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Anton Treuer's book Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians But Were Afraid to Ask is the source for almost all of the information included in this presentation.

Anton is an Ojibwe author of 19 books and a professor at Bemidji State University. He has sat on many organizational boards and has received more than 40 prestigious awards and fellowships over the years. His book is great for anyone who wants to learn more about Native Americans. In it, Anton provides straightforward, informative answers to many questions that people may have or might be too afraid to ask. This book is both interesting and educational and serves as a wonderful resource for both Native Americans and non-Native Americas.

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Money is like health. Having it is no guarantee of happiness. But the absence of it can make one miserable. -Attributed to Suze Orman (A quote from Everything You Wanted to Know About Indians But Were Afraid To Ask by Anton Treuer)

Not all Indians live in extreme poverty. Many tribes have reduced their unemployment rates from 50 to 20%.

All American Indians must pay federal income tax. They must also pay state income tax unless they're enrolled members who get all of their income from their tribe and live on a reservation. Only 23% of enrolled Indians live on reservations in Minnesota.

Not all Indian tribes are rich from casinos. This assumption has led many granting agencies and regular citizens to believe that tribes don't need outside help in fighting poverty or developing programs.

Tribal governments are working hard to improve the economic well-being of their communities.

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Treuer, A. (2021). Everything you wanted to know about Indians but were afraid to ask: Young readers edition. Levine Querido.

treatiesmatter.org. (2022). Retrieved 8 April 2022, from http://treatiesmatter.org/exhibit/

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How can I learn more and make a difference?

Read Anton Treuer's book.
Open your minds and hearts.
Seek out answers to your questions by using the internet (google!) and different books.
Attend a powwow.
Go to a tribal language table.
Volunteer for your area race relations task force.
Connect with Native people and organizations on social media.
Acknowledge and use the languages.
Teachers - don't be afraid to teach about Indians and teach the real history.
Don't imagine Indians, understand them.
Don't perpetuate or tolerate stereotypes.
If you are Native, learn as much as you can about yourself.
Ask questions, read, listen and advocate for change.

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From April 2016 - February 2017, there was a massive tribal protest at the site of the Dakota Access Pipeline where it was to cross the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota. It failed to stop the pipeline but brought attention to the environmental and racial impacts of oil pipelines.

Mascots
Many Native Americans are offended by the use of Native American mascots. Mascots invite people to caricature them and mock their culture. They do not honor Natives. They stereotype them. Everyone must listen to and respect the people of whom they are causing offense to, especially when those feelings are widespread.

Non-Native people wearing Indian costumes is a form of cultural appropriation and disrespect.

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Residential boarding schools were one of the most harmful parts of the war on Indigenous culture. In the late 1800s, missionary groups, the military and government officials wanted to remove Indian children from their homes to assimilate them. Their goal was to "kill the Indian in order to save the man." Children were sent far away from home and endured horrific physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Many died. They were stripped of their culture.

The long-term effects of residential boarding schools are profound. Many Natives developed a distrust of politicians and educators because of the historical trauma and today there is a huge achievement gap (opportunity gap) for Native youth. Many young Native learners feel like the curriculum in most American schools is still designed to make them more white.

Access to tribal language and culture is strongly linked to educational achievement among Native youth.

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There are 11 federally recognized Native American tribes in Minnesota. There are 574 Native American tribes in the United States. It can be painful for Native Americans who are not a part of federally recognized tribes. Socially and politically, they often feel invisible as Native people.

Sovereignty means "self-rule." Indian nations are sovereign because they rule themselves. They have their own governments, police, fire departments, and business operations. Tribal sovereignty is a powerful political authority. Treaty rights, casinos, and different tax laws are possible in Indian country because tribes are sovereign.

Usufructuary rights are the basis of the treaty rights that many Native Americans enjoy today. When the U.S. federal government wanted land from Indians, negotiators promised different things to them. This is why Indians tribes have treaty rights for hunting, fishing, gathering and traveling on all of their lands, including lands.

From 1778 to 1871, the U.S. government entered into more than 500 treaties with Native American tribes. Almost all of these treaties have been violated in some way. Westward expansion resulted in many broken promises on the part of the U.S. government. "Today, treaties continue to affirm the inherent sovereignty of American Indian nations, enabling tribal governments to maintain a nation-to-nation relationship with the U.S. government. Treaties make it possible for tribal nations to manage their own lands, resources, and economies, protect their people, and build a more secure future for generations to come" (Why Treaties Matter, 2022).

About half of enrolled tribal members in the U.S live off reservations, mainly in urban areas but the connection that Indigenous people have to their reservations and First Nations is very strong. Enrolled tribal members are citizens of the countries where their tribes are located. They are dual citizens.

Natives used to own all of North and South America. Reservations and First Nations are parts of each tribe's original homeland that were not sold or taken. The tribes and U.S. and Canadian governments signed many treaties and other agreements that say that they get to keep their original homelands forever.

Indians have the highest foster care and adoption rates of all racial groups in the U.S. Children need to stay connected to their communities and culture. The Indian Child Welfare Act was introduced in 1978 to combat the high adoption and foster care rates which hurt and disconnected Native children and their families.

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There were 2,300 tribal languages spoken in North and South America before contact with Europeans (500 in the U.S and Canada). There are now 650 total in all of the Americas, with only 150 of those spoken in the U.S. and Canada. The number is shrinking quickly.
Of these 150, only 20 are spoken by children.

Tribal languages should be important to everyone as they are the first languages of the first Americans. There are proven links between academic achievement and cultural and linguistic competency for Native youth.

Learning a tribal language is hard. Prioritizing tribal languages when there are few speakers left is even more difficult. Indian people value their languages for many reasons. They are the cornerstone of identity - they are the customary languages for many ceremonies and a gateway to spiritual understanding.

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Powwows are social events for the Native American community and are widely practiced all over North America.
They are mainly dance events where people wear elaborate beadwork, feathers, and other regalia and dance to a wide array of songs performed by drum groups and singers.

There are many styles of Indian dance.

Feathers are used to represent a deed done in battle and are highly respected. Warriors used to wear them to treaty signings and diplomatic events.

Non-Native people can attend powwows as they are open to all people.

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For many Native Americans, hair was and is still viewed as a symbol of spiritual health and strength. It is an identity marker.

Indians no longer live in tipis. This is a stereotype. They do, however use them for ceremonies.

Indians have a strong sense of community.

Getting an Indian name is one of the most basic yet treasured customs in Native Communities. For many tribes, there is an ancestorial connection in the giving of a name.

Using sweat lodges is one of the best-known and most widely practiced Indian ceremonies today. They are a place for purification and prayer that involve the use of smoke pipes, medicine, singing and drums.

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Natives Americans are indigenous to the Americas and have been here from as far back as 35,000-11,000 years ago.

Scholars agree that there were at least 90 million Indigenous people in North and South America before contact with Europeans.

Diseases brought by Europeans rapidly depleted The Native population in many places.

We do not have to sugarcoat our history. Instead, we should have more well-rounded discussions about what truly happened. Christopher Columbus did not discover America. It was a new world to him and the Spanish, but it wasn’t a new world to the more than 500 tribes of people who had been living there for more than 10,000 years.

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It is important to initiate discussions with peers/students about appropriate labels.

In Canada Indigenous people refer to themselves as First Nations people.

Here, in the U.S. the terms Native Americans, Natives, Indians, American Indians, and Indigenous people are used. Terminology is not settled. The preferred way to refer to a Native American is by their tribe's name. For example, "She is a Dakota woman."

Most Native people dislike the use of the words squaw, brave, redskin, and papoose.