Native American Values: Respect Is Still Important Today

American actress Estelle Parsons once said, “It is so important to get respect for what you do and at the same time give it;” respect is also one of the twelve virtues of the Lakota Nation. Respect is one of the revered and more important values that Native Americans still live by today. Because they hold a significant place in Lakota society, special respect is to be given to elders. Both children and adults must give respect to others to be able to receive respect.

While some of the cultural norms and expectations varied slightly amongst the members of the Sioux, Navajo, and Cherokee tribes, it seems as though the cultural communicative behaviors and/or many of the norms and expectations were overall exceedingly similar across these three tribes.

One example of Native American’s spiritual and deep connection can be found in the book; Pretty-Shield Medicine Woman of the Crows which tells of the first hand accounts of an elder woman of the Crow tribe. She talks about an experience her grandmother told her about having a conversation with a chickadee by saying, “ ‘I am a woman, as you are. Like you I have to work, and make the best of this life,’ said the bird. ‘I am your friend, and yet to help you I must first hurt you. You will have three sons, but will lose two of them’ ”. Pretty-Shield then goes on to explain that two of her grandmother’s children were killed by the Lacota, a neighboring tribe. Her grandmother finished by saying, “It is bad to harm the chickadee, and foolish not to listen to him.” This experience Pretty-Shield’s grandmother had with the “animal people” proves how the Native Americans (more specifically the Crow tribe) had a deeper connection with the animals than the European settlers ever could. This shows that the Crow tribe used the animals for more purposes than just food and clothing; they listened to the animals for advice and tellings of the future, they were a part of the tribe’s society. It is a fair assessment to say that animals were a significant part of the Crow culture and many other Native American tribes in North America. Native Americans lived in

With the arrival of Anglo-Americans, Native Americans lost much more than just their land. Tribes were forced onto reservations, stripped of their culture, wealth and place in society, with no hope of regaining what they owned unless by complete assimilation. For the latter half of the 19th and early 20th centuries, many Anglo-Americans continually pushed for Native Americans to abandon their cultures and “savage” ways. However, despite the many attempts to force Natives into Anglo-American culture, many Native Americans found ways to negotiate with the demands of the Anglo-Americans through mainly social, economic and legal means.

On the Lewis and Clark expedition, the two men had encountered Native American tribes. Nobody has been completely sure if they treated the Indians with respect. Meriwether Lewis, a skilled frontiersman, was chosen by President Thomas Jefferson to take the lead in an expedition where he would explore the land he had bought, which was known as the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis had chosen William Clark, a draftsman and frontiersman, to co-lead in the journey. The Lewis and Clark expedition began its long journey in May 1804. Throughout the expedition, Lewis and Clark had ran into Native Americans who lived on the land. Lewis and Clark were respectful towards the Native Americans. The explorers had gifted the Indian tribes to befriend them, treated the Native Americans’ health, and trusted the

Hawaii is well known for its beauty. But behind its tropical mountains, oceans, and its sacred places, lies the spirits of life and death. There are many well known myths and legends in the island of Hawaii, but what most people don 't realize, is that those myths and legends are altered everyday. Huaka‘i po, or as today known as the Night Marchers, are ancient Hawaiian spirits, who still roam the tropics till this very day. My family is very familiar with the Hawaiian stories and beliefs, but the story that fascinated all of us, were the stories of the Night Marchers. A well known historian by the name of Glen Grant, published and posted stories that he collected all around the Hawaiian islands. Amazingly, he collected

Each of the Native-American tribes have a distinct, extensive culture that they hold extremely sacred. The Iroquois tribe clearly demonstrate this, they

The Hopi tribe is strongly entrenched in religion, spirituality, morals and ethics, and as a matter of fact, the meaning of Hopi is “The Peaceful People” or “Peaceful Little Ones”. Hopis strive to be respectful of all living things, meanwhile, they follow the instructions of the Massaw, the Earth Guardian. The Hopi are one of the oldest living tribes in existence; to this day they are still living the Hopi way by continuing to conduct ceremonies and traditions meanwhile still speaking their ancient language. The Native American tribe are currently located on a Hopi Reservation in Northeastern Arizona with 19,327 Hopis according to the 2010 census (Data Access and Dissemination Systems (DADS), 2010).

Compare and contrast the family values and traditions of three different cultures. How do the values, communication and spirituality resemble or differ from yours? What impact might these values have on the definition of child abuse/neglect? (1-2 pages)

Throughout history, many different people have wondered how life on Earth started. Different cultures came up with many different ideas on how life was created and used these ideas to create stories. Today we call these stories origin myths. The Native Americans had many different origin myths. Almost every tribe had their own individual story. “The Earth On The Turtle's Back” by the Onondaga tribe, “When The Grizzlies Walked Upright” by the Modoc tribe, and “The Navajo Origin Legend” by the Navajo tribe are all myths that explain how life was put here on Earth. In all three of these origin myths, the Native Americans show a great amount of respect towards nature and their deities.

There are many cultural values that we share similarities with from the colonial period. These values are expressed in the second document. One cultural value from the colonial period that we still follow today is honoring your parent and elders. Kids and young adults must honor our parents and elders, because that is the respectful thing to do. We also love our friends like how

“We do not want riches. We want peace and love.” War Chief Red Cloud, Oglala Lakota Sioux. The early European settlers were only interested in trade and riches and could care less about peace and love, which is the main reason why American Indians were mistreated so badly in the past. Although American Indians shouldn't blame the people of today for their mistreatment of the past, the frustration American Indian’s feel about their mistreatment of the past is valid. What happened in the past attempted genocide of American Indians including the elimination of many American Indians, the discrimination it started and the forced movement from their original land to reservations proves the ignorance of America’s past and the ignorance it brought

Native American culture is full of rich traditions and values that many, myself included, have never taken the time to understand or even consider. Some of those traditions are strange to many outsiders today, and to the European settlers who took over their land hundreds of years ago. However, other aspects of Native American culture are rather similar to modern culture. There was, and still is, an emphasis placed on community within the tribe. This included stressing the importance of the individual, but also the family and the tribe itself. Natalie Diaz’s poem When My Brother Was an Aztec and Betty Louise Bell’s story “In the Hour of the Wolf” revolves around this belief that family is the most important thing, although the family and the

Thesis: The English were a prideful group, entangled in ethnocentrism, that caused a condescending and harsh treatment of the Native Americans, while the Native Americans were actually a dynamic and superior society, which led to the resentment and strife between the groups.

I believe self-respect is a discipline. To develop or train this self-respect discipline, one might consider sticking to your values, not sacrificing your beliefs, practice not being hard on yourself and believe that you are as good as the next person.