A chapter in The Case Against the Global Economy titled ¨Sharing One Skin,¨ by Jeannette Armstrong, discusses the difference of the values and practices between Native American communities- such as Armstrong´s Okanagan community- and the dominant society such as non-native communities. Armstrong discusses the importance of their sacred traditional identity and how it plays a huge role in the life of a Native American, which is different from a non-native identity. Native American´s identity is composed of different elements that connect them to who they are, where they come from, and their role as a member of their community. This allows Native Americans to have a stronger connection with their people, community, spirit, earth, and who they are/where they come from. Going into depth with the components, meaning, and importance of identity, Armstrong gets her point across to show how identity can truly have so much power alone.

Being that identity, culture, and the traditional ways within a Native American tribe is important. Other aspects play roles within their traditional lives. An American Indian life is complexed being that they live two lives; their traditional life within the tribe and the life that they must live within the outside world (non-native). In tribes, their people live to keep the traditional ways alive by passing the knowledge from generation to generation. Although as G. Horse states that the ways of Native American tribes change as times continue to move. Especially being that the outside world has made an impact on how tribes function and how they are identified as American Indian or Native American. Examples such as our tribal government system, education, being consumers, and so much more because tribes all over have adapted the ways of the outside world. Native American have evolved in many ways and will continue to because they must be able to survive the world we live in today, but have to keep their traditions alive.

Colonialism is very common when it comes to Native American tribes, all around the world even here in the United States. Colonists have tried to assimilate Native Americans tradition and culture which was not fully successful, but still led tribes to lose traditional ways and language loss. After almost a century, some tribes have taken actions to reverse the damage caused by colonists and restore their traditional ways of their people long before them. Such as the Máoris tribe in New Zealand, whose youth and mid-age could not speak or understand their language. They relied on elders to help teach and restore the language, starting with teaching youth, which led to getting language classes to grade school, high school, and eventually college. Another is the Native Hawaiians whose language was outlawed and had a small percentage of people who could speak the language, and were mainly fifty years of age and older. Like the Máoris tribe they had classes to teach not only the language but also dances, songs, foods, etc. This plan started with teaching the youth but gradually made its way to getting classes all the way from preschool to college. The Cree Indians in Canada, had lost their traditional ways due to children being forced into schools which, like all other schools for Native Americans, had banned and tried to get rid of their culture. Though just like the Máoris tribe and Hawaiian tribe, the Crees also promoted and started teaching all traditional aspects to youth all the way from pre-K to high school. All Native American tribes deal with the same issue around the world but these tribes took action into their own hands and had immersion schools that help them achieve a goal of restoring their traditional ways.

Colonialism is very common when it comes to Native American tribes, all around the world even here in the United States. Colonists have tried to assimilate Native Americans tradition and culture which was not fully successful, but still led tribes to lose traditional ways and language loss. After almost a century, some tribes have taken actions to reverse the damage caused by colonists and restore their traditional ways of their people long before them. Such as the Máoris tribe in New Zealand, whose youth and mid age could not speak or understand their language. They relied on elders to help teach and restore the language, starting with teaching youth, which led to getting language classes to grade school, high school, and eventually college. Another is the Native Hawaiians whose language was outlawed and had a small percentage of people who could speak the language, and were mainly fifty years of age and older. Like the Máoris tribe they had classes to teach not only the language but also dances, songs, foods, etc. This plan started with teaching the youth but gradually made its way to getting classes all the way from preschool to college. The Cree Indians in Canada, had lost their traditional ways due to children being forced into schools which, like all other schools for Native Americans, had banned and tried to get rid of their culture. Though just like the Máoris tribe and Hawaiian tribe, the Crees also promoted and started teaching all traditional aspects to youth all the way from pre-K to high school. All Native American tribes deal with the same issue around the world but these tribes took action into their own hands and had immersion schools that help them achieve a goal of restoring their traditional ways.

¨Assimilation is the process of losing one culture and taking on another,¨ (Reyhner, 2021). Throughout American Indian history there have been many attempts to completely wipe out our people whether it be physically or culturally. In which assimilation was one way that colonists had used for years among American Indian tribes, especially the ones who lived in the eastern area of the United States. Colonists came and were said to have ¨discovered¨ the United States even after coming across American Indians who were already living here. In a way the colonists wanted to just fully assimilate American Indians from their cultural/traditional way of living into being ¨civilized,¨ by making them Christians , speak their language , dress like them, and become farmers. 1819, was the year that Congress passed the Indian Civilization Act, this act paid $100,000 a year to pay individuals to teach native people their ways of civilization. In 1879, Richard Henry Pratt founded the Carlisle Indian Industrial School that was located in Pennsylvania. The main idea/focus of the boarding school was to take children far away from their parents so that they could be taught and become assimilated completely. Along with the boarding school, Pratt came up with the Outing System which placed native children into a white household. Although Pratt's overall goal was the total assimilation of American Indian which he made clear with his slogan that was, ¨kill the indian, save the man.¨ If parents were not sending their children to boarding school they would have rations cut off and even be sent to jail. When arriving at schools, native children were given white clothes, haircuts, and white names, while attending school they were not allowed to speak their language or practice any of their traditional ways. If any were caught doing anything but the white ways, they would be punished or put into ¨jail¨ school, this was to enforce the rules of assimilation. Once children were returned to their families, it was noticed that they were not assimilated to how Pratt wanted them to be. Though as time passed, American Indians still assimilated to the colonist ways by improving their English and learning more about the outside world. Now in the present-day American Indian tribes all around the world are assimilating more and more each day and have trauma from assimilation that led to the traditional and cultural loss. Though now there have been many acts and policies that have given tribes some independence, such as the Indian Self Determination Act that allows them to run their own school and govern themselves.

In the present day there has been trauma left in American Indian tribes, but one common issue that has happened due to the trauma that colonists have brought when then tried to assimilate them. They had used boarding schools to assimilate American Indian children into the white man society ways. At school they were required to talk nothing but English, and were severely punished if they were speaking their traditional language. The experiences at the boarding schools scared many American Indians that had attended these schools, which led them to think generations after them would be better off learning English so that they would not have to go through what they had been through. This led to parents not passing on traditional language to their children that has now led to many tribes in danger of losing their language entirely. Though now there have been plans to restore and revitalize traditional language within tribes. Which is now harder being that children still attend school where they are even more assimilated being surrounded by English all the time and losing their traditional knowledge. A secretary of the Crow Nation made a comment saying that, ¨We´er educating all our students to be non-Native right now.¨ In 1990, the first iteration of the Native American Language Act was passed by Congress. This act recognizes that Native American culture is unique and that the United States has to act together with them in order to ensure the survival of traditional ways. This gave many Native American tribes the opportunity and right to preserve, protect, and promote their traditional ways anywhere and even in schools if they are able to. The NALA was updated in 1992, and this included a grant program that would ensure the survival and continuation of their traditional language. Though this would be something that was very costly being that they target a language that is not in a curriculum and that has to be taught though people with knowledge of the language. Then along came the Esther Martinez Native American Language Preservation Act in 2006. This act was named after a Tewa woman who documented and taught the Tewa language. The act created funding for language programs for preschool children who would learn the Tewa language from fluent elder speakers in their community. These immersion sessions/classes were shown to be effective rather than only one period of class. There is still one problem that tribes face when trying to come up with these programs because in order for instructors to teach they must have their bachelors degree. This is a problem because within the majority of the communities, the fluent speakers are elderly who do not have the degree or credentials in order to teach. Though the Esther Martinez Act exempts these rules in order to have the programs run, there are tribes who have a hard time getting the state to authorize this act for them. While children attend public schools, they have a higher chance of dropping out or achieving little compared to the white children. Although immersion schools have made a huge difference in their traditional knowledge and have made a huge difference in Native American students' education life such as higher test courses and graduation rates. For example the Native Hawaiian have immersed themselves with both outside world education but mostly traditional knowledge learning that has made a huge difference in the knowledge that their students have.

In 1840 an official relationship was tied with the Treaty of Waitangi, between the Maori, New Zealand’s indigenous people, and the British colonizers of New Zealand. In the beginning, the Maori had ownership over most of the land in New Zealand, until the mid-nineteenth-century wars broke out between Maori and colonists, land sales, and legislative acts that led to them losing a lot of their land. The government had tried to buy off the Maori people which they were not in agreement with. Then in 1867 schools were created where the government was to provide education for all Maori children, which they were surrounded by the English language. After World War II many people were moving from the tribal land. In 1920 only eighty percent of Maori people were living on the land, which then changed in 1950 where eighty percent of them were living in the city. This is where they saw the loss of their language is that they started to live among the colonists where they were also surrounded by English. As more Maori people began to abandon their traditions and their tribe, other problems began to add on besides language loss, they had health problems, and alcohol as well as drug addictions. “Assimilation has ended up being very bad for us [the Maori people] because we know that 200 years ago we did not suffer the kinds of ill health or domestic violence or criminality or a range of other social issues which Maori are over-represented in.”(Copeland.) In 1980, parents and grandparents had led a fight for Maori rights. In 2013, only three point seven percent of New Zealanders speak Maori fluently. It was mentioned that if action was not taken the language would soon die out. The goal is to increase the percentage to twenty percent by 2040. The plan is to have language classes within the school (immersion) by 2025. Although they are unsure of a full revitalization but will continue to make small steps to see a change. There are scholarships that are being offered for Maori students to go to school for primary or secondary language education.

The Native Hawaiian tribe had gone through a renaissance (rebirth of learning) to turn them toward western colonial domination and suppression. The language of the Hawaiian was banned in 1896 which then led to there being only two thousand Hawaiian speakers in about eighty years and was in danger of being an extinct language. Then in 1978, the state made the Hawaiian language one of the two official languages in Hawai´i. Many tribal members, especially parents, wanted their children to have the Hawaiian language as their first and primary language. This then led the community to start an independent Hawaiian immersion school in 1984, which were the first schools in the United States that had indigenous language being taught. Within the schools, students were taught the language and studies that revolved around their Hawaiian culture and were taught all in their language. The schools range from K-12 which is taught entirely in the Hawaiian language which students can graduate from high school to receive their diploma. In 2011, schools showed that their graduation rate was at 100% from high school, in which 80% went on to higher education. Students that went onto college in Hawai´i were able to continue courses in the language to earn their degree. Since immersion schools have been operating, progress is being made and if the same progress continues to grow the number of speakers will also increase.

On March 25, participants were sent a zoom link. On the meeting participants were told a story by my grandpa, Daniel Ortiz. I chose this because growing up me and my siblings would hear different stories from my grandpa and grandmas and they would tell us how that was a daily activity for them growing up. That is something families often don´t do nowadays, so with this story I kept it within my family. Participants were also asked to wear traditional attire for the story and were given pinons (provided by my family) to eat during the story. There is a purpose behind this, when I grew up I would often hear stories, advice given to me, and just talks with family at the table. Every time someone is talking, we were encouraged to eat something, because they say that what the persons that is talking is telling, it will stick to your food and will go into your body and you will be able to retain everything being told to you and no one can ever take that away form you.