What does it mean to be Native American in the United States?

ZILA SANCHEZ Word Editor

During Nov., American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage month, it is important to remember the Native Americans’ ongoing fight for human rights. According to the United States Census Bureau, the first American Indian Day was celebrated in May 1916. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush signed a joint congressional resolution designating Nov. as “National American Indian Heritage Month.”

Like all people, Native Americans are entitled to inalienable, fundamental human rights. Additionally, tribes have fundamental collective human rights. According to the Native American Rights Fund, the United States has only recently allowed tribes the right and ability to govern the education of their tribe members in tribal and federal

co-government practice. The Congress of American Indians reported,

-Aggravated assault among American Indians and Alaska Natives is about twice that of the country.

-One of 10 American Indians age 12 and older becomes a victim of violent crime annually.

-Only 59 percent of tribes have a tribal judicial system.

-Native people die at higher rates than other Americans from tuberculosis, alcoholism, diabetes, vehicle crashes, injuries and suicide.

-American Indian youth have the highest rate of suicide among all ethnic groups in the US and is the second-leading cause of death for Native youth aged 15 to 24.

-Only five percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives have received graduate or professional degrees, and only nine percent of American Indians have earned bachelor’s degrees (compared to 19 percent for the US population). -The number of American

Indian and Alaska Native students enrolled in colleges and universities has more than doubled in the past 30 years.

-Native Americans are becoming homeowners at an increasing rate, 39 percent more from 1997 to 2001.

-Tribal wind can provide 14 percent of the nation’s energy need and solar energy potential can provide about 4.5 times the nation’s energy need.

This Nov., it is important to remember the original members of this society and provide unique protections for Native collective rights, traditions, culture, and property. The Native culture is truly unique to this country, and it must be respected. They are a proud people with traditions older than this nation, and they deserve the rights granted to us, too.

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