The readings had been rather intense for me. I had done the core of them on my flights to and from Florida that weekend. How fitting it is to be reading the history of the violent sweep of Manifest Destiny while flying over its path; how eerie it is to spend several hours suspended from the present, suspended of all sense of place, delving into the history of colonization, then land and emerge in a faraway place and temporarily push all those thoughts aside to deal with the realities awaiting me at home. Some thoughts they were, too.
Feminists, Native Sovereignty, and Decolonization
What struck me the most was one author speaking about “feminists” attempts to draw native women into feminism. First, she asserted, her most pressing struggle is that of an indigenous woman whose ancestors were decimated by genocide, whose lands continue to be stolen, and whose cultures are forced to resist at every moment just to survive. “I am a Native American woman…..NA comes first.” Here she lays out the challenge: Until you, white feminist (and yes, she was speaking directly to me!), are ready to recognize that YOU are colonizing my land, and are ready to do everything you can to STOP COLONIZING my land, and have helped us win the fight for native sovereignty, I don’t want you to talk to me about “activism” or “feminism.” This is a paraphrase, I should really look up the real quote, but it conveys the gravity and seriousness of her tone. Wow! Some thoughts for me: Am I ready to come to terms with the fact that I, not just my ancestors, but I, am a colonizer still? Am I ready to fight for native sovereignty, which may mean that I need to give up the benefits gained as a colonizer? What does this really look like in places where native populations are so decimated or so long gone that the claim to land is not obvious TO ME? What does it look like at all? I really, really, really would like to see exactly what native activists are envisioning for sovereignty. Is it a shame that I don’t know?
I have often felt very uncomfortable with people who go to live in (or really, even visit) Hawa’ii. It feels so fresh, the colonization there. But just because it doesn’t feel fresh where I live doesn’t mean its still not real.
Also, as someone who really came to being under feminism, who still tries to rally the feminist troops – this really made me question my identification with feminism. I have known for some time that feminism, as politically created by white, often middle class, feminists, has long been under the critique of women of color. But is there a good, inclusive, powerful feminism that women of all colors can be proud of? How do I redefine my feminism, or is it possible, as a white woman, to use that term without falling into the divisive and racist history of feminism?
Indoctrinated Sexism
The AUTHOR’S second point was, oh and by the way, this sexism shit didn’t exist before y’all got here, the COLONIZERS deliberately created sexism within native cultures to break apart native communities. It makes so much sense.
During this session, here were some things that came out for me, that I hadn’t exactly put together before:
Domestic Energy Resources
That when people in this country are talking about developing “domestic” energy sources (of the fossil fuel or nuclear varieties), to get away from “foreign dependence”, the sources they are referring to are on native lands. Any push to develop/extract these resources involves: Major violation of treaties, major violation of international law protecting indigenous rights, removal of Indian peoples from their land, and massive destruction of native lands.
Sacred Sites & National Parks
That many of our national parks that we are so proud of are long time sacred sites of Indian peoples. That the creation of national parks was yet another way to steal native lands, restrict native access to and use of, and claim those places for white settlers.
Blood Degree
That Native people today get official tribal Ids that include federal designation of blood degree. Like “how native” they are. That once your blood degree drops below a certain level, you’re no longer eligible to be considered native. I’m not sure of all the specifics of this, or how it may be different in different tribes.
Giving up Culture to gain Privilege
That European people in the US, that we were forced (or chose) to give up our connections to our cultures in order to gain the privileges of being “white.” That the resulting holes in our humanity, where spiritual and cultural traditions would go, is what leads us to inappropriately appropriate other cultures, other spiritualities, others’ artistic developments. We gave up our own in order to become white, and now we are empty and hollow and grasping for some sense of connection and wholeness. Does that explain it well? I feel it myself, and how I wish I had deeper roots, dances and songs and rituals that I could feel comfortable using because they represent the stories of my people.
Family Connections
One major thing that has been happening is that other participants in the program have been learning their family histories, and getting to see how their families have participated in the processes that we’ve been learning about. Such as remembering that their grandfathers developed their families wealth from a ranch in Wyoming that they owned. How did they come to own that – Homestead Acts and other federal giveaways of native lands. One project set upon us is to investigate our own family histories. I am dubious I am going to find a connection so direct, and fear that the project won’t really have much meaning for me, but really, I bet there’s a lot to uncover.The performer, Ariel Luckey, did a powerful piece of a similar family discovery, and had a picture of his grandfather as a young boy out on new land out west. The reality of how people were systematically used to settle “new land” (and by definition, kill or push off the Indian peoples living there). How these were taught to think that it was the only chance for their own survival. (People were actually paid by the government to murder Indians, paid up upon delivery of the ears or whole head.) The relation to Jewish settlers on Palestinian land is so obvious, made all the more undeniable by one of the panelists presentations that put pictures of US colonization side by side with Palestinian colonization. And we can’t just blame the settlers on the frontlines; they end up their via indoctrination and economic oppression.
This is what makes this learning so hard: to see the depth and breadth of these insanely powerful oppressive strategies & their success over time and space. Why is it that oppressive forces of inhumane domination have been so historically successful? What does that mean – is this the true way of nature? Does good really win over evil? Why doesn’t that seem to happen more naturally?
losing ethnicity. losing culture.
ReplyDeletethe daily conflation of race and ethnicity is at the root of so much of this loss and it frustrates me to no end.
as a white latina with spanish roots, i get to jump over all sorts of fences.
self-identified white folks never talk to me about their ethnicity. they tell me they're white like that tells me anything. i guess it's the census' fault. maybe their family gave up ethnic specific traditions but i think no one taught them to look for them. it's like when people say they're in the mood for ethnic food, as if hamburgers and coleslaw sprang up from the ground. people have been taught that what their family does is not cultural it's just "normal" cause their white. blackness is somewhere in the middle of all this too but i don't think i'm going to be making sense anymore.