Cuthand: The Plight of America’s Native People Is Fodder for Trump

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Once again, the immigration issue is rearing its ugly head in the presidential campaign south of the border. For Donald Trump, fear sells and he’s exploiting it to the max.

He spreads fear that they are coming to get the Americans. They are murderers, rapists and countries are emptying their asylums and prisons and sending them to America. Of course that is not true and it is time to take a serious, adult look at what is really happening.

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People from Central and South America are looking for 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 by gangs and chaos.

Unfortunately, during colonization, the native inhabitants of the Caribbean suffered from a combination of slavery and epidemics, and today, there are few native inhabitants left.

When the Spanish colonized the Americas, they did not create any democratic institutions and left behind colonies that were still controlled by the Spanish elite.

In America, the stratified society places the descendants of Spanish colonists at the top and the indigenous and mestizo (Métis) people at the bottom. These are the people who are forced off their land and exploited by gangs and drug cartels.

These are the people Trump is complaining about as murderers and thieves. The rich are not being driven off their land or threatened by drug cartels. Meanwhile, it is the indigenous people who are 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 America. As far as the public is concerned, they are Latinos or Hispanics from countries in South and Central America.

Their true nationality is not respected much. For example, many indigenous people of Central America have Mayan roots. Their ancestors developed mathematics, astronomy, and built temples and pyramids while the Europeans were in the Dark Ages.

Native peoples of the Americas developed agriculture and fed the world with their vegetables. Yet today our people are seen as strangers in their own land.

There is a long history of indigenous peoples dealing with a border that runs through their traditional territories. In 1848, the homelands of 36 indigenous peoples were separated by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Today, thousands of indigenous peoples belong to tribes on both sides of the border.

Previously, they could routinely cross the border to visit family and participate in ceremonies, attend funerals and even go to school. Now they must pass through checkpoints where they are interrogated and subject to tight security.

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For indigenous peoples, borders between countries are merely artificial lines that divide us. Our people predate the formation of the countries of the Americas, and we are victims 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 aboriginal people free passage, and we can work and live in the US.

We don’t need a passport to cross a land; our state card is all we need. Unfortunately, there is very little to be found at the US southern border.

Indigenous peoples have been displaced by colonialism in the past and are now denied access to their ancestral lands by corporate interests and companies. When they resist, they are subjected to violence and imprisonment.

Indigenous people seeking asylum in the United States are fleeing violence and fearing for their lives and the lives of their families. It is a misnomer to classify them as economic migrants.

The root of the immigrant crisis lies in the living conditions and violence in the home countries. If Americans really want to “solve” the crisis, they need to reach out to the home countries and help improve the quality of life.

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Simply complaining and blaming is not an answer, it is used to sell fear to the American public. The tragic circumstances of the indigenous people of America are used as fodder for American politicians and not as a long term solution.

Doug Cuthand is an 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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