Choctaw Indians: A view into the Indian Child Welfare Act
According to an ancient Choctaw legend, the Choctaw Indians carried the bones of their dead for forty-three years until their creator Aba gave them their land in Southeast America, located in present day Mississippi (Akers, 2013). According to prophecy, they believed if they ever left their homeland, their nation would die. It turns out that the prophecy was true. The Choctaw Nation did die in a sense when they were forcibly removed to Oklahoma. Due to squatters and the federal government, their new reservation land in was divided into allotments and sold accordingly. Landless and broke, the Choctaw indians began to assimilate into western culture to survive. According to Akers, they enrolled in white schools, married white people, and took white jobs. …show more content…
Children would be taken from their Indian home and placed into a white boarding school or with a white family. Over time, the Choctaws began to win basic tribal supremacy on issues like gaming, land rights, and Indian Child welfare, though not without consequence. Recently, many have questioned why Choctaws are involved with Child welfare instead of social services. In order to pass down traditions and keep the Choctaw nation alive, the placement of Choctaw children should be decided by the Choctaw nation. It is their responsibility because of a history of child assimilation, the Indian Child Welfare Act, the supreme court rulings. Unfortunately, the Choctaw indians possessed much more than the Europeans. They had fertile soil, natural
According to an ancient Choctaw legend, the Choctaw Indians carried the bones of their dead for forty-three years until their creator Aba gave them their land in Southeast America, located in present day Mississippi (Akers, 2013). According to prophecy, they believed if they ever left their homeland, their nation would die. It turns out that the prophecy was true. The Choctaw Nation did die in a sense when they were forcibly removed to Oklahoma. Due to squatters and the federal government, their new reservation land in was divided into allotments and sold accordingly. Landless and broke, the Choctaw indians began to assimilate into western culture to survive. According to Akers, they enrolled in white schools, married white people, and took white jobs. …show more content…
Children would be taken from their Indian home and placed into a white boarding school or with a white family. Over time, the Choctaws began to win basic tribal supremacy on issues like gaming, land rights, and Indian Child welfare, though not without consequence. Recently, many have questioned why Choctaws are involved with Child welfare instead of social services. In order to pass down traditions and keep the Choctaw nation alive, the placement of Choctaw children should be decided by the Choctaw nation. It is their responsibility because of a history of child assimilation, the Indian Child Welfare Act, the supreme court rulings. Unfortunately, the Choctaw indians possessed much more than the Europeans. They had fertile soil, natural