Settler Colonialism and Cultural Genocide
What a time in our life to write a blog on this subject. My son and I were talking about this over the weekend. History has always been recurrent with violence and racism. This included racial clashes with Native Americans, Africans, Asians, Irish and even Protestants and Catholics. It is a shame that there has to be groups that have to degrade and destroy other groups or cultures.
This
happens
all
the
time
in
the
United
States.
According to Spring all of these different cultures have been labeled as savages, pagans and degenerates accompanied by economic exploitation, cultural intolerance, and racism.
According to Spring all of these different cultures have been labeled as savages, pagans and degenerates accompanied by economic exploitation, cultural intolerance, and racism.
The writers of the U.s. Constitution were divided over the issue of immigration. Smith concludes that 80 % of U.S. history, American laws declared that most people in the world were legally ineligible to become U.S. citizens solely because of their race, original nationality, or gender.
The United States looked at Native Americans as being inferior and created schools to try to change their mindset to get them to adapt to american culture and make their way of life secondary. The English invaders considered all Native Americans as being inferior.
One way of doing this was creating specialized boarding schools controlled by teachers, missionaries, and generals.
The goal was to strip the Indian youth of their cultural traditions, language, and beliefs. This was very demeaning and devastating to the children. They did not have a choice. The native children were taken from their families and while there were abused and forced into child labor. Many of the children mainly teenagers would run away. The parents would refuse to enroll their children in the the school or would hide them, but the police would force them to go. It is sad how inadequately the children were taken care of and the schools were deemed the worse schools and many crimes were committed against the native children there.
It is also a travesty that Native Americans are being left out of the corona virus data or is being labeled as "other".
Why are they being left out of this data. Native Americans have a higher rate of diabetes and asthma which make them a greater risk of getting the virus and to date make 16% of the COVID related deaths. This is not the first time that they have been left out of previous data and most of the time they are categorized by the wrong race.
This is very dangerous because they are not getting an accurate number when it comes to different tribes and the current number and impact of the outbreak.
The only way to prepare for the next wave is to be aware and help work on a interventions now to potentially slow the second wave.
Julie, I love the picture of the teacher scolding the little boy, because of the paint on the floor. I work with a few teachers that are just like that and it makes me sick... Some people have no tolerance for other races or the history/culture.
ReplyDeleteReading the articles about the treatment of the Native Indian children in the boarding schools was disturbing to say the least. The saddest part of all this is the fact that we keep repeating it. What I don't understand is why the English came to North America for treasures, but also for freedoms such as Religious Freedom, Freedom of Speech, etc. This brings up the big question. Who were English to say the Native Indians were inferior and force them to except their culture. What happened to freedoms. Thank you for your post.
Hi Julie!
ReplyDeleteI was immediately drawn to your blog with your use of that cartoon. Too often teachers single out minority students for the same actions of their white peers. Students will share stories of mistreatment from other teachers that are hard to hear. Obviously these stories are shared with building administrators but what can fellow educators do from there to address the conscious or unconscious biases of coworkers?
I agree with what you said about "History has always been recurrent with violence and racism." and unfortunately it still shows in some classrooms today. 'What can we do to help change that?' is always a question I ask myself, recently more than ever.
Thanks for sharing!
Hi Julie,
ReplyDeleteI like how you mentioned that the goal of the schools is to "strip the Indian youth of their cultural traditions, language, and beliefs." This hit me because I have been focusing on how important it is for MLL(multi-language learners) to embrace their home culture and use their language to help them learn. It is sad that culture is not being embraced in many cases, and unfortunately it seems to have been this way for awhile. I also think you connecting this idea to how we are ignoring the Native Americans during this pandemic is great. This country continues to be struggle with supportive and acceptance of various cultures.
Also, I like the way you set up the blog!
Thank you for the thoughtful post, Julie. One thing I'd add is that deculturalization is not solely about destroying culture -- it's about using education as a tool for forced assimilation into Anglo culture *in order to dispossess Indigenous people of their land*. This last bit is key -- it was about race AND economics.
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