Creating new transportation methods and improving infrastructure are often seen as paving the way for a future that connects all people, regardless of physical barriers. However, few seem to realize that imposing these new projects on natural environments and Indigenous lands does little to improve the lifestyle of those who call it their home.
In recent news, President Biden has unveiled his $80 billion plans to improve Amtrak lines and services. Amtrak, one of the most known government corporations, is the nation’s railroad system and one that Biden has decided to prioritize. While the plan mainly focuses on improving the services that Amtrak already provides, leaders like Pete Buttigieg, the Secretary of Transportation, would like the project to bring high-speed rail to Americans. Regardless of which way the plan eventually goes in, it was formed to “create jobs, improve the quality of life, reduce carbon emissions, and generate economic growth,” as Kimberly Woods, an Amtrak spokesperson, states. To coincide with Biden’s announcement, Amtrak released their new Connects US map, which shows the future train connections to various parts of the country and emerging lines by 2035 (Piven). Looking at the infrastructure development from this perspective, it seems like an amazing way for the economy to bloom, travel to be easier, and even to take a step in the environmentally-conscious direction — but what does it mean for the Indigenous lands and reservations that it encroaches on?
The Connects US map shows new rails bisecting Oklahoma, the state with the nation’s third-largest population of Indigenous tribes, and high-speed rail graphics have shown a similar route as well. To understand the impact of this construction on native tribes, deeper than the obvious impact they will have on reservations and homes razed for the project, it's important to recognize how they have affected land in the past. Most prominently, the surge of the transcontinental railroad period in the United States meant building train lines that stretched from the west coast to the east coast. Much of the railroads built that still stand today bisect the Lakota nation land. At the time, these tracks did not just separate families and tribes, but it allowed the government to transport troops around to quickly stomp out Indigenous freedom fighters and encourage American settlements to diminish Lakota culture in the area (Jenkinson).
Even more alarming than this loss of Indigenous identity was how access to numerous transportation methods on Indigenous lands was used for horrible actions -- kidnapping native children, bringing them to boarding schools, and human and sex trafficking masses of women (Deer). Transportation centers, such as bus stations and train stations, are common trafficking areas and where traffickers come to kidnap unassuming women and children (National). Bringing this to the modern railroad infrastructure developments, the connection can be made between increasing numbers of Indigenous women and girls being trafficked and the encroachment of railroads on Indigenous lands. While rural areas with limited access to government facilities also lead to a lack of law enforcement and protection from trafficking, planting a brand new Amtrak station or high-speed rail in the middle of Indigenous lands does little to help the issue either. If the Biden administration wishes to better connect the United States and bring transportation to rural areas, they can certainly do so — as long as they discuss and communicate it thoroughly with the Indigenous tribes living there and seek their permission. I do not have an Indigenous background, much less do I fully understand the horrors Indigenous women and girls go through. However, it is evident that for changes, whether that entails preventing human trafficking, improving infrastructure, or building the economy, or all of them, Indigenous people, like all other people in the United States, have a right to how their land is used, to protect their people, and to preserve their way of life.
Sources Used:
Deer, Sarah. Relocation Revisited: Sex Trafficking of Native Women in the United States. Mitchell Hamline School of Law, 2010.
Jenkinson, Clay. “From Wounded Knee to Pipeline Access, the Lakota’s Enduring Power.” www.governing.com, eRepublic, 8 Mar. 2021, www.governing.com/context/From-Wounded-Knee-to-Pipeline-Access-the-Lakotas-Enduring-Power.html. Accessed 14 Apr. 2021.
National Strategy to Combat Human Trafficking. U.S. Department of Justice, Jan. 2017.
Piven, Ben. “Biden’s Railroad Plans: Rail Renaissance or Just ‘Train Envy’?” www.aljazeera.com, Al Jazeera, 15 Apr. 2021, www.aljazeera.com/economy/2021/4/15/amtrakjoe-will-bidens-infrastructure-plan-revive-railroads. Accessed 15 Apr. 2021.
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