The Indigenous people from Central and South America seeking a better life are vilified by Trump in his attempt to stoke fear over an immigration crisis.
Author of the article:
Doug Cuthand • Saskatoon StarPhoenix
Published Aug 10, 2024 • Last updated 6 minutes ago • 3 minute read
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The attempted assassination will create sympathy for Donald Trump. So will some of the gleeful reaction on social media. Photo by Evan Vucci /THE ASSOCIATED PRESSArticle content
Once again, the issue of immigration has raised its ugly head in the presidential campaign south of the border. As far as Donald Trump is concerned, fear sells and he exploits it to the max.
He spreads fear that they are coming to get the Americans. They are murderers, rapists and countries are emptying out their insane asylums and jails and sending them to America. Of course, it’s not true and it’s time to take a serious adult view of what is really happening.
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People from Central and South America are in search of a better life. The source countries such as Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua are countries with weak economies and authoritarian governments.
Countries in Central America also known as the Northern Triangle, including Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, are overrun with gangs and chaos.
Unfortunately, when the Caribbean was colonized, the original people suffered from a combination of slavery and epidemics, so today few of the original people exist.
When the Spanish colonized the Americas, they didn’t create any democratic institutions and left colonies that continued to be controlled by the Spanish elite.
In the Americas, the stratified society places the descendants of the Spanish settlers at the top and the Indigenous people and mestizos (Métis) at the bottom. These are the people that are forced off their land and preyed on by gangs and drug cartels.
These are the people that Trump wails against as murderers and thieves. The rich are not being forced off the land or threatened by drug cartels. Meanwhile, it is the Indigenous people that are on the move looking for a better life.
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The news media and governments fail to see the uniqueness and value of the Indigenous people of the Americas. As far as the public is concerned, they are Latino or Hispanic people from countries in South and Central America.
Their true nationality is given little regard. For example, many Indigenous people from Central America have Mayan roots. Their ancestors were developing mathematics, astronomy and building temples and pyramids while the Europeans were in the Dark Ages.
Indigenous peoples of the Americas developed agriculture and fed the world with their vegetables. And yet, today, our people are seen as strangers in their own land.
There is a long history of Indigenous people dealing with a border that runs through their traditional territories. In 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo cut the homelands of 36 Indigenous nations. Today, thousands of Indigenous people belong to tribes on both sides of the border.
In the past, they could routinely cross the border to visit family and participate in ceremonies, attend funerals and even go to school. Now they must go through checkpoints where they are subject to interrogation and rigorous security.
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To Indigenous people, borders between countries are merely artificial lines that divide us. Our people predate the formation of the countries of the Americas, and we are victimized as a result.
In Canada we have the Jay Treaty, which recognizes our international status. Canada doesn’t recognize it, but the Americans do, and the Jay Treaty gives Indigenous people free passage, and we can work and live in the U.S.
We don’t need a passport to make a land crossing; our status card is all we require. Unfortunately, very little exists on the American southern border.
Indigenous people have been displaced by colonialism in the past and, today, they are denied access to their ancestral lands by business interests and corporations. When they fight back, they are subject to violence and imprisonment.
Indigenous people seeking asylum in the United States are fleeing violence and are scared for their lives and the lives of their families. To classify them as economic migrants is a misnomer.
The root of the immigrant crisis is in the living conditions and violence in the home nations. If the Americans truly want to “solve” the crisis, they must reach out to the home countries and assist with improving the quality of life.
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Simply complaining and assigning blame is no answer, it is used to sell fear to the American public. The tragic circumstances of the Indigenous people of the Americas is used as fodder for American politicians and not a long-term solution.
Doug Cuthand is the Indigenous affairs columnist for the Saskatoon StarPhoenix and the Regina Leader-Post. He is a member of the Little Pine First Nation.
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Publish date : 2024-08-09 13:00:00
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