Examining the American Indian Experience
In 1990, then-President George H.W. Bush designated November as “National American Indian Heritage and Alaska Native Month.” The theme this year is “Creating a Healthy Native World.” And although we report on minorities in higher education 26 times a year, we decided in this edition to give special focus to American Indians in higher education.
Comprising approximately 1.5 percent of the U.S. population, American Indians and Alaska Natives are arguably the most under-represented groups in the United States. You rarely read an article in the mainstream media about American Indians that’s not related to casinos or alcoholism or other issues confined to Indian reservations. And while these are all important issues, American Indians, like all of us, are just trying to provide for their families and improve the lives of future generations. In many cases, they are also trying to preserve their unique cultures, which brings me to one our feature stories, “A Matter of Survival.” Diverse correspondent Peter Eichstaedt visited the University of Wyoming, where instructor Wayne C’Hair is teaching the Arapaho language. Years ago, many American Indian students were discouraged from speaking their native language once they entered school. Now adults, those students are longing to reconnect and preserve a critical part of their culture.
“One of the things that we face right now is that when these languages aren’t learned, everything that is bound together through language is lost,” says Dr. Christine Sims, assistant professor at the University of New Mexico’s College of Education, who was interviewed for the piece.
We at Diverse are taking great efforts to boost our coverage of the issues important to American Indians at our nation’s colleges and universities. To aid us in this effort, Mary Annette Pember, a past president of the Native American Journalists Association, has joined our staff as a contributing editor.
A recent DiverseEducation.com article on the declining number of Blacks in law school prompted a response from a reader at Saginaw Chippewa Tribal College, who reminded us about the abysmal numbers of American Indians in law school.
