Who Are We?

There's always this question of identity.

And for Native people, it is a big issue.

And part of the reason it's such a big issue is part of what can only be characterized as the American genocide, really, has been an effort to eliminate us.

And that effort Begins with a process of, you know, frankly, extermination, killing us, everything from scout bounties to, you know, handing out smallpox infested blankets to, you know, massacres, wars.

trying to starve us out.

I mean, I oftentimes talk about George Washington's Sullivan campaign, where he basically told the troops to accept no pleas for peace and make sure that you destroy all the food and destroy the ability to make more food.

So there was an effort to kill us in many ways.

And of course, that changes from this kind of extermination policy to what I would call an assimilation policy.

And part of that had to do with conversion and trying to force us into different ways of life, uh, uh, that would affect how much land we were would require to sustain ourselves.

And of course, the biggest example of this forced assimilation policy is it was 150 years of, uh, of boarding schools.

And, and, and I use the expression schools very, very loosely because these were not schools.

They were more like prisons and, uh, and children initially, uh, the kids that went to these schools were oftentimes already being regarded as somewhat orphaned or impoverished or whatever else.

But at some point, right around 1890, it became mandatory that all Native children were to be ripped from their homes and sent to these schools.

And I'm not saying that 100% of the kids were in compliance or the families were in compliance, but by some estimates, it was as high as 85% of all Native kids were being ripped from their homes, ripped from their communities, ripped from their nations, and sent to these prison schools.

And there the policy was kill the Indian, save the man.

And the whole idea, supposedly, was really to kill the native component, the identity, to destroy the identity of native children and then fully indoctrinate them into Christianity.

Most of these schools, almost all of these schools, were government-funded, either at the state or the federal level, and then administered and operated by churches, predominantly the Catholic Church, but not solely the Catholic Church.

And there, the kids were oftentimes experiencing levels of abuse that most people cannot even begin to fathom.

And I haven't done a whole program to talk about the level of abuse that Native kids experienced.

But it's worth noting that Children died in these schools.

So when they say, kill the Indian, save the man, it's nice to assume that it's just a metaphor for forced assimilation.

But metaphors don't require graveyards.

Yeah, that's a John King quote.

Metaphors don't require graveyards.

Dead children do.

There's always this question of identity.

And for Native people, it is a big issue.

And part of the reason it's such a big issue is part of what can only be characterized as the American genocide, really, has been an effort to eliminate us.

And that effort Begins with a process of, you know, frankly, extermination, killing us, everything from scout bounties to, you know, handing out smallpox infested blankets to, you know, massacres, wars.

trying to starve us out.

I mean, I oftentimes talk about George Washington's Sullivan campaign, where he basically told the troops to accept no pleas for peace and make sure that you destroy all the food and destroy the ability to make more food.

So there was an effort to kill us in many ways.

And of course, that changes from this kind of extermination policy to what I would call an assimilation policy.

And part of that had to do with conversion and trying to force us into different ways of life, uh, uh, that would affect how much land we were would require to sustain ourselves.

And of course, the biggest example of this forced assimilation policy is it was 150 years of, uh, of boarding schools.

And, and, and I use the expression schools very, very loosely because these were not schools.

They were more like prisons and, uh, and children initially, uh, the kids that went to these schools were oftentimes already being regarded as somewhat orphaned or impoverished or whatever else.

But at some point, right around 1890, it became mandatory that all Native children were to be ripped from their homes and sent to these schools.

And I'm not saying that 100% of the kids were in compliance or the families were in compliance, but by some estimates, it was as high as 85% of all Native kids were being ripped from their homes, ripped from their communities, ripped from their nations, and sent to these prison schools.

And there the policy was kill the Indian, save the man.

And the whole idea, supposedly, was really to kill the native component, the identity, to destroy the identity of native children and then fully indoctrinate them into Christianity.

Most of these schools, almost all of these schools, were government-funded, either at the state or the federal level, and then administered and operated by churches, predominantly the Catholic Church, but not solely the Catholic Church.

And there, the kids were oftentimes experiencing levels of abuse that most people cannot even begin to fathom.

And I haven't done a whole program to talk about the level of abuse that Native kids experienced.

But it's worth noting that Children died in these schools.

So when they say, kill the Indian, save the man, it's nice to assume that it's just a metaphor for forced assimilation.

But metaphors don't require graveyards.

Yeah, that's a John King quote.

Metaphors don't require graveyards.

Dead children do.