I was looking forward to learn more about Dr. Eric Cheyfitz and learn what all he is about because I grew up in Lawrence, KS. What does growing up Lawrence, KS have to do with Native American history one might ask? Lawrence is home of Haskell Indian Nations University. In my hometown there are two big universities; The University of Kansas and Haskell Indian Nations University, but no one talks about the latter, unless it is about Indian tacos. I have always been aware of the unjust treatment Native Americans faced and continue to face in this country, but Dr. Cheyfitz’s talk made me realize to what extent. I always assumed that I had an elementary education on Native American history, but Dr. Cheyfitz made me realize I know nothing about the Native American experience. Regardless of where you are in our country there are so many misconceptions about American Indians.I learned about how Cornell was built on sacred American Indian land. I learned about how Dr. Cheyfitz has tried to get the university to acknowledge this fact publicly. I just expected our progressive university to at least require students to take an introductory course on Native American history.

Dr. Cheyfitz’s lecture was outstanding. The most thought provoking oxymoron that Dr. Cheyfitz presented was the term” domestically -dependent nation”. This is how the United States government describes Indian nations. It is appalling that the majority of Americans are not outraged by this classification.

Dr. Cheyfitz’s proposed remedy is to educate the masses on all parts of American history.  American Indians should be a significant part of basic American history courses. American Indians have directly or indirectly affected us in so many ways. It is time for our nation to openly acknowledge the significant contributions that American Indians have made to our American experience.

Well, I’ve been avoiding writing this. Professor Cheyfitz’s lecture was very uncomfortable because of its serious topic. I don’t like thinking about the injustice Native Americans/Indians have been put through over time, and how there is still a rather large ignorance of how huge of a role this injustice plays in US history. When Cheyfitz said that the biggest misconception Americans have is that Indians don’t exist anymore, that seemed very real to me. Although my education has made me aware of this past, there is little focus on considering Native Americans in the present. What is to be done? Can there be any sort of retribution? How do we address the poverty?

Instead of trying to answer these questions, I would like to explore how old this kind of conflict is. I am currently reading Virgil’s Aeneid in the class Introduction to Ancient Rome. Aeneas starts a war with natives of a land called Laurentum because he believes it is his destiny to found a city there. This origin story of the Romans acknowledges that there were indigenous people in Italy but the manifest destiny of this outsider Aeneas overruled their right to keep living there. This epic was finished in 19 BC, and I’m shocked at the similarities of the American unresolved conflict of manifest destiny and ownership of land. I will keep exploring these similarities in the hopes of finding some sort of answer to this moral dilemma.

Last Wednesday I attended the Becker-Rose café where Professor Cheyfitz spoke about the history of mistreatment of Native Americans by the U.S. government. There is a lack of awareness by most people in this country to the plight of Native Americans, which is an attitude shared towards other race issues as well. Professor Cheyfitz began by talking about how Cornell University itself has yet to formally recognize that it exists on the homeland of the Cayuga tribe. Further, The United States government has put in place an extremely complicated system so that many Indian tribes are not federally recognized. The federal government also has jurisdiction over major crimes on Indian reservations but they do not exercise that power while Native Americans cannot hold their own trials. This is especially dangerous because 1 in 3 Native American women will be raped in their lifetimes. Native Americans have experienced various forms of genocide by Westerners. This includes war, ethnic cleansing, and cultural attrition. Professor Cheyfitz was sure to point out that the manner in which the U.S. has wiped out Indian culture falls under the U.N. definition of genocide. I was especially struck by the boarding schools that Native American children were forced to go to where they were not able to speak their native languages and were forced to assimilate. Professor Cheyfitz argued that part of the reason Native Americans who continue to live on reservations are so disadvantaged is because of their refusal to assimilate. This is a similar attitude that the U.S. holds towards immigrants, however, Westerners themselves were immigrants and established their society as the norm.

It’s necessary to have these frank conversations about the history of this nation and the global impacts of colonialism. We owe it to the people who are still affected and disadvantaged today to recognize our actions and work to fix them. It is also necessary so that we can recognize the forms of neo-imperialism that the U.S. takes part in today. Professor Cheyfitz mentioned how it was impossible to teach American history in schools without teaching Native American history, however most people in the room did not learn much about Native American history in grade school. He compared this to how we learned extensively about the slavery of African Americans. While it is important to recognize the existence of slavery in our history, I think besides slavery and the Civil Rights movement, we learned very little about Black culture or history that goes beyond stories of oppression. It’s important that we start teaching the histories of different racial groups in the United States, to be honest about the atrocities our government has committed, but also to recognize that the history of racial minorities in the U.S. is not confined to stories of oppression. We should teach all history in the same manner that we approach the history of White Americans.

Last Wednesday, I was given the opportunity to hear Dr. Cheyfitz speak on not only the Ithaca’s Native American but also Native American history at large. He immediately jumped right into the discussion by making the very much factual statement that America was built on Indian land and African labor. I instantly knew he was not the type to hold back the facts. This statement set the tone for the rest of the discussion. He went into detail about the exploitation of Indian land and what effects that has caused and remained today. Using Cornell as an example, he went on to say that Cornell is in fact on Indian land. However, Cornell refuses to acknowledge this history. Not acknowleging that this land was stolen from Native Americans makes the act seem ok and is doomed to repeat itself.

He also brought up the point that Indians are not doing as well economically and socially as the US population, which can only be attributed to the inefficient polices put in place to govern the Indians, without reinforcement. This has lead to overall decline in human life on Indian Reservations.

With that being said, I believe there needs to be a slow transition of power back into the Indians’ hands. They know what is best for their people, and the US government has already made them fend for themselves for so long, why not give them back all the power? Before the transition, education and laws must be enforced to keep crime low and opportunities high. Of course this is just my opinion on a matter I am not very knowledgable about, so I would hope someone in the Indian community would advocate for this change.

Last week was the first time I attended the Becker-Rose Café series because my Wednesday evening course was canceled that night.  Professor Eric Cheyfitz’s brief talk about the circumstances of Native American lives was an excellent refresher on that segment of American history quickly went through by my high school teachers.  What surprised me the most was that only a few hands were raised when he asked whether we have learned these topics in high school.  There was a pang of indignation, then a sense of apprehension.  I was not born in America but I did learn about the unfair and demeaning treatment received by the natives at the age of Colonialism and beyond.  However, it then occurred to me that this fact was not so surprising after all.  I remembered there was such a thing called “Holocaust denial,” and thought it similar to this situation.  Americans could get so uncomfortable discussing black slavery and racism, how willing are they to learn or teach about the ethnic cleansing of native tribes?

However, I am no expert on the matters.  I read about the Wounded Knee Massacre, the Trail of Tears, the Indian Removal Act, etc.  What I did not know was that there is a reservation about 45 minutes from my home and an Indian-operated casino 20 minutes away.  What I took away from the seminar was that it is important for Americans to learn about what the natives have and are still going through, such as the crimes committed on reservations, workplace discrimination, poverty, etc.  Acknowledge their sovereignty and struggles is the least we can do while inhabiting a land that is never rightfully ours.

Last Wednesday, I attended the Becker-Rose Café series talk given by Professor Eric Cheyfitz. Professor Cheyfitz has been very involved with American Indian studies, previously serving as the director of the American Indian Program at Cornell and teaching on U.S. federal law. He gave us a brief history of the relations between American Indians and the U.S. government/citizens. It certainly was not as simple as the typical “Thanksgiving story”.

Professor Cheyfitz made clear that over the course of history and still today, there has been a great deal of controversy regarding how the U.S. has majorly disrupted American Indian culture in the process of seeking out their land. I asked a question on what Professor Cheyfitz thinks is the greatest misconception that American citizens have of American Indians to which he replied that the American people are very ignorant about American Indians. Starting in elementary school, children are not well-educated on American Indians and the more negative ways that the U.S. has impacted them.

Overall, I was interested in this talk because I am currently in an Education class that focuses on the social and political contexts of American education. In class this past week, we discussed American Indian education – the boarding schools and forcing the students to not practice their customs and speak their language. Given all that I had been learning about in class and from Professor Cheyfitz’s talk, I was intrigued by his view that the American Indians faced genocide. The fact that many American Indian children are hesitant about school and their chances of overcoming the incidence of alcoholism, suicide, and sexual assault struck a chord for me. School should be a place where children feel safe and accepted, not fear or having been wronged. In one of the readings for my education class, the author described the American Indian experience as being robbed of their culture and childhoods. Professor Cheyfitz confirmed that this was true.

In terms of what we can do moving forward to promote the well-being of American Indians without taking advantage of the culture, it seems that Professor Cheyfitz was recommending that we look to our past. This can be hundreds of years back or even more recently. There are court cases and other incidents that did not occur all that long ago. In instances like these, is it ever too late to instill change? There are courses here at Cornell that delve deeper into these issues. I would certainly like to take one to become a more informed student and citizen.

Why did it take a Becker-Rose Café talk with Professor Cheyfitz for me to find out I live on Cayuga land obtained through force and fraud? Why had I never before heard about the US being reluctant to sign the Declaration of Indigenous Rights? Why do we have phrases like “The way of the Indian,” which imply Indians are long gone? And most of all, why had I never had a desire to learn about these things?

Ignorance. This is just not something I have learned about in school. Like Professor Cheyfitz pointed out, I learned a lot about slavery as a part of U.S. history but it ended there. I never learned about where the land for slavery to even happen was gotten and what has happened to the people it was taken from.

It’s amazing how you don’t know you’re being ignorant until you learn what you didn’t know… like that 1/3 of Indian women are raped and over 80% of these rapes are from people OFF their site, that American Indians are recognized as a political entity and not a race, that Indians are the poorest communities in the USA, an that they did not ask to be citizens of the United States; it was imposed on them.

Professor Cheyfitz summed it up pretty well: If you want to know where you are you need to learn about where your land comes from and who else lives on it.

Last week at the Rose/Becker Cafe Series, Prof Eric Cheyfitz, the director of the American Indian Program came to speak to us about some instances of Native American brutality in history, as well as today. He was very blunt when he said that he considers the US brutality on the Native American people as genocide. For example, the white colonists committed every forcible attempt to wipe out Native American culture; the settlers had the vaccination for smallpox, but they did not make those preventative measures available to the Native American people who were dying from disease. In addition to the physical violence, the greatest crime that the Native Americans suffered was federal neglect. The federal government made no attempts to protect the indigenous people, and recognized them as political identities to seize land from rather than a race of people. There were as many as 4-5 million Native Americans in 1492, and the population was decimated to a measly 250,000 by the end of the 19th century. They are now the poorest community in the US.

We’d like to think that this brutal and bloody history is done behind us, and that we’ve moved on from the racist, xenophobic attitudes. We’d like to think our society has become progressive and aware about the issues that plague the minority groups living in the US. I mean, just look at the online uproar and support for Black Lives Matter. However, as progressive as we like to think we are, the Native American community is still suffering from neglect, even today. The US government still thinks of the Native American reserves as domestic dependent nations, and tries to distance itself from the issues of poverty and injustice. I think the strongest example Prof Cheyfitz brought up that’s closest to home was that we are on the traditional Native American land of the Cayuga people today, and even though he’s tried campaigning for it before, it’s difficult for the Cornell administration to acknowledge that.

I remember that night how Prof Cheyfitz spoke about tragedy after tragedy, injustice after injustice, a lot of us felt uneasy and helpless. Hearing these stories makes us feel guilty, but guilty of what? The general US population doesn’t like to feel guilty, especially because the people now are so far removed from injustices done to the Native Americans. None of us have a particularly close connection, and people don’t like to feel guilty about actions they didn’t commit. These issues aren’t garnering a lot of attention simply because the Native American population is just too small to raise awareness about their history, unlike the vocal African American population. Prof Cheyfitz said that we think of racial tensions today and throughout history in a black and white binary, and we think of slavery as the primal crime in US history, but we forget about the Native American genocide. I appreciated how Prof Cheyfitz brought this up, because there are so many other minority groups whose stories need to be heard as well. I also appreciate how I was lucky enough to grow up in an educational system in which we talked about the brutality towards Native Americans and examined the errs of US history through diverse perspectives, instead of blindly glorifying the white colonizers. There may not be much we could do to fix the injustices done on the Native Americans today, but it helps to learn and pass on their stories as part of US history.

Wednesday, I heard Professor Eric Cheyfitz, teacher of American literature, American Indian literature, and US federal Indian law, speak about the history and challenges facing American Indians today. I was interested to hear Professor Cheyfitz speak because I did not know a lot about Indians in New York/America.  I never knew that Cornell was built on the traditional homeland of the Cayuga people. Throughout history, there were many attempts to “westernize” and wipe out Indian culture. They had very little say in legal disputes and treaties were frequently violated. American Indians face many challenges today: they are currently the poorest community in the United States. Poverty is rampant, with the level reaching 80% in some areas.  Professor Cheyfitz believes it is important to learn about Indian history because we are built on Indian land, it is where we are. Yet, when he asked us how many people believed that they received a substantial education on Indian history in high school, only a very small minority raised their hands. Indian history is American history. It is not a story of victimization, it is a story of what the west has lost by forgetting.

Last week’s Becker-Rose Café featured Prof. Eric Cheyfitz, head of the American Indian Program at Cornell. Prof Cheyfitz touched on many topics during the hour-long discussion, such as ethnic cleansing, poverty, and federal Indian law. He began the talk by asking us if we knew that Cornell stands on the land of the Cayuga people. We did not. Personally, I had never even really thought about where the land came from. Prof. Cheyfitz quickly made it clear that this institution couldn’t exist without the Cayuga people, which was probably one of the main takeaways from this café discussion.

For me, the most poignant part of his talk was when he recounted some personal anecdotes of his experiences. For example, he told us that his wife once had a serious infection in her eye while they were visiting tribal territory. She was instantly treated on-site with herbal medicine. “They live closer to the land, so they know a lot more about natural remedies than we do,” said Prof. Cheyfitz.

The rest of the discussion was centered around genocides and cultural oppression. I’ve taken U.S. History before and learned about the long history of atrocities committed against Native Americans, but I never really felt like I had a true understanding of the magnitude of those atrocities. Prof. Cheyfitz’s talk definitely changed that.

In last Wednesday’s Rose cafe, Professor Cheyfitz gave an amazing talk on the Native Americans’ history and standings in the current society. It was a very interesting talk and he a point which I found extremely thought-provoking. Professor Cheyfitz suggested that the American education tends to focus on the black-and-white history, nothing else. No Hispanic history, no Indian history. While the majority population of this country will become Hispanic in the near future, and while this land we are standing on originally belonged to the Native American people, there is not an emphasis on the learning and understanding the history and culture of the Hispanic and Native American people in this country. Particularly, Native American went through a lot of hardship and they are still experiencing a lot of adversity because the Europeans took their lands and oppressed them on their own lands. However, standing on this land stolen from them, many American are still apathetic towards the Native American culture and history because they are rarely exposed to such content in their education. Many of them are unaware that the Native American communities are still facing a lot of hardship. Whether through incorporate more materials on the history and culture of the Native American in the current education system, or through campaigns to fight for awareness and care for the Native American communities, something has to be done to expose people to the Native American’s history and culture more. Their lands and communities were the chronicle basis for American histories and that should be recognized.

Last week, I went to the Becker/Rose Cafe series to hear a talk by Eric Cheyfitz on American Indians and how the influx of European immigrants and the general flow of American history had abused them and their culture. I remember everything he said basically from APUSH in high school. Reservations, the Trail of Tears, various statistics about how many Native Americans are in the U.S., etc. All fine and good, I think his talk was interesting.

But I’m still not sure what the overarching point to the talk was actually about. One thing he kept coming back to and harping on was how abused the Native Americans had been by American leaders and historical figureheads. And by “harping on,” I mean mentioning it practically every other minute while he was talking.

I know this is an important issue today, and that preserving the Native American ethnicity is imperative, but I still can’t reconcile what Cheyfitz wanted us to do with that information. Did he just want us to recognize that we owe something to the people living here before? Probably, as that’s what the hundreds of years of historical injustice implies. Or does he want us to take action to help the Native American cause to keep their culture alive? I still don’t know how to help, or if there’s even a way to help, or if I should help at all, and what I should be helping with.

I think Professor Cheyfitz’s talk on the state of indigenous people today was a great one for myself and my fellow students to hear. In my FWS first semester last year, we talked a lot about genocide in the context of indigenous people. This meant that I had a much more solid background in the information Professor Cheyfitz was giving than most people in the room, but he offered new insights and approached the problems from perspectives I hadn’t considered before. The legal aspect was entirely new to me, so the  process by which the cultures of indigenous people were threatened filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. One thing I had never considered before (but that has stuck with me since the event) is how in the United States there is always discussion about black versus white, but that this binary isn’t always where the biggest issues lie.

One other topic Professor Cheyfitz touched upon was the Cornell administration’s refusal to acknowledge that our university is located on Cayuga land. I thought this refusal was really interesting, because objectively it isn’t a question that we’re currently on land that Europeans stole from a group of indigenous people. After considering what would be implied if Cornell made that statement, however, I realized it is actually way more politically charged than perhaps it should be.

It’s hard to know how to help these marginalized indigenous people, as the brutal process by which we obtained the land we’re on can’t really be reversed. I think that the first step towards some kind of solution is to stop ignoring the issues indigenous people face and to actually learn about those who were here before us. As Professor Cheyfitz said, at the very least, we should all know where we are.

Professor Eric Cheyfitz explored a number of interesting topics during the Becker-Rose Café lecture. He discussed a number of issues relating to land ownership and the forcible removal of Indians including events that transpired on Cornell’s land. I find it deplorable that Cornell refused to acknowledge its taking of Indian land, regardless of the potential legal, political, or reputation ramifications. Professor Chayfitz brought to my attention what he described as a mass ongoing genocide of Indians. He denoted that the government’s forceful removal, withholding of vital vaccines, and other intervention efforts has killed off a great deal of the population.

While discussing his study of interest on Native American literature and federal Indian law, he mentioned several interesting remarks about native rights in South America. I found his numbers on the world’s population consisting of 300 million indigenous people, especially Bolivia’s makeup staggering 60% natives, to be very alarming that many nations do not recognize their influence. I certainly will nod to his claim that the education system as a whole does not provide students a thorough foundation of Indian history and the natives’ associated grievances.

In some ways, I feel cheated that I was not taught a great deal about Indian History. As such, as I continue my studies here at Cornell I hope to enroll in one of Professor Cheyfitz’s courses and/or other American Indian Studies courses alike.

Prior to attending this event, I did research Professor Cheyfitz’s other academic interests and pursuits. I found his personal involvement outside of the classroom to be very impressive. As such, I wish Professor Cheyfitz talked more about his work on Indian preservations and some of the legal testimonies in more detail. Nonetheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this lecture and look forward to hearing from Professor Cheyfitz again.

Prof. Cheyfitz opened his conversation up with a question (which I’ll paraphrase here): who in this room is aware that we are standing on Cayuga land?  Not too many people in the class raised their hand, the total number certainly comprising a minority.  I did the classic half-way gesture–as soon as a thought about it, of course I was on Cayuga land.  But that was pretty much the first time I had ever thought about it.

Herein lies the problem with the way that most of us view Indian history in regard to our current situation.  It’s just not at the front of our minds to the extent that it ought to be.  For this reason, I found Prof. Cheyfitz’s talk to be very worthwhile.  In addition to him just being a wonderfully engaging speaker, the content that he presented was thought-provoking and informative.  In a short hour, my knowledge of the current situation of the Indian peoples increased by an order of magnitude.

The most interesting argument that the professor made was with regard to the use of the term genocide.  He takes the term to extend beyond its normal usage.  While I find his usage contentious, I definitely appreciate another potential avenue to look at this issue.

Unfortunately, I learned very little of Native Americans in primary and secondary school. Around my Freshman year of high school I began to read of the native peoples that once called the land that is now the ranch my family currently lives and works on in Central Texas home, after stumbling upon an arrowhead and only ever receiving “The Indians” upon asking who made it. Only after some days at the local library and the county court house did I finally receive my answer,  that it was most likely either Apache, or Comanche in origin, very different from the Cayuga and Iroquois people that called what is now Ithaca home.

Since being at Cornell, I have heard next to nothing of the natives of the area. I attempted to take an American Indian Studies course last fall, but couldn’t after scheduling conflicts, it wasn’t a priority of mine, and maybe it should have been.

Professor Eric Cheyfitz’s Café talk opened my eyes to the native peoples of the area, and certainly rekindled a flame of interest that has been in the back of my mind. Though I had previous knowledge of most of the major topics and events he discussed at the national level, I was blown away at how much my knowledge in the subject was lacking.

What I found most interesting in his talk were the Supreme Court and their bold, yet contradictory, rulings regarding the rights of native peoples in what was then an expanding country, and how blatant federal and state governments at the time were actively endorsing the extermination of native people.

The issue of immigration has recently taken the spotlight in American politics. The major question, essentially, is, “How should we, as a nation, deal with illegal immigrants?” A common response I have heard reciprocates with a question of its own: “Who was here first?” A look at history reveals that it was the Native American people. From the perspective of a Native American, therefore, we (non-Indians) are all immigrants. I, personally, can sympathize with this view.

I was not expecting this Becker/Rose cafe series to be as informative and powerful as it was. Professor Cheyfitz made sure to let us know that we were on Cayuga land. The United States has never been keen in acknowledging the tragedy of the Native American people. Their very essence has been shrouded in darkness. Genocide, I learned, goes beyond the deliberate killing of a large group of people. It also includes the elimination of a people’s culture.

Did you know that 1 in 3 Native American women have been or are going to be sexually assaulted in their lifetime (most likely by someone of a non-Indian background)? Did you know that the vast majority of Native Americans live in extreme poverty? These are just some of the alarming facts that were presented. At one point, Professor Cheyfizt told the story of how a Native American treated his wife’s eye from some type of infection/impediment. His emotions were transparent, and I could tell that he truly felt gratitude. Professor Cheyfitz is one of the voices of the forgotten people. He is one of the candles in the darkness. Hopefully, we can all illuminate that darkness.

Last Wednesday, I attended Professor Eric Cheyfitz’s talk about American Indians and their rights (or lack of rights) in the United States. He spoke about the three types of hegemonial genocides the Indians experienced: genocide in the form of violence, genocide in the form of disease, and genocide in the form of cultural repression. He also spoke about the principles of sovereignty and the oxymoron that is the term “domestically-dependent nation,” used to describe the Indian nations on (supposedly) American ground.

However, what most caught my interest during the talk was when Professor Cheyfitz mentioned what he called the “Black-White binary” that exists in our culture today. You know what I’m talking about. The ever-present Black-vs-White war going on that we all automatically think of when we think “racism.” It’s been engrained in us ever since kindergarten history story time, when we learned, and I quote from my five-year-old little sister, “Martin Luther King, Jr. made the world fair.”

While I do agree that the institutionalized racism that Black people experience must be brought to attention in order to be minimalized, I also agree with Professor Cheyfitz in that focusing on this as the “main” form of racism sweeps other minorities’ problems under the carpet in a way. The cultural marginalization experienced by the American Indians, the comments about immigration and how “you speak so well” experienced by Latino Americans, the “model minority” pressure experienced by Asian Americans are easily-ignored microagressions  when compared to the events that occurred in Ferguson, Baltimore, and Charleston this past year. But why must we compare? Why must we categorize between “racism” and “not-so-bad racism”? Are we not all fighting for the same equality?

Professir Cheyfitz thinks we can combat this by educating. Focus on more than the African American Civil Rights Movement when teaching about racial history. Expand the lesson plan to incorporate the genocide experienced by the American Indians, the cultural oppression they faced. And speak not just of the bad, but the good as well. Talk about their culture in a new light; mention the medicinal knowledge they house and their deeply rooted connection to the land. And do this not just for American Indian history, but for the histories of other minorities as well. Teach our children that the world isn’t fair, not yet, but it can be.

Back in high school, there were rarely any classes that taught Native American history. As Professor Eric Cheyfitz said on Wednesday at the Becker/Rose Cafe, the American school system tends to focus on a “binary” black-and-white history. Much of the aftermath of Western civilization into Indian territory is rarely spoken of and tends to be ignored even to this day.

For instance, did you know that the land that Cornell is built upon belongs to the Cayuga people?

In addition, passive and aggressive forms of genocide, such as preemptive war and ethnic cleansing, have plagued the Native American population. One of the examples of ethnic cleansing that Professor Cheyfitz gave was Native American children would often be made to wear Western clothing as well as have a clothespin clipped onto their tongue if they did not speak English. While this isn’t any physical indication of genocide, Western civilization basically discovered a loophole to wipe out the Native American population by targeting the youngest of the community. But the children weren’t the only ones who were affected by westernization. Professor Cheyfitz also mentioned that one in three Native American women were raped, much of which have been told through a story in a book called The Roundhouse by Louise Erdrich.

Furthermore, Professor Cheyfitz listed both political and economical complications that Native Americans had and still have to go through. While the government takes responsibility of the reservations that they live on, many criminal cases are rarely tried. One of the more notable ones that did occur was Cherokee Nation vs State of Georgia, when the Cherokee Nation sued Georgia for determining boundaries on the land they shared and depriving the Indians of their rights. The Supreme Court ruled that Cherokee Nation wasn’t seen as a foreign nation and therefore could not sue Georgia for depriving land rights. But while the case that followed a year later, Worcester vs Georgia, said that Georgia had no right to take away the Native American’s rights, President Andrew Jackson refused to station troops in Georgia, but in fact rooted to expel the Cherokee Nation. This is more commonly known as the start of “The Trail of Tears”.

Overall, I think that this talk was educational and eye-opening. I have never really considered the condition of Native American and I think it’s overlooked because high schools rarely expose students to the history of the indigenous. I am very thankful that Proefssor Cheyfitz took the time to attend the Becker-Rose Cafe to enlighten us on the issues that still plague the group today. I certainly would like to take a course on Native American history in the future.

This week, I attended the discussion led by Eric Cheyfitz on all things American Indian.

Professor Cheyfitz started the lecture with a brief history in the stealing of land from the Indians, then asked the crowd how many of us learned about that in primary school. Along with the majority of the room, I hadn’t had much education in American Indian brutality. Cheyfitz argued that historians who call slavery America’s “primal sin” are overlooking the mass movement and theft from the Indians, and I would have to agree. During the Indian takeover, school children were forced to wear Western clothing and speak english or have their tongue put in between a clothespin. Cheyfitz used this point to argue the definition of genocide. This got me thinking, we know genocide to be the mass killings of one group of people, but trying to completely wipe a groups history, isn’t that genocide too? These facts brought Cheyfitz visible annoyance, but you wonder, what are we to do hundreds of years after the fact. His solution? Recognization. I’m not so sure thats the best idea

Cheyfitz went on to ask the audience how many of us knew that Cornell was on “Cayuga land”, which was originally owned by the Cayuga Indians. After hearing what he already knew (most of us had no idea) he argued that Cornell should recognize the original owners of the land. In order to do this, Cornell should start commencement and other events by sharing that we are on Cayuga land. This was one thing I didn’t necesarily agree with. After hearing about the struggles the Indians have faced, you look back at history, seeing it a little darker. However, I don’t think its imperative that at every event Cornell hosts, they bring the topic back up again.

Its up to you how you think past grievances should be handled, is giving a little money and allowing Indians to run casinos enough, or should their land be recognized across the country? I don’t know if there ever will be a way to “fix” what happened back then, but I do know people like Professor Cheyfitz are doing what they can to educate people so they can make their own informed decision.

Having Professor Eric Cheyfitz as a guest speaker was a great decision because he talked about an issue that has been neglected by Americans. I was totally unaware that American has mistreatment such a large category of people. Ever since the first settlers from Europe immigrated to the Americas there has been conflict for land primarily started by the Americans.

I liked how Professor Cheyfitz discussed the lack of education of this subject in schools and through media. The roots of how America was founded and famous Americans are so widely recognized, but the history of the native Americans is ignored. Lots of people don’t realize that there are still Native Americans living in America on reservations. Many of these people live without electric and plumbing trying to resemble their past. With climate change and the damage Americas do to the environment, this has becoming an increasingly hard task. With the tough conditions many Native Americans are in poverty, and there is very little support from the government to help these people. The government would rather see the natives leave the reservations and blend into the American culture.

I agree that there should be more effort to teach people about the history of Native Americans and also Mexican history. The numbers of Latin Americans in US has increased exponentially over the past decade and will continue to rise so it is important to know about a major social group of this country.

Near the end of his talk, Professor Cheyfitz briefly mentioned the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. Here, in 1890, the United States committed one of its most egregious acts against American Indians: the killing of at least 200 Lakota women and children at Wounded Knee.

Sometime during the middle of the 20th century (I cannot recall exactly when) the Federal Government placed a sign on the reservation at the exact location of the incident; the sign read the “Battle of Wounded Knee.” Members of the Lakota tribe were outraged by this description of a “battle:” they asked if the slaughter of 200 women and children constituted as such. Recently, the sign has been amended. A plate that reads “massacre” now covers “battle.”

I learned this history during two separate month-long visits to the Pine Ridge Reservation in the summers of 2011 and 2012. During these stays I volunteered with a nonprofit that is working to build sustainable housing on the reservation.

The level of poverty I witnessed was astounding. One would never imagine such need exists within our country. At the local high school, lead pipes render the water undrinkable. Public housing is in disrepair, left damaged by springtime tornadoes and harsh winters. The crime rates are shockingly high. Scariest is the frequency of teen suicide.

The injustice did not end in 1890 at Wounded Knee, but rather it continues to this day. If you ever have the chance to go help on Pine Ridge, take it, and continue to spread the word about the hidden poverty that exists within our very borders.

The philosopher George Santayana once wrote “those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” From this statement, various derivatives have come about to the tune of “those who don’t know history’s mistakes are doomed to repeat them.”

Looking back at America’s history, it’s pretty clear that we’ve made our fair share of mistakes. In history classes across the country students learn about America’s history and some of our mistakes such as slavery and denying various people the right to vote. These are mistakes that have been corrected over time. However, what is arguably America’s greatest mistake is rarely taught in schools, and perhaps that’s because this is a mistake that still continues today.

The mistake that I am referring to is the genocide of the peoples indigenous to America. For the sake of clarity, I am not using the word “mistake” to refer to an accidental act, but rather to refer to a wrongful act.

From the time of the arrival of settlers to what would eventually become America, indigenous groups have actively been persecuted. The persecution has taken many forms including murder, driving them from their traditional homelands, disregarding legally binding treaties, and a denial of their self-autonomy and sovereignty. For all of these forms of persecution, it seems quite strange that most history classes simply gloss over this information.

I would argue that we ignore this aspect of our history because the persecution of indigenous groups is still an ongoing process today. If we were to acknowledge the history described above, we would be obligated to cease their persecution in the present, and begin to make corrections for past wrongs. As a nation we have grown prideful and don’t wish to admit to our mistakes. Plus, making amends to the indigenous groups for our transgressions would be costly, and in a world governed by money, we aren’t prone to do that either. For these reasons, it’s simply easier to ignore this part of our past, rather than to openly address it for the wrong that it truly is.

Everyone is concerned with the possibility of repeating past mistakes if we don’t know our history, but there is an even worse fate. Worse than repeating the mistake is to continually live in the mistake, which is the exact policy that America has employed in relation to our history with indigenous peoples.

So, when will we make a change to this policy? And, how do we make this policy change?

Professor Cheyfitz was kind enough to come in and speak with us about the history of “Indians” in NY, as well as the lives of present-day Indians. I was surprised that the politically correct term was actually ‘Indians’ and not Native Americans, since that was what we were always taught to refer to them as.  What I found more interesting is that ‘Indian’ Natives are just one type of natives, with some others being Alaskan natives and Hawaiian natives.

I think the most important thing that Professor Cheyfitz spoke about was the genocide and the lack of acknowledgement of stealing the Indian land. We talk about how the some Germans, to this day, won’t acknowledge the fact that the Holocaust had occurred, or how Turkey denies the Armenian genocide as the correct term for the killings that occurred in the 1900s. It’s funny and hypocritical how we’re doing the same exact thing with the Indian genocide and hiding the fact that some of that genocide still happens today. I found it interesting when Prof. Cheyfitz told us some of the different forms of genocide, like ethnic cleansing, withholding of vaccinations of smallpox, preemptive war, and brute slaughter. And I agree that genocide should not only be recognized as killing, but also the process of trying to wipe out a group of people, like ethnic cleansing. I think I learned more in that one session with Prof. Cheyfitz than I did in my high school years of learning “Native American” history. I think we should definitely acknowledge that we took the land from the Cayuga people and realize that much of what happened in the past to the Indians still affects them today. When Prof. Cheyfitz said most of the Indian reserves are very poor, I almost shed a tear because their suffering still hasn’t ended, after all these years. And when asked about what the average American can do for them, he said the most important thing is to give them education, and I just thought to myself how ironic it would be for Indians to learn about their own histories through American education. Though I don’t think it’s the perfect solution, it is probably the best we can get right now.

We were fortunate enough to have Professor Eric Cheyfitz, the Ernest I. White Professor of American Studies and Humane Letters at Cornell University, attend the Becker-Rose Cafe. He provided us a brief education in the Native American history that is fundamental to our nation. What was clear in his discussion was his immense distaste with the manner in which the United States has treated our indigenous peoples. I thought his description of the genocide that the United States has committed was particularly interesting, in that our genocide has not just been overt murder in events such as the Trail of Tears, but in the way we have systematically attempted to destroy their culture and forced assimilation.

The Professor was quick to point out that this shouldn’t be a story of victimization, but rather one of immense resilience. Native Americans are the poorest demographic in this nation, and the decision to assimilate into United States culture would in all likelihood improve their economic condition. However, what they value far more is maintaining their culture, and I find that desperation to cling on to their values, language, and practices to be incredibly inspiring. In regards to their values, Professor Cheyfitz also raised an interesting point in comparing the society of the United States, one rooted in capitalistic and materialistic values, and that of Native Americans, one based on sharing and a communal approach to life. Thus, we as citizens of the United States have a great deal to learn from these indigenous peoples.

The just-world hypothesis is an unfortunately legion cognitive bias. Simply put, it is the tendency of people to assume that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people. Thus, bad things do not happen to good people. Yet this does not reflect reality as it is. Injustice and unfairness happen every day. Innocent people suffer immensely for the most inane and petty reasons. It’s simply much easier to assume the victim had it coming or just avert your eyes rather than confront the miserable truth.

During his discussion of the state of American Indian affairs, Professor Eric Cheyfitz mentioned that one of the most resilient myths about Native Americans is that they no longer exist. As he listed crime after crime committed by the United States and its precursors against its original inhabitants, it is in some ways surprising that a people could survive so many forms of genocide. Add in the relatively more recent atrocities, such as abducting children in order to educate them in the Western way or keeping reservations as “domestic dependent nations” rather than granting them proper sovereignty, and the United States’ desire to obscure the cultures, histories, and existences of the peoples it stole becomes frightfully apparent. So many atrocities are clearly unjust, so if you want to maintain your mistaken belief in a righteous world, why not sweep the evidence away into a corner. It’s hard to think about what you can’t see after all. Talks such as this hinder that scheme, hopefully keeping the just-world hypothesis six feet under.

Hearing a piece of history that our country has tried so hard to forget was eye opening. Professor Cheyfitz offered a very interesting perspective on the history of the native people of America. He wanted us to acknowledge a part of United States history that people often do not hear about. There were some points that Professor Cheyfitz made that I had been familiar with prior to this talk, however, I was unaware of a good portion of what he spoke about. For example, I did not know that it was so difficult to become recognized as a tribe under the government. There are things some of us take for granted such as our place in the world and for some people they struggle to keep their place. I found it so intriguing that American Indians do not even have full control over their own land, the small portion of land that the government has allowed them to retain.

Beyond the facts, what I truly enjoyed about Professor Cheyfitz’s talk was his enthusiasm. He answered every question with confidence and with passion. It was easy to tell that this is a subject he holds very dearly to his heart. Hearing him be so excited by the topic drew me in and made me want to learn more. I think that it is becoming more and more difficult for people to truly follow their passion, but I believe that professor Cheyfitz has found a way to pursue his passion. Hearing his personal anecdotes about visiting some the of the tribes made the facts he was giving so much more realistic. Overall, I truly enjoyed this talk and was happy I gave a topic a chance that I did not seem to be interested at first!

Surprisingly, very few people know about the history of the Native American Genocide as the U.S. expanded westward.  Professor Cheyfitz makes a good point about how our U.S. history curriculum currently focuses more on slavery and equality for African Americans rather than the conflict with Native Americans and taking land that is rightfully theirs.  It is humorous to think that the U.S. created the Discovery Doctrine, which gives the “first Christian” who discovers land to lay claim to it.  It completely ignores the fact that Native Americans first discovered the U.S. and the land wasforcefully taken away from these people.

Professor Cheyfitz’s main focus in the cafe series is Native American genocide throughout history.  The U.S. government has mistreated Native Americans ranging from restricting medicine and vaccinations to sticking a needle in a Native American’s mouth while teaching them how to speak English.  Some might say that the current poor economic conditions of Native American reservations are due to U.S. government destruction of Native American culture.  Currently, 1-in-3 Native American women are raped and murder rates are huge on Indian reservations.

The mistreatment of native Americans throughout U.S. History has been ignored by the U.S. government.  Even now, very little money is given from the government to help maintain law and order on the Native American reservations.  However, one way we can reduce ignorance is to spread awareness of these events and the reasons behind these effects.  Reducing ignorance can help support Indian reservations and change the perception of Native American victimization.

Professor Eric Cheyfitz, the former director of the Indian Studies Program at Cornell, gave a speech this past Wednesday at the Becker-Rose Coffeehouse about Native Americans. I was surprised to hear that Cornell’s campus is on the Cayuga tribe’s land and that the administration won’t acknowledge this at convocation and graduation. Simply delivering a sentence of thanks or even just including it in a program would be so simple and would go a long way towards giving these people the respect that they deserve.

I was intrigued when Professor Cheyfitz asked us how it is possible that we learn American history without native history because despite the settlers’ interactions with natives being a major defining aspect of America, it is not something that history classes focus on. It is important to remember and learn from our mistakes.  Instead, Professor Cheyfitz described a culture today that is aiming to systematically wipe out native culture through genocide.  Heritage is extremely important to the Native American identity script yet the US government often will not recognize their tribes. We live in a culture dominated by a black-white binary that does not consider how natives are ignored every single day.

Something Cheyfitz mentioned was that by ignoring the thought processes of these people, the West loses.  This is especially true considering global warming.  Because these people live so close to nature, they are adept at interacting with it in a way that does not simultaneously destroy it.  He said this to us as I sat freezing in the over air conditioned building, something that seems to be a major problem at Cornell.  I agree that we would do well to learn from the philosophies embedded in these cultures, something we can’t do if their cultures are wiped out.

During this Wednesday’s Rose cafe, Professor Cheyfitz gave an inspiring talk on the history and present situations of the Native Americans. As an international student from China, I don’t know much US history, not to say the history of Native Americans. And it really shocked me when I learned how much cruelty the Native Americans experienced in the past, and how they continue to struggle economically now. Moreover, people today are still not fully informed of this part of history. When professor Cheyfitz asked how many people were taught some history of the Native Americans, only few people raised their hands. But when he asked how many people were educated about slavery, about half the audience raised their hands. Seeing this contrast, I feel there is a strong need for us to stop ignoring this important part of history, and encourage other people to learn more about the Native Americans as well. Living on the land that belonged to the Native Americans, we should at least face our history, acknowledge what have been done, and give them the respect they deserve.

Professor Eric Cheyfitz came and gave a very insightful talk during this past Becker-Rose Cafe. He spoke of the genocide and the wrongdoings toward the Native American people. He spoke eloquently on not only how the genocides were taking place but also the extent at which these things are being ignored. For example, he has been trying to convince Cornell to make a small addendum to the convocation and graduation speeches that include a note that the land that we’re on was once part of the Cayuga tribe. This is something I knew nothing about since it’s never mentioned but he made a good point about how we should not deny our history but rather remember it and grow from it.

One other thing that was mentioned which struck me was that he mentioned saying American Indian was politically correct. This was very different from what I had been taught thinking Native American was the correct phrasing. It was a little weird almost hearing that because being Indian myself, the term is now almost confusing towards my identity. I realize not enough people understand this fact or utilize it enough to have the confusion present, but if it were the case, I wouldn’t be able to easily see the connection or references.
It’s just something to think about: how these naming conventions set to identify us.

This past Wednesday, Eric Cheyfitz, a former director of the Indian Studies Program at Cornell, came to speak to the Rose Scholars about the many ways in which the indigenous Haudenosaunee people are incredible undermined today. Technically Cornell was created on Native American land, land that was cultivated and protected by various tribes for years before civilization decided to overtake it. I find it interesting that even though there is an entire history that was devoted to maintaining the land millions now live on, much of this information has been lost or simply left out of textbooks and records. Professor Cheyfitz was very passionate in explaining the importance of the Six Nations tribes and how efforts continue to be made in order to give these people more recognition for the sacrifices and hard work they made.

Last semester, I took a course called Indigenous Ingenuities in the American Indian Studies Program and it brought in native speakers each week who spoke about the history behind the Haudenosaunee tribes. My favorite lecture was when one of the Chiefs of the Six nations came and spoke to us about the stories that were shared during meetings with the other nations. The tone of voice he used throughout his talk was engaging and almost enchanting, for I could picture myself sitting in a longhouse – a building where the leaders usually have their meetings – and attending a reunion to talk about issues concerning the land and the people. It is truly a beautiful society, one in which loyalty and respect for one’s elders and nature is held to a very high regard. It was also amazing that one of the speakers actually acknowledged me because I reminded him of one of his daughters, and so I was considered an adopted child of his for the rest of the semester.

Something Cheyfitz mentioned was that most people have no idea who the Iroquois people are or what they did for our nation. As I am taking a course titled Immigration in U.S. History this semester, it seems like there is a trend in literature choosing what elements of history to ignore whether it be out of convenience or ignorance. Although I am not a historian, I feel as though there should not be a restriction as to what information is released to students or society all together, because if we chose to leave out the people who practically created all that we as citizens have available to ourselves, then we have failed to consider one another as equal members of humanity.

Professor Cheyfitz talked about the myriad of issues facing Native Americans today. One of them was the high rates of unemployment faced by Native Americans on reservations. I don’t know the economic situation of any specific reservation. I will discuss the cycle of poverty, that Cheyfitz mentioned, that exists on many of these reservations.

The main question at hand is how to bring a downtrodden community out of poverty. It is apparent from the multitude of economic situations that exist in the United States today that the government has no sure fire way to relieve poverty in a specific city. That’s because it is an incredibly difficult task. Certain ways to bring a community out of poverty is to increase lines of credit into the community or create economic incentives for companies to move to those communities. These approaches most likely won’t work, and in some sense aren’t exactly possible. Lets instead look to the individual level as the institution of the Federal government has failed  and betrayed Native Americans countless times.

In economics, individuals have to go to economic opportunities, not the other way around. A majority of these opportunities exist in urban centers. Individuals or family units living in poverty on a reservation are unlikely to see their situation improve without leaving the reservation to go live in a strong economic center.

Cheyfitz discussed that many Native Americans do work off the reservation. This brings up the issue that the Native American population will become dispersed. Many other groups of people are able to preserve their culture whilst living in America mixed in with other ethnic groups, but a big part of Native American culture is the community aspect. I can’t offer a solution for that issue.

To sum up, for Native Americans to get access to better economic opportunities they need to move to urban centers where these opportunities exist.  The US government doesn’t have the ability to turn reservations into booming economic towns.

“This country was built on stolen African labor and stolen Native American land.” – Prof. Eric Cheyfitz

In every history book I’ve ever read, authors define the American cultural identity as a “melting pot” of other cultures. For the most part, though, those cultures come from the European conquerors of this land, with little or no input from the people who originally defined what it meant to be an American. So what really defines the American identity – European conquerors, or the original Native Americans?

I grew up in South Dakota, a place steeped in American Indian culture. We went on field trips to Indian history museums, attended basketball games with the Flandreau Indian School where we listened to both the Star Spangled Banner and a drum circle anthem of the Lakota nation, and every year celebrated Native American Day instead of Columbus Day. But we also lived right next to the reservations, oftentimes driving right through them on the way to grandpa’s house for Christmas dinner. We were forced to see exactly what is happening to modern American Indians on reservations every day, and we did nothing about it.

I attended the cafe this week with every intention of learning a little bit more about the Indian culture I grew up alongside, and also comparing an East Coast academic perspective to my first-hand Midwest memories. And I certainly did. We discussed the federal cases that make the reservations possible, the ignorance so prevalent among politicians and high-profile people who could make a difference, and so many other atrocities committed today. But to me, the worst is the suppression of American Indian culture. Imagine you’re a young child living with people you love  in a place you love. Then one day a faceless foreign official comes in with an army at his back, takes you away from everything you know, and forces you to attend a school that aims only to destroy everything that makes you what you are. This is what happened to so many American Indians, and while this is an extreme case that happened in the past, Indian culture is still being systematically repressed. Without a cultural identity, that culture essentially doesn’t exist anymore. And that is the most horrible thing I could imagine.

So I will go back to South Dakota this winter for Christmas break, an on the way back from the airport I will drive through the reservations, past the historical landmarks describing battles between federal armies and Indian tribes, and I will think about what it means to be American. For me at least, it will always be a combination of everything that built this country – including the American Indian culture and traditions that are so rich in the land that we stand on.

I learned about the first Thanksgiving, Pocahontas, and the Trail of Tears in school, but that was sadly pretty much the extent of my knowledge about American Indians before attending the Becker-Rose House Cafe this past Wednesday with Professor Cheyfitz.  I was shocked by the immense challenges that American Indians still face, as they attempt to protect their culture and I am interested in taking one of Prof. Cheyfitz’ courses in the future.

Even though American Indians were here first, they have no land they can call their own.  The US recognizes tribes as “Domestic Dependent Nations” but even the name undermines their sovereignty.  Many Indians live on reservations, but these are crime ridden, and overwhelmed by poverty.  Murder rates are high and one in three women living on reservations is raped at least once during her lifetime.  Only 9% of Indians receive 4 year college degrees compared to the 29% of the total US population.

It was saddening to hear about the terrible ways our country has treated American Indians throughout our history and the conditions that they live in today.  The US has taken land from Indians, prevented them from receiving medicine and vaccinations, and attempted to destroy their culture but kidnapping children and taking them to boarding schools, among other hideous crimes.  I was surprised to learn that Cornell sits on land taken from the Cayuga People, but the administration has refused to acknowledged this, even after repeated requests from Prof. Cheyfitz and others to mention it at Convocation or Graduation.  Prof. Cheyfitz’ talk was an eye-opening experience to the struggles that pervade the lives of American Indians.

During my high school history classes, I learned of the atrocities committed against Native American tribes, but never to the extent of what I learned during Professor Cheyfitz’s talk. Professor Cheyfitz opened my eyes to the amount of discrimination Native Americans faced both in the past and even today. I thought it was really interesting how Professor Cheyfitz defined genocide. It is not just the killing of a large group of people, but also as the deliberate wiping out of the culture and way of life of these people. For example, Professor Cheyfitz talked about the deliberate attempts to “westernize” Native Americans by sticking needles through the tribal members’ tongues if they spoke in their native language instead of English; he classified this as genocide. He also talked about genocide as full wars to wipe out the Native American race as genocide. Professor Cheyfitz also talked about how the government withheld smallpox medicine from the Native Americans and classified this as another form of genocide. Professor Cheyfitz’s talk was not only eye-opening into the atrocities faced by Native Americans, but also brings up a very interesting definition of genocide.

Prior to this discussion, I had been aware of the reservations and the injustices imposed on Native Americans, but Professor Eric Cheyfitz shed a harsh light on the matter at Rose Café last night. He emphasized American ignorance and Indian resistance.

I learned that Cornell University sits on the traditional homeland of the Cayuga Indians. What’s more, no Cornell president has ever acknowledged this fact and very few Cornellians know the land’s possessive history. Today, in my Organizational Behavior class, we talked about ethics, its criteria, and events that have either followed or broke these rules. I spoke about the Indian reservations and the implications that have resulted from the federal government’s actions. I told the class about how poverty-stricken, economically unsustainable, and crime-ridden life on a reservation is, and none of them knew the true extremities of the situation. This goes to show how unknowingly blind some of the most educated are about the history of our country and the land we are sitting on. As a result, we unanimously declared the deeds done as unethical.

Professor Cheyfitz also shared a story that really struck a chord with me. He shared a story about his friend Catherine Smith, a Navajo woman. The United States’ government forced her to attend a boarding school that was intended to eradicate the Indian language and culture. For example, if she spoke Navajo in school, the teachers would clip a clothespin onto her tongue for the rest of the day. Catherine was also forced to wear Western-style clothes, and boys were told to cut their hair in attempt to brutally assimilate them into ‘American’ culture. Ever since Europeans seized the land from the Indians, they have fought to resist cultural genocide.

The United Nations defines genocide as “…acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group…” Accordingly, I would argue that the United States is guilty of genocide. It’s unnerving that our country was founded as a safe haven for the persecuted, yet has and still is persecuting the original owners of the land. What’s even more unnerving is that it took an optional talk at an Ivy League institution for me to learn the true injustices of Indian life in the United States.

“1 in 3 American Indian women are raped in their lifetime. And 86% of those rapes are committed by non-Native Americans.” That staggering statistic was one of the first of many unbelievably saddening facts that Eric Cheyfitz, an American Indian Studies professor, gave during his talk on Wednesday. 1 in 3. As in 33%. And the majority of them aren’t even raped by other men on the reservation (not that that would be any justification in any way, shape or form). So, in history, not only have Americans (then European explorers) stolen the land that Indians settled on first and committed mass genocide of these people and insisted on ethnic cleansing to rid the land of Indians and waged war against them and forced them out of their homes, but they also raped their women. Just to name a few.

None of this information was particularly news to me, considering I took a history class every year of grade school, but hearing Professor Cheyfitz inform us that no significant federal action is currently being taken to protect the rights and economic, social, and emotional well-being of Indians even today revolted me. What I kept asking myself was, “How can people see an entire ethnic nation of people within the United States suffering and not feel compelled to do anything about it?” That’s why I was especially glad to hear that Professor Cheyfitz, as a member of the American Indian Program here at Cornell, was making an effort to do his part in giving back to the Indian community in his own little way. Even though Cornell sits on the land of the Cayuga people, something I was completely unaware of until yesterday, administration refuses to recognize this pretty interesting fact at either convocation or commencement, something I found appalling. In response, Professor Cheyfitz told us about the effort that he and his colleagues have been making to turn that all around. I sincerely hope that they succeed in doing so because it’s the least we can do after what Indians here in America have already been through.

This week at the Rose Cafe our guest was Professor Cheyfitz, who came to speak to us about the current Native American experience in the United States.  I knew some of the things he told us about — how many Indians are in extreme poverty, that very few of them go to and graduate college, etc.  But he told us about the actual figures of poverty, education, death rates, and these figures were quite shocking, even with a small amount of background knowledge on the subject.  After attending this talk, I felt that my knowledge of American Indians was severely lacking, and that that lack of knowledge was unacceptable in this day and age.  I know that there are people with a similar lack of knowledge, but to realize how much is glossed over in our middle and high school educations is unbelievable.  I think that in my last 3 semesters at Cornell I definitely want to take a course about Native Americans to enrich my knowledge on the subject and to know more how I can help.

Professor Cheyfitz’s discussion in Native Americans was enlightening in an uncomfortable way. I did not know that Cornell is located on historic Cayuga homeland, and I find it interesting and enraging that Cornell refuses to admit this fact. I knew, of course, that American school’s are glossing over some of the darker aspects of our history, but I did not realize the extent to which Native Americans have been pushed aside and hidden. Yes, I knew about the Trail of Tears and some other injustices, but I did not know anything about the deliberate cultural annihilation that went along with the physical removal.  Attending the discussion made me feel ignorant and neglectful, but I am still glad I went, so that now I can work to learn more and hopefully become more educated on Native American history.

Today, Eric Cheyfitz discussed the history of the American Indians during the Becker-Rose Cafe Hour. Over the course of his talk he mentioned many pieces of legislature, such as the Dawes Severalty Act of 1887, whose names sounded familiar but whose content I had trouble recalling from my American History classes in High School when we briefly covered it. Indeed, when Professor Cheyfitz asked the audience who had previously learned any of the information that he was recounting to us now, a startling few number of people raised their hands. If our generation does not have the knowledge or awareness of both the history and modern day plight of the American Indians, how can we ever hope to help solve their problems (that we created)?

It seems as though the loosing battle that the Native Americans fought against the Westerners is proof of the idea that the winners write the history books. This is especially applicable to all of us living in Cornell, a University that is built on land stolen from the Cayuga Indians at the end of the 1700s. Although you cannot change what has already happened, there is still an active role that we can take to improve the situation now and for future. This can be as simple as becoming more educated about the six different Indian nations of our region of the country. Why is this so important? Because culture and tradition are part of what make up the identity of a group of people and by preserving these things we are helping to keep the Native American culture alive. Moreover, by actively learning we embrace the potential of discovering information related to healing and nature that can be applicable for the greater good. And finally, knowledge has the power to create a greater understanding and acceptance of an amazing people!

This evening I heard Dr. Eric Cheyfitz speak regarding Native Indian populations in the United States. Dr. Cheyfitz spoke about how Indian populations have been and continue to be mistreated to this day. In the past, their populations were massacred from things like the Trail of Tears, ethnic cleansing, and not providing small pox vaccines to small pox ridden Indians. Additionally, 1/3 Indian women are raped, many by non-Indian men. There have also been forcible attempts to wipe out Indian culture. Almost nothing relating to Indian culture and history has seem to have been embraced by the United States. A further example that hits close to home, showing that the U.S. has always dominated Indian populations, is that the land the Cornell sits on was once the Cayuga peoples’ land, which was eventually taken from them by the government using force and fraud to obtain it.

What I learned from hearing Dr. Cheyfitz speak was that it seems that little is talked about of Indians and indigenous peoples. Their history seems to be entirely ignored and many people are unaware of the unfair, harsh treatment of these peoples. Without any attention being drawn to the topic, the government and other groups can continue to ignore and treat Indian populations wrongfully. With this being the case, people must question what else is going unnoticed in society? It seems to me that in order to correct this problem of unfairness for Indian populations, education needs to be further spread and the Indian history needs to be embraced by the U.S. government. Attention needs to be directed toward Indian Nations if we ever hope for this inequality to stop persisting. And for that matter, people must become more aware of all their surroundings so that other groups and other people are not treated wrongfully. I believe that this problem in the treatment of these Indian nations stems from peoples’ lack of knowledge and awareness. People must become more educated and aware to protect society.

“This country was built on stolen land and stolen labor.”-Eric Cheyfitz

I find it so interesting that we do not know the history of the land we are currently on.  When Cheyfitz said that we were on the land of the Cayuga People, land that had been taken from them, I couldn’t help but feel uneducated and ignorant in a room full of scholarly Cornell students.  It is true, in high school we are only ever taught the basics of the history of what our country destroyed in order to build itself.  We spend months learning about the horrors of African American slave labor but we never hear anything about the centuries long genocide of Native Americans.  We don’t even hear the word genocide when talking about their history.  It is as if the United States declared “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” unless you were on the land before us.  The Indian people are living in two worlds both of which are undefined and vague.  They are a different people with their own laws and culture but they are not a sovereign nation allowed to do as they please.  Instead they belong to the United States which turns a blind eye on the very irony of what it has done and “hopes the Indian people move off the reservations and assimilate into society” as Cheyfitz had said.  For a nation that promotes the freedom of other groups it is ironic that we have an enslaved group of people in our country.  For a group that has been in this country since the beginning, how is it that we know so little about our intertwined history?  How is it that we were never taught the struggles of the Indian people?  That the news does not cover the extreme levels of poverty, rape, crime, and murder that has fallen on a people that has so much knowledge, history, and culture?  How is it that the United States can continue to ignore the millions of deaths that occurred and push aside the force it used to take over land?  These are facts, according to Cheyfitz, that the United States is not even able to recognize.  While the Indian population is only a small fraction of the total population of the United States they make up a huge part of our history.