Reparations on the Homefront

Injustices are faced everyday throughout the world and are even seen happening within the United States. One group in particular facing injustices are the Native Americans. Once considered the indigenous people of this land, Native Americans were victimized by the English settlers that first colonized this land. The oppression of this group included the government implementation of “reservations,” restricting the Native American’s of their homeland. Other repressions faced by the Native Americans were mass genocides and massacres, all of which were executions by the US government.

The reparation efforts used to address this injustice are minimal and may be characterized as collective efforts rather than individualized efforts. Native Americans continue to live within the reservations “granted” to them by the government and live by a self-governing rule. This self-governing rule is referred to as “Indian Sovereignty” and because they self-govern they don’t receive any financial compensation from the government. With no current policy involved it is being discussed by government officials. The U.N. and president Obama have suggested possible plans to “give back” some of the land taken form Native Americans, but there is still much dispute over the issue.

The minimal efforts shown towards reparation of the Native Americans, as demonstrated by the US government are both unjust and unfair. Though Native Americans currently live under their own law on their own lands, I don’t think justice has been served considering the amount of land they lost and the amount of people massacred by government forces. Symbolic reparation may have been served to some extent, as schools educate on the conflicts of our past, but no material reparations have been met.

Limitations might be the reason material reparations haven’t been met. While Native Americans only make up a small percentage of the US population, they might not have the civilian support necessary to implement reparation strategies. As discussed in the course readings, this is a major aspect of successfully implementing reparations to a group.

Overall, the reparation efforts that have been made have been successful. Under Indian Sovereignty, Native Americans have been able to open casinos that bring in millions of revenue. Injustice hasn’t been served but I do believe given the circumstances, Native Americans have found a way to prosper. I hope as reparation efforts continue that land might be restored to this group, as they were wrongfully abused by the US government long ago and justice must be served.

Conflict and Peace

The society I chose to focus on is the society here at Arizona State University. This is the society I've associated myself with for the past 3 years now and have witnessed many conflicts arise over those years. There is always conflict in society, especially when the society is a university. Conflicts over resources, values, and psychological needs are all probable causes of conflict (Mertz and Lieber). One conflict example is conflict over the budget and how much money each program should be granted each year. There is always room for conflict when money is involved!

Another conflict that has occurred at this university comes from one of my own personal experiences. It happened after I experienced some medical problems that effected my school work and ultimately led me to medically withdraw from some of my classes. This interpersonal conflict arose when I found out I wouldn't be receiving any financial reimbursement for the classes I had to withdraw from. The schools view and policy on the issue was that if I had withdrawn from the classes at the start of the semester I would have been eligible for reimbursement, because my diagnosis happened at the end of the semester they wouldn't consider reimbursing any money,with no regard to what the diagnosis was. My point of view was that I was diagnosed with a very serious cancer that required aggressive and immediate treatment, which in turn means it will cost me a lot of money. It was a conflict over psychological needs, or "conflicts between an individual and other people or institutions when obstacles prevent someone from having their needs met" (Mertz and Lieber 2). I needed them to understand my perspective and view the conflict through my eyes.

During this conflict I don't think anyone felt their identity being threatened. What this conflict came down to was a difference in values. On my behalf, I think it would be fair to reevaluate the policies in order to help a dedicated student, like myself, successfully finish school without my medical problems holding me back. The school has an option to do so but often times refuse because they believe the standing policies are "what's right". In the end I suppose it could be viewed as a conflict over resources, because we are talking about money, the most important resource to any school or university. We have different views and beliefs on the issue, and the chances of Arizona State reimbursing me money for those classes is slim to none.

After viewing the conflict map from the week two readings, the main difference I found was that most all the conflicts on the map were wars while my conflict was over money. The fact my conflict was over money could also be considered the similarity between them too, as many of the wars were related to economic crisis. I could never say one conflict is more relevant than the next because it all depends on what perspective you are viewing it from. Just as I said with my conflict, in my opinion I think they should consider reimbursing me, but to someone else they might see something else as a bigger concern, therefore they don't have the money to reimburse me. I think that is why conflict resolution can be so difficult, because everyone considers their conflicts before anyone else's, making our perspectives skewed.

"Peace" is word that describes tranquility and happiness. I think peace can mean something different to everyone. In terms of my conflict, peace would mean receiving financial reimbursement for the classes I had to withdraw from for medical purposes. The aid I need is money, after all I just went through a very expensive treatment. The optimal end result would be understanding from the people here at ASU who are collecting thousands and thousands of dollars from their students each year. I think the technique I described is far too simple to be applied to any of the global conflicts described in the readings. The conflict I experienced wasn't necessarily a life or death situation, I never did receive financial reimbursement but I am still in school. I lost that money but it's a loss I'll have to accept. You can't really apply this simple concept to the global conflicts because those conflicts are much more serious and complicated than mine, there are also many more people involved. Peace is achieved differently depending on the conflict. Often times it isn't reached but we always hope to create a peaceful society.