Tuesday, January 21, 2025
That was the name of the tribe, a member of the Sioux family that defeated Custer at Little Big Horn. A very proud tribe, as they are called, has been penalized for this effrontery ever since, in my opinion. A very proud people who won’t relinquish their hold on their past or their culture, even with all the pressures exerted upon them by the white man. They have kept their language, their customs, their way of life, for the most part.
I was watching a documentary about the Lakota people on PBS this weekend, and I was both informed and infuriated by their subjugation, and I mean subjugation, living on reservations in South Dakota. Back in the early 20th century, the Catholics took it upon themselves to Christianize Native American children, both in the United States and in Canada. The church and some governments are just now apologizing for the brutal conversion methods they used, including, in some cases, the murder of those young children, who would not give up their language, their customs, their beliefs.
If you were to visit a reservation as I have, or have seen pictures or documentaries, or even movies of life in those open prisons, you would be appalled at the horrible conditions that these people have to survive under. Trees, which are a requirement in any community, are rare or non- existent. Trailer-park-like homes, rusty vehicles and a barren landscape are the norm on most reservations! Most are unemployed and have to rely on the kindness of those who stole their lands. Wat a ting!
Anyway, in this documentary, we see life and death and the inexorable fate of a once mighty and noble people. People who prospered in this land of plenty. People who respected Mother Earth, took care of the forests and rivers and streams. People who were in awe of the beauty and the bounty of their existence, and gave thanks and blessings to the spirits that were responsible for those bounties. People who still try to keep their customs and traditions alive, while fighting the outside world and modernity!
Being a child of colonialism, I can understand how these people feel. While I cannot feel their pain, I can still recognize the brutal reality of their lives. They were hunters who became the hunted. They were the guardians of a paradise, and are now living as second-class citizens in a land that rightfully belongs to them. Sure, there are communal casinos, but, like the rest of the country, the benefits don’t trickle down to the most needy, the forgotten; it’s in the hands of a few. Phew!
If Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull could see the results of their victory over George Armstrong Custer at Little Big Horn, I believe that they would cry tears of blood at the legacy their descendants have inherited! A Native America, and that includes all of the Americas, from Canada down to the bottom edges of South America that has suffered from some of the worst genocide, subjugation and humiliation, of treaty after treaty being broken, of many resorting to alcohol and drugs to ease their pain! The total disintegration of a proud people who were minding their own business, before the invaders broke that spell of pride and reverence they took for granted!
This has happened all over the world, but in my opinion, the Native American is the most displaced race in the world, displaced in their own country, followed by the indigenous people of Australia! And no reparations can ever justify the unjust hardships heaped upon them!
We, people of color, black or red or mixed or Asian, should always remember that we have as much right to exist and prosper on this planet. We should remember history; first we have to know history, but remember and learn and change the way we see, and process life, and our experiences, and most of all, our existence!
We should question why we are always victims to the whims of those who make us believe that we are powerless, that they are superior—their way or the highway! And they usually win. Why?
I would never want to live under the conditions on a reservation, as most of the younger generations have chosen not to. They have left and gone into a world that is less forgiving, but with more opportunities to advance.
How sad is it, to have to be someone else just to survive in a country that in reality was always yours? How sad it is to know that America still has a dark side, and might get darker in the coming years, and to not be able to do anything to stop that dystopia from occurring? In the old days, one could fight with bows and arrows; today, there are no weapons to stop the despair they are living in. And nobody cares!
Glen