Indian rights have been violated by whites through the Indians" struggle for economic stability, religious freedom, and their basic human rights as set forth by the Declaration of Independence. The white man invaded the Native American culture when they "discovered" America and called it their own. Though Indians did not believe in owning land, the whites began buying, selling, and trading the land. After crushing the values and traditions of Indians, the white man felt they were superior. It is revealed in Leslie Marmon Silko's novel Ceremony that Native American culture suffered greatly during and after WWII, and continually suffers with the destruction of reservations. "If you multiply every social problem in America by 10--high school dropouts, suicide among teenagers, alcohol and drug abuse, death by violence, and disease--you have what Indians go through," said Rep. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, who was the only member of congress in 1992 who identified himself as an Indian (www.2nativeamericans.com). Being stripped of its values and traditions, the Indian culture is slowly disintegrating.
Indians strived for economic stability after their land was intruded on and basically taken away from them. Indians make up a tiny minority of the United States population and live mostly in poverty and isolation. For this reason, many Indians moved away from their tribes to get away from poverty. The initial purpose of the reservation system was to set Indians apart from whites; however, reservations soon became encircled by whites during the westward expansion. In addition, with laws such as the Indian Removal Act, Indians were forced off land where they had always lived and forced onto land that did not fit their needs. "Their land-once fertile and clean-is now defaced by circles of charcoal, tire tracks and, since the men had come back from the war, broken bottle glass all over the reservation.