The history of the Arapaho people is some of the most historically relevant information in portraying the big picture of North America and in understanding this country's history. Despite the Arapaho people’s significant history on this continent, the relevance of it has remained almost completely unacknowledged in schools, politics, and popular media. It has led to the Arapaho people not only being left out of discussions of pre-colonized America, but also caused Arapaho people to be absent in U.S. history entirely. The detriment of this cannot be seen or measured; it can only be felt.

 

To cover the history briefly, the Arapaho people were a tribe who lived closer to the Northeast at one point in time. From our knowledge they were more of an agriculturally based society that eventually migrated to the plains to become a more nomadic, hunter-warrior based society. Throughout all of this, even up until now, Arapaho people have remained strong in their spirituality and practices. In this period the Arapaho people eventually split into bands, which I imagine was because they became too high in numbers to properly manage. Throughout this time, they traded with some tribes and allied with others while fighting back against any that opposed them. It’s tragic to me that after potentially thousands of years of societal and cultural development, the United States attempted genocide of my people that has led to where we are now; not everyone has access to adequate work or housing, and our youth are becoming more and more disconnected from our rich history and cultural practices.

 

There is a lot of my people’s history that is not only deliberately ignored and swept under the rug by the government but is also honestly extremely uncomfortable to be aware of - the type of information that made me want to stay seated during the Pledge of Allegiance in school. Even despite me growing up without enough exposure to my own cultural identity, I’ve always had a hard time identifying myself as an American. Especially knowing that the United States Calvary once tricked all of the Arapaho warriors to meet them somewhere for a peace treaty while they killed, raped, and mutilated all of our elders, women, and children during the Sand Creek Massacre. The United States not only tried to completely erase my people off the face of the Earth, but they spent decades taking children away from their parents to send them to boarding schools and conversion schools where the motto was “Kill the Indian, Save the Man,” schools where young Indian kids were forced to cut their hair, get abused, and speak English. How is it that after inflicting some of the most severe trauma conceivable that they still somehow have the audacity to create treaties to garner peace with my people after decades of warring just to flat out lie about them, all while still profiting from our lands and letting hundreds of our women get murdered and kidnapped yearly? It also wouldn’t be too far of a stretch to think that a lot of Indigenous voices have been repressed to keep a lot of this information out of public dialogue. In fact, I’m not even entirely sure that this country has acknowledged that they have subjected many tribes to those conversion schools. This isn’t something unique to the Arapaho people, but the point still stands. Growing up on the Wind River Reservation, not only did I live in one of the most dangerous places in this country, rife with cartel activity and human trafficking, along with having such a limited access to work and education opportunities, but historical trauma is something we are still forced to deal with today.

 

The importance of being represented is one that cannot be understated. I think it is important for people (children especially) to see people of their demographic fairly represented in literature and media. As a young Native growing up, I never felt like I had much culture to be connected to, as if the extent of my existence as a Native American was fry bread, “Smoke Signals,” and the dumb tomato looking people from the animated Peter Pan movie. Looking back, it’s honestly quite embarrassing to think of how ashamed I was to be indigenous. Not even the fact that I was Arapaho, because to all the white kids at school, it didn’t make a difference. I’m more ashamed now thinking that I could be embarrassed by the fact that I’m the descendant of a strong, warrior people known for our spiritual ways, feared by the opposing tribes and revered by others. To think I let myself get bullied by people who didn’t know how to identify themselves beyond the countries their ancestors came here from. It’s always “I’m Italian,” “I’m German,” or the classic “I’m an American.” Although not nearly as celebrated as any other culture represented in this country, I feel a strong and genuine appreciation for being as close to the land of my people as I am. Considering how disconnected a lot of Indigenous youth are with their culture it's not too surprising that a lot of tribes today have decided to focus their time and assets on business. More time and money should be spent on cultural programs and events for youth rather than paying contractors absurd amounts to build extensions for casinos and restaurants.

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I think the best way we could go about fixing these issues is first off being informed of them, to encourage our youths to go into media journalism, tribal politics, city planning, or whatever the hell we need to in order to find our own prosperity in this modern world. Whether that is through business or reverting back into bartering and living off the land, hopefully someday we’ll have enough of a voice to bring the story of our people to the collective conscious.