Native American Rights

John Chee

I am John Chee, I was a code talker in World War II and this is the story of my struggles being a Native American Male...

     As I said before, I am John... I grew up here in New Mexico in a pueblo not too far from the Four Corners area, my people have always been such a friendly group; but for some reason we have a bad reputation because of the white men and Spaniards who attempted to take my peoples land for years. It's hard growing up hearing these horrible names people call us and being put down because my skin color is dark and I speak a different language than them... Maybe I shouldn't focus on my past too much right now because there is something much bigger going on, I am caught in the middle of the war... Most of us call it "Hell On Earth" because that's what it seems like to us. I have been chosen among with a small select group of men to have a big part in this whole war, we will come up with a code and communicate with everyone like this; first we must develop the code, secondly we will need to teach the other soldiers this language so it can become an effective technique. 
     The year is 1942, it's May and me and our group of 29 Navajo men are on our way to boot camp to begin learning the basics of just exactly what the military does, as well as, create a dictionary for the other soldier to memorize that is written in our language. After we finished our training, I was sent to the Pacific Theater Marine Unit to begin radio transmissions to all of our soldiers that went out there to sacrifice their lives out on foreign lands. We successfully used our language throughout the war without one transmission being broken by the Japanese or German, it is now time to return home, I am happy to be returning home with honor that will be recognized by the whole nation!
     We're almost at my home, but it seems like almost no one is very happy about anything right now, there are no children playing outside, no elderly people sitting outside... nothing... What's going on? I need to get home now and find out what happened while I was gone!
     The one thing I helped our country fight for has now been stripped from me... I am no longer a citizen of the United States... My father and my father's father have been on this land for years and years and they fought to make this land free, but now after me and some of my people went to war to be free, we have had our freedom, our right to vote, our right to legally own land, our right to have our own religious beliefs, and to even live here, all taken from our hands! How can this be right at all?!?! I must fight again to have freedom restored, but this time, the war isn't with foreign enemies or men ready with weapons to kill us... It's with the government, the people who arrived in our land years after we were already here!

Returning to reality now, it was legally unfair that John and every other Native American was being denied their God given right to be a citizen of the US because the Bill of Rights and the Constitution (which you can access by clicking here and here) both state in that the government cannot do what they did to the Native Americans. By doing so they violated Amendments I, IX, XIV, XV, and XIX. Although the Native Americans were now considered 'wards' of the state, they were born in the US which did in fact entitle their citizenship.  

Visual Aids
Click HERE to see one of the few attempts to liquefy the Native Americans living in the United States

A piece if paper that is crucial that one should be acquainted with because
you never know when it may come in handy for you 

here is a short visual of the bill of rights and how they can apply to everyday life. (created by Abe)
click here.

after the video, you can take a short quiz to test your knowledge of the bill of rights. click here to take it.


Works Cited

http://goanimate.com/videos/0BomIJ1MkTfs?utm_source=linkshare

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/LTD8ZNJ

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/print_friendly.html?page=constitution_amendments_11-27_content.html&title=The%20Constitution%20of%20the%20United%20States%3A%20Amendments%2011-27

 http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq61-2.htm

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/print_friendly.html?page=constitution_amendments_11-27_content.html&title=The%20Constitution%20of%20the%20United%20States%3A%20Amendments%2011-27