Dear US House of Senate,

Are you aware of the injustices the Native Americans have to go through everyday of their lives? The Native Americans are struggling to even stay alive. They’re living in poverty, facing issues of mass imprisonment, left jobless, failing school because of their poor education, they have terrible drug and alcohol rates,  and horribly high suicide rates as well. The Native Americans are getting closer to dying out every single day, and the Federal Government isn’t doing anything about it. The Federal Government should give the Native Americans money and the same rights as anyone else in the United States, because they are killing themselves with either drugs, alcohol, or suicide itself and they are also living in poverty. 

First, the Federal Government should give the Native Americans money and their rights back because they are killing themselves with drugs, alcohol, or suicide. The Native Americans are doing drugs and drinking alcohol because they have no good influences on their everyday life. For example, in the article American Indians and Alcohol by Fred Beauvais, Ph. D. it says, “The following sections describe some of those factors, including genetics, social and cultural influences, and personal attitudes toward alcohol.” This means that alcohol addiction among teenagers and adults of the Native American tribes are caused by influences of their race, social and cultural diversity, and personal opinion towards alcohol. Native Americans are willing to kill themselves of liver cancer because they are insecure about their ethnicity. We can help them with this, we can help them feel like they are apart of the United States rather than feeling like they just live on a concealed area apart from anyone else. Second, the Native Americans are committing suicide for the same reasons. Yes, not only are Native Americans doing drugs and drinking alcohol they’re committing suicide as well. For example, on the Huffington Post website, it says, “Nationally, suicide tends to skew middle-aged (and white); but among Native Americans, 40 percent of those who die by suicide are between the ages of 15 and 24. And among young adults ages 18 to 24, Native American have higher rates of suicide than any other ethnicity, and higher than the general population.” This means that Native Americans are committing suicide as teenagers or young adults. This is the time when they are trying to find themselves and they can’t do that if they are being influenced to drink and smoke by their race. They can’t find themselves if they are killing themselves because they can’t fit in or live a happy life. They’re struggling greatly. The Native Americans are struggling to live a happy life, because of the drugs, alcohol, and suicide.

Second, the Native Americans are living in poor areas and struggling to get through their poverty. The indians are living on reservations, a reservation is a piece of land that the Native Americans are forced to live on. That’s no way to live. For example, on the website The Atlantic it says, “Every few miles, we come upon a group of a dozen or so trailer homes. Broken-down cars and trucks are scattered outside like crushed soda cans. Many homes’ windows are broken, with only a tarp separating the residents from the weather. Children’s toys are piled up haphazardly, mixed with lawn chairs and trash.” This evidence is explaining how poor the Native Americans actually are. They’re living in horrible conditions that we would find appalling. We live in nice homes, we can afford to go to school, we can afford to have nice clothes. They deserve more, more money to buy the things they need to survive happily. In relation, on the NARF website it says, “Contrary to popular belief, Indians do not receive payments from the federal government simply because they have Indian blood.” This means that Native Americans are being declined of their payments simply because they are Native Americans. This is horrible, even with all of the Black Lives Matter movements we have going on now. This is showing everyone that were a racist country. The Native Americans are suffering enough living in their poor areas.

Critics may argue that we should repay the Native Americans with land, but giving them land will not benefit them. Sure, they need more land but they have no money so what would they do with it? They would be stuck with empty land. That will just remind them of the reasons we gave them the land in the first place, and it’ll make them insecure about their social class and how much money they have.

In conclusion, the Native Americans should receive money and equal rights in return for what the United States has caused them. They deserve this because they suffer from drugs, alcohol, and suicide as well as they live in super poor areas. We want to give the Native Americans the rights that all of us US citizens have, in addition to enough money to make their lives happier. 

Sincerely,
Maddy H.