John Trudell once said “Historically speaking, we went from being indians to pagans to savages to hostiles to militants to activists to Native Americans. It’s five hundred years later and they still can’t see us. We are invisible…” Since the explorers and colonists came to the America’s, Native peoples have been lied to, rxxed, tortured, and were slaughtered. Activists found a more peaceful way to fight against the racial discrimination today, but many don’t have that option. Those people turn to Gangs. Racial discrimination is the reason quite a few natives can’t leave the Reservation. Native American’s have it bad when it comes to stable and livable environments.Which gives Native gang leaders even more power over teens on the “Rez”. Native American Reservation gang related violence is influenced by lack of police enforcement, home life, and racial prejudice.
Native American Reservation Gang related violence goes hand in hand with the lack of police enforcement. On a Reservation like Pine Ridge, which also is the poorest reservation, has a max of 33 cops. Teens in the gangs on Pine Ridge have been known to call all the cops to one side of the rez while the crime is happening on the other side. Because of this, hundreds of crimes have come and gone not dealt with. Cults like the Neo-Nazis’ have shown up on the rez and killed teens and left without a word, the lack of security allows this to happen. The lack of security leads to people taking it into their own hand, because they’re sick of the racial prejudice and violence on Natives Americans,which leads to some looking to gangs as a way to fight back. “While it was once only an inner-city problem, today gangs have spread nationwide to suburbs, small towns and Native American reservations. And they draw new members from all walks of life.(Hammond).”Doesn’t matter what ethnicity you are or where you live to be in a gang. The small amount of police enforcement they have, at least half turns a blind eye. In exchange for protection, booze, money, etc. If the Government opened their prejudiced eyes, looked at what’s happening on the Reservations, heard the mother’s screams as she finds her dead son in the road, and think of their own children maybe they would fix the small corrupt police forces on the reservations and there would be one problem out of thousands solved.
“This stunning land of crumpled prairie, horse pastures turned tawny in the autumn and sunflower farms is marred by an astonishing number of roadside crosses and gang tags sprayed on houses, stores and abandoned buildings, giving rural Indian communities an inner-city look.”(Eckholm). the area surrounding the rez is beautiful and peaceful but on the Rez it’s got trash everywhere, gang tags, people passed out next to the road, etc. Native American Reservation Gang Related Violence leading issue is home life.The lack of a father figure in most households is why most native youths turn to the gang life. The sense of family, protection, loyalty, or authoritative figure is what gangs on the reservation have.”While American Indian communities struggle to undo decades of devastating oppression, a surge of gang activity among their youth is posing a grave challenge. In recent years, urban gang recruiters have established a firm presence on Indian reservations.”(Rolo). Alcohol abuse is a disease of the Reservations. Most homes are affected. Which causes Parent(s) to lash out on their children from just beating them senseless to pouring boiling water on them in a drunken rage. The children affected by this tend to look to other things as a way out. Gangs help those kids feel like they belong or feel powerful. Gangs also can not only provide them with a home but with something they consider just as precious…drugs. Smuggling drugs onto the reservation is like a game to some gang leaders. They give it to their followers in exchange for a number of things including: money, sex, weapons, place to stay, loyalty,etc.
Native American Reservation Gang Related Violence and the obviously influential factor, Racial Discrimination.(Intelligence Report) This article reports on the “alarming litany of violent crimes against American Indians….Violence against American Indians, much of it motivated by racial hatred, is a pervasive yet obscure problem that is especially prevalent in so-called ‘border towns’–majority-white cities abutting reservations–where cultures clash against the historical backdrop of institutionalized racism, cultural subjugation, and genocide.”(Buchanan).Because of the racial discrimination and violence on Natives Americans, some look to gangs as a way to fight back. Most of the time, it just fuels more violence and hatred against them. “Native Americans 12 and older were reported to be victims of violent crime at a rate 2-1/2 times greater than the rest of the population, with one violent crime for every eight people. Among all races, there was one incident for every 20 people.”(Lichtblau). People always seem to assume it’s African Americans getting a larger majority of violent crimes against them, since Native Americans are so unrecognized in today’s society. Crimes to Native Americans is the highest in the country, and it’s been that way for centuries. “I ask Madley if he was prepared to be branded “un-American” for suggesting the nation had committed atrocities on a par with Nazi Germany. Though he grasped that I was being intentionally provocative, he gave me a look split equally between astonishment and dismay. “What is un-American,” he says, “is skewering babies on bayonets, using the butt of the rifle to bash their parents’ heads apart and then shooting anybody who’s still alive. “That’s what’s un-American.””(Nazaryan and Madley). The worst Genocide history happened on the Americas’ soil, when millions of aboriginal peoples were slaughtered. Everyday Natives are discriminated against. It may not be against everyone, but it deffinitley effects a very large portion. There are somany examples, From the male natives being scrutinized for their braids to the single mothers being scrutinized for not being a good enough mom.
Native American Reservation Gang Related Violence has so many factors, but can be categorized down to the lack of police enforcement, poor home life, and racial discrimination. All the anger and want for revenge has finally exploded out of the reservations, and is finally making it’s way onto the news. From the Dakota pipeline to Native girls disappearing left and right, all the Gang violence is adding to the mess natives have to deal with. Native American gang violence needs to be extinguished, and helping make up for what was done to the Native Americans. Start by fixing the history textbooks.