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Today, slightly less than half of all Native Americans live on isolated, rural reservations, many with inadequate housing, plumbing, and electricity. However, tribal schools and colleges enable new generations to study their tribal languages and cultures and to acquire traditional skills that would otherwise be lost. Desperate for economic relief, some tribes have forsaken their values about the land to allow nuclear waste storage facilities or strip mining on their reservations. Some tribes are doing well from oil and gambling revenues but have abandoned much of their culture. Is it too late to save the cultures? Should the cultures be saved? These are not idle questions, for they go to the heart of a debate that has continued for generations between those who advocate assimilation and modernization on the one hand, and those who believe Native American culture should be preserved and maintained as a way of life on the other.

Cultural diffusion (the spread of values and practices from one culture to another) is one way at least parts of a culture endure. Many nontribal members hang dream-catchers from their rearview mirrors, give Kachinas to children for toys, use pipes, have "sweats," and engage in traditional rituals in nontraditional ways. By contrast, the "Blackrobes" and other clergy who work with tribal groups adorn the Virgin Mary in traditional Hopi or other tribal garments, promote the "Black Madonna," and hang pipes, beaded items, shawls, and other traditional items in their churches. Many nontribal peoples attend, take part, respect, and become part of traditional American Indian ceremonies.

Some do respect and admire traditions and practices of Native Americans. Yet, others seem inclined to either ignore or suppress the indigenous cultures that outsiders have tried to destroy since they first arrived. Many "Blackrobes" and other clergy do go to great lengths to respect and preserve traditional ways, as do many funeral directors.

After centuries of denigration, exploitation, discrimination, poverty, and despair, some hope exists. Symbolic is the opening of the National Museum of the American Indian in the mall of Washington, D.C., in 2005, an unusual positive happening in Washington for Native Americans. The future is both positive and negative. The economic future for some tribes is greatly improving. For others, the economic picture is quite bleak. Conflicting views about their cultures, languages, and way of life continue.

References:

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

2) Powers, William K. 1982. Yuwipi, Vision and Experience in Oglala Ritual. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press.

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

4) Ross, Allen C. 1989. Mitakuye Oyasin: We Are All Related. Denver, CO: Wiconi Waste.

5) Stolzman, William. 1988. How to Take Part in Lakota Ceremonies. Chamberlain, SD: Tipi Press.

6) Wall, Steve and Harvey Arden. 2006. Wisdomkeepers: Meetings with Native American Spiritual Elders. Hillsboro, OR: Atria Books/Beyond Words.

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