The positive aspects of being a buffalo soldier include a good job opportunity that did not require any complex knowledge and skills, relatively sufficient wages and pensions to sustain one’s life and potential promotion possibilities. These advantages prove to be significant, considering that many other black people had to be under debt peonage – which is just another form of slavery – to survive (Davidson et al., 2021). The negative aspect of the buffalo soldier phenomenon is explained by the fact that black people whose ancestors were separated from their lands now participated in the military campaigns of white people to conquer Indians. In this regard, those in charge of recruiting African-American soldiers were using the latter as military service was one of the few options for black people to avoid poverty and slavery. If the government would indeed attempt to help, those people joining the army would be just one of the many options that black people could choose for a career.
The ability to receive the knowledge and develop the necessary skills to adapt to the new realities of the market economy and world globalization is one of the advantages of Indian schools. Besides that, those schools created scholars who could serve as the bridges between the American and Indian cultures and people, thus, facilitating cooperation and friendship. However, the aggressive assimilation intentions of the U.S. government almost nullified the latter positive aspect of the boarding schools. Additionally, the alienation from one’s language and traditions can be considered a major disadvantage of Indian schools. As such, it can be argued again that the government used Indians to fulfill its own political ambitions rather than improve the lives of the indigenous people.
Finally, Mexicanos in the borderlands significantly benefited from the available work and adoption of the technology for personal and professional usage. Moreover, they could sustain their culture and communal traditions by creating barrios. However, such isolation was associated with the lack of real political power in the region beyond one’s community which resulted in the underrepresentation of Mexicano’s interests and discrimination (Davidson et al., 2021). In this case, I think the American government was helping as well as using Mexicanos. On the one hand, the latter received jobs that would allow them to have better lives, but on the other hand, they did not have equal rights and opportunities as other Americans.
Reference
Davidson, J. W., DeLay, B., Heyrman, C. L., Lytle, M., & Stoff, M. (2021). U.S.: A narrative history (Vol. 2: Since 1865, 9th ed.). McGraw Hill.