Thank you for this. I am shattered by the decimation of our native tribes currently being caused by COVID, with very little coverage. In fact, Oglala and Standing Rock Sioux tribes lost tribal leaders just last week with absolutely no recognition from our leadership or any statesmen. This is an absolute travesty. As a health care worker, the fact that global aid organizations like MSF and Partners in Health have to respond within our own country is mind boggling.
You don't know the half of it. A few months ago, here in Atlanta, I got into conversation with a waiter at a pizza place while I was waiting for my socially-distanced pizza. He commented that his income was actually higher during the pandemic because they had laid off most of the staff and were making a quarter of the staff to 4 times as much work. But even though the pace was unsustainable, he was unworried. After all, he had a day job.
During the day, he worked with a non-profit that mainly serviced the poorest of the Atlantan population, homeless or housed in squats. I asked if his funding had taken a hit. He said not, that the United Way had stepped up, as had the Jewish Community Center. But most of the administrative funding had been superbly stable, and had come, as it had for years, from a most reliable source.
From the Federal Republic of Germany.
The poorest of our Atlanta citizens are being supported, in large part, by a foreign aid grant from Germany. (sigh)
Stuart, I can't find any confirmation of German foreign aid going to any American city. Have you found some confirmation of this claim? I posted a link above regarding German foreign aid that goes mostly to African countries. There are so many claims right now that I think we need to check them before rallying around them.
Because our leaders are entitled and elite and wealthy, that not only do they have no compassion for anyone less fortunate, they have no comprehension of how so many of their own citizens live. Our country is run by the rich who buy and steal their power.
I can't find any link to German support of nonprofits in Atlanta, or anywhere in the US for that matter. Siemens is a German company based in Atlanta that funds research and community education in Atlanta as a PR effort. But I can't find links to German foreign aid grants. Here is a Borgen report on German foreign aid which principally goes to African countries. Can anyone else find links to foreign aid that Germany provides to any US city? https://www.borgenmagazine.com/german-foreign-aid/
I've not read anything in the local press about aid to US organizations, but the BMZ has a statement on their site that hunger is an issue they address worldwide.
I had no idea that MSF or any global aid organization was operating within our boundaries! OMG! How incredibly shameful! Your post first caught my eye with the word ‘shattered’ and I was going to reply and say that was the perfect word.... until I read to the end. Now words fail me for I cannot describe how deeply wounded in spirit I am that we have so abandoned our own people (for they are “our” people!) that international aid must intervene. Dear God.
there must be detailed transparency around all of america’s genocides... both past and present. seemingly, covid is a platform for what i would call ‘various racial genocides’.
“But it is not December 29 that haunts me. It is the night of December 28, the night before the killing.”
The horror of that night. The fear they must have known, surrounded as they were by angry, intoxicated, armed men who had hunted them and now held them captive.
Those men, women and children were helpless to do anything to protect themselves, and surely there were those among them who knew with unwelcome certainty that this would be their last night on earth.
The human truth of that night so insightfully rendered in your telling, Professor Richardson, is your power - that is what distinguishes you and that is why so many of us are here.
“The human truth of that night so insightfully rendered in your telling, Professor Richardson, is your power - that is what distinguishes you and that is why so many of us are here. “
What R. Dooley said . . . .why so many of us are here.
The good thing about having 45 as president (I cannot say his name) and the pandemic is that I've learned so much that was never taught in school. I'm sorry that we don't teach history properly or in depth...we should. Thanks for being my teachers...you and your fellow Americans who post here.
Even the teachers teaching us about history were/are never privy to the truth because the books provided to students neglected to state the real facts. Time for a reckoning!
I have trouble listening to his voice, but I need to remember and we should all remember, Trump did not make this mess by himself. He could not have made this mess without the collusion of the Republicans in the Senate. There are so many times he could have been stopped, but it was in the interests of Republicans to let him have his way. I was disappointed in many down ballot races this time. People voted against Trump, but voted for Republicans for other offices. This is all the same problem.
Thank you for this. As usual you filled in a few blanks, close to 50 years ago I read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, while I have forgotten much of the details over the years the story of what happened there has stayed with me ever since. It was a tragedy then and no less so today. BTW a Mountain Gun was a Gatling Gun, a hand cranked machine gun capable of over 100 rounds per minute. It’s obscene what they did to those people. I can still picture the photos they took after, celebrating their great victory. I believe that a number of Medals of Honor were awarded afterwards. Never has our greatest honor been awarded to less deserving recipients. I say this as a combat veteran.
Many, and indeed most, of the soldiers were very young recent immigrants and untrained in any professional way to be soldiers and thus to face "danger" and fear in a disciplined way. They joined up to get out of the "stinking hell" that was the slums of New York. That this rabble, acted so violently as many a drunken crowd might and has done elsewhere is certainly in no way excusable; one can understand the psychology of the moment but it does not detract from the horror one feels in observing humanity in this way. Blamed the soldiers should be..... but the blame must also be extended to the military hierarchy and particularly to the politicians and their "Carpet-bagging" supporters/controllers that profited greatly from the aftermath.
I suggest Lakota America, a history of the Lakota people. Interestingly enough, the author is at Oxford and is perhaps Finnish. He starts much before Wounded Knee and traces the interaction of Sioux with both Europeans and other Native Americans. Lewis and Clark, btw, were very lucky to have made it very far up the Missouri.
“never has our greatest honor been awarded to less deserving recipients”—until the current prez started handing out medals like Halloween candy, and pardoning war criminals. He has brought profound shame to all of us.
All she needs is air time on radio shows that are broadcast by high-power stations. Many people listen to Limbaugh because it is the only "news" they get...there is no cable where they live and radio is their line to the outside world. And any station that broadcasts Limbaugh is only going to broadcast that genre of idiocy.
Yes, I’m fascinated by what it would take to give HCR a much broader media exposure than the large platform she already has. Others who have her depth of knowledge and teaching/storytelling/communication skills need to be identified and enlisted as well in a major campaign to ground our democratic government in fact-based truths once again. Who should be involved? Certainly historians. Who else? Political scientists, sociologists, scientists? Investigative journalists? Movement Conservatives invested over a billion dollars in a widespread network of right-wing media, think tanks, university programs, politicians, judicial training sessions, and sketchy non-profits. Consequently., it seems that a good deal of thought, money and even power needs to be invested in promulgating truth. Revamping the Fairness Doctrine can be a major lever in this, but it seems even bigger than this. Although I worry a lot about this for some reason, I bring no expertise to the issue. Because this seems critical to our future, I just hope it does not get short shrift by the powers that be as so often happens.
Thank you for the perspective. Also congrats on the NYTimes article; however the Ben Smith wrote a weird personal note at the end that he didn't read anything that wasn't on Twitter, which was exactly counter to the point of his article.
Agree. The Ben Smith article rubbed me the wrong way as well. He posits that HCR subscribers are basically conventional media orphans with no place to go. That is simply not accurate. This groups posts a lot of relevant articles from mainstream media and are proficient consumers of all types of media. He then states that he does not bother reading her posts on email which by derivation means that he has not spent any time in this post forum trawling through readers comments? How then can write this profile without researching her readership base in any depth is beyond me. More importantly he has missed the main point of HCR's reader community -it is the shared love for American History over the past two hundreds years and the parallels we draw from it to gain added perspective on the current political theatre. Shoddy journalism at best.
I came to this group for shared intellectual dialogue and debate. This space is “safe” and I feel we all respect the letter of the day and the posts it generates.
I am a rabid reader of news. Televised News has completely turned me off over the past 4 + years. Media is to quick to push snippets and summaries and we have dumbed down the average Americans ability to question and inform themselves.
I took issue with the articles focus on “paid membership” and the focus on income it generates. I subscribed because of HCR’s dedication to these letters and to become a verbal part of a committed community (of which I don’t feel in FaceBook or Twitter). I also took issue with his general pointing out 50ish women following HCR. This group seems evenly distributed among men and women (but only HCR would know for sure).
I want sourced facts, history and intellect...and that’s what HCR brings to this table.
It’s obvious that he did not feel compelled to research the comments under substack to learn about our community.
I abandoned all attempts at discussion on Facebook after repeated attempts in which I was responded to with not intelligent discourse and debate but attacks, some of which were vicious, most of which were by people I once considered friends. Some dear friends of 20 plus years. I come here for discussion. We sometimes disagree with one another but we are almost always respectful in our disagreement. It’s not that it is so much a “safe” space but it is a civil space.
Well said, Arun! I am so frustrated and offended by his article that I want to call him names (“ignorant twit”, for one) and I’m not usually like that. I guess it hit a nerve.
Welcome to the community. I myself cheap sob that I am have been enjoying Heather's posts on FB and reposting since the whistleblower blew. But a month ago I decided it was probably worth it to support her support of us. And I couldn't be happier with the camaraderie from her very loyal, erudite, passionate followers. It is a nice place to call home.
I agree! I posted the article to one of my groups with lots of HCR fans. A few people were stuck on that ending. I countered that the reporter was more focused on the fact she was the leading author on Substack than the content of her "Letters". I also pointed out he got a subtle bitch slap from Bill Moyers about that point.
I have a hard time with Moyers’ comment, but have found some resolution due to his life’s work. But I wonder, what is hidden in his reference to Dr. Richardson “watching the waves”. This is my koan. What could Moyers have meant, that I am missing?
I can't know what Moyers was thinking, of course, but I took it to mean that HCR takes the long view and considers the patterns that occur in history (waves) while Smith is solely focused on the drama of the moment (thunderstorms).........or something like that. He clearly meant it as a compliment to HCR and perhaps a little dig at BS.
I think that’s right, but keep in mind that Smith reported Moyers’ comment on Smith’s own admission. And Moyers’ journalistic career is based largely on getting people to reveal themselves in public. So I read that as a sort of confession reflecting the difference between the kind reportorial world Smith inhabits and the one Heather inhabits, which is essentially her own. If anything, I thought it was meant to convey admiration, and perhaps a touch of envy. But maybe I’m being generous. He didn’t have to put a comment about himself at the end of an article about her. At least it was a self deprecating one.
I'm not inclined to give him much credit at all (BS, that is). After all, he began the piece by proclaiming that he had been the one to alert HCR to the fact that she had taken over the #1 spot on Substack, a very odd phrasing that I find quiet common amongst "journalists" who are primarily focused on social media.
Fair point. I actually did think it was an odd article for reasons elaborated elsewhere on this thread. And I think it’s a problem not limited to journalists focused on social media. Smith stepped in it when he compared himself to Heather, but the article has good will behind it. NYT’s page three blurb lists it as one of four most read/shared of the day. The headline: HCR Offers a Break from Media Maelstrom. It’s Working.
Frederick, HCR begins the narrative in the About section of her Substack with "Historians are fond of saying that the past doesn't repeat itself; it rhymes..." I love that opening sentence. That said I think that Mr. Moyers was trying to point out that Journalists focus on the issue rather than the trends that bring an issue to a head. There are those people who can look at the waves and tell from experience or study what kind of storm it will bring. One of the reassuring things that HCR does especially during the political and history chats is talk about how similar events/storms happened in the past and the trends/waves that lead to them. There always seems to be a pattern and in the end many times we prevail ☺️
Thanks, Linda! Rebecca Solnit was able to put into words what I was thinking as I read Ben Smith’s piece. Glad Heather was highlighted, but Ben came off as “holier than thou” ....he should actually take time to read her posts!
I will try to find it again (my FB page disappears a lot of stuff) because I think she posted it there--and it is heavily firewall because of all the trolling she experiences. But HCR replied to her post which is also a great read. It might be that the conversation can be found via Solnit's webpage, which I have not yet checked.
The day after the Parkland shooting, I went to work as usual as a public school nurse. Not surprisingly, the school administration said zero to anyone about the shooting. No check ins with staff, nothing. It was as if nothing had happened and the very next day we were all just supposed to carry on as usual......again. I made a FB post about how hard it was to return to work at school after yet another school shooting and have no empathy shown to the staff by their administration. No mention of names, including the school. Someone outed my post to the principal who marched unannounced into my office and began, red-faced, all but screaming at me that I was responsible for being a negative influence on the school community. In truth, I was one of the most positive influences on that community, a fact she never acknowledged. Anyway, that was the last straw for me and FB AND that school. Amazingly, that principal seemed truly shocked three months later when I chose not to sign my contract for the next year. Best move I ever made on both counts.
Ben Smith doing a NYT piece on HCR and her readers when he doesn't read her daily newsletters reminds me of all the self-proclaimed "patriots" touting their constitutional rights when they've never read the Constitution.
That would be nice. But considering he wrote an article about an author that he didn't read and her readers that he didn't study, he revealed himself as a true BuzzFeed writer.
America is the only "empire" in world history that can point to one precise moment when its historical upward trajectory reached its apex and its decline immediately began. That precise moment occurred on 9/11/2001 when the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. After that split-second explosion, the "Decline of the American Empire" officially had begun, with the only undetermined outcome being the length of time before the empire no longer existed as a viable world player (or existed at all). If managed brilliantly, the decline could be barely noticeable and last for centuries. If managed pathetically, the decline could be astonishingly rapid ... the equivalent of falling off a cliff. When Bush invaded Iraq, the graph went straight downhill. Then Obama was elected, and an upward trend began. Then Trump was elected, and the American Empire has been in free-fall ever since. It is certainly not impossible to reverse that trend (a useful phrase might be "flatten the curve"). But that happy outcome will never be obtainable so long as Republicans are determined to restore white supremacy as the guiding American principle. If the American empire is left to Republicans, its decline will be dazzlingly swift. In the brief 20 years since 9/11 happened, history has already provided two STARK examples of how quickly Republican governance "steepens the curve" of the nation's decline. So what needs to happen is obvious ... but achieving the obvious is far from obvious. God bless America ... it is going to need it.
It is always difficult to pinpoint the turning point in the decline of an empire. For instance no one talked of the decline of the British Empire very much untill the shaky facade was first threatened by the Boers in South Africa and by the unpreparedness of the army for the 1914-18 conflict. Historican research much later would fix the "invisible" turning point in 1870 when German Steel production went beyond the British output. In the US, i think you have to look a little further to the "invisible" turning point and go back to the disaster of the Vietnam War and then bring in the helping hand of subsequent Nixon/Reagan mandates which changed the mindset and fully introduced Friedman's "monetary economics" and the Neo-Liberal victory of radical capitalism with its inevitable uncontrolled massive expansion in the wealth holdings of the rich at the expense of the working man and woman. Neither Clinton nor Obama deviated ostensibly from their economic philosophy.
I go back to Lee Harvey Oswald or whomever assassinated JFK. Is that too simplistic? Perhaps a nation founded on slavery, genocide and financial greed is doomed from the start. With the only chance to change course downhill lying straight in front of us with GA voters and the Biden Harris administration. ❤️🤍💙
All comments that reference events before 9/11 are missing my point. After all events before 9/11, the trajectory of the American Empire continued upward, peaking at the exact moment when the first plane hit the North Tower. At that exact moment, the American Empire began a decline that unlike other declines caused by such events as the Vietnam War, etc., will never allow the American Empire to restore its status as of the 9/11 moment.
With incredible leadership, it is not impossible that American could come CLOSE to that point, but after the Bush administration and five years of Trump, it is going to take a combinaton of Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Churchill to put a dent in the damage done by Georgie and the Orange Blob. Fingers crossed, but skeptical of the possibility of such a leadership emerging, especially when all that the Republican Party stands for is the restoration of white privilege. but never say never.
Your opinion (point!) Was perfectly clear and understood. However one is entitled to have a different opinion and express that disagreement N'est-ce pas?
The Powell Memo marked the rallying of corporate power in response to the tumult and liberal politics of the 1960's, and the start of a steady usurpation of power from the people into the hands of the corporate oligarchy. Not to deny that the business class always holds the reins of political power, but Louis Powell spelled out the plan to consolidate their effort to crush the liberal bias in academia and government. It's been working extraordinarily well for 50 years now.
You also have to add in the work done for the Tri-Lateral Commission by Michel Crozier, Hayek's Mont Pelerin Society and the multitude of right-wing "UNthink" tanks and University economics and law departments funded by Koch and the likes on both sides of the Atlantic.
Years ago, they published an anniversary edition of Bury My Heart...
I bought the audible version and listened to the first half. I was so saddened I could not go on. Reading HCR’s letter in the early morning hours brings back the terrible feelings the book conjured.
I pray like all who read the newsletter that we have reached the limits of our inhumanity. That we can soften hearts and turn this time of great sorrow into a time of rededication to the dream of what America should be for all.
Marcy! You pose an existential question, at least to me. Are we capable of making choices that fulfills the promise of “All men(humans) are created equal”? I for one choose to believe that we must and that we can. I tell my children and a few good friends who listen, that Covid is a minor dress rehearsal for the devastation coming with climate change.
The nonsense still supported by the conservative movement that government is the enemy, that free, unencumbered capitalism will take care of all of us based on market forces, and that the practice of religion allows discrimination (this is coming they pray with THIS Supreme Court) against individuals and groups in daily life, will create a just society.
My main concern is the welfare of my adult children and to even a greater degree to my 6 grandchildren. However I am conscious that they are the most precious symbols I have of all the people alive today and the real and potential suffering that occurs and could occur in less than two decades, if we do not find the courage to be responsible.
Sorry for my mini-rant! Your question triggered my greatest fear.
Your statement about Covid being “a minor dress rehearsal “ is spot on! Times will get rough, I’m afraid but we have to keep revealing the truths and fight back.
I had the same experience with the book that you did. I’m having a flashback, today, also. All of our dark and brutal history needs to be faced and it needs to be required reading. Perhaps with the inclusion of teaching empathy. I would never have thought that would need to be “taught” but now I am. I have always been fascinated with our indigenous people here.. in fact, I believe I lived a past life among them. It’s the kind of pain you feel as if you’ve “been there.” I also grew up reading Howard Zinn’s “The People’s History of the United States” so I was always an outsider in my prep school.
Thank you for sharing this. My spouse has Lakota ancestry and we are in touch with many of his relatives. We share the dismay about the treatment of Native Americans and episodes like Wounded Knee. One of the relatives shares everyday the numbers from covid in South Dakota. It is a travesty indeed. One of his cousin's great grandmother ( I think that's the relationship) survived Wounded Knee. A couple bits of good news this week here in Oregon where Native Americans have regained control of important ancestral sites.
In Canada not too long ago, the Supreme Court recognized that Treaties signed by George 111 with First Canadian Nations were still in effect. It has changed the legal fight and their relationships with all levels of government.......and started to process of returning lands to their rightful "occupants".
Here in Oregon, a conservation group that owned the land on the north coast, returned it to the local Native Americans. In the other case, near Joseph, the New Perce were able to purchase the land if I understand what happened correctly. The current US Supreme Court is not going to do anything of this nature.
Clinton and Obama wished to 'pardon' Leonard Peltier until the FBI intervened. They clearly want Peltier to die in prison, despite his deteriorating health and old age. When one juxtaposes HCR's anniversary account of the Pine Ridge massacre and the tragedy that befell the 2 FBI agents in 1973, even if Peltier could be unequivocally identified as their killers - which has never been established - surely the balance of history would dictate compassion and a gesture towards historic healing.
Instead, in the case of Leonard Peltier, FBI stands for Fabrication, Brutality and Invective.
When one sees the garbage tRump, in the dying days of his Emperorial Presidency, is pardoning, it serves only to reveal how precarious and sick American democracy actually is.
Though highly unlikely, let's hope Biden might do the honorable thing and release Leonard Peltier back to his family and people.
Yes. I didn’t know that it was the FBI preventing his release. I’m so ashamed of, and sad, about all of it. I hope the Biden Administration releases him.
This brings to mind the book“An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz In the section about the future the author states: “How then can US society come to terms with its past? How can it acknowledge responsibility? The late Native historian Jack Forbes always stressed that while living persons are not responsible for what their ancestors did, they are responsible for the society they live in, which is a product of that past.” (Dunbar-Ortiz, 2014, p. 235)
Great reference. Her work is not to be taken lightly. Her approach to the 2nd amendment “Loaded” is a quick read and not as careful but seeing the amendment as a genocidal land grab is enlightening.
I initially found Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's book difficult to get into with its examination of the European Invasion from the point of view of Colonialism and I set it aside. Then after reading other works I came back to her and better understood where she was coming from intellectually and found her approach extremely interesting.
As I shuddered reading Heather’s letter this morning, I wanted to find a book to read... horrible stuff, but I crave to know more. Thanks for mentioning this book!
I wanted schools in Maine to include this book as part of their curriculum so students could have a complete perspective of our history. An enlightened read.
The United States of America is a country founded – at its core – on genocide and slavery. We will never heal as a nation until there is a national reckoning of this fact. We will never go forward in our evolution as a country until we face the truths of our true history . . .
Look at what Germany did after WWII. They faced the Holocaust honestly; they reckoned with it as a nation and emerged with a sense of redemption never to allow something like this to ever take place again.
And here we are at the end of 2020, with our government still lying to us about the JFK Assassination (and all the assassinations of the 1960s) and what actually took place on September 11, 2001.
"Historical truth matters," said former Princeton historian Martin Duberman,
also now a former Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at CCNY. “As a nation, we care little for it, much preferring simplistic distortions that sustain our national myths about ‘freedom,’ ‘opportunity,’ and ‘democracy.’ You can’t grow into adulthood when you’re fed pabulum all your life. And that’s why we remain a nation of adolescents, with a culture concerned far more with celebrityhood than with suffering.”
Absolutely agree with you, Peter. I taught language arts for 33 years and reminded my student of this very thing when we read text during our Holocaust unit. Students were struck by how callous and evil Hitler was and questioned why so many just stood by or participated. I always reminded them that America has its own callous and evil history where people stood by or participated as we read connected text and discussed those often ignored topics. 2021 can be the beginning of the Transparency and Reconciliation Age if the majority of Americans have the courage and the determination to step into our truth as a nation.
If you have any Episcopalian friends, encourage them to sign up (or start) the 10 session film-based anti-racism dialogue circle called Sacred Ground which was designed in part by film maker Katrina Browne (descendant of the RI De Wolfe family who made the movie Traces of the Trade”). The chronological series begins with the first colonial encounters on this continent and the complicity of the Church (Papal Bulls onward) in the genocide, and domination of indigenous people and the importation of enslaved people, through to the present day. The responsibility for the ill effects of this legacy is faced squarely and commitments to repair in the local contexts are embarked upon. The series began last year and hundreds of groups have begun learning what was never taught in school. https://episcopalchurch.org/sacred-ground
Peter, I agree with your first paragraph completely. I don't know enough about Germany to be able to agree with the next paragraph, but assuming it's true, why is Germany now experiencing a rise in Neo-Nazism within their police force? Did they not continue to educate subsequent generations about the horror of their recent mistakes?
The phenomenon you allude to in Germany is happening world-wide (not just in Germany). Part of it has to do with Trumpism and its impact world-wide. I suspect that Germany is watching very closely. They have done an outstanding job overall of educating their citizenry about the Holocaust, and will continue to do so. It is now a part of their educational curriculum.
I realize it's happening everywhere, which is somewhat mind-boggling to me. More and more people voting against their own best interests. It seems like it's been going on for quite a while and part of what helped bring trump to the WH and his time there has helped strengthen the movement.
I wonder if we go about teaching genocide in the wrong way. I've long felt we need to teach/coach schoolchildren empathy from the youngest possible age. If we only teach them what happened, and not what it feels like to be "othered" , are we really preventing a repeat of the past?
As an American it saddens me that we still to this day dishonor or treaties with Native Americans for the purpose of profit. The building of pipelines is the most obvious, however, the more insidious failure to provide assistance to tribes on their lands and to disenfranchise them when it comes to voting saddens.
I learned this year, thanks Coronavirus, that the majority of the people living on the Arizona reservations don't have running water! In the USA in 2020! Here is a link to a Go Fund Me page that is helping to support COVID-19 relief efforts there. Even if you're not able or interested in donating, read through the updates. There's several good links to more information about the plight of the Native Americans that wasn't part of my education growing up.
Thank you so much! I’m going to take this and run with it. I have very limited resources, and this year and socked us pretty hard. But first world problems for sure. My husband is looking forward to retiring in a year or so, the work I’ve been doing since I retired from radio, photography, was totally washed up. But I have been trying to find something that I could do. (Besides saving elephants which was funded by my photography.)
My mind is already sparking. I will find a way to help these people in a real way.
We had lost our power over Christmas. Three days without fresh water was tough. I remarked to my husband how horrible it is that there are people who never have fresh, safe, running water!
I will gather my thoughts and some concerned friends and figure something out! I will let you know when it’s in action!
Cynthia, it looks to me like much of the money raised has been an accumulation of small donations over time. Plus, at times when I haven't been able to contribute much to a cause, I've found that just sharing the cause with others is a huge boost too. Raising awareness as well as $$ is important. I still am struggling with the reality of the way Natives have been forced to live for generations, it just blows my mind. For years I have given daily thanks for the luxury of hot running water for a bath or shower, and sent a silent prayer to those places that don't have this. Not until this year did I realize "those places" were within my own country!
Deep thanks to you for your work with the elephants, yet another heartache in our world.
Organizers are delivering food, water, and PPE. From the gofundme: “With only 14 grocery stores in an area of 30,000 square miles (an area larger than West Virginia), the Navajo and Hopi reservations are classified as extreme food deserts due to their residents’ limited access to affordable and nutritious food”. I am grateful that we can contribute. Thank you Beth for sharing the link.
Me too. I just read another article in the Post about the Enbridge Line 3 (?) Pipeline that is being rushed through in Minnesota. Indigenous people there are standing against it. How can we act with them?
A sad but necessary recounting of such a shameful event. Thank you. If only the true history of the country, including events like these, were included as a meaningful part of American history classes. If they were, perhaps more people would recognize the injustice that pervades our nation today is they understood its roots.
For the Native American's side of this "social history" you might also widen horizens by looking at Peter Cozzen's "The Earth is Weeping" which covers all of the conflicts, triumphs and disasters befelling the tribal nations.
This is a terrible story but one worth telling and retelling. Coupled with the New York Time's Bret Staples' piece on the Editorial page (1-28-20) about the Tulsa, Okla, massacre in 1921 of Black people, Congress might consider calling for a national day of mourning to remember and learn from these mass killings of Native Americans and African Americans by white people. Thank you for teaching your readers about one of them about which I am ashamed to say I knew very little.
Susie, the National Day of Mourning is an excellent idea, but I would amend your description to be to remember and learn from any mass killings of any people of color by white people. I believe Chinese and other nationalities have been victimized and we want to bring us all together. Unfortunately, my gut feeling is that white people of America are not yet ready to accept responsibility and supremacists, etc will make trouble. But we could start talking about it and planning for it now. And eventually, maybe, a National Day of Atonement?
Very thoughtful response and so much rides on the word "eventually." We might start out by writing to our respective Senators about the concept. And I like your choice of the word, "Atonement." It goes beyond"Mourning." Many thanks for your response.
A wonderful idea, but the injustices perpetrated on our
native populations are absolutely horrendous. Any decision regarding a day of mourning or atonement for one group or for all should come from a committee of BIPOC leaders -- they should be the arbiters of their own days of recognition, not us. As morally valuable as such actions may seem, they are not so, until all BIPOC communities are empowered as equals on all levels!
In Vermont and a few other states, Columbus day was renamed Indigenous People's Day, also, at the beginning of every formal meeting, regardless of the time of year, we acknowledge that the land that we stand on is not rightfully ours, but that of our Indigenous kin who were here before us, and we name their tribes. Everytime I hear these words spoken, they give me chills and tears come to my eyes, but our Abenake families are still not given the full dignity and value they deserve. It's only a work-in-progress, if that! When only a handful of states recognize the need to abolish Columbus Day, what kind of mixed messages are we giving our youth -- both those of color and those who are white?
A few NH towns have also changed CD to IPD, but no luck yet at the statehouse level. As close as we are to VT, there is a huge gap in our states' progress in many ways. I've been to a few BLM and other gatherings at which they start the meeting by acknowledging and honoring the tribal ancestors to whom to the land we are standing on gave sustenance ( I think most native people did not consider land ownership a concept, correct me if I'm wrong). I really resonate with that and am doing a lot of thinking about how I can do a similar honoring of the land on which I live.
NHPR has repeated two interesting conversations from earlier in the year this week on their program The Exchange. One is about re-examining our local lore and heroes related to conflicts with natives; the other is more along the lines of reconsidering how we elevate the names and lives of our "founding fathers" (specifically GW) who were slave holders by naming institutions and buildings, roads, etc., after them. Here's the link to them if anyone's interested. You can listen or read the transcripts.
Thanks so much for these links. And yes, you're absolutely correct about the idea of land ownership being rejected, because the land belongs to all. Of course, sacred land and burial grounds are not to be tampered with -- which people have done without impunity.
If you are interested in honoring your land in the same way perhaps your State office of Cultural affairs that houses the Native American Commission's office can help you identify the tribes that once lived in NH -- I believe that you once had a solid population of Abenakis. If you message me on FB, I can send you a copy of the one we often use.
Thank you, Rowshan, but I am not on FB. I do know of some good resources though, through the permaculture group I belong to, just need to follow through! Ironically, as a kid I went to a Camp Abenaki in Hampton, NH. At least I didn't go to a high school that had an offensively named mascot!
These stories are invaluable to bring history forward. Context is crucial about how we perceive and approach our present and future; hopefully with knowledge and compassion. It is natural that pieces of history become removed from our current lives but it is important that we and get jolted into remembering! Thank you Professor Richardson for reminding us!
Thank you, Heather, for focusing on this anniversary. I bought your book on Wounded Knee a couple of weeks ago. Thank you! It is excellent and relevant to my family history. One thing that struck me was how many parallels 1890 and 2020 have. And, how often a catastrophe can start with a very simple, small miscommunication and misunderstanding as a trigger. But then, all the conditions that brought the players to that moment were long in the making. If I take the parallels a little further it would be something awful happening in Washington DC on the January 6th and the violence that may come from the dog whistles. In general, I keep thinking of a friend saying just wait until non-native Americans learn what it's like to live on a reservation. Minority rule is pushing us in that direction. I'm hopeful that we are learning a great deal from the experience of the past four years and the decades since 1968 or perhaps since 1890 that have taken us to this moment. May it make us determined for a better future.
Thank you for this. I am shattered by the decimation of our native tribes currently being caused by COVID, with very little coverage. In fact, Oglala and Standing Rock Sioux tribes lost tribal leaders just last week with absolutely no recognition from our leadership or any statesmen. This is an absolute travesty. As a health care worker, the fact that global aid organizations like MSF and Partners in Health have to respond within our own country is mind boggling.
You don't know the half of it. A few months ago, here in Atlanta, I got into conversation with a waiter at a pizza place while I was waiting for my socially-distanced pizza. He commented that his income was actually higher during the pandemic because they had laid off most of the staff and were making a quarter of the staff to 4 times as much work. But even though the pace was unsustainable, he was unworried. After all, he had a day job.
During the day, he worked with a non-profit that mainly serviced the poorest of the Atlantan population, homeless or housed in squats. I asked if his funding had taken a hit. He said not, that the United Way had stepped up, as had the Jewish Community Center. But most of the administrative funding had been superbly stable, and had come, as it had for years, from a most reliable source.
From the Federal Republic of Germany.
The poorest of our Atlanta citizens are being supported, in large part, by a foreign aid grant from Germany. (sigh)
Sounds like a "third world" country to me. Who's in the "banana republic" now?
Stuart, I can't find any confirmation of German foreign aid going to any American city. Have you found some confirmation of this claim? I posted a link above regarding German foreign aid that goes mostly to African countries. There are so many claims right now that I think we need to check them before rallying around them.
I frankly haven't looked.
Equally shattered by this. Thank you for letting us know.
Same!
Eye-popping.
Because our leaders are entitled and elite and wealthy, that not only do they have no compassion for anyone less fortunate, they have no comprehension of how so many of their own citizens live. Our country is run by the rich who buy and steal their power.
I can't find any link to German support of nonprofits in Atlanta, or anywhere in the US for that matter. Siemens is a German company based in Atlanta that funds research and community education in Atlanta as a PR effort. But I can't find links to German foreign aid grants. Here is a Borgen report on German foreign aid which principally goes to African countries. Can anyone else find links to foreign aid that Germany provides to any US city? https://www.borgenmagazine.com/german-foreign-aid/
This is the agency in Germany that would provide any such assistance: https://www.bmz.de/en/index.html
I've not read anything in the local press about aid to US organizations, but the BMZ has a statement on their site that hunger is an issue they address worldwide.
Thank you for researching.
I had no idea that MSF or any global aid organization was operating within our boundaries! OMG! How incredibly shameful! Your post first caught my eye with the word ‘shattered’ and I was going to reply and say that was the perfect word.... until I read to the end. Now words fail me for I cannot describe how deeply wounded in spirit I am that we have so abandoned our own people (for they are “our” people!) that international aid must intervene. Dear God.
Without the MSF the Navajo tribes would have had even more problems with the Covid bug
there must be detailed transparency around all of america’s genocides... both past and present. seemingly, covid is a platform for what i would call ‘various racial genocides’.
“But it is not December 29 that haunts me. It is the night of December 28, the night before the killing.”
The horror of that night. The fear they must have known, surrounded as they were by angry, intoxicated, armed men who had hunted them and now held them captive.
Those men, women and children were helpless to do anything to protect themselves, and surely there were those among them who knew with unwelcome certainty that this would be their last night on earth.
The human truth of that night so insightfully rendered in your telling, Professor Richardson, is your power - that is what distinguishes you and that is why so many of us are here.
Thank you.
“The human truth of that night so insightfully rendered in your telling, Professor Richardson, is your power - that is what distinguishes you and that is why so many of us are here. “
What R. Dooley said . . . .why so many of us are here.
Very well said. My thoughts exactly.
I wholeheartedly agree.
Exactly.
The good thing about having 45 as president (I cannot say his name) and the pandemic is that I've learned so much that was never taught in school. I'm sorry that we don't teach history properly or in depth...we should. Thanks for being my teachers...you and your fellow Americans who post here.
I can’t say his name either, it makes me gag
I call him by his title: The Asswipe Occupying the White House. (He will soon lose that and just be 45-The Infamous American Mistake.
Fake 45 and Doofass are my monikers.
If we weren’t taught the truth about history in school and they are still not teaching it, it is up to us to bear witness and teach those we can.
Perhaps all the HCR followers sign a letter from Heather to the new appointee to the Department of Education (Miguel Cardinal) and present our case!
Good idea. I'll sign.
Even the teachers teaching us about history were/are never privy to the truth because the books provided to students neglected to state the real facts. Time for a reckoning!
I can say his name but have never used the P title with it.
I have trouble listening to his voice, but I need to remember and we should all remember, Trump did not make this mess by himself. He could not have made this mess without the collusion of the Republicans in the Senate. There are so many times he could have been stopped, but it was in the interests of Republicans to let him have his way. I was disappointed in many down ballot races this time. People voted against Trump, but voted for Republicans for other offices. This is all the same problem.
Exactly....
“It’s never too late to change the future”. That really hit me. This is such an incredible lesson. Thank you for this.
I agree that is quite the point to ponder.
Agree
Thank you for this. As usual you filled in a few blanks, close to 50 years ago I read Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee, while I have forgotten much of the details over the years the story of what happened there has stayed with me ever since. It was a tragedy then and no less so today. BTW a Mountain Gun was a Gatling Gun, a hand cranked machine gun capable of over 100 rounds per minute. It’s obscene what they did to those people. I can still picture the photos they took after, celebrating their great victory. I believe that a number of Medals of Honor were awarded afterwards. Never has our greatest honor been awarded to less deserving recipients. I say this as a combat veteran.
Many, and indeed most, of the soldiers were very young recent immigrants and untrained in any professional way to be soldiers and thus to face "danger" and fear in a disciplined way. They joined up to get out of the "stinking hell" that was the slums of New York. That this rabble, acted so violently as many a drunken crowd might and has done elsewhere is certainly in no way excusable; one can understand the psychology of the moment but it does not detract from the horror one feels in observing humanity in this way. Blamed the soldiers should be..... but the blame must also be extended to the military hierarchy and particularly to the politicians and their "Carpet-bagging" supporters/controllers that profited greatly from the aftermath.
Blame the proud boys, the Republican enablers and their carpet bagger in chief who just LOST. May we divert our own disaster in the making.
I suggest Lakota America, a history of the Lakota people. Interestingly enough, the author is at Oxford and is perhaps Finnish. He starts much before Wounded Knee and traces the interaction of Sioux with both Europeans and other Native Americans. Lewis and Clark, btw, were very lucky to have made it very far up the Missouri.
“never has our greatest honor been awarded to less deserving recipients”—until the current prez started handing out medals like Halloween candy, and pardoning war criminals. He has brought profound shame to all of us.
Not to mention a medal to Rush Limbaugh! For what? Dividing the country with his ugly talk and insults.
If only Heather's sane and wise commentaries could gain the popularity of Limbaugh's hateful and ignorant profanities.
All she needs is air time on radio shows that are broadcast by high-power stations. Many people listen to Limbaugh because it is the only "news" they get...there is no cable where they live and radio is their line to the outside world. And any station that broadcasts Limbaugh is only going to broadcast that genre of idiocy.
Yes, I’m fascinated by what it would take to give HCR a much broader media exposure than the large platform she already has. Others who have her depth of knowledge and teaching/storytelling/communication skills need to be identified and enlisted as well in a major campaign to ground our democratic government in fact-based truths once again. Who should be involved? Certainly historians. Who else? Political scientists, sociologists, scientists? Investigative journalists? Movement Conservatives invested over a billion dollars in a widespread network of right-wing media, think tanks, university programs, politicians, judicial training sessions, and sketchy non-profits. Consequently., it seems that a good deal of thought, money and even power needs to be invested in promulgating truth. Revamping the Fairness Doctrine can be a major lever in this, but it seems even bigger than this. Although I worry a lot about this for some reason, I bring no expertise to the issue. Because this seems critical to our future, I just hope it does not get short shrift by the powers that be as so often happens.
One would think they'd have access to NPR, just a little ways down the dial.
Incredible.
Thank you for the perspective. Also congrats on the NYTimes article; however the Ben Smith wrote a weird personal note at the end that he didn't read anything that wasn't on Twitter, which was exactly counter to the point of his article.
Agree. The Ben Smith article rubbed me the wrong way as well. He posits that HCR subscribers are basically conventional media orphans with no place to go. That is simply not accurate. This groups posts a lot of relevant articles from mainstream media and are proficient consumers of all types of media. He then states that he does not bother reading her posts on email which by derivation means that he has not spent any time in this post forum trawling through readers comments? How then can write this profile without researching her readership base in any depth is beyond me. More importantly he has missed the main point of HCR's reader community -it is the shared love for American History over the past two hundreds years and the parallels we draw from it to gain added perspective on the current political theatre. Shoddy journalism at best.
Spot on Arun!
I came to this group for shared intellectual dialogue and debate. This space is “safe” and I feel we all respect the letter of the day and the posts it generates.
I am a rabid reader of news. Televised News has completely turned me off over the past 4 + years. Media is to quick to push snippets and summaries and we have dumbed down the average Americans ability to question and inform themselves.
I took issue with the articles focus on “paid membership” and the focus on income it generates. I subscribed because of HCR’s dedication to these letters and to become a verbal part of a committed community (of which I don’t feel in FaceBook or Twitter). I also took issue with his general pointing out 50ish women following HCR. This group seems evenly distributed among men and women (but only HCR would know for sure).
I want sourced facts, history and intellect...and that’s what HCR brings to this table.
It’s obvious that he did not feel compelled to research the comments under substack to learn about our community.
You can't cure stupid, not even among journalists.
I abandoned all attempts at discussion on Facebook after repeated attempts in which I was responded to with not intelligent discourse and debate but attacks, some of which were vicious, most of which were by people I once considered friends. Some dear friends of 20 plus years. I come here for discussion. We sometimes disagree with one another but we are almost always respectful in our disagreement. It’s not that it is so much a “safe” space but it is a civil space.
Well said, Arun! I am so frustrated and offended by his article that I want to call him names (“ignorant twit”, for one) and I’m not usually like that. I guess it hit a nerve.
Same here and his off hand referral of women of an age I found offensive and unnecessarily divisive.
I am 74 and still want to learn. wtf!
Not to mention condescending!
Same nerve, ignorant twit is good.
Ignorant Twitter user, Hmmm,
Had to chuckle at this one. Thanks.
Annoyed me that he couldn't be bothered reading "Letters." Why on earth was he given the assignment to write about it?
I thought it was a weird piece well below NYT standards.
I agree but it did introduce me to HCR and for that I'm happy to have read his piece.
Welcome to the community. I myself cheap sob that I am have been enjoying Heather's posts on FB and reposting since the whistleblower blew. But a month ago I decided it was probably worth it to support her support of us. And I couldn't be happier with the camaraderie from her very loyal, erudite, passionate followers. It is a nice place to call home.
I agree. I am not in any way a media orphan and I read lots of history from all ages and places.
I agree! I posted the article to one of my groups with lots of HCR fans. A few people were stuck on that ending. I countered that the reporter was more focused on the fact she was the leading author on Substack than the content of her "Letters". I also pointed out he got a subtle bitch slap from Bill Moyers about that point.
I have a hard time with Moyers’ comment, but have found some resolution due to his life’s work. But I wonder, what is hidden in his reference to Dr. Richardson “watching the waves”. This is my koan. What could Moyers have meant, that I am missing?
I can't know what Moyers was thinking, of course, but I took it to mean that HCR takes the long view and considers the patterns that occur in history (waves) while Smith is solely focused on the drama of the moment (thunderstorms).........or something like that. He clearly meant it as a compliment to HCR and perhaps a little dig at BS.
Beth, you nailed it
Ahh, thanks for this interpretation Beth; makes sense to me
I think that’s right, but keep in mind that Smith reported Moyers’ comment on Smith’s own admission. And Moyers’ journalistic career is based largely on getting people to reveal themselves in public. So I read that as a sort of confession reflecting the difference between the kind reportorial world Smith inhabits and the one Heather inhabits, which is essentially her own. If anything, I thought it was meant to convey admiration, and perhaps a touch of envy. But maybe I’m being generous. He didn’t have to put a comment about himself at the end of an article about her. At least it was a self deprecating one.
I'm not inclined to give him much credit at all (BS, that is). After all, he began the piece by proclaiming that he had been the one to alert HCR to the fact that she had taken over the #1 spot on Substack, a very odd phrasing that I find quiet common amongst "journalists" who are primarily focused on social media.
Fair point. I actually did think it was an odd article for reasons elaborated elsewhere on this thread. And I think it’s a problem not limited to journalists focused on social media. Smith stepped in it when he compared himself to Heather, but the article has good will behind it. NYT’s page three blurb lists it as one of four most read/shared of the day. The headline: HCR Offers a Break from Media Maelstrom. It’s Working.
Frederick, HCR begins the narrative in the About section of her Substack with "Historians are fond of saying that the past doesn't repeat itself; it rhymes..." I love that opening sentence. That said I think that Mr. Moyers was trying to point out that Journalists focus on the issue rather than the trends that bring an issue to a head. There are those people who can look at the waves and tell from experience or study what kind of storm it will bring. One of the reassuring things that HCR does especially during the political and history chats is talk about how similar events/storms happened in the past and the trends/waves that lead to them. There always seems to be a pattern and in the end many times we prevail ☺️
Given where she lives and writes both literally and figuratively waves.
Very true☺️
I agree and I commented precisely that sentiment in the NYT comment section this morning.
Rebecca Solnit wrote a brilliant take-down of Ben Smith on FB yesterday. Def worth reading!
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158693446545552&id=559835551&sfnsn=mo
Thanks for the link.
Thanks for sharing
Thanks, Carolyn!
Worth reading the replies as well!! Thanks, Linda.
Thanks, Linda! Rebecca Solnit was able to put into words what I was thinking as I read Ben Smith’s piece. Glad Heather was highlighted, but Ben came off as “holier than thou” ....he should actually take time to read her posts!
Is her page public? (I'm not on FB) Can you post the link? Thanks for letting us know.
I will try to find it again (my FB page disappears a lot of stuff) because I think she posted it there--and it is heavily firewall because of all the trolling she experiences. But HCR replied to her post which is also a great read. It might be that the conversation can be found via Solnit's webpage, which I have not yet checked.
HCR’s FB post about the NYT article, with her typical humility:
https://www.facebook.com/241446929332714/posts/2550073745136676/?d=n
And of course it drew 10.5k comments!
Same here. I had a nasty divorce from FB and lost a lot of cyber friends in a custody battle, so never want to see it again.
The day after the Parkland shooting, I went to work as usual as a public school nurse. Not surprisingly, the school administration said zero to anyone about the shooting. No check ins with staff, nothing. It was as if nothing had happened and the very next day we were all just supposed to carry on as usual......again. I made a FB post about how hard it was to return to work at school after yet another school shooting and have no empathy shown to the staff by their administration. No mention of names, including the school. Someone outed my post to the principal who marched unannounced into my office and began, red-faced, all but screaming at me that I was responsible for being a negative influence on the school community. In truth, I was one of the most positive influences on that community, a fact she never acknowledged. Anyway, that was the last straw for me and FB AND that school. Amazingly, that principal seemed truly shocked three months later when I chose not to sign my contract for the next year. Best move I ever made on both counts.
Yes, please share the link
Agreed. The writer spent way too much time comparing Substack revenues, as if it were a competition. I found it to be disrespectful.
Income is what America is about. Superficially.
That bothered me too.
With that remark, the confession that he didn't even read your letters, Ben Smith outed himself as a hypocrite.
Ben Smith doing a NYT piece on HCR and her readers when he doesn't read her daily newsletters reminds me of all the self-proclaimed "patriots" touting their constitutional rights when they've never read the Constitution.
"...he didn't read anything that wasn't on Twitter"
Could it have been a ref to Will Rogers:
"All I know is just what I read in the papers, and that's an alibi for my ignorance."
That would be nice. But considering he wrote an article about an author that he didn't read and her readers that he didn't study, he revealed himself as a true BuzzFeed writer.
Truly, what can one say about the current state of the times...
America is the only "empire" in world history that can point to one precise moment when its historical upward trajectory reached its apex and its decline immediately began. That precise moment occurred on 9/11/2001 when the first plane hit the North Tower of the World Trade Center. After that split-second explosion, the "Decline of the American Empire" officially had begun, with the only undetermined outcome being the length of time before the empire no longer existed as a viable world player (or existed at all). If managed brilliantly, the decline could be barely noticeable and last for centuries. If managed pathetically, the decline could be astonishingly rapid ... the equivalent of falling off a cliff. When Bush invaded Iraq, the graph went straight downhill. Then Obama was elected, and an upward trend began. Then Trump was elected, and the American Empire has been in free-fall ever since. It is certainly not impossible to reverse that trend (a useful phrase might be "flatten the curve"). But that happy outcome will never be obtainable so long as Republicans are determined to restore white supremacy as the guiding American principle. If the American empire is left to Republicans, its decline will be dazzlingly swift. In the brief 20 years since 9/11 happened, history has already provided two STARK examples of how quickly Republican governance "steepens the curve" of the nation's decline. So what needs to happen is obvious ... but achieving the obvious is far from obvious. God bless America ... it is going to need it.
Sobering assessment. Another part of the accelerating decline: Republicans' long-term undermining of government, including starving it of tax revenue.
It is always difficult to pinpoint the turning point in the decline of an empire. For instance no one talked of the decline of the British Empire very much untill the shaky facade was first threatened by the Boers in South Africa and by the unpreparedness of the army for the 1914-18 conflict. Historican research much later would fix the "invisible" turning point in 1870 when German Steel production went beyond the British output. In the US, i think you have to look a little further to the "invisible" turning point and go back to the disaster of the Vietnam War and then bring in the helping hand of subsequent Nixon/Reagan mandates which changed the mindset and fully introduced Friedman's "monetary economics" and the Neo-Liberal victory of radical capitalism with its inevitable uncontrolled massive expansion in the wealth holdings of the rich at the expense of the working man and woman. Neither Clinton nor Obama deviated ostensibly from their economic philosophy.
I go back to Lee Harvey Oswald or whomever assassinated JFK. Is that too simplistic? Perhaps a nation founded on slavery, genocide and financial greed is doomed from the start. With the only chance to change course downhill lying straight in front of us with GA voters and the Biden Harris administration. ❤️🤍💙
Presidents have been shot before by the same forces driving the GOP today!
All comments that reference events before 9/11 are missing my point. After all events before 9/11, the trajectory of the American Empire continued upward, peaking at the exact moment when the first plane hit the North Tower. At that exact moment, the American Empire began a decline that unlike other declines caused by such events as the Vietnam War, etc., will never allow the American Empire to restore its status as of the 9/11 moment.
With incredible leadership, it is not impossible that American could come CLOSE to that point, but after the Bush administration and five years of Trump, it is going to take a combinaton of Lincoln, Roosevelt, and Churchill to put a dent in the damage done by Georgie and the Orange Blob. Fingers crossed, but skeptical of the possibility of such a leadership emerging, especially when all that the Republican Party stands for is the restoration of white privilege. but never say never.
Your opinion (point!) Was perfectly clear and understood. However one is entitled to have a different opinion and express that disagreement N'est-ce pas?
The Powell Memo marked the rallying of corporate power in response to the tumult and liberal politics of the 1960's, and the start of a steady usurpation of power from the people into the hands of the corporate oligarchy. Not to deny that the business class always holds the reins of political power, but Louis Powell spelled out the plan to consolidate their effort to crush the liberal bias in academia and government. It's been working extraordinarily well for 50 years now.
You also have to add in the work done for the Tri-Lateral Commission by Michel Crozier, Hayek's Mont Pelerin Society and the multitude of right-wing "UNthink" tanks and University economics and law departments funded by Koch and the likes on both sides of the Atlantic.
Oh.... can we step on the brakes in time?!?
Years ago, they published an anniversary edition of Bury My Heart...
I bought the audible version and listened to the first half. I was so saddened I could not go on. Reading HCR’s letter in the early morning hours brings back the terrible feelings the book conjured.
I pray like all who read the newsletter that we have reached the limits of our inhumanity. That we can soften hearts and turn this time of great sorrow into a time of rededication to the dream of what America should be for all.
But at the same time I wonder: will we ever learn from our failures or just keep trying to make them work?
Marcy! You pose an existential question, at least to me. Are we capable of making choices that fulfills the promise of “All men(humans) are created equal”? I for one choose to believe that we must and that we can. I tell my children and a few good friends who listen, that Covid is a minor dress rehearsal for the devastation coming with climate change.
The nonsense still supported by the conservative movement that government is the enemy, that free, unencumbered capitalism will take care of all of us based on market forces, and that the practice of religion allows discrimination (this is coming they pray with THIS Supreme Court) against individuals and groups in daily life, will create a just society.
My main concern is the welfare of my adult children and to even a greater degree to my 6 grandchildren. However I am conscious that they are the most precious symbols I have of all the people alive today and the real and potential suffering that occurs and could occur in less than two decades, if we do not find the courage to be responsible.
Sorry for my mini-rant! Your question triggered my greatest fear.
Your statement about Covid being “a minor dress rehearsal “ is spot on! Times will get rough, I’m afraid but we have to keep revealing the truths and fight back.
So true.
Absolutely., Bill. Couldn't be better said.
I had the same experience with the book that you did. I’m having a flashback, today, also. All of our dark and brutal history needs to be faced and it needs to be required reading. Perhaps with the inclusion of teaching empathy. I would never have thought that would need to be “taught” but now I am. I have always been fascinated with our indigenous people here.. in fact, I believe I lived a past life among them. It’s the kind of pain you feel as if you’ve “been there.” I also grew up reading Howard Zinn’s “The People’s History of the United States” so I was always an outsider in my prep school.
Thank you for sharing this. My spouse has Lakota ancestry and we are in touch with many of his relatives. We share the dismay about the treatment of Native Americans and episodes like Wounded Knee. One of the relatives shares everyday the numbers from covid in South Dakota. It is a travesty indeed. One of his cousin's great grandmother ( I think that's the relationship) survived Wounded Knee. A couple bits of good news this week here in Oregon where Native Americans have regained control of important ancestral sites.
In Canada not too long ago, the Supreme Court recognized that Treaties signed by George 111 with First Canadian Nations were still in effect. It has changed the legal fight and their relationships with all levels of government.......and started to process of returning lands to their rightful "occupants".
Here in Oregon, a conservation group that owned the land on the north coast, returned it to the local Native Americans. In the other case, near Joseph, the New Perce were able to purchase the land if I understand what happened correctly. The current US Supreme Court is not going to do anything of this nature.
Lest we forget...Leonard Peltier is still in jail for the deaths of FBI agents at the 1973 Wounded Knee "Uprising"!
Clinton and Obama wished to 'pardon' Leonard Peltier until the FBI intervened. They clearly want Peltier to die in prison, despite his deteriorating health and old age. When one juxtaposes HCR's anniversary account of the Pine Ridge massacre and the tragedy that befell the 2 FBI agents in 1973, even if Peltier could be unequivocally identified as their killers - which has never been established - surely the balance of history would dictate compassion and a gesture towards historic healing.
Instead, in the case of Leonard Peltier, FBI stands for Fabrication, Brutality and Invective.
When one sees the garbage tRump, in the dying days of his Emperorial Presidency, is pardoning, it serves only to reveal how precarious and sick American democracy actually is.
Though highly unlikely, let's hope Biden might do the honorable thing and release Leonard Peltier back to his family and people.
Yes. I didn’t know that it was the FBI preventing his release. I’m so ashamed of, and sad, about all of it. I hope the Biden Administration releases him.
This brings to mind the book“An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States” by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz In the section about the future the author states: “How then can US society come to terms with its past? How can it acknowledge responsibility? The late Native historian Jack Forbes always stressed that while living persons are not responsible for what their ancestors did, they are responsible for the society they live in, which is a product of that past.” (Dunbar-Ortiz, 2014, p. 235)
Great reference. Her work is not to be taken lightly. Her approach to the 2nd amendment “Loaded” is a quick read and not as careful but seeing the amendment as a genocidal land grab is enlightening.
I initially found Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz's book difficult to get into with its examination of the European Invasion from the point of view of Colonialism and I set it aside. Then after reading other works I came back to her and better understood where she was coming from intellectually and found her approach extremely interesting.
As I shuddered reading Heather’s letter this morning, I wanted to find a book to read... horrible stuff, but I crave to know more. Thanks for mentioning this book!
I wanted schools in Maine to include this book as part of their curriculum so students could have a complete perspective of our history. An enlightened read.
I need to read Heather’s book as well https://www.amazon.com/Wounded-Knee-Politics-American-Massacre-ebook/dp/B003GYEGKM/ref=nodl_
The United States of America is a country founded – at its core – on genocide and slavery. We will never heal as a nation until there is a national reckoning of this fact. We will never go forward in our evolution as a country until we face the truths of our true history . . .
Look at what Germany did after WWII. They faced the Holocaust honestly; they reckoned with it as a nation and emerged with a sense of redemption never to allow something like this to ever take place again.
And here we are at the end of 2020, with our government still lying to us about the JFK Assassination (and all the assassinations of the 1960s) and what actually took place on September 11, 2001.
"Historical truth matters," said former Princeton historian Martin Duberman,
also now a former Distinguished Professor of History Emeritus at CCNY. “As a nation, we care little for it, much preferring simplistic distortions that sustain our national myths about ‘freedom,’ ‘opportunity,’ and ‘democracy.’ You can’t grow into adulthood when you’re fed pabulum all your life. And that’s why we remain a nation of adolescents, with a culture concerned far more with celebrityhood than with suffering.”
Absolutely agree with you, Peter. I taught language arts for 33 years and reminded my student of this very thing when we read text during our Holocaust unit. Students were struck by how callous and evil Hitler was and questioned why so many just stood by or participated. I always reminded them that America has its own callous and evil history where people stood by or participated as we read connected text and discussed those often ignored topics. 2021 can be the beginning of the Transparency and Reconciliation Age if the majority of Americans have the courage and the determination to step into our truth as a nation.
If you have any Episcopalian friends, encourage them to sign up (or start) the 10 session film-based anti-racism dialogue circle called Sacred Ground which was designed in part by film maker Katrina Browne (descendant of the RI De Wolfe family who made the movie Traces of the Trade”). The chronological series begins with the first colonial encounters on this continent and the complicity of the Church (Papal Bulls onward) in the genocide, and domination of indigenous people and the importation of enslaved people, through to the present day. The responsibility for the ill effects of this legacy is faced squarely and commitments to repair in the local contexts are embarked upon. The series began last year and hundreds of groups have begun learning what was never taught in school. https://episcopalchurch.org/sacred-ground
Also, the Zinn Education Project. Every day they post an "on this day in history" event, 95% of which I certainly never learned in school.
Thank you, I will definitely check this out!
Yes... all of the above.
I totally agree. The myth from which we come blinds us to positive change.
Peter, I agree with your first paragraph completely. I don't know enough about Germany to be able to agree with the next paragraph, but assuming it's true, why is Germany now experiencing a rise in Neo-Nazism within their police force? Did they not continue to educate subsequent generations about the horror of their recent mistakes?
The phenomenon you allude to in Germany is happening world-wide (not just in Germany). Part of it has to do with Trumpism and its impact world-wide. I suspect that Germany is watching very closely. They have done an outstanding job overall of educating their citizenry about the Holocaust, and will continue to do so. It is now a part of their educational curriculum.
I realize it's happening everywhere, which is somewhat mind-boggling to me. More and more people voting against their own best interests. It seems like it's been going on for quite a while and part of what helped bring trump to the WH and his time there has helped strengthen the movement.
I wonder if we go about teaching genocide in the wrong way. I've long felt we need to teach/coach schoolchildren empathy from the youngest possible age. If we only teach them what happened, and not what it feels like to be "othered" , are we really preventing a repeat of the past?
As an American it saddens me that we still to this day dishonor or treaties with Native Americans for the purpose of profit. The building of pipelines is the most obvious, however, the more insidious failure to provide assistance to tribes on their lands and to disenfranchise them when it comes to voting saddens.
I learned this year, thanks Coronavirus, that the majority of the people living on the Arizona reservations don't have running water! In the USA in 2020! Here is a link to a Go Fund Me page that is helping to support COVID-19 relief efforts there. Even if you're not able or interested in donating, read through the updates. There's several good links to more information about the plight of the Native Americans that wasn't part of my education growing up.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/xjgrfa-navajo-amp-hopi-families-covid19-relief-fund?viewupdates=1&rcid=r01-160857168145-0904b07597494b3b&utm_medium=email&utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_email%2B1137-update-supporters-v5b
Thank you so much! I’m going to take this and run with it. I have very limited resources, and this year and socked us pretty hard. But first world problems for sure. My husband is looking forward to retiring in a year or so, the work I’ve been doing since I retired from radio, photography, was totally washed up. But I have been trying to find something that I could do. (Besides saving elephants which was funded by my photography.)
My mind is already sparking. I will find a way to help these people in a real way.
We had lost our power over Christmas. Three days without fresh water was tough. I remarked to my husband how horrible it is that there are people who never have fresh, safe, running water!
I will gather my thoughts and some concerned friends and figure something out! I will let you know when it’s in action!
Cynthia, it looks to me like much of the money raised has been an accumulation of small donations over time. Plus, at times when I haven't been able to contribute much to a cause, I've found that just sharing the cause with others is a huge boost too. Raising awareness as well as $$ is important. I still am struggling with the reality of the way Natives have been forced to live for generations, it just blows my mind. For years I have given daily thanks for the luxury of hot running water for a bath or shower, and sent a silent prayer to those places that don't have this. Not until this year did I realize "those places" were within my own country!
Deep thanks to you for your work with the elephants, yet another heartache in our world.
Thank you.... and you are so right! I have raised awareness more than funds, so it is something...
Organizers are delivering food, water, and PPE. From the gofundme: “With only 14 grocery stores in an area of 30,000 square miles (an area larger than West Virginia), the Navajo and Hopi reservations are classified as extreme food deserts due to their residents’ limited access to affordable and nutritious food”. I am grateful that we can contribute. Thank you Beth for sharing the link.
Thank YOU for your generosity!
I gave!
Me too!!
Done and shared...thank you, Beth.
Done and shared...
Thank you for this link.
Me too. I just read another article in the Post about the Enbridge Line 3 (?) Pipeline that is being rushed through in Minnesota. Indigenous people there are standing against it. How can we act with them?
A sad but necessary recounting of such a shameful event. Thank you. If only the true history of the country, including events like these, were included as a meaningful part of American history classes. If they were, perhaps more people would recognize the injustice that pervades our nation today is they understood its roots.
Howard Zinn's "Peoples' History of the United States" is a good starting point for a more accurate history of our country . . .
For the Native American's side of this "social history" you might also widen horizens by looking at Peter Cozzen's "The Earth is Weeping" which covers all of the conflicts, triumphs and disasters befelling the tribal nations.
Thank you. I always appreciate what you know and share.
This is a terrible story but one worth telling and retelling. Coupled with the New York Time's Bret Staples' piece on the Editorial page (1-28-20) about the Tulsa, Okla, massacre in 1921 of Black people, Congress might consider calling for a national day of mourning to remember and learn from these mass killings of Native Americans and African Americans by white people. Thank you for teaching your readers about one of them about which I am ashamed to say I knew very little.
Susie, the National Day of Mourning is an excellent idea, but I would amend your description to be to remember and learn from any mass killings of any people of color by white people. I believe Chinese and other nationalities have been victimized and we want to bring us all together. Unfortunately, my gut feeling is that white people of America are not yet ready to accept responsibility and supremacists, etc will make trouble. But we could start talking about it and planning for it now. And eventually, maybe, a National Day of Atonement?
Very thoughtful response and so much rides on the word "eventually." We might start out by writing to our respective Senators about the concept. And I like your choice of the word, "Atonement." It goes beyond"Mourning." Many thanks for your response.
A wonderful idea, but the injustices perpetrated on our
native populations are absolutely horrendous. Any decision regarding a day of mourning or atonement for one group or for all should come from a committee of BIPOC leaders -- they should be the arbiters of their own days of recognition, not us. As morally valuable as such actions may seem, they are not so, until all BIPOC communities are empowered as equals on all levels!
In Vermont and a few other states, Columbus day was renamed Indigenous People's Day, also, at the beginning of every formal meeting, regardless of the time of year, we acknowledge that the land that we stand on is not rightfully ours, but that of our Indigenous kin who were here before us, and we name their tribes. Everytime I hear these words spoken, they give me chills and tears come to my eyes, but our Abenake families are still not given the full dignity and value they deserve. It's only a work-in-progress, if that! When only a handful of states recognize the need to abolish Columbus Day, what kind of mixed messages are we giving our youth -- both those of color and those who are white?
A few NH towns have also changed CD to IPD, but no luck yet at the statehouse level. As close as we are to VT, there is a huge gap in our states' progress in many ways. I've been to a few BLM and other gatherings at which they start the meeting by acknowledging and honoring the tribal ancestors to whom to the land we are standing on gave sustenance ( I think most native people did not consider land ownership a concept, correct me if I'm wrong). I really resonate with that and am doing a lot of thinking about how I can do a similar honoring of the land on which I live.
NHPR has repeated two interesting conversations from earlier in the year this week on their program The Exchange. One is about re-examining our local lore and heroes related to conflicts with natives; the other is more along the lines of reconsidering how we elevate the names and lives of our "founding fathers" (specifically GW) who were slave holders by naming institutions and buildings, roads, etc., after them. Here's the link to them if anyone's interested. You can listen or read the transcripts.
https://www.nhpr.org/post/rexamination-american-history-and-american-icons-0
https://www.nhpr.org/post/reassessment-legend-hannah-duston
Thanks so much for these links. And yes, you're absolutely correct about the idea of land ownership being rejected, because the land belongs to all. Of course, sacred land and burial grounds are not to be tampered with -- which people have done without impunity.
If you are interested in honoring your land in the same way perhaps your State office of Cultural affairs that houses the Native American Commission's office can help you identify the tribes that once lived in NH -- I believe that you once had a solid population of Abenakis. If you message me on FB, I can send you a copy of the one we often use.
Thank you, Rowshan, but I am not on FB. I do know of some good resources though, through the permaculture group I belong to, just need to follow through! Ironically, as a kid I went to a Camp Abenaki in Hampton, NH. At least I didn't go to a high school that had an offensively named mascot!
** it should read: "with impunity", not without!! Good grief, sometimes, my phone takes off on it's own!
Bravo for Vermont and others that have denounced Columbus Day!
Fabulous idea!
These stories are invaluable to bring history forward. Context is crucial about how we perceive and approach our present and future; hopefully with knowledge and compassion. It is natural that pieces of history become removed from our current lives but it is important that we and get jolted into remembering! Thank you Professor Richardson for reminding us!
Thank you, Heather, for focusing on this anniversary. I bought your book on Wounded Knee a couple of weeks ago. Thank you! It is excellent and relevant to my family history. One thing that struck me was how many parallels 1890 and 2020 have. And, how often a catastrophe can start with a very simple, small miscommunication and misunderstanding as a trigger. But then, all the conditions that brought the players to that moment were long in the making. If I take the parallels a little further it would be something awful happening in Washington DC on the January 6th and the violence that may come from the dog whistles. In general, I keep thinking of a friend saying just wait until non-native Americans learn what it's like to live on a reservation. Minority rule is pushing us in that direction. I'm hopeful that we are learning a great deal from the experience of the past four years and the decades since 1968 or perhaps since 1890 that have taken us to this moment. May it make us determined for a better future.
To this point the Harrington Hotel in DC (Proud Boys hangout) is closing Jan, 4-6. https://wjla.com/news/local/hotel-harrington-announces-be-closed-ahead-planned-january-pro-trump-demonstration
Bravo Hotel Harrington.
Good to hear this.