On Tuesday, when we were talking about the Lakota tribe and Custer's Last Stand, Mr. Stewart mentioned the affect of alcohol on Native Americans, and I decided to research a little on the topic.
The presence of alcohol in Native American tribes dates back to precolonial times, although then it was almost exclusively used for religious ceremonies, and only in very low concentrations in a few areas. The problems that it presented in the tribes surfaced around colonial times, when various liquors became widely available to them. It was often used as a trade item in exchange for animal skins and other Native American materials, but was also used as a bargaining tactic. Colonists quickly realized that they could get much better deals when their trading counterparts were intoxicated, which was a major factor in the prevalence of alcohol in the tribes.
Another major factor was the frequent abuse of alcohol among the colonists themselves. Heavy, frequent drinking was a common occurrence among soldiers, miners, and many of the traders who interacted with the Native Americans. Because of this, Native Americans often weren't able to see the dangers of excessive alcohol, because drunkenness was common in their experience. Why this was so detrimental to their society was because, while the colonists had laws and moral guidelines to help control the alcohol problem, Native Americans had no such restrictions, which meant they had no way to control what would become a very serious issue.
This problem also led to what was called the "firewater myths". When a white colonist would get drunk, it would be seen as misbehavior. When a native would get drunk, however, white colonists would attribute it to their race, and claim the natives to be inferior because of their addiction and sensitivity to alcohol. While many scientific arguments have debunked these myths since then, they reveal the racial prejudices that consumed most of American in the earlier centuries.
Overall, the impact of alcohol is still very visible in Native American communities today. The amount of alcohol-related deaths among Native Americans is between 5 and 7 times as much as for Americans. Almost 20% of Native Americans between the ages of 12-18 regularly binge drink. Domestic violence due to alcohol is a common occurrence. This problem is one that has been growing in America for over 400 years, and is not one that is likely to get much better any time soon.
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcohol_and_Native_Americans#Precolonial
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10705850
https://www.niaaa.nih.gov/alcohol-health/overview-alcohol-consumption/alcohol-facts-and-statistics
I really like how you explain the double-standard with the treatment of Native Americans and alcohol. It was a problem that was introduced to them by the white man, and then they gained a dependence to it(much like the government workers on the reservations).
ReplyDeleteThis was really interesting to read especially because America is facing an opiate crisis now in modern times, similar to the alcohol problems first originating with the colonial era and slowly growing worse and worse to the point of prohibition. Furthermore, the long lasting effects of alcohol on Native Americans today was unknown to me, it's so sad that 1/5 of the modern Native American population have such heave drinking problems because of the European influence 400+ years ago!
ReplyDeleteThis was incredibly interesting to read as I had no idea what the "firewater myths" were and that white colonists used alcohol to manipulate the Native Americans. I really enjoyed how you didn't stop with just recounting what happened in the past but also gave an update on how it is now and how that problem back then has persisted to the present.
ReplyDeleteI liked reading this because it expanded on an issue that I had seen somewhere else. In english class last year, we read works by Alexie Sherman, a Native American author who has published many works about his life on the reservation. In them, he mentions how many people around him, including his parents, struggled with alcoholism. In the modern age, drinking problems among Native Americans are largely caused by poverty, and as a means of coping with the difficult life on the reservation. It was interesting to learn about the history of this issue, and where it began.
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