United States

The Genocide Convention is not retroactive, so any crimes of genocide before 1948 can't be prosecuted, but it's still a useful tool for evaluating possible instances of genocide in history. The population of the Native Americans in the United States has vastly declined from when they first arrived years ago. A lot of the deaths were due to diseases and dislocation, but many scholars believe it to be an act of genocide by U.S. officials. Some view it to be comparable to what happened to other genocides in history such as the Holocaust.

The textbooks in America don't reveal the whole truth about the countries treatment towards the Native Americans, or how the impact the Gold Rush had on them. Benjamin Madley's book "An American Genocide: The United States and the California Indian Catastrophe, 1846 - 1873" reveals the truth about the mass murder of California Indians that were sanctioned by the government. In 1851 California's first Governor Burnett said, "That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between the two races until the Indian race becomes extinct, must be expected." After that the state's lawmakers authorized a campaigns to pay the local militia to exterminate the Indians. Thousands of the indigenous were killed for profit and many, including children, were enslaved.

Even today Native Americans are still faced with discrimination. For those living on the Navajo reservation, many are getting sick and dying from contaminated water due to the uranium levels from the mining companies decades ago. The federal government has the money to fix at least 40% of the abandoned mines, but isn't moving quickly enough to do anything about it. Earlier this year President Trump also proposed budget cuts to the EPA, which supports tribal water systems.

About 1 in 3 Native Americans also face job discrimination. The discrimination ranges from looking for jobs, receiving promotions, and negative comments or slurs in the workplace as well. They are also being paid less than white people for the same work. Native Americans have an extensive history of racial oppression, and the data continues to show that Native Americans should be provided with the same opportunities as anyone else.