American Indian Heritage Month elevates the diverse cultural history of tribal nations and focuses attention on deep disparities that impact our communities. This year, while a virulent pandemic continues, leading child and adolescent medical groups have designated a national emergency for child and adolescent mental health that disproportionality affects communities of color. Many tribal communities are in remote reservation or rural areas, adding to the challenge of accessing resources to reduce risk, promote well-being and strengthen family connectedness. But new tools are now available for families with LGBTQ and Two Spirit-identified children, some of the most invisible and vulnerable among us.
We cannot forget that these and related health crises are deeply rooted in historical traumas that American Indian families and communities have experienced through the loss of land, culture, and affirming childrearing practices that were severed by enforced boarding schools that sought to obliterate Native culture. However, the term historical is misleading. This issue is not in the distant past and continues to have a significant impact today.
As Natives, we are resilient, but still hold the painful legacy of relocation and enforced residential schools that resulted in disruption of our family circles. Much of traditional parenting knowledge was set aside and an intergenerational cycle of institutional child abuse instilled shame and a sense of isolation.
Today, American Indian youth are two-and-a-half times more likely to attempt suicide compared with non-Native youth; they experience PTSD more than twice as often as the general population; they report substantially higher rates of lifetime use and last 30 day use compared with general population youth of alcohol, marijuana, and other illicit drugs; and they are overrepresented in the foster care system.
Another lasting impact of historical disruption and efforts to destroy tribal culture has been the denigration of tribal members who held respected spiritual and social roles related to diverse gender identities. Often called “Two Spirit” today, these identities transcended binary concepts of male and female and included healers, leaders, and valued members of tribal communities. Although the term Two Spirit may hold some controversy, it is now widely recognized, not as a specific definition of gender or sexual orientation, but as an umbrella term inclusive of the spiritual aspects of identities that cross gender boundaries and a recognition of the spectrum of gender diversity in our human family.
To read more of Dr. Pamela Jumper Thurman and Dr. Barbara Plested's article, please click here.
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