Introduction
Taensa Indians is one of the native America tribes living at the north of America. It is one of the small tribes of the northern Louisiana and can be closely related to a tribe known as the Natchez. The existence of Taensa can be traced since 1700s since it was during this year when the groups were recognized as a tribe. There were still other Taensas who were still living among the neighboring countries but yet not recognized as a tribe. It has then grown to be one of the superior cultures in North America. On its arrival to north, they lived at the West bank of the Mississippi which is now within the present limits of the Taensa parish Louisiana. These people were agricultural and sedentary and also some of them were expert canoes men. So majority of the Tensas in North America are agriculturalists who grow many agricultural products leading to their increased living standards. According to their culture, they early lived on large houses which could be described as to have walls of earth; the walls also had logs which could be plastered with clay to make the walls look so much attractive. The roofs could be roofed with mats which were made of woven cane plits. It is due to their strong culture that these people and even today could be treated with great respect by people from the north since they had their own chiefs who could exercise power on their behalf. (Allen, 2004).
The Taensas also have their own community leaders who are seen to lead in most of the ceremonies especially when performing certain rituals in their society. They also have ceremonies which could be performed occasionally and it is in these ceremonies when they could create their bond of kinship and it’s in these ceremonies when they could offer smoke to their world deities. So it was in these ceremonies that these people could then interact with the Europeans as a kin. They could also offer prayers and also chanting praises to their most God and kings who ruled them. Most of these people speak Natchez. They were speaking the Natchez language. (Brumble, 2000).
The North America Indians participate in a diverse economy. The pre conduct livelihood of most of these Indians is one of a mere subsistence who could depend so much on hunting. It is due to this fact that most of their livelihood interest are been addressed on the reservation of their land rights. These people are great farmers who do a lot of agricultural activities, trade and hunting hence leading to economic growth of the country. (Allen, 2004).
Land rights
Land rights like any other group should be given to people living in a particular country. It is through the land rights that people can be in a position to do most of their economic activities which will enable them to have improved standards of living. These people occupy most of the fertile lands in North America since they live near Mississippi river. Today, these people live and still operate the functional casino resort in Marksville, Louisiana. It is through this particular casino that the Taensas use it in order to fight for their own rights in the native America rights. It is due to this that they have their own law under the Indian law on the rights to use the American land as one of the native groups living in North America. The fight to preserve the tribal sovereignty of the Taensas in North America has been going on so that they can be granted the right to govern them, try to define their own membership, and try to manage their own tribal property. It is also their right to try and regulate their tribal business like the casinos and their domestic relations. It is due to this that the treaty rights remain on the America civil rights struggle for the Native Americans. The relationship between the Native Americans government and the federal government of America is quite uneasy and it is quite obliged in trying to protect resources and also the tribal lands. This is because most of the Taensas in America want to have their own rights so that they can be in a position to manage their activities with no government involving something which the federal government is quite against. (Derounian, 2002).
Natural resources harvesting
Taensas livelihood has so much been affected by the Americans. This can be seen in the sharing of the countries resources. This is because it is a minor group; they receive little attention from the government. It is due to this fact that they have engaged in most of the agricultural activities since they live near Mississippi hence do a lot of farming there so that they can be in a position to have a sustained living standards. The Native Americans who include the Taensas are a minority groups for any federal government to listen to since it is a racial group something which most of the Americans are against. So it is due to this fact that most of the Taensas are getting discrimination in most of the activities like in business, sharing of the economic resources and the land rights of these people. This form of discrimination could be found in many hotels which could have labels of white colored and Indian colored to try and differentiate them. So it is due to this that most people are seen to suffer from so many economic and social problems as a result of been discriminated. In the sharing of the countries resources, most of these people are usually discriminated so much since they are seen as unequal members of the society since they tend to live in hostile environments. (Dippie, 2001).
On the issue of casinos, we saw that they try to differentiate their own business with that of the Americans and this is why there are labels on most of the casinos. You will find that most of the Taensas can not go in the American Casino while at the same time an American can not go in to the Taensa casino. This is according to their culture since they tend to belief that most of these people since they are Indians worship idols and objects something which most of the Americans see as idol worships. (Dippie, 2001).
Religious rights
For most of the Taensas, there is a going on concern by this particular native group in practicing their traditional practices which may include the religious beliefs, languages plus other customs which are performed by these people. It is due to the practices that they tend to be discriminated since you find that most of the Indians worship idols something which the Americans dislike so much hence that’s why they tend to be discriminated so much. It is due to this discrimination that they still continue to fight for their own religious rights and freedoms both of which over the past years in America have been threatened through the denial of most of the religious sites for these people. These people have been restricted in accessing their sacred objects plus their ability to worship through most of their ceremonials and also traditional means. (Dippie, 2001).
Conclusion
Native Americans is one of the minor groups in America hence receives little attention in most of the activities. This is because you find that they tend to be neglected in most of te activities including the religious activities which are done by these people. It is due to this fact that they have risen so that they can fight for their own rights with no government intervention. This is because some of them are descendants of their great ancestors meaning that they have been born in that countries hence have their citizenship through birth. It is due to this that they should not be discriminated and their culture should be respected so much.
Reference
Allen, P. (2004): Studies in the American Indian culture. New York: Modern language Association.
Allen, G. (2000): Recovering the feminine in American Indian traditions. Boston: Beacon Press.
Brumble, D. (2000): American Indian autobiography. Berkley: University of California.
Calloway, C. (1997): The new worlds for all: Indians, Europeans and the remarking of early America. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins.
Derounian, K. (2002): The Indian captivity narrative. New York: Twayne.
Dippie, B. (2001): White attitudes and the US Indian policy. Lawrence: University Press of Kansas.