Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/381166
ate injustice and hate," says Carmelo. "I believe that fear and the fear of change keep us from acceptance. While it has been over a year since the unpunished hate crime in my family, I continue to pursue my goal of helping to prevent Native students from dropping out of school because their needs are not being met. I am indigenous and I am a descendant of the California genocide. It's in my blood to fi ght." What educators can do "Schools that respect and support a student's culture are signifi - cantly more successful in educating our children," says Carmelo. The perspective of a school's curriculum can significantly influence the attitudes of Native American students toward the school, education in general and academic performance, says Car- melo. For example, teachers should be sensitive to distortions of history, such as the myth that Christopher Columbus "discovered" America or that the first Thanksgiving was a positive event for Indian people. Teachers should consider whether Native "heroes" presented for discussion are those who aided Europeans in the conquest of their own people and whether they were heroes to their own tribe. "Look for lifestyles in literature," she says. "Are Native American heroes discussed in the past tense only? Is the culture represented without values, religions and morals as an outgrowth of the past that is not connected to the future? Is there any- thing in a story that would embarrass or hurt a native child's self-image? If the answer to any of these questions is yes, it is not a culturally appropriate way to work with Native Ameri- can students." and the highest rates of child mortality, teenage suicide, teen pregnancy and exposure to violent crime. Because of violence they experience, one in four Native American juveniles suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a recent report of a presidential commission. In February, there was a mass shooting of four people on an Indian reservation in the Northern California community of Alturas. American Indians have experienced a great deal of racism in their own homeland that was as taken from them. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Native Americans experience more than twice the rates of violence as the average American citizen. More than 70 percent of the cases of violence against American Indians are committed by people of other races. "It is disheartening that humans and agencies toler- Just 90 years ago the California Supreme Court overturned state law that barred Native Americans from attending public schools if an "Indian school" was in the vicinity — all because 15-year-old Native American Alice Piper, like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., César Chávez and Dolores Huerta, refused to accept "no" and insisted on her right to attend public schools. Watch a video about her at cta.org/AlicePiper. GO ONLINE P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y S C O T T B U S C H M A N 37 V O L U M E 1 9 I S S U E 2