Reducing White Bias toward Native Americans in the Midwest Presented at the Third Social Work Symposium The University of Memphis April, 2015 Peter A. Kindle, PhD, CPA, LMSW The University of South Dakota Department of Social Work Peter.Kindle@usd.edu

Learning Objectives To gain an appreciation of the historical injustices against Native Americans. To understand White bias toward Native Americans from the perspective of social psychology. To discuss interventions to reduce White bias toward Native Americans

Columbian Exchange Smallpox Pigs Horses Potatoes North American Native American population estimates range as high as 18 million, down to 250,000 by 1890.

History of the Lakota People Subsistence lifestyle due to natural abundance. Horses introduced by Spanish around 1500 and into North America by mid- 17th century. Introduced to Lakota by Cheyenne around 1730. Geographical fluidity among northern plains tribes in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, and South Dakota. Migrated west from Ohio River valley. Lakota “possession” of Black Hills © 1776. The Lakota, Nakota, and Dakota people were called the Sioux

Federal Relationship Warfare: 1851–1890 Treaty of Fort Laramie to Wounded Knee Massacre Cultural Genocide: 1879–1928 Carlisle Indian Industrial School to Meriam Report Sterilization: 1970-1976 25%-50% of Native women by IHS physicians Self-determination: 1970 to today Restoration of tribal community, self-government, cultural renewal, reservation development, educational control Black Hills claim (1980)

South Dakota In SD Native Americans make up 9% of population There are nine Native American Reservations in South Dakota; 30% of land South Dakota has three of the five poorest counties in the US; all of which are home to reservations Reservations are plagued by a number of Social Problems (addiction, suicide, violence, and poverty) Over 70% of the children in Foster Care in South Dakota are Native American Unemployment on the reservations is as high as 80%

White Bias Treaty violations Whiteclay, Nebraska Population = 14 3.2 miles from Pine Ridge Reservation 2010 beer sales = 4.9 million

Social Psychology Overcoming Bias Behaviors > Attitudes Attitudes change after behavior changes Vicarious Effects of Desegregation Inevitability of contact generates cognitive dissonance Equal-Status Contact Economic competition breeds prejudice Conclusion: We cannot educate the prejudice out of people, but, this is based on white-black bias studies.

1st Study Student Researchers: Scot Griffith, Tammi Miles, Kimber Patterson, Jessica Smart, and Alexa Walker Hypothesis: Explores the relationship, if any, between knowledge of Lakota culture and history and White bias against Native Americans.

The Challenge Absence of instrumentation (Davis & Engel, 2011, Measuring Race and Ethnicity). Developed Lakota History & Culture Quiz: 20-item, multiple choice Pilot tested with class Lakota elder rev Adapted Bingle’s (1993) Attitudes toward Blacks 20-item 7-point Likert scale 10 items reverse scored

Method Online questionnaire Student recruitment through university email Gift card drawing for participation Useful responses (N = 102)

Student Respondents n % Mean SD Age 102 26.6 9.3 Bio Sex Female 75 73.5 Male 27 26.5 Status Undergrad 67 65.7 Grad 35 34.3 Race White 87 85.3 Non-White 15 14.7

Instrumentation & Results Lakota History and Culture Quiz Mean = 52.5, SD + 14.7, skew = .267 Attitude toward Native American Scale a = .904 r = .361, p = .000 Higher scores on LHC Quiz were associated with lower bias toward Native Americans.

2nd Study Student Researchers: Erica Crider, Stacey Langley, Christina Rash, and Nicole Robideau Hypothesis: To explore the relationship, if any, between exposure to Native Americans and level of White bias toward Native Americans.

Method Recruitment through social media (N = 123). Limited responses to IA and SD residents. Gift card drawing for participation.

Respondents n % Mean SD Age 123 29.7 10.2 Bio Sex Female 91 74.0 Male 32 26.0 State IA 47 38.3 76 61.7 Race White 109 88.6 Non-White 14 11.4

Instrumentation & Results White Attitude toward Native American Scale (a = .891, Mean = 57.7, SD = 18.9, skew = .516) Exposure to Native American Scale (a = .799, Mean = 25.4, SD = 10.1, skew = .380) 7-items (home, work, school, place of worship, neighborhood, running errands, and extended family) 7-point ranking from daily to almost never Exposure was indirectly associated with level of bias (r = -.338, p = .001).

Implications for Social Work Weak White stereotyping of Native Americans Potentially effective interventions Confirmation of results through longitudinal studies to measure attitudinal shifts over time

Implication for Native Americans The legacy of historical trauma Transition away from voluntary isolation Minimize economic competition

Limitations Potential sampling bias Relatively small sample sizes Exploratory factor analysis required