Native Americans have every right to be pissed off.

Let me start this out with a small list for context. I am 45% Naitve, but grew up around people from the "rez". I got into an argument with my history teacher over this topic, he thinks we should "move forward and become more modern" when approaching this topic. So here we are.

Here is all of the treaties broken by the US Government: Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851), Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868), Indian Removal Act (1830), and Trail of Tears Treaty of New Echota (1835), Fort Atkinson Treaty (1853), Treaty of Medicine Lodge (1867), Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848), Treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768), Dawes Act (1887), Black Hills Conflict (1877), Nez Perce War (1877), Treaty of 1863 (Navajo), Treaty of Fort Hill (1794), Sand Creek Massacre (1864), Wounded Knee Massacre (1890). According to NPR, the United States has broken more than 370 ratified treaties with Native American nations. If we count all the "promises" that many signed to save their people, I am sure there are more that have been hushed away.

I am a grandkid to a wonderful woman who had to face the atrocities that the US Government put in place when it came to boarding schools. My great great great great uncle fought in the battle of wounded knee and was killed. He was only a young man. I have seen the reservations that ee have been tied down to, which we could leave but that costs so much more than we are given. Many of my relatives are "stuck" because that is what they know as home. Families have grown there. You can't just pick up and leave.

Where I am located, we face harsh criticism and racism. I'm just saying, why don't we all look around once in a while and see what you took from us. When will we have justice? When will we be given back what was ours? How many treated has the US broke? Oh yeah, all of them.

It's a personal thing for many of us. I remember glossing over many of those treaties in my elementary-middle school, primarily highlighting the drug, alcohol, and obesity issues with Native Americans today. I felt ashamed. I still do. It wasn't until I was a freshman in highschool and I had to CHOOSE to take a class over my history to learn the real story. All of it. Personally, I am amazed that my teacher could fit in as much as she did in a single semester. She even said that this should be REQUIRED for Americans to learn of that side of history just like how you had to learn about the founding fathers.

It really hits me hard when I see other kids and even adults choose not to embrace nor even tell others they are Native American out of shame. We need to fix this. Let's start where we should've almost 250 years ago. Lets make a change.