Imigration in America

[kandrathe]

Until the year I was born the state of Arizona withheld the right to vote from Native Americans, contrary to federal law. You think things are different now?

It looks like things are changing. While turnout still seems a bit depressed compared with the ~42% nationwide turnout, this article also discusses some cultural barriers of engaging Native Americans in non-tribal politics. I confront these statistics all the time. To me, the crux of the racism is in measuring them by, and expecting Native Americans to embrace the culture of the white oppressor. The same struggle exists worldwide in how Europeans brought the modern world to indigenous peoples. Part of the discrimination (and an insidious one) is using our yardstick to measure their achievement in our culture.

If there are obvious barriers, then yes, by all means let's remove them. The best we can do now is to offer them the opportunities they were denied in the past, and respect them for however they choose to live their lives. They can choose to live in the tribes, or in our world.

A little disclaimer here; my wife attended a tribal grade school, and a majority black high school. I have a minor in Latin American studies, speak Spanish (and some Portuguese) and I spent quite a bit of time during the Reagan administration in Central America. Many of my college friends were from South and Central America. Growing up, my dad and I would hunt in northern Minnesota with my dads Native American friends, so I was exposed to the best and worst of their culture (this was before Reagan, and giving them the gambling monopoly).

In the year that I was born, black students were denied access to the University of Georgia, blacks were arrested for sitting at "White only" lunch counters across the south, the Supreme Court outlawed segregated inter-state bus service in Boynton v. Virginia, etc, etc, etc.

Do you think things have changed?

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Yeah, Japanese cars.

I read this week that China's BYD is opening up a headquarters in the LA.