I find enormous satisfaction, and irony when looking at the history of this country and its elevated forefathers. Thomas Jefferson was one of many leaders whose Indian policies included forced removal, forced assimilation and perpetuation of varying doctrines of discovery, justifying the taking of Indian lands. He also had a mantra that was significantly ironic that stated: Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God. So much of what you are seeing in Indian Country today is exactly that. Rebellion to the tyrannical attitudes and institutions towards Indigenous people that is so engrained in American culture that most Americans find themselves in a stupor as to why Indigenous people are speaking out at all. Make no mistake, we rebel because we honor our families, our traditions, our culture, our communities and people and even our Creator. We are not protestors, but protectors. While Jefferson and other American founding fathers clearly fought to preserve concepts about freedom for colonialists during his day, the same consideration and equality for anyone else that did not fit a very strict idea of who he, and the majority of others at the time felt was their given right. The same fight for equality Indigenous people fought for in 1830 when new ethnic cleansing was introduced in the form of a law called The Indian Removal Act signed by Andrew Jackson, is the same fight that Indigenous people fight today.
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 16:30:48 +0000
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