Indigenous Peoples

There are an estimated 2.5 million Native Americans in the U.S. About half of the Native American population lives on or near reservations; the other half lives in other rural areas and in urban areas. For centuries, American Indian culture has been attacked and exploited by our relatively newly-arrived dominant capitalist culture. Traditions, language and spiritual beliefs of so many of the American Indian nations are almost completely extinguished. Many U.S. teachers discuss Native American history and culture, especially at Thanksgiving time. Unfortunately, the portrayal of Native Americans is often stereotypical, inaccurate, or outdated. Forced Relocation; A thing of the past? The U.S. government began an eviction process against the Navajo from areas of New Mexico and Arizona in 1997. These Navajo reside on top of a large supply of coal and uranium. If these tribes don't move, mining companies will be unable to seize the profits associated with these precious resources. Congress passed a Relocation Act a few years ago but did not enforce it immediately but all the Native Americans residing on the land who remained, automatically became trespassers. Some of the government employees resigned rather than participate in forcing the people out. Those people living there were forbidden to repair their homes and denied basic services like running water. Once the government decided it was time to fully enforce the Act, the residents were harassed by both the mining company employees and government units, despite their valid claim to the land prior to the Act.

Native Americans suffer from many of the same social and economic problems as other victims of long-term bias and discrimination -- including, for example, disproportionately high rates of poverty, infant mortality, unemployment, and low high school completion rates. U.S. Census data indicate that in 1996, 30.9% of Native Americans as a whole had family incomes below the poverty line, in comparison with 13.8% for the U.S. population as a whole. In 2010, more than 70% had incomes below the poverty line. Using data from the U.S. Census Bureau's Current Population Survey, which defines an unemployed person as someone who lacks a job but is still seeking one, the researchers found that the nation's Native American jobless rate increased to 15.2 percent over the last three years. Reports by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction reveal that Native American students in grades nine through 12 dropped out of high school at a rate of 11.5 percent during the 2007-2008 school year. That was the highest out of five racial groups surveyed -- American Indian, Asian/Pacific Islander, black, Hispanic and white.

Life expectancy among Native Americans is almost 6 years less than any other race or ethnic group in the U.S. and statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that American Indian teens take their own lives at more than two times the rate of any other teen demographic in the U.S. In 2007, American Indian and Alaska Native youths, 15 to 24 years old, were committing suicide at a rate more than three times the national average for their age group of 13 per 100,000 people. For these youths, suicide has become the second-leading cause of death (after accidents). In 2009, the Mescalero Apache reservation in New Mexico faced a true state of emergency when four teens committed suicide and one attempted suicide in the space of just two months. Pine Ridge Oglala Lakota Sioux reservation of South Dakota is another tragic example, with a suicide rate more than three times the average for the rest of the nation. In 2007, American Indian and Alaska Native youths 15 to 24 years of age were committing suicide at a rate more than three times the national average for their age group of 13 per 100,000 people. For these youths, suicide has become the second-leading cause of death (after accidents). Between 1999 and 2007, the nationwide suicide rate among non-Hispanic Native Americans was 14 per 100,000, about 25 percent higher than the overall national rate of 11. Higher rates of suicide have long been tied to alcoholism and drug use, depression and poverty that are prevalent in many American Indian communities.

Philip May, a professor of sociology at the University of New Mexico who has been studying suicide among American Indians for more than 35 years says "Very generally, adolescence is a time of trouble for all youths. But in many American Indian communities, it's compounded by limited opportunities, historical trauma and contemporary discrimination."

30% of Native Americans have had a serious psychological distress, compared to 11% of the general population. Almost 12 percent of the deaths among Native Americans and Alaska Natives are alcohol-related - more than three times the percentage in the general population, a 2008 federal report says. A report released by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, found 11.7 percent of deaths among Native Americans and Alaska Natives between 2001 and 2005 were alcohol-related, compared with 3.3 percent for the U.S. as a whole. The study said more than 68 percent of the Indians whose deaths were attributed to alcohol were men, and 66 percent were people younger than 50 years old. Seven percent were less than 20 years old. Among Native Americans, 1.5 to 2.5 children per 1,000 live births are afflicted with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (Fas), compared to 0.2 -1.0 per 1,000 live births to the general population.

The fate of indigenous people invaded by a more economically developed society makes a sorrowful catalogue of human misery. The spread of capitalism's market values, transforming self-supporting people into wage and salary workers, has led to the social disintegration of indigenous cultures .