No shit. We took their land, killed their families and friends, and quarantined them to "reserves". Then introduced them to alcohol. What did you think would happen? It isn't genetics, it is escape-ism.
I think we need to stop leaning on past atrocities (without endorsing or excusing them in any way) as an excuse for not being responsible adults in the here and now. We can't change the past, we can only live the best life we can going forwards.
Americans (European settlers that is, but later Americans too) did it in an unprecedented scale -- similarly to European colonialists elsewhere at the same time.
And unlike those older tribes which saw power for what it is, they presumed to have the moral high ground (and/or a "manifest destiny").
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongol_invasions_and_conquests
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_and_anthropogenic...
Having spent some time around Native Americans here are some observations. Often when they drink they get carried away and drink to excess for the session. They often don't just sit and chat while doing it but engage in some fairly crazy behavior like turning over cars etc. Alcohol does appear to affect them differently and it's not "alcoholism" like someone's Anglo uncle who sits in front of the TV quietly downing a fifth of scotch every night until his liver gives out. In my limited observations, it's more like a group of 16 year old getting blind drunk down by the river in the effects it produces.
I don't think it's all environmental. I think the effects of alcohol are in general different than it is with other racial groups. Incidentally, the effects of sugar appear to also be worse as well. Go to any reservation and look at the incidents of diabetes and obesity. I don't have an explanation... maybe some of it is cultural, but I think there is a genetic/evolutionary component making the effects of alcohol and carbohydrates much more harmful to Native Americans. I think they need to keep looking.
NO, boarding schools, forced adoption, forced relocation to urban environments happened within the current generations. Anyone thinking this is old problems has not looked at new from Indian country.
"Having spent some time around Native Americans here are some observations"
I am typing this from a reservation and grew up here. I am a lineal descendant on the tribal roll (not of the tribe I lived with) but missed being an enrolled member by 1/8 blood quota. My Dad is enrolled.
Grouping all of the tribes is as foolish as grouping all of Europe. Dakota have very different behavior than Seminole or Navajo. What you saw is not indicative of all the tribes, but alcoholism is a problem with most. I have never observed the behavior you described. I have observed fights and violence.
Diabetes and Obesity are well know problems and have a lot to do with diet of people who were exiled to places where food would not grow and hunting became scarce. A lot of "Native American" food came from that era and is not exactly healthy.
I agree on the foolishness of grouping all tribes. There are vast range of cultures of varying ages and certainly they have many dissimilarities.
I'm just relating my limited observations in context of two tribes in the SW. In my experience, alcohol does appear to affect the members differently. I don't think its all cultural but does have a biological basis. Just my opinion.
Well, the whole urban relocation resulted in a high suicide rate (90% in some studies), and land most certainly was stolen in the current generation. Look at the ongoing lawsuits against the Department of the Interior. So, no, it was done differently but it has happened again (ongoing) recently.
I too believe in the biological because its too many varied cultures to call it all cultural.
Yeah, they are just 1/20th of the numbers they used to be due to ethnic cleansing, having subjected to concentration camps for re-education just a century ago, equally looked down upon as blacks, living deprived from the original lands their culture and society was based on and moved to settlements far away from their homes...
Why wont those fools accept that what's past is past?