Pain is Hereditary

Clearly, Native Americans have a mountain of issues from a suicide rate that is about 2.5 times as high as the national average (Meyers), a rate of alcoholism that is 6 times that national average (Ghosh), a 28.4% poverty rate (2010 U.S. Census), a 33% sexual violence rate for women (2013 Tribal Capacity Report)…But, where did it all come from?

For a long-term research project, I have been looking specifically at what has caused the incredibly high rate of domestic violence and sexual abuse on Indian reservations. Like many of the current problems faced by Native Americans today, I feel that intergenerational trauma plays a huge role. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, intergenerational trauma can be defined as: "[when] multiple generations have experienced excessive trauma, perpetrated by the European colonists and some has translated to [the modern generation]" (Palmer).

After an interview with Dr. Jane Palmer, a professor of domestic violence at American University, I gained a deepened understanding of how European colonization affected (and still affects) Native Americans. One of the main ways the Europeans tried to force Indians to assimilate to European culture was by having "Indian children taken from their families and tribes and sent to boarding schools" (Meyers). At the boarding schools, Indian children were "stripped of their identity…tortured and tormented for speaking the only language that they knew..." (Coyhis). Much of what happened at the boarding schools was inhumane and evil. Many scholars believe that the commonness of rape and abuse in the boarding schools gave Indians the idea that that was normal because it was "all they knew," so they "brought back" the way they were treated in the boarding schools to the reservations, thus, Native Americans have the highest rate of domestic violence and sexual abuse of any group in the U.S.

Only if it were that simple...

An Indian Boarding School (1912)

Another infamous event that has caused a great deal of intergenerational trauma for Native Americans is what is known as "The Trail of Tears," or the forced removal of the Cherokee Indians in 1838. As a result of the passing of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, "about 4,000 Cherokees died on the forced march during the brutal winter months…" (Mason). The trauma of being forced to leave behind their homes and all that they knew is a tragedy that has not been forgotten and like other atrocities, the pains are still felt today by native people. I will not say that the pain of losing 4,000 ancestors and having to give up the Cherokee homeland during The Trail of Tears has directly caused high suicide rates, poverty, and domestic violence, but it sure is part of the reason.

In what other ways do you think intergenerational trauma plays a role in modern American society?