By Anne Maura English, SSND Associate
My mother evidently believed that by third grade, all her children should be well aware of the evils of slavery, of the treatment of Native Americans, and of what came to be called the Holocaust. I think it grew from her own awareness of what her Irish forbears had undergone. At any rate, every time there was a TV movie showing Native warriors attacking, we could count on Mom coming into the room and lecturing us that those warriors had every right to protest their treatment.
Strange, perhaps, but I’ve always considered Mom's teaching a gift prompting me to learn more. Consequently, I hesitated before joining the reading of The Inconvenient Indian, not sure what it could teach me. But I found it a valuable experience, one that is conditioning how I approach November’s Native American Heritage Month in the U.S. (Canada’s celebration of Native Indigenous People Day is June 21.)
I want to use the month to learn more about the strengths and beauty of the various nations and tribes of the U.S. But I know I cannot do that without facing more realistically the horrors of how this country I call home came to be. Much of what we read in Thomas King’s book was further details of evils I already knew about. But forcing myself to look at them in those chapters has, I hope, led me to view them not with a casual recognition (Yes, that happened) but with appropriate discomfort.
I can’t grieve for Russia’s attack on Ukraine, I can’t be horrified by the Nazi Holocaust and not acknowledge that this country I call “mine” is built on, exists because of, actions every bit as repellant.
But King also offered me a real eye-opener. That was how current U.S. policy toward both Reservations and the Tribes themselves seems headed to complete eradication of Native Americans. The world of economic policy is not my strong suit, so I had a hard time with some of the details. I have pledged to keep re-reading those chapters until I get it. I intend to try to find out when—and if—those issues come up in Congress so I can voice an opinion.
I live in Baltimore and most of our Indigenous Tribes were annihilated. However, a number of Native Americans have moved here looking for work. An active Support Center helps them with ongoing acclimation to city life. I hope to occasionally offer a small contribution to them as well as to one of the non-profits that offer college scholarships to Native Americans.
However, what I really want to focus on this November is a celebration of Native American contributions and cultures—with an emphasis on the plural of the latter.
I admit that when I hear the phrase “Native American,” I immediately envision a man and woman dressed in fringed buckskin. That describes only a few of the numerous Native Nations, ignoring the tremendous differences in those cultures.
How would someone of Italian or Irish heritage feel if a celebration of a European Heritage Month focused only on Polish food, traditional dress, and customs? I want to know something of what distinguishes the Algonquin from the Chumash, and the Choctaw from the Seminole.
No need for ponderous tomes for that. Years ago, I read advice to anyone wanting to write historical novels for adults: get a book on the period or event from the children’s section of any library. It will cover the major facts and an overview.
I have an advantage in that I’m the librarian for the Nonfiction section of the Library at our co-sponsored Sisters Academy middle school for girls. The books are all here for me—and I can also make it an educational enrichment month for the students. In addition, there are numerous online sites for information or teaching.
I’m hoping to correct—or put in context--some of the negative perceptions of Native Nations. For example, scalping enemies is certainly gruesome—but I didn’t know until recently that that is something Native Americans learned from the Spanish conquerors in the Southwest!
I also hope to learn more about positive contributions. Those of us in the U.S. grew up aware that part of Thanksgiving celebrations remembered the Native Tribes sharing food with the Europeans. However, this was more than a one-time party.
Without food and farming help from the Natives, the Europeans would have faced widespread famine, even possible extinction.
Our well-known story of Washington and his men holding out one winter in Valley Forge shares a similar story. Their survival depended on the food that Native Tribes brought, walking through the snow miles and miles from the North. I certainly never learned in school that throughout the American Revolution, several Tribes and hundreds of their men served alongside or as part of the Continental Army, including that winter in Valley Forge.
Also, the Founders who crafted the U.S. Constitution borrowed several of their ideas from the governmental structures of Native Peoples.
Most Native Nations viewed women as equals, unlike the Europeans. The latter were appalled by this. A number of Tribes backed off on the issue of such equality to try to get along better with the Europeans. (The Jesuits, unfortunately, were instrumental in pushing this to happen.)
One of my favorite historical bits combines both those aspects. Unfortunately, I do not know which Tribe to credit, but their elections for male-only leadership positions were determined by the only gender allowed to vote: women!
I have a lot to consider in November. Fortunately, my liturgical life will be asking me to consider the end-time and how I can support the divine mission that “all may be one,” so that the world can more closely approximate God’s original desire. This seems a fitting way to enter into that.
