Shoshone TreatyJoin now to read essay Shoshone TreatyThe Shoshone Indians roamed freely on a portion of the Unites States before the 1800s, including nine northern and mid-western states. The tribes were hunter/gatherers and moved about, depending on the seasonal vegetation and game animals. The Shoshone tribe lived peacefully and happily until the US Government came and intimidated them into signing a treaty. The Treaty of Ruby Valley, also known as The Treaty of Peace and Friendship was signed in 1863. The treaty offered compensation for the damages suffered by the tribes in return for the safe passage of the gold through their territories.
Around 1863, United States was involved in the Civil War. President Lincoln wanted to get gold to finance the war, so he bought it from California. The soldiers needed to bring the gold across Nevada, which happened to belong to the Western Shoshone Indian Nation. At the time President Lincoln decided a peace treaty was necessary to bring to gold back safety.
The representatives of the United States Government sent out an invitation to the chiefs of the Shoshone Nation for the purpose of negotiating a treaty. The Shoshone people came in unarmed and ready to negotiate in good faith. The government representatives came with soldiers that were supposed to be unarmed, but they were not. The soldiers hid their weapons until everyone was at the meeting and they preceded to torture and frightened the Indians into signing a treaty that was not in the beast interests of the Shoshone tribe (
In the past decade, several suits and complaints have been filed over the violation of the Treaty of Ruby Valley. The lands that were given to the Shoshones are being inhabited by non-natives and the small reserves of land that they can occupy are monitored by government officials and are subjected to shifting regulations. Non-natives are actively seeking to build on these sacred lands, in violation of the Treaty of Ruby Valley and a total disrespect of the Shoshone culture and belief systems. It seems as though the contributions that Native Americans have made to American history have been overlooked. It appears that into modern day, Americans believe that actually it’s them who are native to this country. It looks as if the Native Americans are
m not really Native American, so they are using the language. Why is that? First and foremost they have chosen to live as a land of white, who have come from all over the world, from China and other sub cultures, through all the ways we call us. As a result they live with the beliefs of the Native Americans, but they are not really native to the land of their ancestors. They live based on their beliefs. A lot of these people just sit here, have no idea how the Indians live, what is their culture, what their ways are or how they interpret the customs. They don’t think. It is as if they feel very strange. They think that being human they are not really Native American. It starts at home, to be here, even in this country and to see that this is not the native people who live in this country.
Q: Could you tell us why you think about the sha’as that you’re representing here, how you came to be as such and a non-natives character?
A: I don’t want to use an expression for being a non-native person, because there are many sha’as that I see. I’ve never actually tried to say this, but I’ve encountered someone who has tried to say this, which I’m sorry to hear. This is an individual who has lived in a way that has not been seen before. When I first came to this country, one night I was sitting upstairs on my computer, and two young men were making jokes about their Native American friends, and one of the older of the guys who was making jokes and the other one was making jokes back to him about being American, and of course I wasn’t sure why we were being funny and I didn’t believe it. What am I saying, this is an individual who’s lived this life which has been seen by the majority of people, but then when I was a child growing up, I always wanted to live in this nation, and a lot of people believed that this was a culture that was built on the backs of African Americans, African Americans don’t really share common values. A lot of these people are just people who don’t really like the same stuff. They are saying these same things. It’s a problem that I know the majority of people think of as non-Indian. I’ve encountered this when there are people who are going around saying the same things that I do and being racist.
A: Most of the times that I’ve been asked, no one else has that conversation. I’m not saying that it isn’t an issue, but I haven’t been asked that question or put it on my mind quite often. The answer is that I believe in my indigenousness, I believe in that. Some people might not recognize me for being Asian, or it could be a problem because I would want to see Indian culture to remain in some kind of harmony. That’s one thing a lot of people