Native American Sociology

Once Again A common saying within our society is that history repeats itself. This expression, although short and simple, is more accurate than one would think. This repetition is seen in all corners of history, in all walks of life, and in every single time period. It is almost exactly like the circle of life; an idea is born, the idea grows and develops, the idea is accepted, the idea is rejected, but the idea never dies. Instead, it haunts society until it is once again needed by the community. In the past, one sees how capitalism aided in the removal of Native Americans, now, today this is seen once again as history repeats itself. Before the white man had any influence on Native Americans, life was great for them. Their economy was largely
In every practical sense, the newly founded United States represented everything the Native Americans did not, and that practically wiped them off the face of the earth. The forced switch to private land created gender and class inequalities, poverty, and unequal land distribution. Retaliation against the new way brought severe consequences. The Native Americans could no longer lived in an egalitarian society; they were not equal on any terms to the white people. As they were being pushed farther and farther west because of greed and “mineral resources . . . [which are] cherished by the United States’ capitalists and governments” (Paul Street). Perhaps Andrew Jackson explained the new American ideals by saying, “established in the midst of another and a superior race, and without appreciating the causes of their inferiority or seeking to control them, they must necessarily yield to the force of circumstances and ere long disappear.” Capitalism is a system that depends on profit, it always needs more than what it has and “nothing was to block this progress, not the European powers ‘owning’ the West and certainly not the indigenous people” (Paul Swanson 46). The removal of the Native Americans from their land was practically inevitable from the moment Christopher Columbus saw the Americas. It is all in the system, the president is not the one truly
We have not fixed those flaws. We have done the same thing we have always done because that is what works, right? Wrong, this cycle of oppressing Native Americans and preventing them from controlling their own land will only repeat itself, the question is when, will the new Dakota access pipeline controversy come up in 10, 50, 100 years? The fact is, we can never fully get rid of capitalism, but we can consciously alter its form for the benefit of the people it discriminates against