Thank you, Professor. This is the truth of history that must be shared so that we don’t repeat past mistakes. Growing up in suburban Philly, precious little history of our treatment toward indigenous peoples was shared in our American history curriculum. Moving to Florida when my kids were young, I learned from them the story of the forced march of native Americans from the Everglades-shared briefly in their classes but new info to me. Now watching Desantis further sanitize educational policies here (raising, according to experts, a next generation of ignorant racists who will be part of his base), I lament the outcome that will only ensure further division, racism, bias, and hatred toward people of color or anyone who isn’t white, wealthy, mostly male, hetero. He can NEVER attain national office.
Again, thank you-you help me continue to grow and inspire me to learn more. Good teachers invite a thirst for knowledge-and you are the BEST. Thanks.
Jen, I grew up in Minneapolis, about two hours away from the site where this execution took place. At that time, Minneapolis had the largest population of urban-dwelling Native people of any large city in the US. My grandparents attended a Catholic church in the city that had mostly Native parishioners and as a kid, I loved attending their church because of all the beadwork I saw (I’m now a beadweaver myself).
I learned this terrible history as a child. It still makes me weep and grieve for my Native friends and all that they have lost because of white racism and greed.
Sadly though, just last week at a holiday gathering at a neighbor’s house, one of them brought up the recent change of name for the middle school she attended in St.Paul. Formerly call Alexander Ramsey for the Governor who authorized the mass execution of the Santee, it is now called Hidden River. The new name is a nod to the Native residents’ original name for the area- which includes an underground creek that drains into the Mississippi. Her oldest daughter owns the house Ann grew up in and two of Ann’s grandkids attend Hidden River.
Ann’s objection to the name change? What was the problem? It was named for a former governor. Why wasn’t that prestige upheld? Why change it?
When I noted that Ramsey had owned slaves and authorized the largest mass execution in US history knowing those to be hanged had not had a proper trial, she got that “deer in the headlights” look. She literally had no clue. She did not know Ramsey’s history at all. To her credit and the credit of all in that room, we talked about the execution for a few minutes and our Native neighbor chimed in with all manner of details that helped shine a light.
As you say, the truth of our history must be shared.
Wow, Sheila, I'm impressed that your guests were gracious and intelligent enough to have that conversation. I really appreciate your sharing that story. It sparked a flame of hope in me🙏
Thank you, Sheila B. for doing your part in that conversation. Too many people are afraid to even gently shake things up. We all need to be better at standing up for what we believe -- to be “Up-standers” -- not Bystanders in these conversations. Thank you.
A couple of times I have heard racist comments including one against Native Americans in my husband's presence. None of us said anything, he and I because we were at the neighbors and these were their friends. We felt lousy the next day that we had remained silent. We would not allow such comments in our own home, however, but then, none of our friends would say anything like that.
We have been discussing my husband's Lakota ancestry a lot recently. His maternal grandmother knew all about this connection and visited her relatives. She did not tell her daughter, his mother, or anyone else. His paternal grandmother was one of those whose motto was, "the only good Indian is a........ " When I was small and we took a trip out west, I can remember my father saying about California which he hated, that we could "give it back to the Indians." Fortunately, I had a teacher and her husband who were good friends and who had taught among the Navaho and had great respect for them and their culture, so I had the opportunity to learn a different view from them.
I have just given my husband a book about indigenous America by the same author who wrote Lakota America as the first book in our Christmas book giving. The author is a Finn who is a don at Oxford. As an aside, my first book is about Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici.
We have a similar background in our family. Whether it was shame or early separation of the family, the history of our Native ancestor was not talked about until I was adult. Likewise, it took awhile to know the extend of the atrocity led by another ancestor, Col John Chivington, who led the Colorado Volunteers in the Sand Creek Massacre. Our family talks about both these facts of our past, and when I tell the stories, there is often shock. Likewise acknowledging that our ancestors were slave holders. In truth, it’s a sad and bitter past to hold on to and to own, but the history of the other side, who were the victims, is much sadder. We talk about reparations and formal apologies, but so far have not done anything. Where to start? Telling the shameful stories is a good place. And as I tell them, I know that others in the room have stories to own as well; their families just haven’t owned them yet and may never.
We think that one of the reasons that my husband's maternal grandmother said nothing is that her husband's family were part of the military, including a war against Native Americans in southern Oregon. We have orders written by the commander of this unit and among other things, he suggests eating Native Americans if necessary. And if the soldiers did not carry out his orders, they would be mentioned unfavorably in his report. My husband's great grandfather on that side was also a preacher who died in the pulpit of a local church.
My great grandmother had a slave until 1863 and I did not know this until I got into genealogy. I am certain that that other ancestors had slaves as well. All of my relatives that I grew up with were prejudiced against anyone who was not like them. In addition to Native Americans and POC that included Catholics and Jews as well.
What a horror story: "eat [them] if necessary"! I wonder if anyone other than you, who reads this site, ever dreamed that our military could give such an order! Hitler, or worse, here in the 1860's United States, and not a word about ANY of it to be allowed into the American History textbooks if deSantis & Co. have their way. Wouldn't want to make any white kids feel bad about anything that their ancestors may have done, after all, would we?
My great-great-great grandfather, Charlie Crane was Choctaw in MS. As the dilution goes, my grandmother and her siblings were 1/4 Choctaw, and in a family foto in the early 1940s you could see it in their facial features. (When I was stationed in Texas in the Air Force I noticed many Mexican ppl looked like my great aunts & uncles).
I wish I knew the circumstances of their marriage but almost all southerners can find Native American in their family backgrounds.
My nephew’s, by marriage, mother came from the Choctaw tribe. Unfortunately, his family life was riddled with abuse and alcoholism. I blame the government for their horrible treatment of Native Americans and black Americans. As we have observed over the past 6 years, especially, denialism by whites is the constant thread in their lives.
Sheila, thank you so much for sharing this bit of hope. I live in Florida now, to be a support for our divorced son and our Vietnamese-American grandson. My husband and son are both dt supporters, of the “but look at all the good he did for...” variety. They can’t see what may happen to my grandbaby by their support of the current GQP and DeSantis.
I’m so thankful to know there are good folks like you in Minnesota - I hope to find some down here.
It's really hard not to have friends nearby who share your views and values, as it sounds like is your situation. The truth is, nowhere is completely Trumpian, even if some have to keep it a little on the quiet side. I hope you find a community of people who you can express yourself around.
A party may be the best place for such conversations. Guests are equal at most parties, so there is no felt lecturing. Congratulations to all present and thank you for this account. It should go to the deaf ears (and perhaps blind eyes) of DeSantis and Floridians.
Kudos for helping your neighbor understand and having a discussion about the treatment of local Native Americans. Yes, to her credit and credit to all of you. This does not happen often enough.
Sheila, it sounds like you must have stated the facts in a way that your neighbor could hear you and learn something new. It's a real gift to both have the courage to speak up in a setting where it might be easier to let things slide, and to be able to do it in a way that opens up, rather than closes off, conversation.
In 1982 when my wife & I first came to Miami, our daughter enrolled in Robert E. Lee Middle School. Even this far south, away from the obvious Dixie the confederacy still reigned. Of course it was segregated by race then because of state law and locally blacks & whites did not share the same beach to swim in the Atlantic Ocean. Ironically, it was mostly Black & Hispanic kids going to Robert E. Lee school. It has since been demolished and the new one has an Hispanic name.
I live in Hernando County. The county seat is Brooksville. There is a rebel statue on the courthouse lawn, on a rather short pedestal, with an iron fence protecting it, dedicated on June 3, 1916 by the UDC. It belongs to them and they are active caretakers - they added the fence in 2017.
There is also a mural, painted in 2004, of the “Brooksville Raid,” which occurred on June 3, 1864. There was an annual reenactment for forty years, but in 2020 the Tampa Bay Boy Scouts of America declined to renew their agreement allowing the reenactors to use their 1,300-acre Sand Hill Scout Reservation. I have no doubt they are looking for some other venue for the largest Civil War reenactment in Florida.
I grew up in Virginia, halfway between Washington, DC and Richmond. I’ve studied and taught the War of Southern Rebellion. And I would never have thought anything happened in Florida during that era. And yet…
I lived in Gainesville in the 1990s. There was a very active KKK group there, usually protesting the Gay Rights events. I got fotos of them at one of our picnics - Praying before robing up. What would Jesus say?
Bravo Sheila! Kindly explaining the reason for the school’s name change to your friend was a brave thing to do in the midst of a party. And Bravo to your friend who listened to understand, along with the further discussion with all at the party.
Having respectful conversations like that is the best thing we can do to shine a light on the truth.
I share your appreciation for Professor Richardson's letters - and this is one I am very thankful for. I knew none of this, though I have read a good deal about what was done to the indigenous peoples of the USA as the nation was evolving. It's interesting to me that your children were able to learn about the plight of the native Americans who lived in the Everglades ... I grew up in Tampa and there was hardly ever any mention of native Americans of any kind in our schooling (which took place back in the 60's, admittedly.) I've lived most of my adult life in Europe (work and marriage took me there) - and it wasn't until I was in Europe that I started learning more about how badly we as whites had treated non-white people. I agree with you about De Santis - I hate to think about what might happen if he gets even moer power than he has now.
Sadly, it WILL appeal to those individuals and may well lead to more atrocities and injustices if he were to win primaries and be elected. (Needless to say, his "DOJ" will NOT promote true justice for nonwhites.)
Sadly, many former trump supporters have swiftly swung their support over to disantis. And until someone with true leadership/unification skills and far more integrity can rise from the ranks of the "traditional" republican party - someone who will undeniably put country over party or self - disantis will probably be the gop frontrunner.
Florida is a state where slavery exists and DeSantis as its leader supports it in more ways than one. For one, it has legalized slavery through the 13th Amendment right to enslave people in prison. And, those who have been in prison in Florida lose their right to vote it appears. So, in essence, in Florida doing the time does not mean paying for your crimes. Secondly, there is slavery amongst the agricultural workers in Florida. Not only did I read about a slave camp of Haitian men in Florida many years ago, but I continue to read about immigrant workers not getting paid at all for their work and threatened with deportation while living in deplorable conditions.
So, while DeSantis pretends that he does not need the immigrants coming to this country at all, his state's agricultural industry needs them, but he does not discuss that. DeSantis is a lowdown, slimy, weasel and there is no way I see him winning in Illinois.
I think you have hit on something that must be exposed on the national level, and beginning NOW. Far too many outside FL (but probably even many Floridians) have no clue how deplorable on every level the present governor there is.
I am hoping that after New York Let George Santos slide in without the rigorous checking that should have been done before the election, we will not have such sloppiness again. If not on the part of the press, then at least the Democratic party should investigate people and get it out there. This youtube video of DeSantis raising his children on the Teats of Trump might be a good one to drag out if he announces he is running, to tie him to his true beliefs.
While the no leaning seems like if they all went Republican they could throw the vote, but that is not what happens. Either some vote either way, or they don't vote, or they vote for other candidates .
Since it is Christmas, and Jesus is just born, I have to say "Jesus!" as a swear word, that I think he would approve of if he were alive today.
Despite the controversial above sentence, I whole-heartedly agree on your statement that DeSantis cannot be allowed to obtain national office and attempt to frack up (the Battlestar Galactica swear word) the educational system in blue states. (Red is already likely fracked up.)
More than one philosopher has pointed out that those who ignore history are eventually forced to relive it. And those who encourage such ignoring of history, like Floriduh's governor, are to blame. To use a stronger word but one with the same root, those who promote ignoring history are in the business of promoting ignorance. ... even extending beyond history.
And yet, the Governor of Floriduh who ignores history was recently re-elected by a landsclide. There is a remedy for that and it is the spreading of knowledge, such as that imparted daily by HCR. Introducing others to 'Letters from an American' is a good way to start.
And I never knew about the treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII until I moved from MA to WA where it was taught to 4th graders learning state history. I was disgusted my country did such a thing. These people were given some reparations by President Clinton, and then the whole nation knew the story. What a world, where now this bit of US history totally relates to the war in Ukraine. We are all connected always. Good can happen too.
Philadelphia the site of the police bombing an enclave of people who were protesting injustices to their clan! Not 19th century history, happened late 20th century!
Now, suppression takes the form of illegal ‘voter rights’ laws, especially limiting voting opportunities on Native American lands!
That bombing happened in my neighborhood here in West Philly--it was PTSD-inducing! I will never forget the plumes of smoke...and the smell....
I wonder if the Whites that want to sanitize history so that their kids won't feel uncomfortable learning about the mass murders their White ancestors committed would be OK with this bombing since a Black mayor ordered it on Black protesters....
Very powerful note that the mayor at the time was a black person. Brings to mind Clarence Thomas who has turned his back on the very people who fought for the benefits he reaped!
He's without compunction and any ethical fiber. After overturning Roe vs Wade, it's like let's consider looking to do the same with same-sex marriage, if not with same-sex sex, and of course, contraception. There was even talk about reconsidering interracial marriage. With two interracial marriages involving two of the justices and another involving the VP of the US, I was giddily waiting for that opinion...Thomas and a slew of others need to butt out of other people's bodies and their bedrooms....
"...the forced march of native Americans from the Everglades...."
I hadn't heard of the Seminoles on a forced march. Spending my adolescence (the 1960s) in Lakeland, I was taught in school that the Seminoles never signed a treaty with the U.S. government. Further, that they were the only tribe in the U.S. who had not signed such a treaty; the reason being that the hostile environment in the Everglades overwhelmed the U.S. Army troops as so many soldiers died of disease alone. My handful of friends and I (all whites) took a certain pride in the Seminoles' independent stand. Personally, I never heard a bad word about the Seminoles during my life in Florida. After all, some of us just realized that it was their land to start with.
The pride that you mention is reflected in Florida State's teams being called the 'Seminoles,' but that doesn't really make up for the sorry treatment of Native Americans that the growing nation, as it expanded, carried out. The NFL team in Washington, the MLB team in Cleveland, and many others have gotten rid of such team names. FSU would be wise to do the same, along with other schools (including my old high school back in Newark) still using what amount to ethnic or racial team nicknames.
Absolutely. Nothing can make up for the sorry treatment of Native Americans. I believe the greedy land barons who benefitted immensely from taking the Natives land should be the first to pay back for what was taken. For example, the King Ranch in Texas has 825,000 acres of Native American land. And the King Farm in Florida currently farms about 20,000 acres of very productive, organic land in Florida in thee Everglades region (Seminole territory). And the railroad tycoons who benefitted so much from Native lands. Now, Bill Gates has about 270,000 acres of fertile farmland in multiple states. He's not likely to compensate the Native Americans in any way for it.
Ref. the sports teams' names with American Indian references, I have mixed thoughts about that past. I can understand most of all why the "Redskins" should be changed. It's derogatory. I can understand changing the teams named "The Indians" also. In terms of "The Braves" and "The Seminoles," I don't see the names as derogatory. I seem them as references to the Native bravery, prowess, and stealth. Still, I imagine all the names will change. So be it.
My take-away: that northerners were as racist as southerners. If Germany can pay reparations to survivors of Holocaust survivors while providing a good social safety net for their citizens, the US should do something similar for Native Americans.
With slavery, Jim Crow laws, the genocide against Native Americans, and the Holocaust, there was a common denominator: the oppressors perceived the their victims as less than human. That’s always the rationalization for horrible treatment of “the other.”
Everyone has the potential to dehumanise someone they perceive as "the enemy". Every time I catch myself gloating over the number of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine this week, I have to stop and remind myself that these figures represent so many more young guys who won't be coming home to their families.
Thank you for this. I wonder how long this war would last if Putin and his closest supporters had to be the ones actually fighting in the fields of battle.......
I often thought when I was in college, that if the leaders of countries had to fight it out in an arena, we would have less wars. It is tragic when presidents send our military to fight in order to line the pockets of the military industrial complex, rather than to preserve our democracy. I couldn't understand how someone like George Bush or Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld could send soldiers to die for the reasons they manufactured. This to me, is another example of seeing a group of people as less than human. Yes, soldiers signed up for their jobs, but not with the idea that they were expendable because someone wanted to get rich with wartime profits or wanted to throw their weight around because they had the power and had seen too many John Wayne movies. Our leaders should be more mature and moral than that. We are lucky to have so many dedicated and talented people in the military. They should not be sent to war unless the president felt the war was important enough to send their own loved ones into that battle.
I read an opinion piece decades ago speaking to this issue and suggesting that contentious leaders unable to resolve issues diplomatically simply be forced to a duel or similar, period - eliminating all the nasty, heartbreaking, and unnecessary losses and associated aspects of all-out war. It made so much sense to me! Still does. In reality, things wouldn't be all that simple, but at the very least, it may make most "leaders" think twice..
This comes to mind, slightly off topic, but maybe not. From George Saunders’s acceptance speech “what seems other is actually not other at all, but just us on a different day.” Thinking back, may be truer than I want to admit. Like many, I had to learn so much and discard what should never have been taught.
True, Jeri. I learned the lost cause with my mother’s milk, and I’ve been struggling to unlearn it for the past fifteen years. So thankful for Dr. Richardson and this group, for the assist in a very difficult effort.
The dead Chinese stacked like cord wood for the winter in Montana were primarily murder victims and of course their murderers were not pursued as the populace of Chinese workers were sub-human and the laws didn’t protect them.
"the oppressors perceived the their victims as less than human"
Michael, perhaps that is true.
Or, perhaps the people who put in place the Jim Crow laws and killed other humans wantonly and without reason were just selfish and brutish and intent on their own outcomes.
Perhaps it was as simple as "I want that, you have that, now you are dead".
In the case of Jim Crow, one MUST read, "By Hands Now Known: Jim Crows Legal Executioners".
In this book we see people killed for stupid reasons and for fun. Just folks who want to enjoy the troubles of others. Not those that "dehumanize" them.
Those that want to have some fun killing someone under legal circumstances where it is OK.
Yes, of course...but it doesn’t have the immediate, emotional response. Just take a look at pictures of people attending a lynching, celebrating, actually.
They still are, Jerry: Boston has been consistently rated as the most racist city in the USA. As I observe the struggles Canada is going through to try to legislate reparations to their First People, I doubt that the US is in any condition to even begin that conversation. Something academics have begun to do: many of us begin academic conference sessions with the acknowledgement that we are all standing on land stolen from indigenous people (the specific groups are usually identified by name) and that we owe them not just acknowledgement but also reparations. Some of my colleagues have begun to include this kind of information on their signature lines in official university emails as well. This is a trend going across the USA and Canada.
Well, Boston has a mayor who is Taiwanese-American, a police commissioner who is Black, at least three Black city councilors, two who are Hispanic and one who, from her headscarf appears to be Muslim. I represented several women who were members of the Fire Department ( and women of color), and their view was that Black and Hispanic firefighters were well-accepted, if they were male. Does the city still struggle with racism? Of course. But take surveys like the one you cite with many grains of salt.
I am very ashamed of the way we treated the Indian people, and sadly all people of color... or anyone we judge as "different" as if each if each of us is not an amazing unique creation, yet in the same breath proclaim ourselves a great Christian nation.
Jesus was not "white". According to scripture, He was born within a Jewish family. He was accused of being a criminal by the Pharisees and executed by the Roman government. Yet He commanded "peace"," love one another as I have loved you and gave up myself for you...."
If we are of this faith, though imperfect we can read about and witness the gradual and or sudden transformation of those who truly work to live out their faith also asking forgiveness many times when we know we have spoken hurtful words or done things we know within our beings are wrong. Other faiths also practice acts of goodness and kindness: Indians (remember the story of how they helped the first European explorers to survive their first harsh winter and the Indian woman who lead Lewis and Clark to the west coast of our country....and also the use of native language during World War II as code to send important secret messages to our troops. We have fought side by side for our freedoms: people of all colors, tribes,,,,etc, for Freedom and we must continue to fight together for this most precious ideal.
I hear much compassion and a call to recognize injustice and "love one another" in very practical ways. At the same time, I am troubled by the "we" in your first sentence, "the way we treated the Indian people." I think that makes it too easy for folks to dismiss this history, and the call for reparation, especially if, like me, their ancestors came from outside the US, and had no connection to the early atrocities. "We didn't do this, so why should we have to pay?" I think a call to reparation requires a more complex connection between present day citizens and the horrific history (even to the present day) of injustice and atrocities committed against people of color in our country.
"We" didn't do it, but "we" benefited and still benefit from the seizure of indigenous lands and the genocide of the indigenous people. We need to acknowledge that, not to beat ourselves up but to at least recognize whose land we are on and ensure that we are not contributing to their continued oppression.
Thank you Allen. That is exactly what I meant by a more complex connection between present day citizens and the horrific history.... It's another messaging challenge, so that more and more of us see the need for full justice.
Yes, Chaplin Terry. As a mom to teenage children, and as a Christian, I wanted them to learn to serve others and to learn to love and respect all people. We helped to repair homes in the mountains of NC. We spoke with one of the Indian families there. It was at the time when casinos had been approved. The couple were strong and faithful
christians. They were opposed to casinos but they made this comment, "....but maybe our little Indian children will have shoes." A culture. a language, a home. land or the ability to move from place to place to hunt....the introduction of alchohol....horrors!
We can not understand until we get to know one another.....and even then we cannot know the horror of being treated with an attitude of disgust....unless we experience it.
Thank you Emily. I love hearing about the hands-on, in person way that you are educating your children about love and service and respect for the "others." Your personal story can go a long way to expanding understanding, and with that a growing call for justice and reparation.
My impression is that you are speaking to poverty. Those who don’t live on reservations aren’t necessarily recipients of casino wealth or benefits. Since the Casino industry was entirely fostered under tribal authority I guess I am not sure what part of “we”it is that are “repaying.”
During some research in eastern Oregon for a book project, I encountered jealously among whites regarding the stronger casino-driven economy on a reservation versus that in the adjacent city. This was about 12 years ago.
Northerners were not as racist as Southerners. That is wrong. Europe to Russia was always a mess. Germans led, with Hitler elected following Mussolini elected - the Austrians, the French, the Poles, the Russians, the Italians, the unholy Vatican, Pope Pius VI, Czechoslovakians. the Spanish, the Portuguese, AND FDR - who turned away boats loaded with Jews, as the Brits before Churchill enabled Hitler - the Holocaust in Europe reflected the human experience most everywhere. Study India, Grandi and South Africa..
Sandy, don't forget what the English did to the Irish - forbid them to practice their religion, speak their language, own land, vote, and the list goes on, much the same as they did in other parts of their empire, and would have done here, given the chance.
History is so unkind to the myths and better story we create to mask the century of invasion and subjugation of the lands and people we know as America the Beautiful. Because history does not let us claim that we didn't have a hand in the subjugation and cruelty that is conquering, we will continue to write a new story, a new narrative exalting the values expressed in our Declaration of Indepence about the equality of all mankind or the Sunday School lessons that aculturate another generation of children denied the truth of what man does to man and the destruction that derives from war, conquering, and progress. Our past will become our present when the history get written by the next majority who conquer and gain access to facts and narrative lived by them. We polish our narrative so that history does not replace our beliefs with another's reality. Once the pursestrings of reparation are untied, all our myths become known for what they are, lies to cover the true sins of the residents in our past.
I read two fascinating books this year that dig deep into two chapters of the past that you describe:
- "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI" by David Grann.
- "Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History" by S.C. Gwynne.
We know the past treatment of native people was beyond horrible. Learning the details involving specific individuals and places is revelatory — in a very disturbing way.
Fred, wow!!! beautifully written and true. Thank you for taking time to express yourself.
We need to look into your words and see ourselves. We can always do something kind especially if we ask the question (seriously) What if it were me,,,,my children?
Add Canada, too. Unlike the U.S., it has long publicly acknowledged its sins against the Indigenous peoples, and 40 years go enshrined rights for them in a constitutional act.
I remember 8th Grade Colorado History, where Sand Creek was "the Battle of Sand Creek" and the genocidaires were "the founding fathers of Colorado, led by militia leader Colonel Chivington." When I raised my hand and said the account was much more like a massacre than a battle, it was another of those days I spent "polishing the vice principal's bench" in my 12 year war without quarter with the Public Miseducation System. Nowadays, Colorado now has a sign at the site of the massacre, calling it a massacre and describing the crimes committed, and such is now what contemporary 8th graders read in their Colorado History books, and homicidal maniac Colonel Chivington and the rest of the genocidaires he led that day are no longer on the list of Official Colorado Heroes.
Nowadays, smoking a spliff is perfectly legal. Twenty-five years ago Colorado was demonizing weed with the DARE program. Things change, not always for the better. Now we’re questioning science and accusing people of wokeness.
I always wonder what people mean when they claim “the far left” is as damaging as the far right? Do they really believe that wanting to do away with unfettered capitalism, providing universal basic income, one payer healthcare, public sponsored daycare, paid family leave, etc. are dangerous ideas? All of these ideas and more are already implemented in different ways in other countries where they do not have our levels of violence and where they help reduce income inequality.
I will only write for myself: i worry when a minority on the left call for takeover of specific industries to achieve a common good. I do believe that will put the U.S. to become like Venezuela.
I had written a response but it didn’t seem to make it. I am wondering what industries are left wing politicians wanting to take over? Venezuela has an authoritarian government and any laws the United States enacts are voted for by representatives.
I gradually moved from conservative to progressive over the decades and it makes more sense to me for our country to regulate the internet as a utility, to create a one payer non-profit healthcare system, to break up monopolies, fund k-12 fairly, prioritize the climate, provide a universal basic income, eliminate for profit prisons, etc. Are these some of the industries far left minorities are focusing on? I honestly don’t know.
Johanna, thank you for your comment. I was specifically thinking about comments I've heard in this forum calling for nationalization of oil companies to force a change in the energy supply mix. It was that demonization of an industry that simply had been meeting demand which triggered me.
Regulating internet companies is still regulation vs. ationalization. Everything else you mention is, in my view, investment in our human capital and fixing gross errors in policy (private prisons). I say that as a conservative who inderstands that when one manages a household or a village, one must invest in infrastructure and protect residents and sometimes use debt to do so. What you call progressive is really compassionate conservatism. Unfortunately, when Bush used that term, he might have believed it but his party just used it as bait for moderates.
It seems to me that distain for a regional political persuasion, as in those who voted for Boebert, is markedly different from othering on the basis of sex, nationality or race. Whataboutism is making a false equivilancy here.
"Flyover Loserville" can perjoratively be applied to anywhere, say Indian lands, farming communities, or even inner cities, where the name caller sees no worth it disdains the inhabitants. My comment stands.
There are a number of rural areas in the US West (most of Wyoming, for instance) where it is dangerous for people like me to stop. Despite looking all the world like a cisgendered guy I still get death stares from white men--always white, never any other apparent ethnicity. All of them much bigger than I and under no threat whatsoever from me. Do I still look queer in REI backpacking gear? I have no idea.
But when they stop with the hostility maybe some of us will dial back the response.
You don't have to be gay to get that. I remember hitching from Berkeley to Denver, and the ride let me off in Rawlins. After several hours of bad stares and a couple swerves toward me, I went into town and called a friend in Denver and had them wire me the Greyhound fare. It only finally got there just before the last bus for the night left. I was planning where to hide for the night because I knew the "night creatures" would be looking for me. I rate Wyoming and Idaho as far worse than East Texas for danger.
You would have been one of my favorite students, TC. It reminds me of myself as a student in 7th grade, too, as when we were studying the rise of the Protestant wing of Christianity and I raised my hand to point it the root of the word was "protest" (and all the meaning that indicated for the religion, etc.) and my history teacher thought briefly and quickly dismissed my idea. I sat quietly and decided then and there that many teachers were simply idiots and once you see that in a teacher, do something else with your time and attention, but certainly don't try to get good grades from them. Grades from people like that are meaningless.
Sooooo true. Which is how I graduated 125 from the bottom of a HS graduating class of 825 - yet went on to get two college degrees (after learning the value of a "sheepskin" in the Navy).
I was 83rd in my class of ~500. More boys than girls struggle with the way school is done, too. I was fortunate that one of the good things Mom passed on to me was that grades weren't everything. That's in our country, though. The competition for a good education and a good job is more intense in many other parts of the world and they continue to measure people by how well they cow-tow to the powers that be. And then those same officials turn around and wonder why we have more entrepreneurs and creative people. Hmm. Really?!
Actually, I was "classic Aspergers," though no one at the time knew that (thank goodness, since in those days the "solution" to every childhood weirdness was institutionalization). I had a college freshman reading comprehension (back when that actually meant something) in sixth grade. In classes I was interested in - history, English, art - anything visual, even mechanical drawing, which I did three years' credit in two semesters - I got As and Bs. For the stuff I wasn't interested in - math, science, all the other crap - I was a straight D student. Brilliant math and science guy Dad (that was his Aspergian gift - an original creative genius in his field) couldn't understand why I couldn't do any of that.
Talk to a therapist nowadays who understands Aspergers and the story above has "sirens, bells, whistles, neon lighting and fireworks" screaming ASPERGERS, as my therapist once put it
Fortunately when I went to college after the Navy, I was motivated by the difference in treatment officers (college grads) got from enlisted (non-grads). I also only ever took one science class, a geology class coincidentally taught by a scientist I had met in the Navy as his assistant during an expedition to the Galapagos - he gave me an A "for all your hard work down there", so with a major in "interdisciplinary social sciences" (a degree you can't get any more), I was Dean's List.
As I mentioned earlier, the actual site, which I visited some 8 years ago, of the hanging of the Santee men, was only commemorated and turned into an official historical site in 1997. But they got the true history right on the plaques there. https://www.loc.gov/item/2020723248/
And now 2 of our 14-ers are being renamed. They were named after some these very men who forced First Nation peoples from their lands. There is a lot more to do. And I am skeptical about learning from these kinds of mistakes. If, as is mentioned in these comments, each person on earth accept differences as something to be celebrated…. Then we have a chance to change.
Unfortunately, the Boebert clan feels existentially threatened by all of this. And I really can’t blame them. Look at what they regard as their heritage and identity. Cattle ranching in a modern era where water is scarce in the West? Driving around in monster gas guzzling trucks and burning logs during climate change? Flying your flag and being an isolationist while the world keeps globalizing and shrinking? Holding on to myths and lies while the Information Age demolishes them? Asserting some invented Constitutional right to limitless firearms possession while their countrymen demand an end to the massacre of 6 year-olds at school?
Good for you TC for speaking out. I wonder what your 8th grade teacher thought after most agreed with you and a sign was erected stating it was a massacre. Maybe your teacher agreed with you but was "not allowed" to agree with you.
Once again, as we consider America’s treatment of its Native People, we must hang our heads in shame. We must also learn all we can - and thank you, Heather, for helping us in that pursuit - so that atrocities like these are recognized as the abominations they are and thus less likely to happen again. As we have been taught, “history rhymes,” and I believe that truly understanding all that history has to teach us will help free us from the evil and stupidity of repeating the societal madness which so sadly characterizes a significant part of the track record (history) of our species. Even as we hang our heads in bitter recognition of past (and present) horrors, we must continue to seek light and peace. Therein lies hope and faith.
Madness in mobs, yes. There can be, however, a different dynamic in small groups (fewer than 10 or 12) which can support and nurture healing. Something happens to diminish individual emotional intelligence or courage when faced with larger numbers in groups and mobs. That's what makes the exceptions so inspiring in stories like Atticus Finch facing down the mob in To Kill A Mocking Bird and juries of 12 so difficult to manage.
Murder is the third leading cause of death of Native American women. Murder is the third leading cause of death of Native American Women. Murder is the third leading cause of death of Native American Women. In no other population statistic is that so. Across the nation, Native American Women are disappearing. It has become systematic. It is terrifying. One in every three who die will be abducted and murdered. This is the most appalling mass murder going on in this country and it goes unspoken.
There is a series on tv now called Alaska Daily with Hilary Swank. Thats the first acknowledgement by the "entertainment" industry of these crimes. I've been reading about it for several years. But the media is too busy with clickbait from TFG & allies.
I did read that the Senator from Alaska & another senator or repres. have a bill right now regarding this.
It should be a major story in the news. But yeah - not!
Thanks Maggie. I ran into this mess years ago delivering helicopters nationwide and in Canada and Alaska. It took a while to connect such far flung posters with the gravity, but being exacerbating at home in the reservations of Montana it became personal and finally I realized it was pretty nasty.
I have to admit I knew nothing about any of this until just the past few years. What was done and frankly still is being done to Native Americans, children, entire families, is a black eye to this entire country & as someone else said, its not only us, its Canada - but they appear to be attempting to make up for it in some way. I have to say, what "white" people have done for hundreds of years to any "other" or different humans does not make any of us blame-free!
I hope Heather continues to educate all of us the way she has been. Its too bad that on the whole shes speaking to the "choir", since anyone who doesnt want to acknowledge this, simply refuses to read or listen!
I just found that series Maggie, and it paints a stark picture of the difference between missing native women and missing white women. Actually it’s been pointed out by Black folks for a while, showing the difference in efforts to locate missing children of color vs white kids (seems always to be cute blonde girls, right?) sigh
Yeah, Carol - any "others" just arent as high a concern. Just as the numbers of arrested kids or adults show a really large difference - for the same offenses.
It has also been taken up by the tV adaptation of the Louise Penny Books , a Prime series of 4. The missing First Nations women was not part of the books but has been made a major story line by the writers . Craig Johnson's latest book is about the horror of what has happened in Native schools. I have found more Canadian writers willing to discuss the abuse of First Nation people & Canadians in general willing to address it such as using First Nation names instead of what whites named islands & places. FYI Iam not Canadian.
I havent read any of Louise Penny books but will look at the Prime series. I'll ask for craig Johnson's latest at the library - didnt realize there was a new one out.
Maybe they are willing to discuss this abuse because Canada seems to be acknowledging more & more of what was done - time we did!
No Mike it is a constant. Law enforcement hasn’t been able to get a handle on it. Much occurs in isolation so they get no leads. There are so many levels of predators here. There are so many cases, they cross so many jurisdictions. There may be levels of organization involved. It is heartbreaking, and it is not slowing down.
The real answer is that while congress has responded somewhat appropriately no permanent solution has been put in effect. Cooperation among jurisdiction lacks the swiftness necessary to communicate effectively and in a timely manner. Prejudices remain as barriers leaving the victim cataloged as it were as a runaway, delaying prompt amber alerts. The sex trade stands as an enticement which becomes entrapment and enslavement. The inability of tribal authority to adjudicate non tribal offenders also causes insurmountable friction. Education seems to be mostly accomplished in a grass roots fashion after the fact led by the victims families. Social media sometimes is the only way to broadcast news in real time. By real time I mean taking effective actions that can lead to the trail not going cold. These problems are not going away with these bandaid solutions. A standard of response will have to be elevated above prejudice, jurisdiction, and cost. Every incident should be assigned a quick response unit that takes command every time for every victim. It was easier when I was a kid. We tracked the bastards down even into Cambodia and and the bad guys shared the fate they dished out. They learned the hard way there were were no borders. It is my personal conviction that all communities adhere to the incident command system and train enough personnel to handle at a very minimum the historical case load. This system for those of you who are not familiar has become a national interagency standard which you see go in to action whenever emergency services are immediately needed and cover most disaster scenarios. This is in place and training can be relatively easily obtained to launch missing and abducted persons. Inter-community and inter-jurisdictional responsibilities are worked out ahead of time. People becoming incident commanders train very seriously to become qualified. Think of your police and fire departments. Now think of leadership in action to work with the families of abducted members. Remember that many communities don’t have these very basic amenities but can put together very respectful and qualified incident command teams. That is my opinion.
It is a growing epidemic, Nora. You will find a bloody red hand across the mouth of an Indian woman in the rest areas of the western interstate hi-way system, among many many other areas where it is posted. No one cares. The indifference is staggering. Many women are found raped and eaten by scavengers in lonely places if they are found at all. Many simply vanish.
You need a varsity player for that. I am an old relic one finger typist. Go to the internet and type in missing indigenous women and you will be inundated. Or make a trip to any reservation or community near a reservation. Or grow up as I did in their presence.
Upon taking an issue to the governor, I was granted an audience. Of the 30 minutes allotted time the Governor and her department head talked for 29 and a half minutes reviewing policy which we all were quite familiar with. As the department head kept tight watch on his timepiece I could see he was angling for a sweep. The meeting could now go safely into the books as that discussion. Mad, I stood and interrupted to which the governor stood and thanked me for my concern. Future discussions were shelved as they had had that discussion. I had a roping buddy who happened to be in Helena at the capital so I strolled down to his office and he waved me in. You know, Pat, I’m a United States Senator and I can’t even get an audience there. Conrad wasn’t a Mansfield by any means but he sure as hell gave a shit. That is where the dispossessed always landed and policies were buried.
And as that may be true, I'm glad to see justice opening doors to many native American women too; I see that by being on a listserve that posts events, jobs and grants -- that comes from Rising Voices Center for Indigenous and Earth Sciences (look it up with UCAR or NCAR) Their yearly conference is open to all.
Dear 'old relic one finger typist', you have done us a great favor today by opening a door to the current murders and disappearances of Native American women in our country. Who among us knew? I hope your messages are carried forward, so that they are heard and answered. Thank you, Pat Cole.
This particular group of stalwart blue chip intellectual varsity athletes who are intensely interested in women’s issues seeing the light of day seemed like the best place to go.
Pat, You have called out in the deepest way and clearly reported what has been happening to Native American women. Don't stop here if you know of any others who may act to make a difference. Gratitude to you.
Such painful history. I used to believe we were evolving and becoming better people with every generation, as we learn more about each other and about our planet. Now…, I think there are decent people in every generation and greedy people. There is knowledge, ignorance, wealth, poverty, ability and disability. We have to look for the good in humanity and sing about it from the mountaintops. We need to know all of our history and keep teaching it and reading it.
Anne-Louise I suspect that a large part of Lincoln's wisdom and inner strength derived from his humble origins and persistent strenuous efforts at self-education which allowed him to be sure of what he knew but to also recognize the limits of what he knew and continue to seek new knowledge.
In the midst of the Civil War, having to deal with the Native American situation was another trial for him and he did that job fairly & well (in addition to working on his major problem.)
“We need to know all of our history and keep teaching it and reading it.” And I might add: and keep working against the perennial instinct to look away, sanitize it, or hide it.
I like your post ScannyDo but would amend it slightly to include not just decent people and greedy people but also secure people and scared people, many scared of their own lack of courage or other internally perceived shortcomings. As mentioned above the early settlers were quite willing to accept indigenous help. It seems once they became more secure in their survival or themselves that allowed them to take either more generous or more uncaring actions against the "other."
In his examination of the history of violence: "less than human: Why We Demean, Enslave, And Exterminate Others" author David Livingstone Smith quotes Aldous Huxley on page 21: "Most people would hesitate to torture or kill a human being like themselves. But when that human being is spoken of as though he were not a human being, but as the representative of some wicked principle, we lose our scruples...All political and nationalistic propaganda aims at only one thing; to persuade one set of people that another set of people are not really human and that it is therefore legitimate to rob, swindle, bully, and even murder them."
Huxley's explanation of the roots of human violence and bigotry is applicable to any time in human history.
Excellent post and I have copied it to read it again in the future.
I guess Fox News is doing a pretty good job by routinely referring to Democrats with words that dehumanize. "Extremists", "Communists", etc.
Me personally? I would never waste time in war with torture. There is no benefit and there is no time for that activity unless you are some kind of sicko who just enjoys hurting people
“I would never waste time in war with torture.” Don’t be sure of that Mike. Situations have a lot of influence on our persuadable actions. Some perpetrators are straight-up sadists,I agree, but others are not. After reading about the Stanford Prison Experiment (1971, professor Phillip Zimbardo), and reading Hannah Arendt on war crimes. She coined the term (I believe) : “The banality of evil”. I started to realize my great privilege of not being in any situation where I might chose or be compelled to dehumanize another. But not all get to have this privilege. We all have a breaking point. We all are persuadable with a magic-mix of psychological manipulation and hopeless conditions. I see our time here reading LFAA as adding armor to our minds against the manipulation forces around us trying to get us to NOT know our history. We are the fortunate ones, but in different circumstances and situations, we could be altered.
The United States of American is a country founded on slavery and genocide of the American Indian. Our original sin still haunts us and will continue to do so until we as a nation come out of denial, in the same way Germany dealt with the holocaust after WWII. Today, instead of confronting our primary sin, we are banning books in libraries and teaching our children a false narrative of our true history.
The only way to truly evolve as a nation is to face all of our bedrock truths, no matter how painful or shameful. Just as "personal evolution is the only game in town," so as real historical truth is our only salvation.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” said the philosopher George Santayana.
I wholeheartedly agree with you Peter. Why be afraid of teaching EVERYONE of our true history? Embarrassing? Humiliating? Yes! The truth is the truth, whether you try to hide it, disguise it or deny it. The more I learn of it, the more ashamed I feel. Not for myself personally but for those who partook in the behavior. Imagine if we were taught the truth all along, how it might just have affected our current thoughts and beliefs. We might have ended up being more empathetic and caring for Everyone. A girl can only dream.
Professor Richardson has publicized yet another event that shows the world just how brutal the United States as a nation was, and still is in the persons of Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott and their ilk.
To quote an unknown (to me) Native American source....
"The only time the US Government kept its word, treaties or otherwise, to Native American Tribes was when they promised to take all of their land".
But so few times in American history have the Native Americans been treated in line with the 1776 " Declaration of Independence" and benefiting from ....
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.".......
and we won't even get into their rights to hold their own property. They had the temerity to often successfully resist and fight against rape and pillage of the life, limb and wellbeing.
Lincoln's other contributions to the land theft and consequent genocide were all in 1862.
1/The Homestead Act giving 160acres to anyone who wished to claim it from their buffaloe ranges and other hunting lands
2/The Myers Land Act giving extensive and "well placed" land grants to the States from "Federal" terriotories for the development of local agricultural colleges without consulting the original occupants.
3/The Pacific Railways Act extending massively the gift of 175 million acres (bigger than Texas) of land to fund the advance of rail companies developing new lines in previously indian tended lands.
Not one treaty was ever respected.
Not Lincoln this time but once again the the non-voting representation of the Cherokee people in Congress promised in the 1835 Treaty of New Echota is "set for a hearing". It has been "talked about sporadically with result or action for the last 187 years! So much for promises.
Stuart, at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC, there is a Treaty Wall. I was so impressed when I went through and read them! However at the very end there was the reality check statement “ None of the treaties held” (or something to that effect). A cold wind blows across your neck when you read that there. Since then, I’ve tried to read more history and kept discovering at every turn: harm, disenfranchisement, dehumanization, racism, systemic oppression, and whitewashing. I recognize that the likes of the MAGA crowd frame educating citizens with this knowledge as teaching them to “hate America”. But I go the other way. To know this blood soaked, intentionally crafted history, and then to work like hell to bend that damn arc of the moral universe towards justice, is to love this country deeply. Each generation gets to learn -if we are lucky- that this fight does not end and we need perennially to be the change we want to see.
Thank you for this additional information. I began reading the truth of the history of Native Americans in the 1970's. I was astounded and angry at having been so deeply mislead growing up and also as an adult. Then I moved to Syracuse in the '70's and got to witness the rage of the Native Americans in the Onondaga Tribe. This was preceded by my learning about black history through the tumult of the 1960's. I was also exposed to black power like I had never seen growing up in the South when I moved to Syracuse.
History is a fabulous teacher if we have missed the message showing up in our personal experience, current events or movies and books. Dr. Richardson provides a valuable service through her work, and I thank her for that.
I learned some time ago that guilt is a non-productive pursuit unless it leads to a personal internal change that eventually expands outward.
I hope everyone's Christmas was peaceful and that the New Year blooms full of hope and health.
'I learned some time ago that guilt is a non-productive pursuit unless it leads to a personal internal change that eventually expands outward." I love this sentence Barbara! Personally, there are many things I did as a young person that I am not proud of and guilt (thank God I felt it) has led me to work on myself and become a totally different person, a much better person. It is a great motivator to dig deep within yourself and try to understand your thoughts and behaviors and where they came from in the first place. Unfortunately, some people never take the time to understand themselves. It's never too late to change.
No one enters adulthood and commences to age without carrying their own bag of regret/guilt around. I agree with you. It's what we do with all that sad, messy, embarrassing guilt that makes all the difference.
Heather, a fantastic history lesson. I was really moved by Lincoln’s humanity. The history of whites and Native Americans is so stained with blood and misery, I can barely absorb it all. But learning it is a major goal of mine before I pass on. Thank you, Dear Friend.
What a sad reminder about that history of how our nation annihilated whole nations of indigenous people, even as we traversed the excruciating process of recognizing the immorality of slavery. We'll continue to struggle with the near impossible task of making things right for their ancestors for years to come. We don't have to wear the hair-shirt alone however. I just learned that Brazil received more African slaves than any other country in the Americas and did not abolish slavery until some years after the USA. They continue to destroy habitat of indigenous people today and drive them from their historic lands. I think perhaps there is no other species that preys on its own members to the degree that we humans do. There's so much sorrow in the world, carried forward with us for decades and even centuries; it's hard to see how we have made much progress across time in creating a better world in which to live.
The Zinn Education Project has posted an ink drawing of the 1862 thirty-eight (38) mass executions at zinnedproject.org sourced to the Minnesota Historical Society. The Project has a searchable database. Input "1862 mankato".
I skimmed the site. That project looks as if they're doing a good job of educating folks. It needs more amplification for more awareness for the public.
I frequented the Zinn Ed Project when I was teaching elementary school. After I retired, I passed my dogeared copies of James Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me" and Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the US" along to a new teacher I mentored. Both books bookshelf must-haves.
'Minnesota was a new frontier state in 1862, where white settlers were pushing out the Dakota Indians—also called the Sioux. A series of broken peace treaties culminated in the failure of the United States that summer to deliver promised food and supplies to the Indians, partial payment for their giving up their lands to whites.'
'The Indians responded in the Santee Sioux uprising, killing 490 white settlers. The Dakota were executed for their role in the war of self-defense. As Wiener notes,
[President Abraham] Lincoln’s treatment of defeated Indian rebels against the United States stood in sharp contrast to his treatment of Confederate rebels. He never ordered the executions of any Confederate officials or generals after the Civil War, even though they killed more than 400,000 Union soldiers.
To learn more, we recommend the U.S. Dakota War website:
'Growing up in Mankato, Minnesota, John Biewen says, nobody ever talked about the most important historical event ever to happen there: in 1862, it was the site of the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Thirty-eight Dakota Indians were hanged after a war with white settlers. John went back to Minnesota to figure out what really happened 150 years ago, and why Minnesotans didn’t talk about it much after.'
'Find a description of the segment with teaching resources in a blog by Debbie Reese on American Indians in Children’s Literature and learn more in the tweet thread below.'
'On December 26, 1862, 38 Dakota warriors were hanged in Mankato, MN under orders of President Abraham Lincoln in the largest mass execution in U.S. history.'
'They built a special scaffold to hang them all at once & made Dakota women, children & elders watch as the crowd cheered.'
Thank You. Fern. I think. Excruciatingly sad. 20 years later my great great grandfather bought land from the railroad for a homestead in southwestern Minnesota, on former Dakota land, where my mom later grew up.
MaryPat, Your great, great grandfather like so many others may have simply needed a piece of land for his family without knowing a thing about who it was taken from or anything about Native Americans.
Could be, and good of you to say, Fern. I don't think he ever even saw that land. He was an Irish citizen, a chef on a sea faring ship. He had 3 sons and bought land for them on 3 different continents: Australia, South America (Brazil), and the USA. As a side note - he wisely put the deed to the Minnesota farmland in the name of his son's wife, Bridgett Phelan, who before emigrating from Ireland, had owned and run her own general store. My mother saved and framed the sampler Bridget stitched as a child - it hangs in my bedroom. My great grandfather was more of a musician and artist. He designed the farm house and tile factory, which he ran, while Bridget ran the farm.
This type of thing is at the root of a lot of the white supremacy of this country. Some educated supremacists, who know about these things, have found ways to avoid cognitive dissonance where these behaviors are concerned. It's tricky because a lot of their actions are based on the theory that they are of superior morals and so forth and between the lord and manifest destiny, their actions are righteous in order to do the 'hard things' needed for a better life. A whole lot of folks have benefited from these actions and are living their heaven on earth while others are told that they will be rewarded - if they do what they are told on earth - after death.
Keep in mind, the Minnesota settlers and the US Army units that prevailed against the Santees all had God on their side, so the outcome was really God’s will and thus right and proper.
You see? The good guys won.
Praise the lord and pass the ammunition!
Make America great again, like in Minnesota in 1862!
Thank you, again, HCR, for the history we didn’t know that we need to know. That’s what “woke” is all about.
I’ll be noshing on this for a while, and lamenting that this significant piece of our national and world history will likely remain largely unknown - and worse, dismissed as Critical Race Theory.
Thank you, Professor. This is the truth of history that must be shared so that we don’t repeat past mistakes. Growing up in suburban Philly, precious little history of our treatment toward indigenous peoples was shared in our American history curriculum. Moving to Florida when my kids were young, I learned from them the story of the forced march of native Americans from the Everglades-shared briefly in their classes but new info to me. Now watching Desantis further sanitize educational policies here (raising, according to experts, a next generation of ignorant racists who will be part of his base), I lament the outcome that will only ensure further division, racism, bias, and hatred toward people of color or anyone who isn’t white, wealthy, mostly male, hetero. He can NEVER attain national office.
Again, thank you-you help me continue to grow and inspire me to learn more. Good teachers invite a thirst for knowledge-and you are the BEST. Thanks.
Jen, I grew up in Minneapolis, about two hours away from the site where this execution took place. At that time, Minneapolis had the largest population of urban-dwelling Native people of any large city in the US. My grandparents attended a Catholic church in the city that had mostly Native parishioners and as a kid, I loved attending their church because of all the beadwork I saw (I’m now a beadweaver myself).
I learned this terrible history as a child. It still makes me weep and grieve for my Native friends and all that they have lost because of white racism and greed.
Sadly though, just last week at a holiday gathering at a neighbor’s house, one of them brought up the recent change of name for the middle school she attended in St.Paul. Formerly call Alexander Ramsey for the Governor who authorized the mass execution of the Santee, it is now called Hidden River. The new name is a nod to the Native residents’ original name for the area- which includes an underground creek that drains into the Mississippi. Her oldest daughter owns the house Ann grew up in and two of Ann’s grandkids attend Hidden River.
Ann’s objection to the name change? What was the problem? It was named for a former governor. Why wasn’t that prestige upheld? Why change it?
When I noted that Ramsey had owned slaves and authorized the largest mass execution in US history knowing those to be hanged had not had a proper trial, she got that “deer in the headlights” look. She literally had no clue. She did not know Ramsey’s history at all. To her credit and the credit of all in that room, we talked about the execution for a few minutes and our Native neighbor chimed in with all manner of details that helped shine a light.
As you say, the truth of our history must be shared.
Even at a holiday party.
Wow, Sheila, I'm impressed that your guests were gracious and intelligent enough to have that conversation. I really appreciate your sharing that story. It sparked a flame of hope in me🙏
Thank you, Sheila B. for doing your part in that conversation. Too many people are afraid to even gently shake things up. We all need to be better at standing up for what we believe -- to be “Up-standers” -- not Bystanders in these conversations. Thank you.
A couple of times I have heard racist comments including one against Native Americans in my husband's presence. None of us said anything, he and I because we were at the neighbors and these were their friends. We felt lousy the next day that we had remained silent. We would not allow such comments in our own home, however, but then, none of our friends would say anything like that.
We have been discussing my husband's Lakota ancestry a lot recently. His maternal grandmother knew all about this connection and visited her relatives. She did not tell her daughter, his mother, or anyone else. His paternal grandmother was one of those whose motto was, "the only good Indian is a........ " When I was small and we took a trip out west, I can remember my father saying about California which he hated, that we could "give it back to the Indians." Fortunately, I had a teacher and her husband who were good friends and who had taught among the Navaho and had great respect for them and their culture, so I had the opportunity to learn a different view from them.
I have just given my husband a book about indigenous America by the same author who wrote Lakota America as the first book in our Christmas book giving. The author is a Finn who is a don at Oxford. As an aside, my first book is about Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici.
We have a similar background in our family. Whether it was shame or early separation of the family, the history of our Native ancestor was not talked about until I was adult. Likewise, it took awhile to know the extend of the atrocity led by another ancestor, Col John Chivington, who led the Colorado Volunteers in the Sand Creek Massacre. Our family talks about both these facts of our past, and when I tell the stories, there is often shock. Likewise acknowledging that our ancestors were slave holders. In truth, it’s a sad and bitter past to hold on to and to own, but the history of the other side, who were the victims, is much sadder. We talk about reparations and formal apologies, but so far have not done anything. Where to start? Telling the shameful stories is a good place. And as I tell them, I know that others in the room have stories to own as well; their families just haven’t owned them yet and may never.
We think that one of the reasons that my husband's maternal grandmother said nothing is that her husband's family were part of the military, including a war against Native Americans in southern Oregon. We have orders written by the commander of this unit and among other things, he suggests eating Native Americans if necessary. And if the soldiers did not carry out his orders, they would be mentioned unfavorably in his report. My husband's great grandfather on that side was also a preacher who died in the pulpit of a local church.
My great grandmother had a slave until 1863 and I did not know this until I got into genealogy. I am certain that that other ancestors had slaves as well. All of my relatives that I grew up with were prejudiced against anyone who was not like them. In addition to Native Americans and POC that included Catholics and Jews as well.
What a horror story: "eat [them] if necessary"! I wonder if anyone other than you, who reads this site, ever dreamed that our military could give such an order! Hitler, or worse, here in the 1860's United States, and not a word about ANY of it to be allowed into the American History textbooks if deSantis & Co. have their way. Wouldn't want to make any white kids feel bad about anything that their ancestors may have done, after all, would we?
My great-great-great grandfather, Charlie Crane was Choctaw in MS. As the dilution goes, my grandmother and her siblings were 1/4 Choctaw, and in a family foto in the early 1940s you could see it in their facial features. (When I was stationed in Texas in the Air Force I noticed many Mexican ppl looked like my great aunts & uncles).
I wish I knew the circumstances of their marriage but almost all southerners can find Native American in their family backgrounds.
My nephew’s, by marriage, mother came from the Choctaw tribe. Unfortunately, his family life was riddled with abuse and alcoholism. I blame the government for their horrible treatment of Native Americans and black Americans. As we have observed over the past 6 years, especially, denialism by whites is the constant thread in their lives.
Sheila, thank you so much for sharing this bit of hope. I live in Florida now, to be a support for our divorced son and our Vietnamese-American grandson. My husband and son are both dt supporters, of the “but look at all the good he did for...” variety. They can’t see what may happen to my grandbaby by their support of the current GQP and DeSantis.
I’m so thankful to know there are good folks like you in Minnesota - I hope to find some down here.
I'm still awaiting details of just what "good he did for....".
Same…
Me too.
It's really hard not to have friends nearby who share your views and values, as it sounds like is your situation. The truth is, nowhere is completely Trumpian, even if some have to keep it a little on the quiet side. I hope you find a community of people who you can express yourself around.
Just here ❤️🩹
Suzanne, I live in Florida in a red county on the east coast. I have faith you will find “good folks” …
A party may be the best place for such conversations. Guests are equal at most parties, so there is no felt lecturing. Congratulations to all present and thank you for this account. It should go to the deaf ears (and perhaps blind eyes) of DeSantis and Floridians.
Kudos for helping your neighbor understand and having a discussion about the treatment of local Native Americans. Yes, to her credit and credit to all of you. This does not happen often enough.
Sheila, it sounds like you must have stated the facts in a way that your neighbor could hear you and learn something new. It's a real gift to both have the courage to speak up in a setting where it might be easier to let things slide, and to be able to do it in a way that opens up, rather than closes off, conversation.
In 1982 when my wife & I first came to Miami, our daughter enrolled in Robert E. Lee Middle School. Even this far south, away from the obvious Dixie the confederacy still reigned. Of course it was segregated by race then because of state law and locally blacks & whites did not share the same beach to swim in the Atlantic Ocean. Ironically, it was mostly Black & Hispanic kids going to Robert E. Lee school. It has since been demolished and the new one has an Hispanic name.
I live in Hernando County. The county seat is Brooksville. There is a rebel statue on the courthouse lawn, on a rather short pedestal, with an iron fence protecting it, dedicated on June 3, 1916 by the UDC. It belongs to them and they are active caretakers - they added the fence in 2017.
There is also a mural, painted in 2004, of the “Brooksville Raid,” which occurred on June 3, 1864. There was an annual reenactment for forty years, but in 2020 the Tampa Bay Boy Scouts of America declined to renew their agreement allowing the reenactors to use their 1,300-acre Sand Hill Scout Reservation. I have no doubt they are looking for some other venue for the largest Civil War reenactment in Florida.
I grew up in Virginia, halfway between Washington, DC and Richmond. I’ve studied and taught the War of Southern Rebellion. And I would never have thought anything happened in Florida during that era. And yet…
I lived in Gainesville in the 1990s. There was a very active KKK group there, usually protesting the Gay Rights events. I got fotos of them at one of our picnics - Praying before robing up. What would Jesus say?
Indeed.
Bravo Sheila! Kindly explaining the reason for the school’s name change to your friend was a brave thing to do in the midst of a party. And Bravo to your friend who listened to understand, along with the further discussion with all at the party.
Having respectful conversations like that is the best thing we can do to shine a light on the truth.
I share your appreciation for Professor Richardson's letters - and this is one I am very thankful for. I knew none of this, though I have read a good deal about what was done to the indigenous peoples of the USA as the nation was evolving. It's interesting to me that your children were able to learn about the plight of the native Americans who lived in the Everglades ... I grew up in Tampa and there was hardly ever any mention of native Americans of any kind in our schooling (which took place back in the 60's, admittedly.) I've lived most of my adult life in Europe (work and marriage took me there) - and it wasn't until I was in Europe that I started learning more about how badly we as whites had treated non-white people. I agree with you about De Santis - I hate to think about what might happen if he gets even moer power than he has now.
He is the great white washer, without chump’s baggage. I hope his smarmy evil doesn’t appeal to the MAGAts
Sadly, it WILL appeal to those individuals and may well lead to more atrocities and injustices if he were to win primaries and be elected. (Needless to say, his "DOJ" will NOT promote true justice for nonwhites.)
His DOJ will not have "Justice" as part of its remit. It will become the department of punishment of anyone who does not hold the "correct" views.
Sadly, many former trump supporters have swiftly swung their support over to disantis. And until someone with true leadership/unification skills and far more integrity can rise from the ranks of the "traditional" republican party - someone who will undeniably put country over party or self - disantis will probably be the gop frontrunner.
Florida is a state where slavery exists and DeSantis as its leader supports it in more ways than one. For one, it has legalized slavery through the 13th Amendment right to enslave people in prison. And, those who have been in prison in Florida lose their right to vote it appears. So, in essence, in Florida doing the time does not mean paying for your crimes. Secondly, there is slavery amongst the agricultural workers in Florida. Not only did I read about a slave camp of Haitian men in Florida many years ago, but I continue to read about immigrant workers not getting paid at all for their work and threatened with deportation while living in deplorable conditions.
https://www.sfltimes.com/opinion/florida-still-among-states-benefiting-handsomely-from-prison-slave-labor
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/owner-farm-labor-contracting-company-pleads-guilty-racketeering-conspiracy-involving-forced
https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2979/racethmulglocon.5.1.29
So, while DeSantis pretends that he does not need the immigrants coming to this country at all, his state's agricultural industry needs them, but he does not discuss that. DeSantis is a lowdown, slimy, weasel and there is no way I see him winning in Illinois.
I think you have hit on something that must be exposed on the national level, and beginning NOW. Far too many outside FL (but probably even many Floridians) have no clue how deplorable on every level the present governor there is.
I am hoping that after New York Let George Santos slide in without the rigorous checking that should have been done before the election, we will not have such sloppiness again. If not on the part of the press, then at least the Democratic party should investigate people and get it out there. This youtube video of DeSantis raising his children on the Teats of Trump might be a good one to drag out if he announces he is running, to tie him to his true beliefs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1YP_zZJFXs
I pray you are correct. I really do.
Here are the demographics.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/religious-landscape-study/state/illinois/party-affiliation/
While the no leaning seems like if they all went Republican they could throw the vote, but that is not what happens. Either some vote either way, or they don't vote, or they vote for other candidates .
Since it is Christmas, and Jesus is just born, I have to say "Jesus!" as a swear word, that I think he would approve of if he were alive today.
Despite the controversial above sentence, I whole-heartedly agree on your statement that DeSantis cannot be allowed to obtain national office and attempt to frack up (the Battlestar Galactica swear word) the educational system in blue states. (Red is already likely fracked up.)
Amen.
More than one philosopher has pointed out that those who ignore history are eventually forced to relive it. And those who encourage such ignoring of history, like Floriduh's governor, are to blame. To use a stronger word but one with the same root, those who promote ignoring history are in the business of promoting ignorance. ... even extending beyond history.
"those who promote ignoring history are in the business of promoting ignorance. ... even extending beyond history." True words Jack.
And yet, the Governor of Floriduh who ignores history was recently re-elected by a landsclide. There is a remedy for that and it is the spreading of knowledge, such as that imparted daily by HCR. Introducing others to 'Letters from an American' is a good way to start.
And I never knew about the treatment of Japanese Americans during WWII until I moved from MA to WA where it was taught to 4th graders learning state history. I was disgusted my country did such a thing. These people were given some reparations by President Clinton, and then the whole nation knew the story. What a world, where now this bit of US history totally relates to the war in Ukraine. We are all connected always. Good can happen too.
And still, still, still the descendants of slaves wait. No reparations for them. How incredibly unjust.
Philadelphia the site of the police bombing an enclave of people who were protesting injustices to their clan! Not 19th century history, happened late 20th century!
Now, suppression takes the form of illegal ‘voter rights’ laws, especially limiting voting opportunities on Native American lands!
That bombing happened in my neighborhood here in West Philly--it was PTSD-inducing! I will never forget the plumes of smoke...and the smell....
I wonder if the Whites that want to sanitize history so that their kids won't feel uncomfortable learning about the mass murders their White ancestors committed would be OK with this bombing since a Black mayor ordered it on Black protesters....
Very powerful note that the mayor at the time was a black person. Brings to mind Clarence Thomas who has turned his back on the very people who fought for the benefits he reaped!
He's without compunction and any ethical fiber. After overturning Roe vs Wade, it's like let's consider looking to do the same with same-sex marriage, if not with same-sex sex, and of course, contraception. There was even talk about reconsidering interracial marriage. With two interracial marriages involving two of the justices and another involving the VP of the US, I was giddily waiting for that opinion...Thomas and a slew of others need to butt out of other people's bodies and their bedrooms....
"...the forced march of native Americans from the Everglades...."
I hadn't heard of the Seminoles on a forced march. Spending my adolescence (the 1960s) in Lakeland, I was taught in school that the Seminoles never signed a treaty with the U.S. government. Further, that they were the only tribe in the U.S. who had not signed such a treaty; the reason being that the hostile environment in the Everglades overwhelmed the U.S. Army troops as so many soldiers died of disease alone. My handful of friends and I (all whites) took a certain pride in the Seminoles' independent stand. Personally, I never heard a bad word about the Seminoles during my life in Florida. After all, some of us just realized that it was their land to start with.
The pride that you mention is reflected in Florida State's teams being called the 'Seminoles,' but that doesn't really make up for the sorry treatment of Native Americans that the growing nation, as it expanded, carried out. The NFL team in Washington, the MLB team in Cleveland, and many others have gotten rid of such team names. FSU would be wise to do the same, along with other schools (including my old high school back in Newark) still using what amount to ethnic or racial team nicknames.
Absolutely. Nothing can make up for the sorry treatment of Native Americans. I believe the greedy land barons who benefitted immensely from taking the Natives land should be the first to pay back for what was taken. For example, the King Ranch in Texas has 825,000 acres of Native American land. And the King Farm in Florida currently farms about 20,000 acres of very productive, organic land in Florida in thee Everglades region (Seminole territory). And the railroad tycoons who benefitted so much from Native lands. Now, Bill Gates has about 270,000 acres of fertile farmland in multiple states. He's not likely to compensate the Native Americans in any way for it.
Ref. the sports teams' names with American Indian references, I have mixed thoughts about that past. I can understand most of all why the "Redskins" should be changed. It's derogatory. I can understand changing the teams named "The Indians" also. In terms of "The Braves" and "The Seminoles," I don't see the names as derogatory. I seem them as references to the Native bravery, prowess, and stealth. Still, I imagine all the names will change. So be it.
I just love Abe Lincoln....
Abe Lincoln was truly in a class/league of his own. I don't believe anyone represented the purpose and potential of the U.S. better than Abe Lincoln.
My take-away: that northerners were as racist as southerners. If Germany can pay reparations to survivors of Holocaust survivors while providing a good social safety net for their citizens, the US should do something similar for Native Americans.
With slavery, Jim Crow laws, the genocide against Native Americans, and the Holocaust, there was a common denominator: the oppressors perceived the their victims as less than human. That’s always the rationalization for horrible treatment of “the other.”
Everyone has the potential to dehumanise someone they perceive as "the enemy". Every time I catch myself gloating over the number of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine this week, I have to stop and remind myself that these figures represent so many more young guys who won't be coming home to their families.
The enemy I faced in the jungles I finally realized was not the enemy. He was just trying to kill me because I was just trying to kill him.
Pat,
Sounds like you must have been in Vietnam. Yes, you were stuck in a bad spot for bad reasons, no doubt, but, thanks for your service.
Definitely, it was not your fault.
Well said. Thank you for going when you had to.
Talia, exactly. My boyish fantasies about enemy annihilation are tempered by my geezers' empathy with the loved ones left behind.
And ther are always loved ones left behind, unless you look at the Nazis who killed their children before themselves.
Thank you for this. I wonder how long this war would last if Putin and his closest supporters had to be the ones actually fighting in the fields of battle.......
“It’s always the old who lead us to the wars, always the young who fall” - Phil Ochs
The young are taken advantaged of. And the old know it.
I often thought when I was in college, that if the leaders of countries had to fight it out in an arena, we would have less wars. It is tragic when presidents send our military to fight in order to line the pockets of the military industrial complex, rather than to preserve our democracy. I couldn't understand how someone like George Bush or Dick Cheney or Donald Rumsfeld could send soldiers to die for the reasons they manufactured. This to me, is another example of seeing a group of people as less than human. Yes, soldiers signed up for their jobs, but not with the idea that they were expendable because someone wanted to get rich with wartime profits or wanted to throw their weight around because they had the power and had seen too many John Wayne movies. Our leaders should be more mature and moral than that. We are lucky to have so many dedicated and talented people in the military. They should not be sent to war unless the president felt the war was important enough to send their own loved ones into that battle.
I read an opinion piece decades ago speaking to this issue and suggesting that contentious leaders unable to resolve issues diplomatically simply be forced to a duel or similar, period - eliminating all the nasty, heartbreaking, and unnecessary losses and associated aspects of all-out war. It made so much sense to me! Still does. In reality, things wouldn't be all that simple, but at the very least, it may make most "leaders" think twice..
Or fell out of windows.
This comes to mind, slightly off topic, but maybe not. From George Saunders’s acceptance speech “what seems other is actually not other at all, but just us on a different day.” Thinking back, may be truer than I want to admit. Like many, I had to learn so much and discard what should never have been taught.
True, Jeri. I learned the lost cause with my mother’s milk, and I’ve been struggling to unlearn it for the past fifteen years. So thankful for Dr. Richardson and this group, for the assist in a very difficult effort.
The dead Chinese stacked like cord wood for the winter in Montana were primarily murder victims and of course their murderers were not pursued as the populace of Chinese workers were sub-human and the laws didn’t protect them.
Oh dear, another atrocity that I didn't know about.
"the oppressors perceived the their victims as less than human"
Michael, perhaps that is true.
Or, perhaps the people who put in place the Jim Crow laws and killed other humans wantonly and without reason were just selfish and brutish and intent on their own outcomes.
Perhaps it was as simple as "I want that, you have that, now you are dead".
In the case of Jim Crow, one MUST read, "By Hands Now Known: Jim Crows Legal Executioners".
In this book we see people killed for stupid reasons and for fun. Just folks who want to enjoy the troubles of others. Not those that "dehumanize" them.
Those that want to have some fun killing someone under legal circumstances where it is OK.
Doesn't "killing for fun" imply dehumanization?
Yes, of course...but it doesn’t have the immediate, emotional response. Just take a look at pictures of people attending a lynching, celebrating, actually.
Weren't some lynching attendees forced to watch too as an example of the consequences of stepping out of line?
Exactly.
Just as Magas see people seeking asylum. Put 'em on a bus and dump them in the freezing cold on Christmas Eve.
They still are, Jerry: Boston has been consistently rated as the most racist city in the USA. As I observe the struggles Canada is going through to try to legislate reparations to their First People, I doubt that the US is in any condition to even begin that conversation. Something academics have begun to do: many of us begin academic conference sessions with the acknowledgement that we are all standing on land stolen from indigenous people (the specific groups are usually identified by name) and that we owe them not just acknowledgement but also reparations. Some of my colleagues have begun to include this kind of information on their signature lines in official university emails as well. This is a trend going across the USA and Canada.
Well, Boston has a mayor who is Taiwanese-American, a police commissioner who is Black, at least three Black city councilors, two who are Hispanic and one who, from her headscarf appears to be Muslim. I represented several women who were members of the Fire Department ( and women of color), and their view was that Black and Hispanic firefighters were well-accepted, if they were male. Does the city still struggle with racism? Of course. But take surveys like the one you cite with many grains of salt.
Yes these recent elected officials make my heart sing! I voted for them all!
Miigwech.
I am very ashamed of the way we treated the Indian people, and sadly all people of color... or anyone we judge as "different" as if each if each of us is not an amazing unique creation, yet in the same breath proclaim ourselves a great Christian nation.
Jesus was not "white". According to scripture, He was born within a Jewish family. He was accused of being a criminal by the Pharisees and executed by the Roman government. Yet He commanded "peace"," love one another as I have loved you and gave up myself for you...."
If we are of this faith, though imperfect we can read about and witness the gradual and or sudden transformation of those who truly work to live out their faith also asking forgiveness many times when we know we have spoken hurtful words or done things we know within our beings are wrong. Other faiths also practice acts of goodness and kindness: Indians (remember the story of how they helped the first European explorers to survive their first harsh winter and the Indian woman who lead Lewis and Clark to the west coast of our country....and also the use of native language during World War II as code to send important secret messages to our troops. We have fought side by side for our freedoms: people of all colors, tribes,,,,etc, for Freedom and we must continue to fight together for this most precious ideal.
I hear much compassion and a call to recognize injustice and "love one another" in very practical ways. At the same time, I am troubled by the "we" in your first sentence, "the way we treated the Indian people." I think that makes it too easy for folks to dismiss this history, and the call for reparation, especially if, like me, their ancestors came from outside the US, and had no connection to the early atrocities. "We didn't do this, so why should we have to pay?" I think a call to reparation requires a more complex connection between present day citizens and the horrific history (even to the present day) of injustice and atrocities committed against people of color in our country.
"We" didn't do it, but "we" benefited and still benefit from the seizure of indigenous lands and the genocide of the indigenous people. We need to acknowledge that, not to beat ourselves up but to at least recognize whose land we are on and ensure that we are not contributing to their continued oppression.
Thank you Allen. That is exactly what I meant by a more complex connection between present day citizens and the horrific history.... It's another messaging challenge, so that more and more of us see the need for full justice.
Yes, Chaplin Terry. As a mom to teenage children, and as a Christian, I wanted them to learn to serve others and to learn to love and respect all people. We helped to repair homes in the mountains of NC. We spoke with one of the Indian families there. It was at the time when casinos had been approved. The couple were strong and faithful
christians. They were opposed to casinos but they made this comment, "....but maybe our little Indian children will have shoes." A culture. a language, a home. land or the ability to move from place to place to hunt....the introduction of alchohol....horrors!
We can not understand until we get to know one another.....and even then we cannot know the horror of being treated with an attitude of disgust....unless we experience it.
Thank you Emily. I love hearing about the hands-on, in person way that you are educating your children about love and service and respect for the "others." Your personal story can go a long way to expanding understanding, and with that a growing call for justice and reparation.
Sadly, we are only repaying Native Americans that happen to be in the tribe where gambling has been sanctioned. And then handsomely, but only then.
The vast majority of Native Americans do not live on reservations.
Yes, but what is your point?
My impression is that you are speaking to poverty. Those who don’t live on reservations aren’t necessarily recipients of casino wealth or benefits. Since the Casino industry was entirely fostered under tribal authority I guess I am not sure what part of “we”it is that are “repaying.”
Pat,
To support your own words: "We" are not repaying anybody for anything.
In the case of Casino money, the tribes, on their own capitalist initiative, are making their own money.
Yes.
During some research in eastern Oregon for a book project, I encountered jealously among whites regarding the stronger casino-driven economy on a reservation versus that in the adjacent city. This was about 12 years ago.
Michael, jealousy and greed have always been catastrophic enemies of generosity and the freedom and security to be kind.
Northerners were not as racist as Southerners. That is wrong. Europe to Russia was always a mess. Germans led, with Hitler elected following Mussolini elected - the Austrians, the French, the Poles, the Russians, the Italians, the unholy Vatican, Pope Pius VI, Czechoslovakians. the Spanish, the Portuguese, AND FDR - who turned away boats loaded with Jews, as the Brits before Churchill enabled Hitler - the Holocaust in Europe reflected the human experience most everywhere. Study India, Grandi and South Africa..
Sandy, don't forget what the English did to the Irish - forbid them to practice their religion, speak their language, own land, vote, and the list goes on, much the same as they did in other parts of their empire, and would have done here, given the chance.
History is so unkind to the myths and better story we create to mask the century of invasion and subjugation of the lands and people we know as America the Beautiful. Because history does not let us claim that we didn't have a hand in the subjugation and cruelty that is conquering, we will continue to write a new story, a new narrative exalting the values expressed in our Declaration of Indepence about the equality of all mankind or the Sunday School lessons that aculturate another generation of children denied the truth of what man does to man and the destruction that derives from war, conquering, and progress. Our past will become our present when the history get written by the next majority who conquer and gain access to facts and narrative lived by them. We polish our narrative so that history does not replace our beliefs with another's reality. Once the pursestrings of reparation are untied, all our myths become known for what they are, lies to cover the true sins of the residents in our past.
I read two fascinating books this year that dig deep into two chapters of the past that you describe:
- "Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI" by David Grann.
- "Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the Rise and Fall of the Comanches, the Most Powerful Indian Tribe in American History" by S.C. Gwynne.
We know the past treatment of native people was beyond horrible. Learning the details involving specific individuals and places is revelatory — in a very disturbing way.
Thanks for the recommendations. Enjoy your thinking and knowledge shared.
Fred, wow!!! beautifully written and true. Thank you for taking time to express yourself.
We need to look into your words and see ourselves. We can always do something kind especially if we ask the question (seriously) What if it were me,,,,my children?
We are "residents of the present."
I think maybe you are on to something.
Add Canada, too. Unlike the U.S., it has long publicly acknowledged its sins against the Indigenous peoples, and 40 years go enshrined rights for them in a constitutional act.
I remember 8th Grade Colorado History, where Sand Creek was "the Battle of Sand Creek" and the genocidaires were "the founding fathers of Colorado, led by militia leader Colonel Chivington." When I raised my hand and said the account was much more like a massacre than a battle, it was another of those days I spent "polishing the vice principal's bench" in my 12 year war without quarter with the Public Miseducation System. Nowadays, Colorado now has a sign at the site of the massacre, calling it a massacre and describing the crimes committed, and such is now what contemporary 8th graders read in their Colorado History books, and homicidal maniac Colonel Chivington and the rest of the genocidaires he led that day are no longer on the list of Official Colorado Heroes.
You saw early on that the emperor was naked— indeed, a punishable crime.
Part of the Aspergian curse. Or my version.
What happened to the highly-polished bench? :)
Well, it had been in use what seemed like a long time back then, so I suppose it was polished till wear and use left nothing to polish. :-)
Just lives in legend as the Resistance Desk...
Nowadays, smoking a spliff is perfectly legal. Twenty-five years ago Colorado was demonizing weed with the DARE program. Things change, not always for the better. Now we’re questioning science and accusing people of wokeness.
And wokeness should be applauded, unless corrupted by the ultrawoke
I always wonder what people mean when they claim “the far left” is as damaging as the far right? Do they really believe that wanting to do away with unfettered capitalism, providing universal basic income, one payer healthcare, public sponsored daycare, paid family leave, etc. are dangerous ideas? All of these ideas and more are already implemented in different ways in other countries where they do not have our levels of violence and where they help reduce income inequality.
I will only write for myself: i worry when a minority on the left call for takeover of specific industries to achieve a common good. I do believe that will put the U.S. to become like Venezuela.
I had written a response but it didn’t seem to make it. I am wondering what industries are left wing politicians wanting to take over? Venezuela has an authoritarian government and any laws the United States enacts are voted for by representatives.
I gradually moved from conservative to progressive over the decades and it makes more sense to me for our country to regulate the internet as a utility, to create a one payer non-profit healthcare system, to break up monopolies, fund k-12 fairly, prioritize the climate, provide a universal basic income, eliminate for profit prisons, etc. Are these some of the industries far left minorities are focusing on? I honestly don’t know.
Johanna, thank you for your comment. I was specifically thinking about comments I've heard in this forum calling for nationalization of oil companies to force a change in the energy supply mix. It was that demonization of an industry that simply had been meeting demand which triggered me.
Regulating internet companies is still regulation vs. ationalization. Everything else you mention is, in my view, investment in our human capital and fixing gross errors in policy (private prisons). I say that as a conservative who inderstands that when one manages a household or a village, one must invest in infrastructure and protect residents and sometimes use debt to do so. What you call progressive is really compassionate conservatism. Unfortunately, when Bush used that term, he might have believed it but his party just used it as bait for moderates.
What was the word before "woke"?
And what is the antithesis of "woke"? Asleep? Unconscious? Deliberate ignorance?
I hear woke and I think awake, aware and embracing the truth.
To not be woke is to dishonor others. Which seems to be trending...
I think the word for woke was humane.
Aware.
Not just Colorado.
That always stuck in my craw too. I cringe when traveling by the Town of Chivington Colorado.
Surprised they haven't changed the name, but given it's in rural Colorado (aka Flyover Loserville), that probably won't happen.
Excellent example of "othering" rural residents of the US West.
It seems to me that distain for a regional political persuasion, as in those who voted for Boebert, is markedly different from othering on the basis of sex, nationality or race. Whataboutism is making a false equivilancy here.
"Flyover Loserville" can perjoratively be applied to anywhere, say Indian lands, farming communities, or even inner cities, where the name caller sees no worth it disdains the inhabitants. My comment stands.
Except it's not.
There are a number of rural areas in the US West (most of Wyoming, for instance) where it is dangerous for people like me to stop. Despite looking all the world like a cisgendered guy I still get death stares from white men--always white, never any other apparent ethnicity. All of them much bigger than I and under no threat whatsoever from me. Do I still look queer in REI backpacking gear? I have no idea.
But when they stop with the hostility maybe some of us will dial back the response.
You don't have to be gay to get that. I remember hitching from Berkeley to Denver, and the ride let me off in Rawlins. After several hours of bad stares and a couple swerves toward me, I went into town and called a friend in Denver and had them wire me the Greyhound fare. It only finally got there just before the last bus for the night left. I was planning where to hide for the night because I knew the "night creatures" would be looking for me. I rate Wyoming and Idaho as far worse than East Texas for danger.
Merely speaking from experience having traveled pretty extensively in the West, and not just the big cities.
You would have been one of my favorite students, TC. It reminds me of myself as a student in 7th grade, too, as when we were studying the rise of the Protestant wing of Christianity and I raised my hand to point it the root of the word was "protest" (and all the meaning that indicated for the religion, etc.) and my history teacher thought briefly and quickly dismissed my idea. I sat quietly and decided then and there that many teachers were simply idiots and once you see that in a teacher, do something else with your time and attention, but certainly don't try to get good grades from them. Grades from people like that are meaningless.
Sooooo true. Which is how I graduated 125 from the bottom of a HS graduating class of 825 - yet went on to get two college degrees (after learning the value of a "sheepskin" in the Navy).
I was 83rd in my class of ~500. More boys than girls struggle with the way school is done, too. I was fortunate that one of the good things Mom passed on to me was that grades weren't everything. That's in our country, though. The competition for a good education and a good job is more intense in many other parts of the world and they continue to measure people by how well they cow-tow to the powers that be. And then those same officials turn around and wonder why we have more entrepreneurs and creative people. Hmm. Really?!
Actually, I was "classic Aspergers," though no one at the time knew that (thank goodness, since in those days the "solution" to every childhood weirdness was institutionalization). I had a college freshman reading comprehension (back when that actually meant something) in sixth grade. In classes I was interested in - history, English, art - anything visual, even mechanical drawing, which I did three years' credit in two semesters - I got As and Bs. For the stuff I wasn't interested in - math, science, all the other crap - I was a straight D student. Brilliant math and science guy Dad (that was his Aspergian gift - an original creative genius in his field) couldn't understand why I couldn't do any of that.
Talk to a therapist nowadays who understands Aspergers and the story above has "sirens, bells, whistles, neon lighting and fireworks" screaming ASPERGERS, as my therapist once put it
Fortunately when I went to college after the Navy, I was motivated by the difference in treatment officers (college grads) got from enlisted (non-grads). I also only ever took one science class, a geology class coincidentally taught by a scientist I had met in the Navy as his assistant during an expedition to the Galapagos - he gave me an A "for all your hard work down there", so with a major in "interdisciplinary social sciences" (a degree you can't get any more), I was Dean's List.
A win for TC, albeit a little late.
Trying to do better: https://www.5280.com/history-colorado-center-unveils-sand-creek-massacre-exhibit/
That is good news.
As I mentioned earlier, the actual site, which I visited some 8 years ago, of the hanging of the Santee men, was only commemorated and turned into an official historical site in 1997. But they got the true history right on the plaques there. https://www.loc.gov/item/2020723248/
Better late than never.
And now 2 of our 14-ers are being renamed. They were named after some these very men who forced First Nation peoples from their lands. There is a lot more to do. And I am skeptical about learning from these kinds of mistakes. If, as is mentioned in these comments, each person on earth accept differences as something to be celebrated…. Then we have a chance to change.
Unfortunately, the Boebert clan feels existentially threatened by all of this. And I really can’t blame them. Look at what they regard as their heritage and identity. Cattle ranching in a modern era where water is scarce in the West? Driving around in monster gas guzzling trucks and burning logs during climate change? Flying your flag and being an isolationist while the world keeps globalizing and shrinking? Holding on to myths and lies while the Information Age demolishes them? Asserting some invented Constitutional right to limitless firearms possession while their countrymen demand an end to the massacre of 6 year-olds at school?
Good for you TC for speaking out. I wonder what your 8th grade teacher thought after most agreed with you and a sign was erected stating it was a massacre. Maybe your teacher agreed with you but was "not allowed" to agree with you.
An interesting question.
Once again, as we consider America’s treatment of its Native People, we must hang our heads in shame. We must also learn all we can - and thank you, Heather, for helping us in that pursuit - so that atrocities like these are recognized as the abominations they are and thus less likely to happen again. As we have been taught, “history rhymes,” and I believe that truly understanding all that history has to teach us will help free us from the evil and stupidity of repeating the societal madness which so sadly characterizes a significant part of the track record (history) of our species. Even as we hang our heads in bitter recognition of past (and present) horrors, we must continue to seek light and peace. Therein lies hope and faith.
Societal madness reminds me “Madness in individuals is rare, but in groups, parties, nations and ages, it is the rule.” Nietzsche
Madness in mobs, yes. There can be, however, a different dynamic in small groups (fewer than 10 or 12) which can support and nurture healing. Something happens to diminish individual emotional intelligence or courage when faced with larger numbers in groups and mobs. That's what makes the exceptions so inspiring in stories like Atticus Finch facing down the mob in To Kill A Mocking Bird and juries of 12 so difficult to manage.
From your mouth to god’s ear.
Love your work.
Murder is the third leading cause of death of Native American women. Murder is the third leading cause of death of Native American Women. Murder is the third leading cause of death of Native American Women. In no other population statistic is that so. Across the nation, Native American Women are disappearing. It has become systematic. It is terrifying. One in every three who die will be abducted and murdered. This is the most appalling mass murder going on in this country and it goes unspoken.
There is a series on tv now called Alaska Daily with Hilary Swank. Thats the first acknowledgement by the "entertainment" industry of these crimes. I've been reading about it for several years. But the media is too busy with clickbait from TFG & allies.
I did read that the Senator from Alaska & another senator or repres. have a bill right now regarding this.
It should be a major story in the news. But yeah - not!
Thanks Maggie. I ran into this mess years ago delivering helicopters nationwide and in Canada and Alaska. It took a while to connect such far flung posters with the gravity, but being exacerbating at home in the reservations of Montana it became personal and finally I realized it was pretty nasty.
I have to admit I knew nothing about any of this until just the past few years. What was done and frankly still is being done to Native Americans, children, entire families, is a black eye to this entire country & as someone else said, its not only us, its Canada - but they appear to be attempting to make up for it in some way. I have to say, what "white" people have done for hundreds of years to any "other" or different humans does not make any of us blame-free!
I hope Heather continues to educate all of us the way she has been. Its too bad that on the whole shes speaking to the "choir", since anyone who doesnt want to acknowledge this, simply refuses to read or listen!
I just found that series Maggie, and it paints a stark picture of the difference between missing native women and missing white women. Actually it’s been pointed out by Black folks for a while, showing the difference in efforts to locate missing children of color vs white kids (seems always to be cute blonde girls, right?) sigh
Yeah, Carol - any "others" just arent as high a concern. Just as the numbers of arrested kids or adults show a really large difference - for the same offenses.
It has also been taken up by the tV adaptation of the Louise Penny Books , a Prime series of 4. The missing First Nations women was not part of the books but has been made a major story line by the writers . Craig Johnson's latest book is about the horror of what has happened in Native schools. I have found more Canadian writers willing to discuss the abuse of First Nation people & Canadians in general willing to address it such as using First Nation names instead of what whites named islands & places. FYI Iam not Canadian.
I havent read any of Louise Penny books but will look at the Prime series. I'll ask for craig Johnson's latest at the library - didnt realize there was a new one out.
Maybe they are willing to discuss this abuse because Canada seems to be acknowledging more & more of what was done - time we did!
Love the Louise Penny books! And the TV series.
It is the same, or worse, in Canada. I can only assume it is a real problem in places like Mexico and Guatemala as well.
Women as “lesser” or “other.”
Kind of like what radicals want women in do—brood mares—or die—withheld reproductive care if Something goes wrong.
Pat,
Wow, I had seen a netflix movie about this and it was horrifying but I imagined it an isolated incident.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt5362988/
I guess we have some freaks raiding the reservation.
Again.
No Mike it is a constant. Law enforcement hasn’t been able to get a handle on it. Much occurs in isolation so they get no leads. There are so many levels of predators here. There are so many cases, they cross so many jurisdictions. There may be levels of organization involved. It is heartbreaking, and it is not slowing down.
Montana has finally responded to public pressure and is listing the missing, the found, and admitting the problem needs fixing.
Pat,
Am really sorry to hear about this. Worse, it sounds like nobody is working on a solution.
Mike you know the disposed have no champions. Not a typo Mike. The dispossessed
are disposed of as the final solution. Easy answer, problem solved. Distill humanity in this fashion, add a little bleach, enjoy. Or???
The real answer is that while congress has responded somewhat appropriately no permanent solution has been put in effect. Cooperation among jurisdiction lacks the swiftness necessary to communicate effectively and in a timely manner. Prejudices remain as barriers leaving the victim cataloged as it were as a runaway, delaying prompt amber alerts. The sex trade stands as an enticement which becomes entrapment and enslavement. The inability of tribal authority to adjudicate non tribal offenders also causes insurmountable friction. Education seems to be mostly accomplished in a grass roots fashion after the fact led by the victims families. Social media sometimes is the only way to broadcast news in real time. By real time I mean taking effective actions that can lead to the trail not going cold. These problems are not going away with these bandaid solutions. A standard of response will have to be elevated above prejudice, jurisdiction, and cost. Every incident should be assigned a quick response unit that takes command every time for every victim. It was easier when I was a kid. We tracked the bastards down even into Cambodia and and the bad guys shared the fate they dished out. They learned the hard way there were were no borders. It is my personal conviction that all communities adhere to the incident command system and train enough personnel to handle at a very minimum the historical case load. This system for those of you who are not familiar has become a national interagency standard which you see go in to action whenever emergency services are immediately needed and cover most disaster scenarios. This is in place and training can be relatively easily obtained to launch missing and abducted persons. Inter-community and inter-jurisdictional responsibilities are worked out ahead of time. People becoming incident commanders train very seriously to become qualified. Think of your police and fire departments. Now think of leadership in action to work with the families of abducted members. Remember that many communities don’t have these very basic amenities but can put together very respectful and qualified incident command teams. That is my opinion.
This is another story I don’t know about.
It is a growing epidemic, Nora. You will find a bloody red hand across the mouth of an Indian woman in the rest areas of the western interstate hi-way system, among many many other areas where it is posted. No one cares. The indifference is staggering. Many women are found raped and eaten by scavengers in lonely places if they are found at all. Many simply vanish.
I have never heard anything about this, can you post anything about this?
You need a varsity player for that. I am an old relic one finger typist. Go to the internet and type in missing indigenous women and you will be inundated. Or make a trip to any reservation or community near a reservation. Or grow up as I did in their presence.
Good info Pat!!
Thank you.
And, it's so effin HORRIBLE!!😪
This is a recent article from MSM: https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2021-11-01/how-states-are-addressing-the-missing-indigenous-women-crisis
Thank you so much for putting this out there MLRGRMI.
And this article was written over a year ago - I have wonder if any progress has been and is being made - other than "task forces".
Sounds like a lot of "studying" & "examining" but not much doing!
Upon taking an issue to the governor, I was granted an audience. Of the 30 minutes allotted time the Governor and her department head talked for 29 and a half minutes reviewing policy which we all were quite familiar with. As the department head kept tight watch on his timepiece I could see he was angling for a sweep. The meeting could now go safely into the books as that discussion. Mad, I stood and interrupted to which the governor stood and thanked me for my concern. Future discussions were shelved as they had had that discussion. I had a roping buddy who happened to be in Helena at the capital so I strolled down to his office and he waved me in. You know, Pat, I’m a United States Senator and I can’t even get an audience there. Conrad wasn’t a Mansfield by any means but he sure as hell gave a shit. That is where the dispossessed always landed and policies were buried.
Thanks I was quite unaware. This was a sad article but a good piece of reporting.
And as that may be true, I'm glad to see justice opening doors to many native American women too; I see that by being on a listserve that posts events, jobs and grants -- that comes from Rising Voices Center for Indigenous and Earth Sciences (look it up with UCAR or NCAR) Their yearly conference is open to all.
Dear 'old relic one finger typist', you have done us a great favor today by opening a door to the current murders and disappearances of Native American women in our country. Who among us knew? I hope your messages are carried forward, so that they are heard and answered. Thank you, Pat Cole.
This particular group of stalwart blue chip intellectual varsity athletes who are intensely interested in women’s issues seeing the light of day seemed like the best place to go.
Pat, You have called out in the deepest way and clearly reported what has been happening to Native American women. Don't stop here if you know of any others who may act to make a difference. Gratitude to you.
❗️ ❗️ ❗️
Good lord, sounds like a Pulitzer story if any care
Such painful history. I used to believe we were evolving and becoming better people with every generation, as we learn more about each other and about our planet. Now…, I think there are decent people in every generation and greedy people. There is knowledge, ignorance, wealth, poverty, ability and disability. We have to look for the good in humanity and sing about it from the mountaintops. We need to know all of our history and keep teaching it and reading it.
Terrible, terrible story. Lincoln's wisdom and inner strength through unending trial never cease to amaze me. And he was shot by an extremist.
Anne-Louise I suspect that a large part of Lincoln's wisdom and inner strength derived from his humble origins and persistent strenuous efforts at self-education which allowed him to be sure of what he knew but to also recognize the limits of what he knew and continue to seek new knowledge.
Booth took the win away, all by himself. That’s what extremists do…
In the midst of the Civil War, having to deal with the Native American situation was another trial for him and he did that job fairly & well (in addition to working on his major problem.)
A man of great stature.
“We need to know all of our history and keep teaching it and reading it.” And I might add: and keep working against the perennial instinct to look away, sanitize it, or hide it.
Amen.
I like your post ScannyDo but would amend it slightly to include not just decent people and greedy people but also secure people and scared people, many scared of their own lack of courage or other internally perceived shortcomings. As mentioned above the early settlers were quite willing to accept indigenous help. It seems once they became more secure in their survival or themselves that allowed them to take either more generous or more uncaring actions against the "other."
I really appreciate that addition, JohnM, you are absolutely right. Scared people and secure people. Thank you!
In his examination of the history of violence: "less than human: Why We Demean, Enslave, And Exterminate Others" author David Livingstone Smith quotes Aldous Huxley on page 21: "Most people would hesitate to torture or kill a human being like themselves. But when that human being is spoken of as though he were not a human being, but as the representative of some wicked principle, we lose our scruples...All political and nationalistic propaganda aims at only one thing; to persuade one set of people that another set of people are not really human and that it is therefore legitimate to rob, swindle, bully, and even murder them."
Huxley's explanation of the roots of human violence and bigotry is applicable to any time in human history.
Deborah,
Excellent post and I have copied it to read it again in the future.
I guess Fox News is doing a pretty good job by routinely referring to Democrats with words that dehumanize. "Extremists", "Communists", etc.
Me personally? I would never waste time in war with torture. There is no benefit and there is no time for that activity unless you are some kind of sicko who just enjoys hurting people
“I would never waste time in war with torture.” Don’t be sure of that Mike. Situations have a lot of influence on our persuadable actions. Some perpetrators are straight-up sadists,I agree, but others are not. After reading about the Stanford Prison Experiment (1971, professor Phillip Zimbardo), and reading Hannah Arendt on war crimes. She coined the term (I believe) : “The banality of evil”. I started to realize my great privilege of not being in any situation where I might chose or be compelled to dehumanize another. But not all get to have this privilege. We all have a breaking point. We all are persuadable with a magic-mix of psychological manipulation and hopeless conditions. I see our time here reading LFAA as adding armor to our minds against the manipulation forces around us trying to get us to NOT know our history. We are the fortunate ones, but in different circumstances and situations, we could be altered.
MLRGRMI,
First, absolutely excellent name!
Second, of course, you are correct. There is bound to be a circumstance where I would do someting unthinkable to me today.
The United States of American is a country founded on slavery and genocide of the American Indian. Our original sin still haunts us and will continue to do so until we as a nation come out of denial, in the same way Germany dealt with the holocaust after WWII. Today, instead of confronting our primary sin, we are banning books in libraries and teaching our children a false narrative of our true history.
The only way to truly evolve as a nation is to face all of our bedrock truths, no matter how painful or shameful. Just as "personal evolution is the only game in town," so as real historical truth is our only salvation.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” said the philosopher George Santayana.
I wholeheartedly agree with you Peter. Why be afraid of teaching EVERYONE of our true history? Embarrassing? Humiliating? Yes! The truth is the truth, whether you try to hide it, disguise it or deny it. The more I learn of it, the more ashamed I feel. Not for myself personally but for those who partook in the behavior. Imagine if we were taught the truth all along, how it might just have affected our current thoughts and beliefs. We might have ended up being more empathetic and caring for Everyone. A girl can only dream.
Agreed, Peter.
Professor Richardson has publicized yet another event that shows the world just how brutal the United States as a nation was, and still is in the persons of Ron DeSantis, Greg Abbott and their ilk.
It's a sharp, urgent lesson, for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.
Too many have no eyes and ears
Such as leaving migrants outside VP Harris’ house in DC in freezing temps on Christmas Eve. Unbelievably cruel.
To quote an unknown (to me) Native American source....
"The only time the US Government kept its word, treaties or otherwise, to Native American Tribes was when they promised to take all of their land".
But so few times in American history have the Native Americans been treated in line with the 1776 " Declaration of Independence" and benefiting from ....
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.".......
and we won't even get into their rights to hold their own property. They had the temerity to often successfully resist and fight against rape and pillage of the life, limb and wellbeing.
Lincoln's other contributions to the land theft and consequent genocide were all in 1862.
1/The Homestead Act giving 160acres to anyone who wished to claim it from their buffaloe ranges and other hunting lands
2/The Myers Land Act giving extensive and "well placed" land grants to the States from "Federal" terriotories for the development of local agricultural colleges without consulting the original occupants.
3/The Pacific Railways Act extending massively the gift of 175 million acres (bigger than Texas) of land to fund the advance of rail companies developing new lines in previously indian tended lands.
Not one treaty was ever respected.
Not Lincoln this time but once again the the non-voting representation of the Cherokee people in Congress promised in the 1835 Treaty of New Echota is "set for a hearing". It has been "talked about sporadically with result or action for the last 187 years! So much for promises.
Stuart, at the National Museum of the American Indian in Washington DC, there is a Treaty Wall. I was so impressed when I went through and read them! However at the very end there was the reality check statement “ None of the treaties held” (or something to that effect). A cold wind blows across your neck when you read that there. Since then, I’ve tried to read more history and kept discovering at every turn: harm, disenfranchisement, dehumanization, racism, systemic oppression, and whitewashing. I recognize that the likes of the MAGA crowd frame educating citizens with this knowledge as teaching them to “hate America”. But I go the other way. To know this blood soaked, intentionally crafted history, and then to work like hell to bend that damn arc of the moral universe towards justice, is to love this country deeply. Each generation gets to learn -if we are lucky- that this fight does not end and we need perennially to be the change we want to see.
"In the Name of Jesus Christ, we..."
I've to the wall
Thank you for this additional information. I began reading the truth of the history of Native Americans in the 1970's. I was astounded and angry at having been so deeply mislead growing up and also as an adult. Then I moved to Syracuse in the '70's and got to witness the rage of the Native Americans in the Onondaga Tribe. This was preceded by my learning about black history through the tumult of the 1960's. I was also exposed to black power like I had never seen growing up in the South when I moved to Syracuse.
History is a fabulous teacher if we have missed the message showing up in our personal experience, current events or movies and books. Dr. Richardson provides a valuable service through her work, and I thank her for that.
I learned some time ago that guilt is a non-productive pursuit unless it leads to a personal internal change that eventually expands outward.
I hope everyone's Christmas was peaceful and that the New Year blooms full of hope and health.
'I learned some time ago that guilt is a non-productive pursuit unless it leads to a personal internal change that eventually expands outward." I love this sentence Barbara! Personally, there are many things I did as a young person that I am not proud of and guilt (thank God I felt it) has led me to work on myself and become a totally different person, a much better person. It is a great motivator to dig deep within yourself and try to understand your thoughts and behaviors and where they came from in the first place. Unfortunately, some people never take the time to understand themselves. It's never too late to change.
No one enters adulthood and commences to age without carrying their own bag of regret/guilt around. I agree with you. It's what we do with all that sad, messy, embarrassing guilt that makes all the difference.
Happy New Year Jeanne
Thank you Barbara. I pray that your New Year is filled with goodness and Love.
It is the Morrill Act of 1862 https://www.archives.gov/milestone-documents/morrill-act
Of course. Mea culpa.
Great post Stuart.
I have, once again, learned from these comments today.
I learn something new just about every day.
As I do as well
Heather, a fantastic history lesson. I was really moved by Lincoln’s humanity. The history of whites and Native Americans is so stained with blood and misery, I can barely absorb it all. But learning it is a major goal of mine before I pass on. Thank you, Dear Friend.
What a sad reminder about that history of how our nation annihilated whole nations of indigenous people, even as we traversed the excruciating process of recognizing the immorality of slavery. We'll continue to struggle with the near impossible task of making things right for their ancestors for years to come. We don't have to wear the hair-shirt alone however. I just learned that Brazil received more African slaves than any other country in the Americas and did not abolish slavery until some years after the USA. They continue to destroy habitat of indigenous people today and drive them from their historic lands. I think perhaps there is no other species that preys on its own members to the degree that we humans do. There's so much sorrow in the world, carried forward with us for decades and even centuries; it's hard to see how we have made much progress across time in creating a better world in which to live.
The Zinn Education Project has posted an ink drawing of the 1862 thirty-eight (38) mass executions at zinnedproject.org sourced to the Minnesota Historical Society. The Project has a searchable database. Input "1862 mankato".
I skimmed the site. That project looks as if they're doing a good job of educating folks. It needs more amplification for more awareness for the public.
Fair feedback.
I frequented the Zinn Ed Project when I was teaching elementary school. After I retired, I passed my dogeared copies of James Loewen's "Lies My Teacher Told Me" and Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the US" along to a new teacher I mentored. Both books bookshelf must-haves.
Bryan, We went to the same source. Here is what I copied earlier:
'FROM THE ZINN EDUCATION PROJECT, TEACHING PEOPLE’S HISTORY'
'THIS DAY IN HISTORY
Dec. 26, 1862: Mass Execution of Dakota Indians
Time Periods: Civil War Era: 1850 - 1864
Themes: Native American, Racism & Racial Identity, Wars & Related Anti-War Movements'
'Minnesota was a new frontier state in 1862, where white settlers were pushing out the Dakota Indians—also called the Sioux. A series of broken peace treaties culminated in the failure of the United States that summer to deliver promised food and supplies to the Indians, partial payment for their giving up their lands to whites.'
'The Indians responded in the Santee Sioux uprising, killing 490 white settlers. The Dakota were executed for their role in the war of self-defense. As Wiener notes,
[President Abraham] Lincoln’s treatment of defeated Indian rebels against the United States stood in sharp contrast to his treatment of Confederate rebels. He never ordered the executions of any Confederate officials or generals after the Civil War, even though they killed more than 400,000 Union soldiers.
To learn more, we recommend the U.S. Dakota War website:
https://www.usdakotawar.org/
and an edition of This American Life, Little War on the Prairie, by the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University.
https://www.thisamericanlife.org/479/little-war-on-the-prairie
'Growing up in Mankato, Minnesota, John Biewen says, nobody ever talked about the most important historical event ever to happen there: in 1862, it was the site of the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Thirty-eight Dakota Indians were hanged after a war with white settlers. John went back to Minnesota to figure out what really happened 150 years ago, and why Minnesotans didn’t talk about it much after.'
'Find a description of the segment with teaching resources in a blog by Debbie Reese on American Indians in Children’s Literature and learn more in the tweet thread below.'
'On December 26, 1862, 38 Dakota warriors were hanged in Mankato, MN under orders of President Abraham Lincoln in the largest mass execution in U.S. history.'
'They built a special scaffold to hang them all at once & made Dakota women, children & elders watch as the crowd cheered.'
'pic.twitter.com/ISr6g0gnee'
— Ruth H. Hopkins (Red Road Woman) (@Ruth_HHopkins) December 26, 2021' (for link to the Zinn Education Project on this subject, see link below.
https://www.zinnedproject.org/news/tdih/execution-dakota/
Thank You. Fern. I think. Excruciatingly sad. 20 years later my great great grandfather bought land from the railroad for a homestead in southwestern Minnesota, on former Dakota land, where my mom later grew up.
MaryPat, Your great, great grandfather like so many others may have simply needed a piece of land for his family without knowing a thing about who it was taken from or anything about Native Americans.
Could be, and good of you to say, Fern. I don't think he ever even saw that land. He was an Irish citizen, a chef on a sea faring ship. He had 3 sons and bought land for them on 3 different continents: Australia, South America (Brazil), and the USA. As a side note - he wisely put the deed to the Minnesota farmland in the name of his son's wife, Bridgett Phelan, who before emigrating from Ireland, had owned and run her own general store. My mother saved and framed the sampler Bridget stitched as a child - it hangs in my bedroom. My great grandfather was more of a musician and artist. He designed the farm house and tile factory, which he ran, while Bridget ran the farm.
Thanks for these links Fern. It appears I have my reading cut out for me.
Thank you FERN, well done as usual.🕯
🌿🕯️
This type of thing is at the root of a lot of the white supremacy of this country. Some educated supremacists, who know about these things, have found ways to avoid cognitive dissonance where these behaviors are concerned. It's tricky because a lot of their actions are based on the theory that they are of superior morals and so forth and between the lord and manifest destiny, their actions are righteous in order to do the 'hard things' needed for a better life. A whole lot of folks have benefited from these actions and are living their heaven on earth while others are told that they will be rewarded - if they do what they are told on earth - after death.
Neatly put!
A neatly little packaged system! No thinking necessary!
Keep in mind, the Minnesota settlers and the US Army units that prevailed against the Santees all had God on their side, so the outcome was really God’s will and thus right and proper.
You see? The good guys won.
Praise the lord and pass the ammunition!
Make America great again, like in Minnesota in 1862!
Thank you, again, HCR, for the history we didn’t know that we need to know. That’s what “woke” is all about.
Right, Governor DeSantis?
Thank you Heather.
I’ll be noshing on this for a while, and lamenting that this significant piece of our national and world history will likely remain largely unknown - and worse, dismissed as Critical Race Theory.
I have never heard of the Santee massacre. Wow. I also did not know that Lincoln had a part in creating the modern rules of war. Thank you.