We do not support genocide

I wrote this three years ago and have no idea how I missed putting it here. Context: a grandkid’s class a few years ago had an end-of-year play about Pioneers. Grandkid told me some of the upcoming details it was deeply disturbing, included references to “the wilderness” and “savages.” I wrote this “educational email” to the teacher. It took me a very long time and a lot of Kleenex to be “educational” rather than “raging.” The “solution” from the school was to have a student read a statement before the play started; I don’t remember the exact words but it burned into my brain as “we’re just using the language of the times.”

Here’s my email:

I am concerned and hurt that [school] is preparing to celebrate the myth of Manifest Destiny. The myth of manifest destiny is that white Christian people were considered superior by God and that it was their God-given right to expand across the continent and take what they wanted.

President Jackson said of Native Americans, "they have neither the intelligence, the industry, the moral habits, the intelligence, nor the desire of improvement."

Supreme Court Chief Justice John Marshall claimed "The tribes of Indians inhabiting this country were fierce savages… To leave them in possession of their country was to leave the country a wilderness."

I should point out that at the time, the concept of Manifest Destiny, and the related Indian Removal Act, was widely debated. For example, Davy Crockett said , "I have no desire to see the poor remnants of a once powerful people. The removal bill represents oppression with a vengeance."

The myth of manifest destiny was used to justify the Indian Removal Act, and the Act was used to further perpetuate the myth — to clear the land of its Native peoples (of their communities, laws, systems of governance and culture) to make the land seem open and available when colonizers spread across the continent. It was important to describe the country as a wilderness. 

The myth gave individuals justification for specific acts of violence. It let colonizers (pioneers, settlers, whatever) murder Native peoples who “trespassed” on their land or “stole” the fish and game from “their land.” But in fact, our Native Peoples had (and continue to have) great respect for Mother Earth, using her gifts with respect and gratitude, taking only what we need.

We don't know how many Indigenous Americans there here before European arrival, but scholars generally settle on about 50 million. That number dropped to 6 million over time. 

Our tribe, Citizen Potawatomi Nation, was one of many that were rounded up and force marched away from our homelands which were to be given to "settlers." We were taken from the area of northern Indiana/Michigan and had to walk two months to Kansas, escorted by soldiers with rifles on horseback with people dying along the way. Arriving in early November with snow on the ground, the promised housing wasn't there; agents who had been given federal money to build housing had disappeared. Men and women dug into hillsides and lined / covered them with blankets to try to survive the winter. This was our Trail of Death, repeated with other tribes before and after us.

We do not support genocide. We do not celebrate the myths that justified it.