I focused on dealing with the struggle and desire of Native Americans to preserve their traditions and culture while living in America — a country that is founded on the cultural assimilation of their people. My issue focuses on how Native Americans are being intentional in celebrating their history and integrating their traditions into their communities that are outside of their tribe.

According to the National Congress of American Indians, there are 562 federally recognized tribes in the United States. This is progress when looking at the history of Native Americans in the United States, but many factors still play into the endangerment of Native culture. Native Americans are continually dismissed by White America. Some current examples of this are poverty among reservations, lack of resources for Native students among campuses, appropriation of Native culture while perpetuating oppression, and little recognition or celebration of Native American stories and leaders.

The traditions and culture of Native Americans has been at risk since the beginning of the colonization of North America. When settlers came to this land, the Indigenous people already had communities built, belief systems that were practiced, languages that were used, and so much more that was the foundation of their lives. Life was happening here before Christopher Columbus. When people came to America to declare their independence from Great Britain to take over the land that was already lived on, they took control over the Native Americans and how they lived. This was the mission of those who came to North America and continued for many years. More than 100 years later, Colonel Richard H. Pratt, the leader of the Americanization of Native Americans, stated in his speech in 1892 that “the only good Indian is a dead one, and that high sanction of his destruction has been an enormous factor in promoting Indian massacres. In a sense, I agree with the sentiment, but only in this: that all the Indian there is in the race should be dead. Kill the Indian in him, and save the man.”

One side is those who are not Native American don’t care to understand the history, oppression, or culture of Native Americans. They are content in celebrating holidays like Columbus Day and wearing headdresses on Halloween. The other side is Native Americans and their allies fighting against their oppressors to bring their languages, dances, history, and traditions into their communities. This requires better education, more funding and resources to tribes and awareness and visibility within mainstream America.