Coulter-Powwow Highway and St. Marie

Powwow highway and St. Marie both have something to say about the spiritual attacks that are still being made Native American spirituality. In St. Marie a 'mission' has been sent to the reservation in order to introduce religion to the Native Americans living there. This is a practice that is still going on today church groups from around the U.S. send representatives to reservations in order to proselytize the children of the reservation. The problem with this kind of religious interaction at the reservations is that it degrades the natural spiritual practices that have already been diminished through generations of genocide, leaving most children ignorant of their spiritual history, much like the children in Powwow Highway were ignorant of even their tribe. Though there has been a resurgence in gathering this historical data many practices are lost forever, like the original form of the ghost dance which contributed in the Wounded Knee Massacre, which lead to laws banning many Native American spiritual practices. When Filbert tells other in his tribe that he has had visions, such as his aunt, he is laughed at even though visions on the path to become a warrior were at one time commonplace. This echos this degradation of spiritual past that Native American Genocide article we read spoke about as shadow. This insurgence form other religions has been so great, and so many of their spiritual leaders lost to genocide, that now even Native Americans themselves have ceased believing and practicing the acts of their own religion.

The other main player in Powwow Highway Buddy Red Bow dealt primarily with the economic genocide of the Native American people. When he said that the reservation was like a third world country he wasn't far off. Nationwide over 80% of Native Americans living on reservations are below the poverty line, with the same percentage of teens having/recovering form some form of drug addiction/abuse. Also the amount of teen pregnancy and STD's are the highest in the nation. When Buddy gets so upset about the mining operation trying to lease the land it is with good cause, because those tribe that did succumb to the mining operations in the late 80's are now dealing with massive amounts of tainted water tables(from dumping), infertile/eroding land(from mineral draining), and worse of all disease from air born particles(from dust thrown in the air from blasting and drilling).

While this may not deal exactly with the film or story, as a youth I spent many month on the reservations at Inlow, New Mexico. Which is actually one of the better off reservations, but I still remember the amount of poverty and alcoholism that was prevalent. Most of my time was spent as a councilor of a summer camp for reservation kids, who gave me the Indian name of Tall Grey Crow, most of them told me stories about their fathers alcoholism and how they would never want to drink. Though I really enjoyed my time there and was well treated by the Native Americans, they were still suspicious of me. It wasn't until I got older that I would come to realize the reason for their suspicion, even though I am part Cherokee I was raised white and therefore part of a people who have been trying to remove every part of their culture. Like the article on Native American Genocide talked about I can now look back and see my own role as victim and also as victimizer.