Recently we watched a film explain to us some of the hardships Native Americans, specifically the Navajo, have to go through with money.
Yesterday when we watched this film it really got to me. I’m not gonna lie, I cried for a full 45 minutes after class and had a long, ranting discussion with my cousin to help calm me down.
It boggled my mind how this woman could fight for the final fifteen years of her life on something just for the government to payout some measly $3.4 billion. $3.4 billion sounds like a lot, but compared to the nearly $100 billion that they were owed, it is noting. People were, and still are, starving because they had no money to feed themselves or their families. The government acted as a bank and instead of being responsible, like they claimed they were, lost all these records and really doomed a lot of people.
Another thing the film talked about was the extraction of oil and natural gas off of Native American properties. This really got to me because I have had an interest in working with oil for some time now. Knowing that a career that I may be interested in is being so biased and harmful to the Navajo hurts. I’m glad that this was brought to my attention because now, if I continue with this path, hopefully some day I can help lead a company into more civil and environmentally friendly ways. An oil company should not be polluting the lands that people live off of and pay them basically nothing in return. It is very inhumane and very tragic that these Navajo people can’t make a living off of their royalties, where as their white neighbors are making a lot.
I’m glad that they have reached a settlement and people were paid some of the money that they were owed, but it still breaks my heart to know that some people still have not been paid. It is also sad to know that they are not getting the full amounts of what they were owed originally. $3.4 billion is not nearly enough.