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the first thing to know is that the majority of americans have never met or seen an actual native here. we are less than 1% of the total population.

having said that, most americans think they know more about natives than we do ourselves. i have had non natives argue with me about my own culture that i live daily. they think because they read a book, that they are right and we are wrong. you can see that on YA too.

many americans aloso like to claim to be part native. the vast majority of them are wrong. even those who may have a small amount of native blood are not in fact native. they have no connection t the people or the culture of indigenous north americans.

the history of native people is taught only in relation to european history. schools mostly do not speak about us before columbus arrived and then they stop speaking about us after 1890 as if somehow before and after we simply did not exist. even today most americans only think of us in terms of the past (which they are always telling us to get over). some even think we still live in tipis even though most of us never lived in them. the facts are we live in homes like the rest of the population.

americans are rarely taught the truth about the past injustices and nothing about the present injustices. they have no clue that in MY LIFETIME, native children were stolen from families and given to white families to raise or sent to residential schools where they were hired out as slave labor. either that or they were sexually and physically abused to the point of death. in canada alone over 50,000 native children were killed in those "schools". native women were also sterilized by force or without consent. in some places, murders and rapes of natives still go unpunished by law enforcement.

the governments of usa and canada are still stealing land and resources from native people even today. here are a couple videos to show you how some are treated:

native people peacefully protesting being teargassed and herded back on reservation like animals.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQfwLcW6Xmo&feature...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oRCTlcyu36g&feature...

electric company built on land taken from the natives who then charge them 1/3 more than surrounding communities. illegally shutting off electricity to families during storms and freezing temps and homes with ill children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hPra0WY3kc

this is the reality of being native in north america.