We are perhaps moving towards a concept of modernity that includes
- a version of truth that both settlers and indigenous peoples can agree on
- a version of reconciliation that recognizes indigenous rights to self-government as well as responsibilities to the surrounding communities, and, since they are not leaving, recognition of settlers’ rights and responsibilities after few or many generations of settlement
- a thoughtful look at the exploitation, dehumanization, imperialism and colonization that has gone on since the beginning of recorded history, and with an understanding of the greed, ignorance, fear, and genetic tendencies underlying economic and cultural causes for this behaviour.
Then, when I look around, I despair that we are moving away from that concept of modernity.
My schooling taught me to look at native people through the colonizer's lens. I am trying to look through many different lenses now.
I went through public schooling in Canada in the mid-2000's, and I learned next-to-nothing about these topics. It was a standard education in Canadian/North American history but the extent to which negative aspects of colonization were brought forward were very minimal. Christopher Columbus sailing the ocean blue type shit. Basically the Europeans came over to strike an awesome trade deal and indigenous (called natives at the time) people just kind of hung out, helped the Canadians, occasionally got the short end of the stick, and now everyone is happy in our technologically advanced civilization. Residential schools weren't taught in my public school, and the brief discussion on it in high school provided very little context on how bad things remain to this day, or y'know, the fact the last one closed in 1996. It's really embarrassing but all I can do at this point is listen. The suicide rate on reserves is absolutely staggering and a national emergency. Things need to change a lot quicker than they are right now, and while establishing a new legal framework is a great step forward I don't think the political willpower exists to make moves fast enough. A LOT of Canadians are quite racist, and still see indigenous people as lazy or worse.
My schooling was the same. We learned that there were these people: Plains Indians for example. But were never encouraged to ask, "Where are they now?" What happened to them?" The consciousness is slowly changing but it's a long road. I saw a film recently called 13th showing how blacks were characterized as criminals throughout the US. It made me think about how natives in Canada are characterized as drunks and Palestineans are characterized as terrorists. A convenient binary, us-them, blame-the-victim approach to justify racism. My first teaching job was in BC, north of Whistler, in a First Nations community. Even then, numbed into accepting what I was told as justified, I had no rage, even though in the early 1900s, white people had taken the rich farm land in the Pemberton Valley and moved the native community five miles down the road. Yet, the community themselves had taken control of their school away from the church.
Fairly certain that's an issue for most of North America. Are there indigenous communities near you - or at all? I know there are in the US, but Canada is a blind spot for me. I'm curious about the living and issues of aboriginal people of North America, but Canada never crossed my mind.One can live in a Canadian city and be oblivious to native issues.
This area is just down the road from me. I used to teach in a school 20 minutes from Ohsweken, so many of the students were from there. The west coast of Canada was settled much more recently so native people are more evident than in Ontario. The treatment of our native people comprise an ongoing sad story. What is the path to becoming a just and humane society? Do we need to make them disappear because they are a conquered people? I don't think so. That's called ethnic cleansing. So we need to learn to treat all others with dignity - but what exactly does that mean? These are questions that are being debated in the government of Canada and in my kitchen.
Defining dignity isn't the problem. The problem is making so many people adopt the value despite their own highly-complex lives that leave little desire for pain and discomfort. It takes a certain amount of wisdom to share good with others regardless of one's own suffering. The problem is making people see value in that.