Tis the Season
What I am about to offer here may ruffle the feathers of many of my non-Native friends and family. While it is not my intention to put a damper on anyone's Black Friday giddiness, and/or the sacred celebration of spend-and-get consumption, I feel a deep need and necessary desire at this time of year to educate those who find comfort in the warm glow of their blissful unawareness of their own history.
Over the next month, virtually all my non-Indigenous friends and family will offer me bright-smiled salutations of "Happy Thanksgiving," and "Merry Christmas," and "Happy New Year!" While I know and appreciate the innocence and sincerity with which these offerings are given - and I AM sincerely grateful for them - it is hard for many Native People to feel very celebratory, much less "giddy," at this time of year. For while the dominant society is busy observing its one-day-only sale on "giving thanks" for the many blessings it enjoys on stolen lands, much of Native America is remembering (with a mix of deep sadness, profound sense of agonizing loss, and a heaping helping of suppressed anger on our Thanksgiving plates) the terrorism visited upon Ancestors during these months in U.S. history.
So (no pressure here), I humbly invite you to educate yourselves on some of these holiday "door-busters."
- The Sandy Lake "Tragedy" of 1850 (in which over 400 Ojibwe People, including elders and children, died in the infamous "Wisconsin Death March")
- The Sand Creek Massacre, November 1864
- The "Battle" of the Washita, November 1868
- The Wounded Knee "Battle," December 1890
- The "Long Walk" of the Navajo, January-March 1864
- The Baker Massacre, January 1870
- The Nez Perce "War," ending in October 1877
...to name a few.
Most, if not all, of these atrocities were carried out under the command, and at the order of, men who were completely devoid of honor, integrity, decency, honesty, and, in many cases, sobriety. But, certainly, with no lack of bullets or hatred.
And all were carried out during a time of year (winter) when the villages, and the People, were in survival mode.
I was told by my Uncle that the Reservation is no place for me. He told me that I needed to be out there, among the People, "free," and "fighting the enemy." I said, "Yeah! Fighting the white man, right!? I'm up for that!" He said "No. You need to be out there fighting the enemy of ALL people - IGNORANCE."
None of this is meant or intended to inspire or instill a collective sense of guilt. This is a history that very few non-Native people are even aware of, largely because it is rarely taught or even touched upon in the American school system. This is not revisionist history, my friends. This is YOUR history, OUR history, American history - REVISITED.
Chief Joseph led his Nimiipuu (Nez Perce) people more than 1,500 miles
on their flight to freedom in 1877. Artwork by Howard Terpning
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” proclaimed the writer and philosopher George Santayana – a statement that has often been repeated and altered since he first penned it.
We must not allow ourselves, or our children and grandchildren, to forget, neglect, or dismiss our history as "outdated." (I am told by so many non-Natives that Native People should just "forget about" all of this. "Get over it." "Move on." After all, "it all happened such a long time ago.") To ignore history is to be ignorant of who, and where, we are TODAY.
So, the next time someone offers me a cheerful and well-intended "Happy Holidays," I will smile and offer the same in return. But in my Heart and Head, I will be thinking something else. I will focus on the Winter Solstice, as I always do, and the return of the Light. And I'll offer prayers that we will all find our Way in this Season of Light, to the path of understanding, wisdom, compassion, and our shared humanity on this good Earth.
Peace.
John
