I understand, from a historical stand point, why the colonizing of America was so devastating and horrific for natives. However, when I see things in modern day about "get off our land," I get a little upset. I was born here. As were my parents. (1/2
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(2/2) as were there parents, etc. Many Americans do not have a set culture, I know I don’t. America is our home. If we were to “get off your land” where would we go? Not to be cliche, but shouldn’t we all try to live as harmoniously as possible?
It may be hard to understand if you do not have emotional connection to any place other than your own home but the land is sacred to many Native peoples. For example, the Sutter Buttes here in Yuba City/Sutter area are sacred. ‘estom yann (the Sutter Buttes) are a sacred mountain range that Maidu and Nisenan people would make a religions journey to because they thought they would be closer to the Creator. We still consider them sacred and are not even allowed to be on them at all. They are “owned” by the city and is closed to the public. We cannot go their for our traditional practices. Can you imagine your people telling you stories about this place and other nearby places that meant everything to your people but are now off limits? This is just one story out of a million of similar accounts. Not only are we sharing our spaces but we are taken away from something that is part of making us who we are.
Not to mention Native peoples and First Nations people are still being oppressed TODAY in many ways by you settlers. We are being oppressed by people who would even keep us out an away from our homes. It is unacceptable.
At least 4,000 aboriginal children died in residential schools, commission finds January 5, 2014
Thousands of Canada’s aboriginal children died in residential schools that failed to keep them safe from fires, protected from abusers, and healthy from deadly disease, a commission into the saga has found.
So far, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission has determined that more than 4,000 of the school children died.
But that figure is based on partial federal government records, and commission officials expect the number to rise as its researchers get their hands in future months on much more complete files from Library and Archives Canada and elsewhere.
The disturbing discovery has cast a new light on the century-long school system that scarred the country’s First Nations peoples.
Evidence has been compiled that shows residential school children faced a grave risk of death.
“Aboriginal kids’ lives just didn’t seem as worthy as non-aboriginal kids,” Kimberly Murray, executive director of the commission, said in an interview.
“The death rate was much higher than non-indigenous kids.”
The commission has spent the last several years studying a scandal considered by many to be Canada’s greatest historical shame.
Over many decades — from the 1870s to 1996 — 150,000 aboriginal children were taken from their families and sent by the federal government to church-run schools, where many faced physical and sexual abuse.
A lawsuit against the federal government and churches resulted in a settlement that included payments to those affected and the creation in 2008 of the commission. Its job is to hold public hearings so people can tell their stories, collect records and establish a national research centre.
The commission has also established “The Missing Children Project” to assemble the names of children who died, how they died, and where they were buried.
The list of names will be contained in a registry available to the public. Murray said the exact number of deceased children will never be known, but she hopes more information will come from churches and provincial files.
“I think we’re just scratching the surface.”
Many perished in fires — despite repeated warnings in audits that called for fire escapes and sprinklers but were ignored.
“There was report after report talking about how these schools were firetraps,” said Murray.
She said it was well known that schools were “locking kids in their dormitories because they didn’t want them to escape. And if a fire were to break out they couldn’t get out.”
The United States of America was built on a foundation of genocide against the Indigenous peoples of North America. In fact, all successful settler colonial societies are founded in genocide. The process is one of dispossession – the erasure of one group identity and the imposition of another on the people and/or on the land.
But genocide is not merely the foundation of the US nation state, it is also the foundation of the US empire. The US habit of genocide has not died, but has transformed. The US has become a serial perpetrator of genocide with the blood of many millions of innocents spilled in pursuit of imperial hegemony.
There is a fight going on for the very meaning of the term “genocide”. Western powers assert their right to accuse enemies of committing genocide using the broadest possible definitions whilst also touting a twisted undefined sense of “genocide” which can never, ever be applied to their own actions. Aotearoa (New Zealand) Prime Minister John Key, apparently taking his cue from the US, is currently pushing for reform of the UN Security Council such that the veto power would be unavailable.
Most of those individuals were sick and essentially refugees headed to other areas. It is also important to note that they had been disarmed by the cavalry, and were not able to defend themselves with guns or other weapons. It was a slaughter.
Also this was a gathering of three groups, as one group (fck I’m sorry I’m not good at remembering details but will source this later) was feeling threatened and thought they would be safer if they joined their relatives. Most of the women and children were killed while running for cover and of the 290 casualties, most were shot in the back. The survivors were captured and held as, essentially, terrorists.
I did a little art project today. There are a lot of things people choose to do in protest of Columbus Day. That’s great. Just remember that there are people who have been resisting for a thousand years and are still resisting today. It’s more than just “fuck Columbus”, we’ve got to stand in solidarity with, and elevate the voices of, the people who are still acutely affected by racist, genocidal policies that remain in effect today.
Asked by Anonymous
