Colonization = digestion

Winona LaDuke speaks her mind in SuquamishShe said it used to be the way of the Anishinaabeg people to sit back and watch what was happening instead of taking action. There was a time when they could live like that—moving with the seasons and celebrating harvests with song and dance.

But once colonized thought and ideas of “progress” spread into northern Minnesota the time of sitting back and watching was over, she said.

It is important to look at the word colonialism and its close relation to “colon,” LaDuke said.

“It means to digest. The digestion of one people,” LaDuke said. “Colonization is the process of being consumed.”Comment:  For more on the subject of colonization, see Those Evil Europeans.