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Scorn for the Native Americans' ways of life became apparent soon after their first encounters with Europeans. Disparagement of, and disrespect for, tribal cultures continued thereafter and, unfortunately, still continues today. For centuries, much of what people have known about Native Americans has rested on misinformation, stereotypes, and media creations that have led to biased attitudes and negative beliefs. The very term Indian, in fact, comes from a misconception.

Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Native Americans had rich cultures and social systems. The Aztec, Arikara, Anasazi, Clovis, Hidatsa, Hohokam, Inca, Inuit, Mandan, Mayan, Mogollon, Mounds Builders, Oneota, Pueblo, and others developed flourishing cultures long before 1492. Although the many tribes varied significantly in language, clothing and bodily adornment, housing, social organization, and ways of life, they were mostly similar in their belief systems and primary relationships that were built on a clan or friendship system. Despite the cultural diversity among the hundreds of tribes, Europeans essentially saw them as a single entity and denigrated their culture by describing them as "savages," "pagans," or "uncivilized," for the Europeans believed the tribal ways of life to be inferior to their own. The rich cultures that Europeans and European Americans failed to recognize would disintegrate through disease, conquest, loss of ancestral lands, and subjugation.

Today, as Native Americans struggle to maintain their cultural identity, restore their lost heritage, and improve their quality of life, they still endure stereotypical assaults on their dignity, such as children playing cowboys and Indians (no one plays Asian, Irish, Hispanic, or Mormon, for example), or sports team mascots (such as the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Black Hawks, Cleveland Indians, Kansas City Chiefs, Washington Redskins).

References:

1) LaDuke, Winona. 1999. All Our Relations: Native Struggles for Land and Life. Cambridge, MA: South End.

2) Richter, Daniel K. 2003. Facing East from Indian Country: A Native History of Early America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

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