|
STORY: Building Pride, Building Resilience
This story centers on the Minnesota Indian Women's Resource Center (MIWRC) and Karen, one of the many women who has benefited from its activities. For Native Americans, inequities are multi-generational, and must be looked at within the historic context of loss of land, culture, and religion. The Twin Cities have the nation's largest urban population of Native Americans, most of whom live in one of the poorest communities in the region, the Phillips neighborhood. The MIWRC provides family stabilization services and harm reduction programs to help chronic alcoholics regain and rebuild their lives. The MIWRC also has a Cherish the Children Center that allows young Indians to learn the Ojibwe language and culture and build pride and resilience. For Lisa, Karen's daughter, and many other children, this cultural piece is very important.
|
| Key Terms |
|---|
| Disparity |
| Historical Context |
| Impetus |
| Indigenous People |
| Ojibwe |
| Prenatal Care |
| Segregation Tax |
| UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples |
|
Click here to take a Survey
|
| Before Viewing |
|---|
What do you already know about Native Americans in the Twin Cities? What are the names of local nations, tribes, or bands? What issues do these communities and the women who belong to these communities face?
|
| After Viewing |
|---|
- How does the loss of land, culture, and religion affect the Native American population today?
- Why do we need to look at these inequities through an historical perspective? What does race have to do with it?
- The Department of Corrections estimates the number of prison beds based on 3rd grade reading scores. Thus, if a child does not make adequate progress, he or she becomes a potential prison bed. What are your reactions to this statement? What would help to save money in the long run? What would be a better investment?
- Why is it important to connect Native American children to their language and culture?
- How does the well-being of Native Americans affect the future of the Twin Cities in the years to come?
- What can you do to help eliminate racial disparities in the Twin Cities?
|
| Suggested Activities and Resources: |
|---|
- UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
Introduce and discuss the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, G.A. Res. 61/295,U.N. Doc. A/RES/47/1 (2007).
www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/declaration.html
After 20 years of negotiations, the Declaration was adopted in September 2007 with an overwhelming majority of 143 votes. Four countries (Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and U.S) voted against adopting the Declaration.
The Declaration recognizes a wide range of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms of Indigenous Peoples, including the right to unrestricted self-determination, the inalienable collective right to the ownership, the right to use and control of lands, territories and other natural resources, the right in terms of maintaining and developing their own political, religious, cultural and educational institutions, along with the right to the protection of their cultural and intellectual property
Divide the group into small groups of 5-7 and have them read and discuss the Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Separate sections/articles may be assigned instead of the full text of the declaration. Have each group discuss:
- What is the significance of the Declaration? Why is it important to have a separate Declaration for Indigenous People?
- Why do you think Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the U.S. voted against adopting the Declaration? What do you think about this decision?
- Give examples of real life situations pertaining to Native Americans in the U.S. that Declaration articles seek to address.
Have a plenary group debriefing. Collect responses from each group and record them on a flip chart. As a follow-up, the students can be assigned a project or a research paper based on specific articles of the Declaration.
- Resources
Participants can also review Indians in Minnesota by Kathy Davis Graves and Elizabeth Ebbott, a report that offers statistics and insight into Minnesota's Native American population to promote a better understanding of challenges and realities facing Indian communities.
Other useful sites:
Twin Cities Compass www.tccompass.org
Mind the Gap Report http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/Files/rc/reports/2005/10cities_sohmer/20051027_mindthegap.pdf
|
|