Essay Sample about Postcolonialism

There are several aspects of critical race theory that can help you understand the modern issues faced by Indigenous people in the United States. These issues are rooted in the current American governing system and its origins in colonialism.

You can see the origins and current manifestation of colonialism and how it’s used to reinforce the oppression of the Indiginous people of the United States through many examples. In modern critical race theory there is a “critical academic study of the cultural legacy of colonialism and imperialism” know as postcolonialism, which has many applications to the current manifestation of colonialism as it pertains to the abuse and maltreatment towards the Indiginous people. The most popular example is our country's love for Christopher Columbus, a person who was responsible and encouraged the colonization of indiginous land as well as war crimes committed against American Indians. This same general group of colonizers brought with them a surplus of diseases including “smallpox, influenza, and measles''. These diseases wiped out a large portion of the indignous population due to the lack of immunity built up by any American Indians.In the modern United States after nearly 300 years after the United States declared independence survivors have been gathered up and forcefully moved to reservations.

The exact modern struggles of Native Americans include unique forms of cultural, political, and economic oppression as it pertains to other ethnic and cultural groups. There is a very present modern pattern of alcoholism and depression https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=50 on Native American reservations. Despite modern laws preventing liquor stores on dry reservations many liquor stores make up an entire portion of american land on the border of reservations Many examples of the distinctive oppression of American Indians can be seen in court cases as well as how the laws become enforced around those cases. Lone Wolf v Hitchcock is one such example where in the holding was decided to be “Congress has plenary power to abrogate treaty obligations between the United States and Native American tribes unilaterally.”. This would essentially nullify any future legal battles that would allow Natives to argue against treaty violations. This took away any power that American Indians had in the judicial system. The Dawes Act of 1887 https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=false&doc=50 let presidents take control of previously claims native land and then allow miscellaneous individuals to take control of that land. This was in addition to this all being previous reservation land that some natives were forced to move to. This took place after the previous ruling of Fletcher v. Peck in which the supreme court claimed that “Native Americans did not hold the original title to their land” (not intentional but ran my paper through a plagiarism checker so in case I missed something and this is the same wording on the wikipedia article). The most prevalent example of how the challenges that American Indians are distinct when compared to other groups is the rule of blood quantum. Despite the rule being the opposite for other races (link to how black people are decided) in order to be considered an American Indian by the United States government you need a large amount of native heritage.

Much of critical race theory is at odds with modern liberalism and can be used to take a critical look at the solutions that are suggested by many liberal speakers as it pertains to Native Americans. Many figures suggest a form of colorblindness as it pertains to race universally, yet many American Indians would like to retain the beliefs and culture their families built. Many natives don’t want traditional civil rights as they reject the system that was built on their mass graves. Despite this position being popular among American Indians in 1942, the Indian Citizenship Act, forced American citizenship upon the populations of reservations. A consistent theme amongst outspoken American Indian speakers is the rejection of the basic integration into our society that many white people assume is the goal of all discriminated against groups.

Using critical race theory we can more easily approach the issues facing Native Americans. You are able to see the origins rooted in colonialism and how it can still be felt to this day.