tools to succeed? If so, what could have been done differently? What would a positive outcome of integration be? I believe that it’s important for everyone to have tools to succeed, but the definition of success looks different to everyone, and I don’t believe that any cultural group should feel the pressure to fully integrate – this should be left up to the individuals. I think that instead of forcing the Native American community to assimilate that finding a way to peacefully coexist would be the better alternative. If people from different communities took time to understand one another and teach each other different ways of doing things then I believe both cultures would have been more successful overall. A positive outcome of integration done in a respectful way is gaining new perspectives on how to approach problems in society, finding innovative ways of doing things, and being able to enjoy each other's music, art, stories, food, spirituality, etc. The quote from this documentary that stood out to me was from Sitting Bull: “If the great spirit had desired me to be a white man, he would have made me so in the first place.” (Unspoken: America's Native American Boarding Schools, 2017) 2. Mi-Asia Burns posted: "The Native American Boarding School Era is a dark chapter of American History. The policy was known as assimilation. Everything Native was stripped away." (PBS, 2019, 0 minutes and 0 seconds - 0 minutes and 12 seconds). The documentary covers information about the harsh realities that Native American individuals faced in America's Native American Boarding Schools. Native American culture was suppressed due to Native Americans having to assimilate to American culture (PBS, 2019, 0 minutes and 18 seconds - 0 minutes and 24 seconds). This affected Native American culture to a certain extinct due to other individuals from different cultural backgrounds not being able to relate to them. Native Americans only use their cultural heritage at home where it was a viewed normal. Human service practitioners would have to be educated about the Native American history to provide resources that are helpful for them to reduce discrimination. The documentary and the assigned chapters are consistent with my experiences and perceptions of Native culture. Most of my perspective of Native American come from being taught about it from elementary school up until my present day pursuing higher education. Some of African culture and Native American culture are intertwined with one another especially with spiritual practices in health remedies to naturally cure illnesses and valuing Earth's natural resources. Learning about the history changed my perspective and it made me appreciate the natural resources on Earth. If I was forced away from my family, community, and culture it would have turned out to be different than I am in present day. I would've been shunned away from it and never knew about my true cultural identity growing up. No, I wouldn't learn about my culture due to being forced away from my family, community, and culture due to not being taught about it as a child to where it was apart of me. No, I don't think it would have benefited the Native Americans due to them being the 1st documented people in the Western World. A positive outcome of integration already has been done during the times where all races were accepted overtime which created cultural diversity (PBS, 2019). References Diller, J.V. (2019). Cultural Diversity 6th Edition. A Primer for the Human Services. Chapter 12. pp. 294-314. PBS (2019). Native American Boarding Schools [video 57 minutes].