Challenges of the Native American

Challenges of the Native American Native American culture is in its downfall, due to the discrimination and dehumanization that Native Americans have faced. Native American culture revolves around a circle. They believe the most important aspects of life such as nature is based on circles. The repetition of life and death, their own families, and even the food chain are all examples of circles. These circles have been shattered by the discrepancies from white men in particular. Being kicked off their land and forced into reservations, Carlisle Schools, and substance abuse have broken the Native American circle. Authors like Sherman Alexie have displayed examples of these broken circles. His work has made our society aware of the discrimination the Native American culture has endured.
Settlers viewed themselves as above the Native Americans resulting in conflicts between the two. These conflicts escalated, and the white settlers viewed Native Americans as a threat to the country. The U.S. government forced Native Americans onto land that was viewed unimportant, or of no value at all. This has broken their circle by forcing them away from their homeland and they had to restart their lives in a new land. This was the beginning of the downfall for the Native American culture and its circle. Schools were specifically designed to tear apart the Native American circle. The Carlisle School was founded by Richard Pratt in 1892 (Pavelic, Perelshstein 1). The school”s main goal was to convert young Native Americans to American lifestyle and culture. The school stripped Native American children's culture away from them by converting them to Christianity, and forcing them to never use their native language (Pavelic, Perelshstein 1). By tearing the Native American culture out of the children, the culture is unable to pass on through them hence destroying the circle by not allowing their culture to be taught to future generations. After the discrimination and dehumanization