Do you know how it feels to know that your best friend is getting abused everyday? Well, Arnold Spirit or Junior does, his best friend Rowdy gets abused everyday by his father, and this is only one problem going on is this novel. Not to mention they live in these conditions in their Native American based reservation day to day. In the Novel The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie the character Rowdy experiences Physical Assault. In reality Physical Assualt and Sexaul Assualt are growing as of 30.7% in Native American communities. Yet, efforts are being made by the NWI organization and fellow Native Americans.
In the beginning of the novel when Junior introduces himself and his best friend Rowdy, he mentions about how tough Rowdy appears to be. Yet, in reality it’s common for Rowdy to be in agony because of his father “‘Dad said I wasn’t listening’, Rowdy said. ‘So he got all drunk and made my ear a little bit
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Mainly children are affected by these problems.”..According to the researchers, American Indians kids suffer from disproportionately high rates of abuse and neglect, and most of them are not receiving any treatment for these issues. They experience PTSD at roughly the same rate as service members… and they´re twice as likely as any other, to die before the age of 24.¨ (“The Shocking Rates Of Violence And Abuse Facing Native American Kids.”) and cause them to have many mental difficulty. This situation does not happen only to kids, women and men are both sexaully and physically assaulted. “..found that Native Americans lifetime prevalence rates for physical assault was 30.7 percent, for rape 14.9 percent..” (“Encyclopedia of Domestic Violence and Abuse.” Encyclopedia of Domestic Violence and Abuse, by Laura L. Finley, vol. 2, ABC-CLIO, 2013, pp. 358–358.) which is double of the white community and this situation is
“Domestic violence, or intimate partner violence, is defined as a pattern of assaultive and coercive behaviors, including physical, sexual, and psychological attacks as well as economic coercion that adults or adolescents use against their intimate partners” (Peeks-Asa). When it comes to domestic violence, many people don’t want to get involved, but if just one person took a stand, maybe others would follow and potentially save a life, like the neighbors did in The Day It Happened by Rosario Morales. Domestic violence can happen to anyone at any time, there is no typical victim or perpetrator. The fact that there is no one specific group that domestic violence occurs in more than one, only makes it more difficult to get an accurate representation of just who is being affected by this crime. “Domestic violence and abuse does not discriminate” (Smith and Segal).
suffering the Native Americans are plagued with as a result of the lack of acceptance towards
American Indians have had health disparities as result of unmet needs and historical traumatic experiences that have lasted over 500 hundred years.1(p99) Since first contact American Indians have been exposed to infectious disease and death2(p19), more importantly, a legacy of genocide, legislated forcible removal, reservation, termination, allotment, and assimilation3. This catastrophic history had led to generational historical traumas and contributes to the worst health in the United States.2 American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN) represent 0.9 percent of the United States population4(p3) or 1.9 million AI/AN of 566 federally recognized tribes/nations.5 American Indians/Alaska Natives have significantly higher mortality rates of intentional and unintentional injuries, chronic liver disease and cirrhosis, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease and chronic lower respiratory disease than other American.6
The words that have been written are not always what is supposed to be read. Sherman Alexie uses metaphors and other literary devices to convey a message to the reader about the native youth and their experiences. The message is relatively consistent; the youth will more likely than not fall into the continuous trends of poverty and alcoholism and surrender to racial injustice just as previous generations have. It is an uninterrupted cycle that is past down to the next generation, and Alexie is only reporting the truth of what really goes on inside the reservation.
“I’m never going to act like my mother!” These words are increasingly common and yet unavoidable. Why is it that as children, we are able to point out every flaw in our parents, but as we grow up, we recognize that we are repeating the same mistakes we observed? The answer is generational curses: un-cleansed iniquities that increase in strength from one generation to the next, affecting the members of that family and all who come into relationship with that family (Hickey 13). Marilyn Hickey, a Christian author, explains how this biblically rooted cycle is never ending when she says, “Each generation adds to the overall iniquity, further weakening the resistance of the next generation to sin” (21, 22). In other words, if your parents mess up you are now susceptible to making the same mistakes, and are most likely going to pass those mistakes to your children. In The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie shows the beauty of hope in the presence of a generational curse. Even though the elders are the ones who produce the curses, they are also the ones who attempt to break Junior from their bond forming mistakes. The curses that Arnold’s elders imprint on him lead him to break out of his cultural bonds and improve himself as a developing young man.
Growing up on a reservation where failing was welcomed and even somewhat encouraged, Alexie was pressured to conform to the stereotype and be just another average Indian. Instead, he refused to listen to anyone telling him how to act, and pursued his own interests in reading and writing at a young age. He looks back on his childhood, explaining about himself, “If he'd been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy. But he is an Indian boy living on the reservation and is simply an oddity” (17). Alexie compares the life and treatment of an Indian to life as a more privileged child. This side-by-side comparison furthers his point that
Native Americans have undergone a horrific past of genocide, discrimination, forced acculturation, miscommunication, and misunderstanding. They were frequently dehumanized and stripped of basic human rights. Treated as “savages” they were herded into areas of confinement and robbed of their language, culture, and way of life. In many instances of genocide, experts have noted a type of historical trauma that may be passed down through families, known as generational trauma. While the potential effects of this concept are not proven, the stories, images, and memories of thousands of Native Americans continue to be shared with their children, thus perpetuating, and never forgetting the pain and embarrassment that their people have experienced.
A long family tree of mistreatment and undue suffering in addition to present lack of resources and poverty has resulted in considerable distress among tribal members and families living within the majority of reservations today. As a result of such distress and despair, many Native American families living in reservations have been torn apart as alcohol, drugs and family violence have become rampant within their communities. Furthermore, the inaccessibility of most reservations combined with lack of resources proves challenging to provide proper housing for families. In addition, the American Indians make up a minority of the least educated, sickest and poorest people within our country. Suicide is the 2nd leading cause of death for Native American youths in the 15-24 age group and 2.5 times the national rate.
The abuse of children of any kind is unacceptable, regardless of one’s culture. When looking at the Native American culture, the indigenous people of this land we have come to call America, there has been a debate spanning decades in terms of what should be done to keep an abused child who has to be taken away from the birth parents, within their own culture (the Native American culture). In 1978, the United States Congress and the President of the United States at the time, Jimmy Carter, enacted a law known as the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) in attempts to avoid the separation of Native children from their family, let alone, their own culture (Fletcher, 2009). How exactly does the Indian Child Welfare Act, ICWA, keep Native children taken away from their birth parents within either their family or the Native culture itself?
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, between 1998 and 2002: 84% of spouse abuse victims were females, and 86% of victims of dating partner abuse at were female. As a consequence, the racial diversity in US has created an impact on the current policy implementation and programs. This will helps us identify which individuals are reporting the greatest domestic violence rates regarding race, ethnicity, marital status and educational level. By studying the domestic violence abuse rates among races will help to identify which social class is currently being impacted. Action is needed for the destination of funding and development of programs aimed to help the
His father will sometimes forget about Junior and never show up to give him a ride home. Junior is then forced to walk or hitchhike all the way back to the reservation. His father also constantly spends all of his money on alcohol, even during the holidays, “.Dad did what he always does when we don’t have enough money. He took what little money we did have and ran away to get drunk” (Alexie 150). Junior’s unfortunate understanding of alcoholism makes him see the world as an unfair place.
Over the course of the past semester we have read several books about Native American’s and their culture. The two books I found to be the most interesting were Perma Red by Debra Magpie Earling, and The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie. In each story we see a young person from a reservation dealing with their Native Identities, Love, Loss and everything in between. Both of these novels have their similarities and their differences, but I believe they both offer insight into Native American culture that would be hard to come across elsewhere.
As complexities of the social norm within American Indians become manifest, Sherman Alexie reflects hindrance in the adversity to attain an identity. Alexie utilises indirect language and a salacious tone to introduce Junior as a hydrocephalic, “my brain was drowning in grease” to highlight the self-actualisation of Junior, reduced to a mere portrayal of his identity centred around his physical impairment. As his past depicts an almost devoid identity, the present nature of the changes in his life encourages Arnold to attain an appropriate self-identity. Arnold’s pursuit for identity transgresses into trepidation and the midst of confusion when he expresses through emotive language and truncated sentences, “I cry because I’m crying. It’s weak.
The United States Department of Justice reports that women are more likely to be victims of nonfatal intimate partner violence. (Catalano, 2006) It is estimated that two million women a year are victims of physical abuse each year, and that number does not include any other form of intimate partner violence. (Connelly, et al. 2006) Intimate partner violence results in fatalities in thirty percent of all female homicides. (Catalano, 2006) For males, the percentage goes down to five percent. Men and woman ages twenty to thirty-four are at the highest risk for intimate partner violence. Again, both men and women who are married but separated are at higher risk for intimate partner violence. Black and white females are more likely to be victims of nonfatal intimate partner violence. However, white females are more likely to be victims of fatal intimate partner violence. Individuals with a lower income and socioeconomic status are at a greater risk, but females are at a greater risk regardless of income.
Native-Americans make up one of the smallest portions of our population, but are still victims of mass incarceration and police brutality Many Native-American reservations have high unemployment rates. Poverty in these areas is also common. Reserved, sacred land for Native-Americans is also disappearing as more and more land is being taken away by United States government. The government also disobeys treaty rights by exploiting their land for natural resources to gain profit. Low graduation rates are common in Native school districts. Suicide is much more prevalent among Native-American youth when compared to the rest of the nation. They also generally receive poor healthcare. Violence and abuse of children and women is more common in Native-American communities as well.