Before the first slave ship arrived on the shores of the American continents, the first inhabitants of these lands presented European explorers with an unspoken challenge. Their existence has led to examination and questioning of cherished beliefs about a single origin for all humanity (Omi & Winant, 1986, p. 11). What emerged from this debate was the certainty that these natives were not civilized and, by extension, not fully human. This led to them being subjected to numerous acts of oppression and genocide. Even today, while some progress has been made in civil rights, many American Indians cannot benefit from them. Their experiences serve as both a model and a reminder of what white people have done to them and others during this country's post-colonization history. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why violent video games should not be banned”?Get the original essayThe basis of my essay is the United States (US) Commission on Human Rights report on Indians of America entitled “Indian Tribes: A Quest for Survival” (1981, p. 477). While this is not an in-depth look at their history from the beginning of colonization, it provides an overview of what happened to them from a sympathetic perspective. We receive very little information about their version of the story of the creation of our country. This makes any attempt to see things their way worthy of examination and discussion. It focuses heavily on the racism in the actions of the federal government and associated parties that led to their current state. Any examination of cultural diversity and the burdens placed on non-whites throughout our history must therefore include the questions and concerns of Native Americans. I also consulted the primary source for Elk v. Wilkins (1884, p. 514), as it provides a direct example of the thinking used by American courts to deny native people any rights under the Constitution. His mix of citations of the Constitution's position on negotiating with Indian tribes and blatantly racist opinions makes him a prime example of biased jurisprudence as standard operating procedure. Certainly, the Indian experience is unique compared to that of other non-white racial and ethnic groups within our borders. They were independent and self-governing before colonization and lost their lands and rights to foreign invaders (“Indian Tribes,” 1981, p. 477). Likewise, their desire for political independence is very different, in that the vast majority of other non-white groups have largely preferred to work to change laws and social mores to better include them ("Indian Tribes", 1981, p.477). ). However, forced to assimilate and conform to white American culture and law, they had to fight for their rights under our government and seek greater autonomy for their own. The case of Elk v. Wilkins, decided in 1884, is an example of an early attempt to assert rights from the U.S. government that failed. The plaintiff, John Elk, sought the right to vote alongside his white Oklahoma neighbors under the protection of the 14th Amendment (“Elk v. Wilkins,” 1884, p. 514). It was rejected by the United States Supreme Court because the populations of the various states were specifically described in this amendment as excluding "untaxed Indians" ("Elk v. Wilkins," 1884, p. 515). Since Elk was an Indian, he could not be a citizen since he was not taxed, even though he had abandoned the reservation and moved in with whites to live like them.Drawing boundaries around an ethnic group and declaring them ineligible to fully participate in the system is a common thread of racial experiences in the United States. Asians have repeatedly faced similar treatment. One such example occurred a few decades after Elk v. Wilkins when Bhagat Singh Thind, a high-caste Hindu from India, sought to become a naturalized citizen. The Supreme Court denied his petition because it did not fit the common white definition that existed at the time for who was allowed to do so (Sutherland, 1932, p. 522). Chinese immigrants and their native-born descendants were classified as Indians with no other possible label to deny them the right to testify in criminal cases against whites, attributed to a presumption of common ancestry ("People vs. Hall" , 1854, p. 494). Both decisions above have a strong basis in the origins of whiteness, as the merging of different cultures into a homogeneous mass and their exclusion from access to power is older than the Declaration of Independence. This was seen as essential to maintaining social order, since in the late 17th century landless and indentured whites joined forces with indentured and free blacks to fight against the mistreatment they received ( Buck, 2001, p. 21). The response to these revolts included disenfranchisement of non-white property owners, harsh laws against intermarriage, and separate treatment of indentured servants based on race to give whites less reason to fight their situation (Buck , 2001, p.21). Earlier attempts to find out which nation an Indian came from were also abandoned during this rewriting of law and social order (Buck, 2001, p. 21). The merging of all Native American cultures into one mass is common in American consciousness even today. White preschool children asked to draw Indians in a uniform manner rely on the feathers and beads used to designate them in Disney's Peter Pan, without being aware of what the natives actually look like (Tatum, 1997, p. 105-6). White adults often don't do any better. Sports fans whose favorite teams use or mock Native American tribes' names follow the feathers and war paint approach to everything from costumes to rallying cries (Zirin, 2014, p. 596) . Ironically, even an article written to break down white privilege and examine its components commits this act, as the author of "White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack" attributes to Native Americans as a whole a saying that likely originated in only one of the cultures . in this classification (McIntosh, 1989, p. 179). The U.S. Commission on Human Rights report on American Indians also references the practice of forcing children to attend boarding schools designed to strip them of their original culture and religion so that they can better conform to the white ideal (“Indian Tribes”, 1981, p. 480). The insistence that only white people know how to live properly as Americans predates the school by a few centuries and has continued into modern times. “English only” sentiments don’t just affect immigrants who aren’t fluent in the language. They also have a deterrent effect on Indians who speak their mother tongue. In 2000, the owner of a restaurant in Arizona attempted to prohibit his Navajo employees from using their language among themselves during work hours (Teicher, 2004, p. 286). Forced assimilation also applies to lands that tribes.