Americans nationwide are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the United States, marked by the signing of the Declaration of Independence. However, the country’s origins started before English settlers claimed the land as their own. For centuries, Native Americans have fought for rights, land and sovereignty after the United States broke treaties and forcibly removed millions of Natives from ancestral land. Today, Native communities are still healing from a history of broken promises as other Americans celebrate the semiquincentennial. Justin Velasquez, director of the Tunica-Biloxi Chicago Branch Office, said the celebrations bring nuanced emotions for many Natives in the United States.
“I think 250 is very complicated for Native Americans because that’s 250 years basically of admitting we’ve been conquered,” Velasquez said. “But at the same time I am born in America and I only know America and I love this country.” Data from the 2020 census showed that Native American populations in the U.S. are rapidly increasing, but that data is the result of significant underreporting, meaning the population could be larger than we know. Because of the tense relationship between many Native American communities and the United States government, many Natives do not fill out the census. Decades of distrust in governmental forms and agreements still have tangible impacts in the United States today.
One of the ways these impacts manifest is in the lack of proper healthcare for Native Americans. Velasquez said that issue is one of the biggest Natives face. “Native Americans on average live 11.2 years less than the general population,” Velasquez said. “It goes back to data and not having those correct numbers on a lot of intake forms for medical things. We’re listed as an ‘other.’” Healthcare isn’t the only place where Natives are misrepresented. In the United States education system, Native Americans are often portrayed in a pre-1900s context ignoring contemporary Native issues and efforts. This miseducation impacts social relationships between Natives and non-Natives, portrayals of Native Americans in media and stigma surrounding various tribes nationwide. For Velasquez, it’s Native Americans who should have the power to decide what’s next.
“We need to start being in charge of telling our own story,” Velasquez said. “If we let someone else tell our story, they’re gonna tell it wrong.”
