“This is the intergenerational trauma,” she said. The lives of many families, including her own, have been affected by mental illness, homelessness, and alcoholism. Many children taken from their homes and families did not develop parenting skills and were not able to nurture their own children later in life as their ancestors had done. Haozous reflected on how these experiences presented challenges that affected future generations. Her grandmother also experienced life at a boarding school. Her great-grandfather was able to start a family, and his son (her grandfather) was the first baby born to the tribe free of captivity. Without knowing what happened to the missing children, there was a general understanding that they died at school. While her great-grandfather returned, Haozous noted that not all the children did. The children were sent to boarding schools in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. (See also her account in Chapter 2.) Her great-grandfather's tribe was put on a train across the country, eventually stopping in Fort Sill, Oklahoma. She shared her family history to illustrate how the trauma experienced by one generation becomes the burden of the next. It is also inclusive of natural disasters and other traumatic events that may not have been directed at a specific population but that are particularly significant for marginalized communities. Despite these statistics, Brockie said, little is known about the risks or protective factors associated with these outcomes.Įmily Haozous provided the context for what is meant by the term “intergenerational trauma.” She described this type of trauma as cumulative over time and across generations and felt at both community and individual levels. Finally, adolescent NAs have death rates two to five times the rate of whites in the same age group ( Indian Health Service, 2016). Three to 10 percent of NA youth drop out before graduating high school, the highest dropout rate of any ethnic/racial group in the United States ( Stark and Noel, 2015). Violence, including intentional injuries, homicide and suicide, account for 75 percent of deaths for NA youth ( Center for Native American Youth, 2015). Suicide is 2.5 times the national rate and has been the second leading cause of death for more than 30 years ( Heron, 2016). First, there is a significantly higher rate of substance use, including the highest rates of alcohol-related deaths ( Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2008). With one-half of tribal enrollment on this reservation under the age of 18 and growing up in poverty, Brockie detailed a number of outcomes that emerge among at-risk Native American (NA) youth when compared to U.S. In 2010, after six suicides and 20 attempts in 5 months, Brockie said that the tribal leadership declared a state of emergency. The tribal law enforcement is estimated at 50 percent of what is needed to police this area and population, and the violent crime rate in 2011 was five times higher than the rest of the state and three times higher than the U.S. The reservation is listed among the 100 poorest in the country and among the 10 for least healthy, with nearly one-half of the population living below the federal poverty level. The reservation consists of more than 2 million acres, covers four counties, and includes six reservation communities and two Plains tribes with populations of more than 11,000. As an example, she described an isolated rural reservation established in 1851 by the Fort Laramie Treaty where she conducted her dissertation research. Further, mandatory boarding schools “led to the loss of traditional family practices, including parenting loss of identity, language, and traditions and a radical change in the role of the Native male.”īrockie said current living conditions continue to tell the story of the effect of those policies. These underresourced communities have encountered concerns around neighborhood safety, access to quality education, geographic isolation, and increased morbidity and mortality. Those living on reservations experienced concentrated poverty, food deserts, employment deserts, and intergenerational poverty. The adverse effects of these policies were great, said Brockie. To better understand the severity of this demographic collapse, she outlined policies that contributed to the assault on cultural identity and health of Native populations, including the Indian Appropriation Act (1851–1880) and the Mandatory Boarding School Era (1878–1920). Focusing on historical trauma as experienced by Native Americans in the United States, Brockie began by stating that 95 percent of people indigenous to the present-day United States died during colonization.
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