We rarely hear about life in North America before the colonization of it, instead, we hear about the settlement of colonizers. When these colonizers arrived, they called the land “terra nullius” translated, it means “nobody’s land”. The European colonizers disregarded the Indigenous peoples already inhabiting North America the moment they stepped foot on land. From then, they settled in lands important to the indigenous self-governed tribes and renamed that very same land. Essentially rewriting the history we learn today.
In the beginning, the Indigenous peoples and the European colonizers had a mutualistic relationship, providing each other with goods and knowledge. Soon, European colonizers became the parasite of North America. The disagreements on the place of women in society, land ownership, governing, and education became fuel for violent battles and colonization. The native Indigenous peoples viewed every member of their familial tribe as an important one. They viewed their world and land as spiritual and sacred. The Europeans on the other hand had continued their male-run society and their views of individual desire for the gain of wealth and power.
The events following colonizer arrival included the acts of exploitation, enslavement, raping, and massacring, and countless other atrocities to the native Indigenous communities. The native Indigenous peoples resisted and even tried to delay the colonization of their land but the disease’s brought by the colonizers weakened their people.
Fast-forward to the United States’ idea of Indian reservations. Since the 1785 Treaty of Hopewell, Native Indigenous Peoples in the United States have lost their land. In total, the current Indian reservations made by the United States measure 56,200,000 acres or about 227433.3 km squared. To put it into perspective, the size of the state of Idaho. It is unfair considering that the North American continent was their land first. Today’s reservations lack proper education, water supply, and funding.
In addition to the containment of Native Indigenous Peoples, the United States established conversion into Christianity and Western culture. They took Native Indigenous children from their homes and placed them in boarding schools. Here, they were forced to surrender their traditional dresses, beadwork, roaches, and headdresses. Traditional dresses have beautifully colored handmade beadwork. Indigenous Native Americans were forced to cut their hair, which to Indigenous peoples, is a sacred thing. It is considered a part of their cultural identity and the decoration differs based on tribe, family, and celebration.
A quote from a blog on Sister Sky, by Barbie Stensgar, “When I was about 5 years old, my grandfather first told me about being forced to cut his hair when he was carted off to boarding school, and I am sure I heard this more than a dozen times as I grew up. But as I got older, he would tell me more about his experience and what it meant to him. Eventually, he told me his hair was cut in an effort to strip him of his culture and identity. Cutting his hair was their way of showing dominance over him through forced assimilation. He said that every time his hair was cut, he would cry, and every time he would cry, he would be physically punished. Unfortunately, being forced to cut our hair was a common practice in many institutions and schools across the country, and is still occurring as recent as 2018.”
The Dawes Act in 1887, was written to assimilate Indigenous Native Americans into the Western cultured United States. Almost 100 million acres and that was owned by Indigenous Native Americans were sold to non-natives and as a way to strip cultural traditions.
In more recent years, only 14 states nationwide celebrate Indigenous People's Day. Still, it is a step forward to acknowledging the harm done by European colonizers and to learn about Native Indigenous Peoples culture.
The pillaging, raping, genocide, the taking over of land, and 500 years of colonial oppression from European colonizers are not something that should be celebrated on Indigenous Peoples’s land. Indigenous Peoples day honors and celebrates the people, histories, and cultures of Indigenous Peoples.
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Written by Camila Amaya from Woodbridge, Virginia
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