Understanding The Native Perspective

A collection of book excerpts, articles, essays, and documents by and about Native Americans, yesterday and today.

Attention Reader!
In some cases, I was not able to track down the origin of some of the info I collected. Two to three years ago, my research and archiving skills were non-existent and at the time I didn't even know why I was collecting this information. These few years later, I am truly sorry I didn't keep better records. I have tried my best to locate all of the sources and in virtually all of the cases of the material in The Other Side of the Coin, I asked for and received permission to use them for a book. I no longer have the email addresses of these people, but I am hoping that their permission will translate to this website. If anyone finds material within this website that they do not feel was credited properly, please contact me so that I can make those changes. My apologies and my thanks to all of those amazing people that did indeed allow me to display their remarkable talents.

Christine Rose
Rosepetl5@aol.com

Introduction: The Other Side of the Coin

        Thanksgiving has been celebrated by many cultures for centuries. But because of the symbolism that it has for both Native and non-native groups in this country it is fascinating to see how the holiday brings up opposing historical issues for both. Surely, many people learned that the Indians helped those early settlers, but most people have been really unaware of the extent of the involvement in each others lives at that time.

        Thanksgiving is much more than just a celebration of the Pilgrim's first successful harvest. For many Native people it symbolized the end of their way of life, while for non-native people, it is a celebration of that new beginning in a strange new land that was ripe with possibilities.

        In this collection is an article from Jacqueline Keeler, a Native woman who experiences Thanksgiving in a personal way. She explores what Thanksgiving has meant to her and her people, the determination to hold onto her pride as a Native child. But as one reads, one also feels the bitterness caused by the losses that every Native person has experienced.

        While corresponding with Ms. Keeler, she received a vicious response to her article from the internet, attacking her for her position that seemed anti-American as well as ungrateful for all the US has done for Native people in raising them from their savagery. Ms. Keeler forwarded it to me and asked how a person like this could be changed to see from another perspective. Upon reading the letter, I saw what I have seen so often, the ignorance of the facts of our history, the blind acceptance that our history is what was portrayed in our school texts. My neighbor once asked me why I bother with my work, since nobody really cares about Indians, anyway. Someone else asked, "Why don’t they all just get jobs and be like everybody else?"

        The lack of compassion and racism in all these statements stems from the arrogance of a culture that assumes everyone wants to be just like Americans. And if they don't, well, lets force them to accept it as its better for them anyway.

        Because the early European settlers were the victors of the Indian wars, the dominant culture never saw any reason to explore how the other side felt. Government programs to assassinate and then later, assimilate, were geared to making the Indian go away, one way or another.

        The Native side of history has not been studied because Americans did not find it relevant. The American Way forges on, changing the world still today. But just as Germany was forced to recognize the horrors of their genocide, so it is now time for this country to learn of theirs.

        The Native nations have not gone away, they hid their culture behind closed doors and practiced their religion under threat of imprisonment. Their children, hied away from their homes off to boarding schools where speaking their language resulted in abusive punishment, often worked to the bone, their hair cut and combed to resemble the whites they were then forced to emulate, have since returned to their homes to pick up the pieces of their lives. Contrary to the goal of "Killing the Indian and sparing the man," Native people have survived. While many tribes were decimated into oblivion, over 540 others have managed to continue on and still hold tightly to their traditions.        In these sections we shall see the effects of the history that have previously been ignored, we shall read personal stories of how, against all odds, the culture was preserved. We will also read government papers that show the insanity that swept this country with regards to the treatment of Native People.

        Many people complain, "but it was so long ago", (it wasn't!) or "I didn’t do it so why should I feel guilty". These are common vehicles for escape from discomfort. No one needs to feel guilty except those that continue to perpetuate crimes against Native Americans. And make no mistake, those crimes do continue. (See Racism: Is South Dakota Burning on this website.)

        But the purpose in studying and learning about those times is the same reason we study the history of all the world. It is to bring understanding and recognition to those that have suffered, and virtually all of the Native people today still live with some of the effects of the genocide. The Germans were said to have killed about 12 million Jews, Stalin killed around 20 million Russians, but the genocide against Native people is unsurpassed and numbers upwards of 100 million people from South to North America.

        In studying this material, we honor those that have died and bring a promise of learning from our mistakes so as to never make them again. We must honor the continued existence of the Native nations in ways that are meaningful to them as opposed to the mascots and trophy names that this country insists on using for these purposes. And lastly, we will begin the process of recognition of our mistakes.

 Christine Rose 2003

With much appreciated guidance from Corrine Iron Shield