During the campus tour of Colorado State University, two Native American students had to prove to the campus officer that they belonged there. The reason that the young men had to do this after driving seven hours to their ‘dream school’ was because the mother of a potential student felt uncomfortable with their presence.
It is quite infuriating and outrageous that even though every college/university in America is built on the very land of traditional tribes that were seized in history, there is a very low percentage of Native American students in the U.S.
These Native-American students face a huge emotional weight of not being fit to the standard profile of a university student. Not only do they struggle academically, but also struggle with problems such as imposter syndrome, stereotyping and even racism.
Education has long been used as a form of oppression and assimilation to ‘Kill the Indian, Save the Man”. This was very evident in the late 19th and early 20th centuries when the government forced students into boarding schools and torn their families apart.
The Native American are still recovering from these impacts just like these two students visiting Colorado State.