'Still experiencing a cultural genocide'
Did you know that Native Americans between the ages of 18 and 24 have higher rates of suicide than any other ethnicity in America? Or that a quarter of Native American children live in poverty? Or that Native American and Alaska Native women are, according to a government study, 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than other women in the USA?
These were some of the reasons that journalist Vincent Schilling, who is Akwesasne Mohawk and editor of the Indian Country Today Media Network, created the hashtag #NoIWontJustMoveOn. It has been used in more than 15,000 tweets.
Speaking exclusively to BBC Trending, Schiller said that although many people have some awareness of historic atrocities committed against his people, there is "extensive amount of misunderstanding toward the history of Native American and First Nations people."
He added that the residual effects of colonisation meant Native Americans have also experienced "cultural genocide".
"There are still a plethora of adult Native people that have experienced being taken from their families by force, shipped off to Native residential schools - where they were subjected to being beaten if they spoke their native languages or became victims of sexual assault by school officials or were left to die if they contracted a myriad of diseases."
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-trending-36277112