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Article: Native peoples must exert political will to stop assimilation
- Article from:
- The Ojibwe News
- Article date:
- December 1, 1995
- Author:
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Robert Fairbanks
Ojibwe News, The
12-01-1995
Native peoples must exert political will to stop assimilation.
While the origin of the term is not abundantly clear, it is certain that the United States referred to the native peoples of North American collectively as "Indians" as early as 1781 in the Articles of Confederation.
Similar references to "Indians" are found in the Northwest Ordinance and the Constitution of the United States. Thus, as a historical matter, it is beyond question that it has been federal policy to ignore the vast diversity of native peoples, and to consider them all, and their governments, as a single ethopolitical entity. This policy, and the use of the term "Indian," ...