Off the Rails at Native Voices

Today I went to see the play Off the Rails at the Autry Museum. Here are some discussions of it:

Introduction

Native Voices at the Autry Presents the 20th Anniversary Production Off the Rails by Randy ReinholzContinuing its role as the only Equity theatre company dedicated to developing new work by Native American artists, Native Voices at the Autry presents its most ambitious production to date, Off the Rails by Randy Reinholz (Choctaw*). A bawdy and irreverent adaptation of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure set in Buffalo Bill's Wild West, the production is presented as part of Native Voices at the Autry's 2014–2015 season, themed “Legacy and Loss: Stories From the Indian Boarding School.”

“In Off the Rails I’ve relocated Shakespeare’s conflicts to the American frontier. We see love, righteousness, faith, and mercy compete for provenance in the foundation of a country. Adapting Shakespeare for a Native theatre company provides the structure and historical distance needed to explore why so much of the Native American story is missing from U.S. history,” said Reinholz, Native Voices Producing Artistic Director. “A key issue in Indian country today is the contradictory legacy and cultural damage of the American Indian boarding school system, whose motto was 'Kill the Indian, Save the Man.' In a moment in time when many Americans were advocating for the physical extermination of the remaining 218,000 American Indians it might seem that cultural genocide was the more benevolent choice. Important? Yes. Heavy? Not in this production. Think Blazing Saddles meets Shakespeare—with Native Americans taking the reins.”

Set in the nineteenth century in Genoa, Nebraska, Off the Rails focuses on Momaday (Shaun Taylor-Corbett), a young boarding school student who has been sentenced to death for impregnating an Irish girl. Brothel owner Madame Overdone (Shyla Marlin), her working girls, and saloon patrons hatch a plot to rescue Momaday. Key to his salvation is his older sister Isabel (Elizabeth Frances), a graduate of a boarding school. To save her brother, Isabel must win the affections of Captain Angelo (Michael Matthys), the new superintendent of the school. Angelo’s Victorian rules for life are threatened by his primal lust when the women in town combine forces to challenge his brief authority and save Momaday.

Off the Rails tackles the controversial and rarely discussed topic of Indian boarding schools. Typically absent from our nation’s history books, schools affected generations of Native Americans in unimaginable ways. Culture and identities were stripped, languages lost, lifelong friends were made, and unions were strengthened. Off the Rails dramatizes the polarizing national tensions in an audience-friendly way by combining knee-slapping comedy, vibrant music, and a set that transports theatregoers to 1886.

Background

INTERVIEW: Reinholz sheds light on American Indian boarding schools in new play

By John SoltesOff the Rails is a learning process even for the actors on stage. Reinholz said they walk away with “empowerment,” particularly for the native actors. Off the Rails is the capstone of an entire year where Native Voices attempted to understand the boarding school system and its implications.

“I think it’s really good for people who are activists to strongly consider how people can hear information, and again this play airs on the side of entertainment,” Reinholz said. “So you’ve got a lot of people thinking about, well, this stew is the United States and how we came together. For me, it’s not so much the horror of having killed all those people and the very frank discussion to kill the rest of them. I think it’s a miracle that we didn’t kill them all as a country. I just think, wow, there’s something to celebrate in that.”

The playwright said the adaptation, which is gaining interest from major theater companies, is approximately 20 percent Shakespeare and 80 percent invention.

“It’s not all in iambic [pentameter] because Shakespeare’s characters are all speaking in prose, particularly the clowns and in the bawdy scenes,” he said. “So that all feels like regular prose, but there are Shakespeare themes woven into much of the play. So the kids coopt lines from Romeo & Juliet, the young lovers. The woman who’s running the bar compares herself to Gertrude in Hamlet, so there’s all these coopting of lines. And that really comes from a very Deadwood kind of approach to the work. These people, their aspirational literature in the Old West would have been the King James Bible and a Collected Works of Shakespeare, so they would have been imitating those speech patterns.”

After raising enough funds for the Native Voices production—a campaign that included $20,000 in donations through Indiegogo—Reinholz said he’s hopeful the play will live on. “That was really our hope is to make something that colleges could look at and think about using it as a teaching tool, both to teach the history and the language and the performance value,” he said. “It just seems to be resonating. It’s because of this company that’s really supported the whole project from the beginning and really just threw themselves into it.”The Autry offers a Native American perspective on Shakespeare with ‘Off The Rails’

Randy Reinholz is the writer and director of "Off The Rails," which will be presented as part of the Native Voices Series at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles Feb. 25-March 15.

By Michelle MillsReinholz, a Chula Vista resident who is also an administrator at San Diego State University, has directed more than 50 plays in the United States, Canada and Australia. Of Choctaw ancestry, he is focusing on raising awareness of the Native American experience. He also seeks to open eyes to the versatility of Native Americans, especially on stage.

“Native Americans have often been called invisible in American theater,” Reinholz said. “Doing something muscular with Shakespeare is a high bar in the theater world. So the idea that, can Indians really handle language?—well, here we’re going to show you, can Indians really do something with a classic?”

Presenting a great play, Reinholz said, shows that Native Americans—or anyone—can think in many different ways.And:“What Native Voices is great about is having contemporary Native playwrights speak about who we are as Native people today, whereas I think what TV and movies are catching up to is the image that they portray.”

In turn, Reinholz said that the Native Voices company is diverse, boasting 100 professional performers, many of whom are multiracial. “Off the Rails” alone has a cast that includes actors who are full-blooded Native American and of mixed European and Native American descent, as well as African-Americans, Chinese and Anglos.

“It’s what the West might have looked like,” Reinholz said. “We tend to romanticize it and think of it as a rugged Anglo view, but there were Buffalo Soldiers out there, you had the immigrants and the indentured servants that were working on building railroads, you had former slaves. You had a really diverse mix-up and then you had the indigenous folks.”

Reviews

Autry’s “Off the Rails” Shakes Up the Old West

By MarkOff the Rails delivers all this lightly and rapidly, with combustible humor. Led by veteran Ted Barton as the town’s absent eminence, and Shyla Martin as the bordello keeper, the cast carves out clear characters and delivers the lines—old and new—with unfailing energy and clarity.

Christopher Salazar is especially strong as a wise aide, Román Zaragoza and Robert Vestal create a charming pair of scapegraces, and LeVance Tarver holds stage winningly as a chorus cowboy. Brian Joseph provides beautifully apt music. And of course Native Voices has Grandfather (Duane Minard) lending his dignity and blessing.

At times, the exuberance runs a bit off the rails, with almost constant movement (note to director Chris Anthony: Still moments run deep) and some odd, unmotivated blocking. But that’s a small matter.

Off the Rails gets the big things right. It’s colorful, lively and inventive theatre, and a bold satire our culture needs for healing. Grandfather Willie would be proud.This Play Uses Shakespeare to Examine Our Country's Persecution of Native Americans (Go!)

By Deborah KlugmanIt's a lighthearted play with music, as opposed to a serious drama. But Off the Rails has plenty worthwhile to tell us about the cultural genocide perpetrated on Native Americans by a school system designed to indoctrinate and control. Under white governance, the community was ultimately fractured. We see this illustrated in the rift between Momaday and Isabel — one a traditionalist, the other a newly converted Christian.

Though all the performances are capable, the best of them emerge from the supporting ensemble. Under Chris Anthony's direction, they include the versatile and very funny Barton, who, besides the pompous general, plays a mentally suspect French executioner; Christopher Salazar as a decent government official dismayed by Angelo’s doings; and Robert Vestal as Pryor, the smart-aleck who takes over the saloon and brothel after Angelo declares that women—in this case Madame Overdone—may no longer own a business.And a mini-review from Facebook:Awesome cast. Sold out show! Wonderful moments, comedic and in all seriousness--reflective of an infinitely different attitude toward Native Americans than today. Happily so:). Wonderful singing and instrument playing with old friend Duane Minard, beautiful Shyla Marlin, young talented man I met as an infant Roman Zaragoza, and one of my favs Robert Vestal as [a] major comedic character with a twist.

So many beautifully talented actors I can't mention all of their merits--such a well written adaptation of Shakespere's Measure for Measure. I wish my Elders from local Pechanga and Soboba could see .... Hope you can experience this multi cultured play with a Native American theme.OFF THE RAILS PRESS PHOTOS
Photo credit: Craig Schwartz © 2015

70,000 march for reconciliation

Reconciliation walk turnout amazes organizers, as an estimated 70,000 brave downpour in VancouverA sea of people that organizers estimated at 70,000 braved pouring rain and chanted their way through downtown Vancouver on Sunday in Canada’s first reconciliation walk.Thousands walk for reconciliation in B.C.Thousands of people braved a pouring rain in Vancouver Sunday to take part in a reconciliation walk marking the sad history of residential schools in Canada, erupting in a raucous cheer as the daughter of American civil rights hero Martin Luther King Jr. urged all Canadians to move forward and heal.Dr. Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr., calls on Canada to "truly empower First Nations"She was shocked to hear about the pain and suffering Aboriginal people have gone through in Canada's Indian residential school system, Dr. Bernice King, Martin Luther King’s youngest child, told a group of media yesterday at the Marriott Hotel.Daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. calls for end of economic injustice against First NationsThe daughter of American civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. says economic injustice must be addressed as part of the reconciliation process with Canada's First Nations.Works of art at PNE give expression to Indian residential school tragediesInstead of the usual popcorn and cotton candy sold during the annual summer fair at the PNE, First Nations offer handcrafted jewelry and clothing and art installations with historical and political messages in the Agrodome.Comment:  For more on boarding schools, see End Experiments, Honor Apology and Native American Boarding School Project.

End experiments, honor apology

For Canada and First Nations, it’s time to end the experiments

By Shawn AtleoRecent reports about the Canadian government’s experiments on hungry, impoverished First Nations children in residential schools have sent a shock wave through the country.

My reaction was deeply personal. My father attended one of the schools where these experiments took place. My family and countless others were treated like lab rats, some even being deprived of necessary nutrition and health care so researchers could establish a “baseline” to measure the effects of food and diet.

First Nations, while condemning the government’s callous disregard for the welfare of children, were perhaps the only ones not completely surprised. The experiments are part of a long, sad pattern of federal policy that stretches through residential schools, forced relocations and the ultimate social experiment, the Indian Act, which overnight tried to displace ways of life that had been in place for generations. All of these experiments are abject failures.

It’s time to end the experiments. Canada must start working with us to honour the promises our ancestors made in treaties and other agreements, to give life to our rights as recognized by Canadian courts and relinquish the chokehold of colonial control over our communities.Honour the Apology: Fasting for My Father, a Residential School Survivor

By Wab KinewThis may sound funny, but history is not confined to the past. Just over a week ago I was at my childhood home on the reserve when I heard the news that my father and uncles Fred, Tootoons and John were likely part of one of these "nutritional experiments" you have probably read about, and one with clearly adverse side-effects at that. I felt as though a little piece of history reached out and punched me in the gut.

I struggle to understand what my uncle Fred Kelly must feel like. He is the surviving member of that group of brothers who were at St. Mary's Residential School. As he told an online audience on Monday night "to regurgitate the stories is to relive the horrors, the traumas and the indignities of Residential Schools."

Yet I know the hurt from these recent revelations is not limited to the Indigenous community. I know many Canadians from other walks of life who have been upset by the news and are contemplating what it says about this country's history. For me, the more important question is "what will our response say about what Canada is today?"

Some friends and I have put out a call to Canadians to shed some of this negativity by uniting across cultural and religious lines. We are calling our gatherings (to be held today at noon) "Honour The Apology," in reference to Prime Minister Harper's 2008 apology to Residential School survivors. The idea is that we can each honour the apology on an individual level by commemorating or praying for the survivors.Comment:  For more on boarding schools, see Native American Boarding School Project and Canadian Natives Denounce Kevin Annett.

Native American Boarding School Project

Native American Boarding School Project gathers oral historiesThe Native American Boarding School Visual History Project is gathering oral histories from alumni of boarding schools in an effort to remember and heal.

The nonprofit Cante Sica Foundation is sponsoring the project and calls the Native American boarding school experience a legacy for alumni, their families and communities.

The project will consist of a visual history archive and an interactive website that will educate people about the history of the American Indian boarding school system. The system was a policy of forced assimilation experienced by more than 100,000 Native American children between 1879 and 1975.

Phase 1 of the project will train teams of Native historians and filmmakers to collect visual testimonies from alumni now living in Southern California, including alumni of the Sherman Institute (now Sherman High School) in Riverside.Comment:  For more on boarding schools, see Canadian Natives Denounce Kevin Annett and Phony Pro-Gun Indian Image.

Canadian Natives denounce Kevin Annett

Kevin Annett: A Modern Abuser Of Residential School Survivors…If Blackwater’s residential school tragedy wasn’t bad enough--it got worse when he crossed paths with Kevin Annett.

Blackwater didn’t think very highly of Annett’s meddling with the affairs of residential school survivors. Blackwater told a reporter at the BBC that he resented that Annett, a white man who had never attended a residential school, had become the public face of the dead children. He stated that Annett had “disgraced” native people with his publicity seeking.

As usual, when encountered by someone who didn’t agree with his work, Annett went ballistic and began to publicly attack Blackwater. Here’s what Annett had to say about him in an article in December, 2008:

“Willie Blackwater has been the government and church’s residential school Poster Boy of a ‘good Indian’ since 1996, when the first lawsuits began against these institutions.”

Kevin Annett has been denounced by people of at least six indigenous nations--and, each time, he followed the pattern of responding with hate, slander and malice. His claims that he is supporting indigenous communities are nullified each time he does this. He doesn’t know when to stop--instead, he leaves a trail of hurt in his wake.Comment:  For more on boarding schools, see Phony Pro-Gun Indian Image and 3,000 Native Children Died in Residential Schools.

Below:  "Willie Blackwater--residential school survivor."

Phony pro-gun Indian image

Perhaps because of the 40th anniversary of Wounded Knee II, this image was floating around Facebook recently. I didn't pay attention to it until someone asked me about it. Then I reposted it with the following comments:



1) Wounded Knee wasn't a school shooting. 2) The massacre happened while the troops were disarming the Lakota, not after. 3) More guns wouldn't have made a difference since the US had more or less won at that point. 4) Gun nuts are stupid.

Also, no one's proposing to take away people's guns. The right-wing hysteria on this point is...hysterical.

Let the discussion begin

This posting led to the following discussion with a Facebook friend:I don't get it. Is the claim of this a stretch, a misleading half truth, is that what you're saying? Confusing. Why then the wording "the US gov shot 290 unarmed Indians at School," emphasis on "at School"?? Context here would be good as the words Wounded Knee are absent from the message, and so is anything that would indicate a school. Then the comparison to Sandy Hook which is named, though the location of this pic is not. Very confusing. And yet being 'shared' like crazy, as usual on Fb, so it's appealing to people for some reason. Why do you think that is?

Let me guess: there was a school at the site of WK in 1890?The year and the number dead makes it clear this refers to Wounded Knee. No, there was no school involved in the massacre. The Lakota were camping in a field, not at a school. I doubt any of the people killed had ever attended a white man's school.

The massacre did occur while the Army was taking the Lakotas' guns. Gun fanatics are using this fact to argue against gun control.

I presume they're trying to arouse liberal sympathy by pretending that gun confiscation was behind Wounded Knee and other Indian massacres. As far as I know, a lack of guns wasn't a significant factor in any battle or massacre, so the claim is false.Why then is this being 'shared' by people, NA people and supporters, with sentiments like "Aho!" and "Never forget, and seemingly without thinking what this meme really says??They aren't as sharp as I am. They're probably not paying attention to the final line. Superficially, the message is, "You think Sandy Hook was bad? Wounded Knee was much worse." But the real message is, "The government kills people after taking their guns, so don't support gun control."A person doesn't have to be sharp to realize this pic is USING Indian people in a message, yet Indian people are sharing it like crazy. It's insidious.If they're sharing it without thinking about or commenting on it critically, they aren't that sharp. The "290 unarmed Indians at school" line is patently false.

I'm pretty sure the picture isn't from Wounded Knee either. The two guys in front look like white men leading a prayer service. Why would people be lined up to pray just before a massacre when they were surrounded by machine guns?You saying people can't read? Can't see the distortion of facts here? To me, there'd be nothing wrong with posting the pic alone with "never forget (WK)" and sharing/reposting that. But the text part of this, the message re guns and schools or is CLEARLY out of context. And false.I've told you my theory. People are missing the obvious because Facebook encourages mindless sharing. They may do things mindlessly, but I don't.

If you disagree with this theory, what's your explanation for why people are sharing it? You think they know something about the Wounded Knee massacre that I don't? What, exactly?

Image = propagandaSo why the association to WK? And why this week / today when the 40th anniversary of WK is being observed? INSIDIOUS is what I'm saying. Native people sharing this shit all over Fb breaks my heart, it really does. So much for the "respect" NA people are fighting so hard for, and by not THINKING a simple thought... i.e. "Hey, was there even a school at WK?" or "Where was this pic taken?" In essence, NA people--mostly Democrat leaning people--are sharing R-wing propaganda....against themselves and against credibility. *SMH. Insidious.As I said, you theoretically arouse liberal sympathy for guns by painting the government as an evil killer of innocent unarmed people. Of which Wounded Knee is the most famous example.

Never mind that this same government used force to integrate the schools and safeguard other civil rights. It's silly to think the government still wants to massacre civilians 123 years later.

As for why now, it could be just a coincidence. It's a little farfetched to think anyone's making a connection between Wounded Knee II, which happened in 1973, and this image. Wounded Knee II happened in the same area but it wasn't about the massacre 83 years earlier. Not directly, anyway.

People may be sharing this because everyone's talking about Wounded Knee II today, and it reminds them of Wounded Knee I. But I doubt someone created it to be shared today. I bet it's been floating around for weeks or months, and just gained currency today.Yea "reminds" of WK (insidious) but is this not obvious distortion to ANYONE who reads it? A school has nothing to do with WK, ought to be the first clue. And this to Indian people who are so proud of KNOWING their history. This is bullshit.The sepia-toned photograph of Indians is meant to remind you of Wounded Knee. But pictures of mangled bodies might not arouse the same sympathy. Perhaps more important, you couldn't pretend Wounded Knee involved a crowd gathered at a school. Showing the poor defenseless "school shooting victims" before the gun-taking government slaughtered them increases the propaganda effect.

As for whether it's obvious, ask people who shared it without commenting on the pro-gun message. Let's see what they say.

P.S. This is a good case for your Word of the Week "insidious." <grin>Yea har har W.O.D= insidious, I'll laugh later, right now I'm just stunned at the stupidity of people.The photo's origin

Another Facebook friend found the original photo online:



It's labeled "Kamloops Indian Residential School Priest Parents Indian Children."

Kamloops is in British Columbia. And what exactly is this school? Wikipedia provides the answer:

Kamloops Indian Residential SchoolThe Kamloops Indian Residential School was part of the Canadian residential school system and one of the 130 schools for First Nations children that operated in Canada between 1874 and 1996. The Kamloops School was opened in 1893 (initially as the Kamloops Industrial School) and continued operation until 1977. Hundreds of Secwepemc children attended the school, often forcibly removed from their homes once attendance became mandatory by law.I thought those were tipis in the background of the cropped version. But they may be planks from a cedar house, and pine trees, in the Pacific Northwest. Had I seen the original photo, I might've guessed that.

Not a bad choice for a fraudulent photo. You have Indians from the right era--the 1890s. They're dressed in the clothing of the times. There are no clearcut cultural identifiers such as tipis or totem poles. And the people look like innocents before the slaughter.

So the photo is from a residential school. Most of the people look like parents, but a few may be children. In any case, it has nothing to do with Wounded Knee or any massacre with 290 dead. As I thought.

My correspondent was so upset by Natives sharing this image that she posted a plea asking them to stop. Perhaps they heeded her, because the image stopped showing up. Or perhaps it ran its course and people moved on to the next Internet meme.

For more on gun control, see Gun Nuts Fear "Race War" and America's Culture Based on Violence.

3,000 Native children died in residential schools

At least 3,000 native children died in residential schools: research

By Colin PerkelAt least 3,000 children, including four under the age of 10 found huddled together in frozen embrace, are now known to have died during attendance at Canada’s Indian residential schools, according to new unpublished research.

While deaths have long been documented as part of the disgraced residential school system, the findings are the result of the first systematic search of government, school and other records.And:The largest single killer, by far, was disease.

For decades starting in about 1910, tuberculosis was a consistent killer–in part because of widespread ignorance over how diseases were spread.And:While a statistical analysis has yet to be done, the records examined over the past few years also show children also died of malnutrition or accidents. Schools consistently burned down, killing students and staff. Drownings or exposure were another cause.

In all, about 150,000 first nations children went through the church-run residential school system, which ran from the 1870s until the 1990s. In many cases, native kids were forced to attend under a deliberate federal policy of “civilizing” Aboriginal Peoples.

Many students were physically, mentally and sexually abused. Some committed suicide. Some died fleeing their schools.Comment:  Although disease and accidents seem like "natural causes," the children wouldn't have been subjected to these problems if they hadn't been locked up in the schools. Therefore, it's fair to say the school system caused most of these deaths.

For more on boarding schools, see ICWA Prevents Child Kidnapping and Mormons Teach Dark Skin Is Curse.

ICWA prevents child kidnapping

In a previous posting, people noted how Dr. Phil's show on Baby Veronica was unfair and upsetting. Here's a more rational critique of his presentation of the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA):

NICWA responds to Dr. Phil's coverage of S.C. ICWA caseOn October 18, 2012, the Dr. Phil show aired an episode that focused on a disputed custody case involving an American Indian child, Veronica. The case pits a loving father’s attempts to parent his daughter against a non-Indian couple from South Carolina–the Capobiancos–and their attorneys who orchestrated an illegal attempt to adopt Veronica. The National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) is gravely disappointed in the heavy slant toward the Capobiancos’ recounting of the situation and interpretation of the legal issues in the case.

Veronica’s father, who has been relentlessly vilified in the media as a “deadbeat dad” is, in fact, a loving parent and a decorated Iraq war veteran. Rather than acknowledge his right to protect his daughter from a media firestorm that has proven deeply biased, the Dr. Phil show instead allowed personal attacks on his character and speculation on his parenting–from those who admittedly have had no contact with him–to continue unchallenged. We find these attacks unsupported by court records and unacceptable.

Veronica’s pre-adoptive placement was kept secret by her mother and attorneys representing the Capobiancos. Her placement with them was not revealed to Veronica’s father for four months–just days before he was sent to Iraq. Upon learning of his daughter’s proposed adoption, the father quickly moved to affirm his rights to parent Veronica. After three decisions supporting his rights in the South Carolina courts, he has been parenting her since January 2012.

Dr. Phil and several of his guests ignored the fraudulent process attorneys representing the Capobiancos used to help them gain custody of Veronica during their unsuccessful attempt to adopt her. That Veronica is American Indian was known by the Capobiancos and their attorneys, as was the fact that any adoptive process involving her would be covered by the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). Instead of delving into why the Capobiancos were advised to circumvent the law, putting Veronica at high risk, Dr. Phil instead chose to rebuff the two guests with the most knowledge of this case and experience in such matters, Assistant District Attorney of the Cherokee Nation Chrissi Nimmo and Les Marston, attorney and tribal judge.

NICWA understands this case is emotionally-charged and has attracted worldwide attention. Nonetheless, we must reject the subjective definitions of what is in Veronica’s best interest that Dr. Phil disappointingly reinforced. Not only did the discussion of Veronica’s “best interest” completely discount the importance of her cultural identity and rights as a tribal citizen, it more shockingly ignored the significance of her being raised within a loving home with her father, sister, stepmother, and loving grandparents–and among a community that includes extended family and tribal members who love her. As Nimmo correctly stated, if Veronica was a non-Indian child, existing state and federal laws would have afforded the father an opportunity to seek custody of her and not reward those who violated the law.

Furthermore, NICWA firmly believes that Veronica’s best interest is not served by the continued negative media campaign currently pursued by the Capobiancos and their public relations firm. We have no doubt they love Veronica, but in this case, the ends they hope to accomplish certainly do not justify the means. Dr. Phil’s portrayal only serves to put Veronica at further risk.

The show’s characterization of ICWA was also filled with misinformation and inaccuracies. ICWA is a law that has helped protect thousands of American Indian children and keep them with their families. Veronica’s story illustrates the clear ongoing need for federal protections like ICWA for American Indian children who continue to be the victims of questionable, and sometimes illegal, attempts to adopt them out.

To learn more about how you can support the National Indian Child Welfare Association’s efforts to strengthen protections for American Indian children and families and to access more information on this case, please visit our website at www.nicwa.org.Kidnapping past and present

Here's some background on why the ICWA was and is needed:

Dr. Phil and the Real Purpose of the Indian Child Welfare Act

By Donna EnnisI recently became aware of a group that is called Coalition for the Protection of Indian Children and Families. On the surface that sounds legitimate but upon further investigation it turns out to be another group attempting to diminish the sovereignty of our tribes and undermine the structure of the Native family. There have been over 200 years of federal policy aimed at the extermination of Native American people. Some of these attempts have been subtle and others more blatant.

The federal government began sending Native children to off-reservation boarding schools in the 1870’s, when the United States was still at war with Indians. An Army officer, Richard Pratt, founded the first of these schools. Pratt believed that the Indian Wars weren’t extinguishing the culture fast enough and so he came upon the idea to separate the children from their parents. Children as young as 4 or 5 were forcibly taken from their homes and brought to the boarding school where they were stripped of their language, culture and family ties. It was many years before the era of the boarding schools was over and by then irreparable damage was done to Native people and the ripple effects are still felt today as evidenced by the historical, intergenerational and cultural trauma that we see in our people.

In 1978, the Federal Indian Child Welfare Act was passed to remedy the disproportionate number and widespread removal of children that were being taken from their homes. After the Boarding Schools were over, but before the passage of the federal law protecting Native children, they were again being forcibly removed from their families and placed cross-culturally; away from their language, culture and family ties. Sound familiar?Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families

By Laura Sullivan and Amy WaltersNearly 700 Native American children in South Dakota are being removed from their homes every year, sometimes under questionable circumstances. An NPR News investigation has found that the state is largely failing to place them according to the law. The vast majority of native kids in foster care in South Dakota are in nonnative homes or group homes, according to an NPR analysis of state records.

Years ago, thousands of Native American children were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to boarding schools, where the motto of the schools' founder was "Kill the Indian, Save the Man." Children lost touch with their culture, traditions and families. Many suffered horrible abuse, leaving entire generations missing from the one place whose future depended on them—their tribes.

In 1978, Congress tried to put a stop to it. They passed the Indian Child Welfare Act, which says except in the rarest circumstances, Native American children must be placed with their relatives or tribes. It also says states must do everything it can to keep native families together.

But 32 states are failing to abide by the act in one way or another, and, an NPR investigation has found, nowhere is that more apparent than in South Dakota.

"Cousins are disappearing; family members are disappearing," said Peter Lengkeek, a Crow Creek Tribal Council member. "It's kidnapping. That's how we see it."Comment:  For more on the subject, see Dr. Phil's Horror Show and Baby Veronica Case on Dr. Phil.

Below:  "Derrin Yellow Robe, 3, stands in his great-grandparents' backyard on the Crow Creek Reservation in South Dakota. Along with his twin sister and two older sisters, he was taken off the reservation by South Dakota's Department of Social Services in July 2009 and spent a year and a half in foster care before being returned to his family." (John Poole/NPR)

Mormons teach dark skin is curse

Born Evil: That's What the Mormon Church Taught Me as a Brown and Female Child

The daughter of a Navajo mother and a white father, tells a painful story of racism and sexism in the Mormon Church.

By Neeta LindI was probably in the second grade. The Sunday school teacher in my southern Utah town was giving a lesson from the Book of Mormon to a small class of a few girls. It had to have been in very simple terms since we were so young. I can see now that the lesson was meant to be a self esteem-builder. But it backfired on me. The teacher was trying to show us little girls how much God loved us and how important we are on this earth to do his work. I was barely paying attention since I really wanted to be home watching Rocky and Bullwinkle. I resented missing all my cartoons and being forced to go to church, which I considered boring. But I had no choice in the matter.

That day, however, as the teacher recited the lesson and looked from girl to girl, my attention perked up when she said, "and YOU are all white and delightsome to our lord and he has special plans for you in this world ..." Just then, she came to me and her roving eyes stalled out. She stammered a couple of times because she had forgotten that her rote lesson was being delivered in a class that now included a little brown girl. An Indian that the Book of Mormon (I later found out) describes as bloodthirsty, fierce and loathsome. An Indian whose skin was dark because of a curse from God.

After gulping a couple of times, she said something like "but Neeta here is a Lamanite (the Book of Mormon's name for the descendants of Laman, who was cursed with dark skin for displeasing god) and we welcome her. They too, if they work very hard can go to the Celestial Kingdom." That being the highest of the three kingdoms in heaven. I was told that if I made it to the Celestial Kingdom my skin would turn light.

This promise of skin lightening was commonly preached when I was growing up. In fact, there was a Paiute woman in our town who had vitiligo, "a skin condition in which there is a loss of brown color (pigment) from areas of skin, resulting in irregular white patches that feel like normal skin." My full-blood Navajo mother, Flora, a devoted Mormon, said that one of the bishops had told Mrs. Kanosh that the skin-color change was her reward from God for going to church. My mother was so pleased with this news. She loved anything that pointed to proof the Mormon gospel was true.

Gradually, over the next few years, I learned more of what Joseph Smith (the founder of the church and the author of the Book of Mormon) had said about Indians. We were innately wicked. We converted ones had to be constantly watched against reverting to our evil, heathen ways. This was on top of the church's attitudes toward women. The General Counsel (the church's highest governing body) instructed women to obey their husbands, the priesthood holders. Another instruction I remember: The priesthood holder should love the lord first and then his wife. One really had to accept a lot of demoralization to be female AND BROWN when I was growing up Mormon.

Attitude was bolstered by action. The church's Indian Placement Program ran from 1947 to 1996. Its mission was to remove children from desolate reservations and help them get an education by placing them in Mormon foster homes. Any child involved had to be baptized in order to participate. Nothing subtle about this virtual kidnapping. The church took children away from their homes to assimilate them into Mormon culture.Comment:  I've covered the Mormon prejudice against dark-skinned people before. But here's a Navajo girl who was told to her face that white is good and brown is bad. It reinforces the message in previous postings.

For more on Indians and Mormons, see Rocky History of Indians and Mormons and Why Indians Become Mormons.

Archbishop adopted by Anishinaabe

Archbishop Adopted by Anishinaabe in Reconciliation GestureOver the past year, various Christian church denominations have reached out to aboriginals to make redress for the residential schools era. Now the Anishinaabe have returned the favor, adopting Roman Catholic Archbishop James Weisgerber of Winnipeg last month in a Naabaagoondiwin ceremony.

In April, Anishinaabe elders and community leaders brought Weisgerber symbolically into the tribe and called him brother, the first time such a step has been taken during the ongoing process of reconciliation between residential school survivors and the missionary churches that ran the schools.

“This is part of a long journey for me,” Weisgerber told Canadian Catholic News (CCN) after the April 14 ceremony. The process began when, as a priest in Saskatchewan, he served as pastoral minister at four of the schools, which were then called Indian reserves, CCN reported. When in 1990 he heard former Assembly of First Nations National Chief Phil Fontaine start speaking publicly about his experiences at such a school, “I began to understand,” Weisgerber told the news service.

Fontaine and three other leaders adopted Weisgerber, CCN reported. Fontaine was joined by Tobasonakwut Kinew, an Anishinaabe elder, pipe carrier and member of the aboriginal medicine society Mideiwin; fellow Mideiwin member Fred Kelly, also an Anishinaabe elder, as well as part of the team that negotiated the Indian Residential School Agreement, and Bert Fontaine, Phil Fontaine’s brother and a leader of Sagkeeng First Nation. All of them had gone through the residential school system.
Comment:  Unlike the many reports on Johnny Depp's adoption, this article recognizes that most adoptions are symbolic. It's rare for a tribe to enroll a non-Indian as a full member.

For more on the subject, see Presbyterian Churches to Apologize to Indians, Churches Apologize for Betraying Gospel, and Catholic Churches Apologize to Menominees.

Below:  "Roman Catholic Archbishop James Weisgerber was adopted by Anishinaabe elders in a gesture of reconciliation, the first of this magnitude relating to the residential schools era."

Boarding-school play uses Pratt's words

Actual words of American Indian boarding school founder, students brought to life in play

Retired College of St. Scholastica American Indian Studies instructor Carl Gawboy has written a play about the American Indian boarding school experience.Retired College of St. Scholastica American Indian Studies instructor Carl Gawboy has written a play about the American Indian boarding school experience. It is based on his graduate study of the historical records of boarding schools for American Indians from the 1880s to the 1940s.

Called “The Great Hurt: Historical Accounts of American Indian Boarding Schools” the play has been performed at tribal and community colleges, theaters and the National Indian Child Welfare Conference. A frequent comment from audience members is, “I didn’t know that anything like that happened in America.”And:Tad Johnson, an enrolled member of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, Bois Forte Band, is head of the American Indian Studies Department at UMD. He saw the performance. He said, “I thought it was very moving and very powerful. It used actual words of Capt. Pratt, who founded Carlisle School, and the children. It was very stirring.” He said the use of actual photos “had a big impact on me and a lot of the people in the audience.” Johnson’s maternal grandparents attended boarding schools. “People lost parenting skills and lost their language,” he said. “I knew all that, but hearing the actual words was moving.”Comment:  For more on boarding schools, see Preview of Sugar Falls and Review of Older than America.

All about Jason EagleSpeaker

Jason EagleSpeaker, a.k.a. Luke WarmWater, a.k.a. OHK-SIIK-IIMI

By Lynn Calf RobeJason EagleSpeaker is a self-made graphic novelist, nationally published author and entrepreneur, and self-proclaimed “half buffalo ndn and half salmon ndn” (otherwise known as half Blackfoot and Duwamish) with family ties to the Kainai Nation and Muckleshoot Tribe. He created a business venture that includes www.eaglespeaker.com and a non-profit organization called The Connection. Front and center on his website is the quote, “We’re More Than Just Beads and Feathers,” so I asked what that means to him. “It is a life philosophy I learned when I was 10,” he replies. “It’s also kind of a long story, so I’ll try to break it down. After my grandpa passed away, I was back dancing in front of HUGE crowds at the Calgary Stampede grandstand, just like I had since I was a toddler. This time was different, though. I looked into the audience and wondered, ‘Why do they cheer wildly for me when I am wearing my [powwow] outfit and entertaining them, but ridicule and even laugh at me when I am wearing street clothes?’” He used the phrase as the title of a recently published graphic novella he helped create with McGraw Hill Ryerson, an international education publisher. The book itself is part of an anthology called iLit: Strength & Struggle: Perspectives of First Nations, Métis, and Inuit People.

EagleSpeaker is a natural born businessman, starting his first venture selling Christmas trees and frybread kits as a kid. He also made extra cash collecting bottles at the local powwows. “I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was 7. I was the only kid on the rez running my own Christmas Tree lot every year… the only kid selling frybread kits in ziplock bags. I was also that one kid at the powwow who grabbed the pop can from your hands while you were still drinking it.”

The nature of his business is broad but he sums it up as “Inspiration by example. Our community is often TOLD what to do. Rarely are we SHOWN what to do.” He recently published UNeducation: A Residential School Graphic Novel, depicting a family’s experience in Canada’s residential school system. “It’s the chilling chronicles of a family’s government-sanctioned exploitation in residential schools. No statistics, no data, no numbers—just pure raw visceral emotion and experience. You can’t minimize genocide.”Comment:  For more on the subject, see Comic Books Featuring Indians.

Preview of Sugar Falls

Please Join HighWater Press and The Helen Betty Osborne Memorial Foundation

A Book Launch For Sugar Falls: A Residential School Story

With Author David Alexander Robertson and Illustrator Scott B. HendersonA school assignment to interview a residential school survivor leads Daniel to Betsy, his friend’s grandmother, who tells him her story. Abandoned as a young child, Betsy was soon adopted into a loving family. A few short years later, at the age of 8, everything changed. Betsy was taken away to a residential school. There she was forced to endure abuse and indignity, but Betsy recalled the words her father spoke to her at Sugar Falls--words that gave her the resilience, strength, and determination to survive.With the 7 Generations series, David Robertson and Scott Henderson burst onto the Canadian graphic novel scene with beautiful storytelling, scenes of brutal honesty, and messages of truth. With Sugar Falls they do it again, narrating a graceful and unforgettable story of resilience and power.

— Niigaanwewidam James Sinclair, Assistant Professor, University of Manitoba

Sugar Falls is based on the true story of Betty Ross, Elder from Cross Lake First Nation. We wish to acknowledge, with the utmost gratitude, Betty’s generosity in sharing her story.

A portion of the proceeds from the sale of Sugar Falls goes to support the bursary program for The Helen Betty Osborne Memorial Foundation.Comment:  For more on the subject, see The Pact Concludes 7 Generations and 7 Generations Graphic Novels.

Review of Older than America

Some thoughts on Older than America, which I saw at Saturday's human rights event:

'Older than America,' Georgina Lightning receive nom for emerging artist award

By Michelle R. Shining Elk“Older than America” is the story of a woman’s haunting visions that reveal a Catholic priest’s sinister plot to silence her mother from speaking the truth about the atrocities that occurred at a Native American Indian boarding school. It is a contemporary drama about suspense, as “Older than America” delves into the lasting impact of the cultural genocide that occurred at Indian boarding schools across the United States and Canada. Lightning states, the film “covers the root of the problem that caused our Native nation to be in the state that it is in today--the film exposes the reality of the murders and violence that happened in the Indian boarding school system.”Older Than America (2008)Powerful, Gentle and Universal, October 15, 2010
By Andrew Freborg (Stow, Ohio United States)

This film is incredibly moving, powerful, and gentle all at once. The characters humanity is what truly stands-out. Even the supporting and ancillary characters are strong--and most important--multidimensional. There are sympathetic, ordinary whites trying to make a living and interacting as equals to their native friends. There is a conflicted native fooled by a duplicitous priest.

The friendships, family struggles, and disdainful gov. bureaucracies are things to which we can all relate. Healing doesn't come from revenge and hate--it comes from truth. That's the message I got strongly from this gem of a film. Thank you all (actors, producers, writers & director) for making and sharing this.

Review of: Older Than America, November 3, 2010
By M. R. Wilson "Mountain Man" (Earlysville, VA USA)

Georgina Lightning has directed and starred in a powerful film that address the ongoing fallout from the old US policy toward the indigenous people of "Save the man--Kill the Indian." There are strong performances from the veteran cast of mostly native actors including Adam Beach, Wes Studi, and Tantoo Cardinal.

As history has disclosed, many of the children forcibly removed from their homes and sent to Indian Boarding Schools were victims of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The policy of stripping the children of their own culture and placing them in regimented industrial programs actually continued into the mid-1970's. Many of these children were not allowed to visit their own families for years. An untold number of these children were "disappeared" as well. Indian country continues to struggle with the scars of these policies and often have found ways to rise above the effects of those policies.

Set in northern Minnesota, the film also touches on the darker side of problematic native-white political/economic relationships that continue to this day.

This film is moving and perhaps will bring a better understanding to the dominant society regarding the struggles of those who have been marginalized for too long. Both my wife and I were in tears at the end of this film. May it touch you as well.On the other hand

Older Than America

By Nick HartelThe toughest review to write is one for a film like Georgina Lightning's "Older Than America" a film written, directed and starring Lightning based on some truly horrific, real to life events. The Native American film genre is often underrepresented and one would hope "Older Than America" would be a standout, featuring two well-known Native actors, Adam Beach and Wes Studi, however, while an incredibly competently made film that does manage to tell the story it set out to, it refuses to pave any new ground, instead settling for quiet mediocrity.Independent Indies--Older Than America

By Matt GambleBut while there is much to love about this film, from its inspirational message to other Native Americans to its educational benefits for those like me who know so little about the events the film is based on, Older Than America does have one flaw. That being it simply tries to cram too much information, and too many plot lines into the narrative. Rather then strengthening the film and turning it into an epic tale, it has the unfortunate effect of muddying the waters, making it difficult to keep track of just what is exactly going on.SXSW Review:  Older Than America

By Peter MartinThe stories that inspired Older Than America need to be told, but the film never draws in the viewer, instead requiring a pre-existing desire to see the stories dramatized and a willingness to overlook the narrative shortcomings. I'm afraid the filmmakers were so passionate that they lost objectivity if their desire was to reach a wider audience.Rob's review

I kind of agree with both sides here. On the one hand, it's an important film, telling a story that needs to be told. It's ambitious, with action sequences and a hint of the supernatural. And it's competently executed, especially for a first feature film shot on a low budget.

On the other hand, it didn't feel as powerful or suspenseful as it could've. There is a lot going on, and some of the character and plot points don't get enough coverage. If you know about the boarding-school crimes, I'm not sure the film will give you any new insight.

But I'd say the negative comments in the reviews above are too negative. Older than America is better than a "mediocrity"; it's a solid and enjoyable film. Rob's rating: 8.0 of 10.

For more on Older than America, see Lightning Nominated as Emerging Artist and Native Films Need Crossover Potential. The second posting is basically a review and I agree with most of its conclusions.

"Thick dark fog" = PTSD

New Documentary Tracks Cultural Genocide of American Indians

By Rose AguilarA new documentary, "The Thick Dark Fog," shines a light on the traumatic boarding school experience through the telling of personal stories. The film focuses on Walter Littlemoon, a Lakota who was forced to attend a federal government boarding school on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota in the 1950s. Littlemoon says his culture, language and spirituality were brutally suppressed.

"The government school had tried to force me to forget the Lakota language and I wouldn't do it," he says in the film. "We had a deep sense of preservation for our culture, so we would go and hide in order to speak Lakota. If we got caught, they were allowed to beat us with whatever they could, but we took that chance. The Lakota language is something that comes from deep inside of you. It comes from how you look at things and how you see things."

"The Thick Dark Fog" profiles Walter's healing process and attempt to reclaim his heritage. "It wasn't until my sixtieth year that I began to realize that there was more to me. Something was missing. It was like I was a nonbeing," he says. "I didn't know the medical words of multigenerational trauma or the complex post-traumatic stress disorder, so I called the problem what I felt it to be: the thick dark fog."

One of the film's more haunting moments provides a montage of excerpts of interviews with Indians describing their boarding school experiences:"We had all our clothes taken from us."

"I remember always going to bed hungry."

"We were being punished, but none of us really knew why."

"It wasn't punishment. It was beatings. You'd put your hands down and they'd slam the desk down on your hands. They'd take you downstairs and make you kneel down on either a broom handle or a pencil."

"Soap. That's what she used to wash my mouth. I'll never forget the burning, the choking, the helplessness, the fading out that I went through."American Indian Film Festival Honors ‘The Thick Dark Fog’

By Stephanie WoodardAn important part of Littlemoon’s journey was figuring out why he experienced alternating flashbacks and sensations of numbness—which he called the “thick dark fog.” After consulting a Harvard Medical School psychological-trauma expert, Littlemoon learned he was suffering from Complex Post Traumatic Stress, which arises from childhood ordeals. Once his fear had a name, he could fight it and win, he said. Littlemoon hoped others would take courage from his discovery and wage their own battles against the debilitating effects of the residential institutions.

“Several younger people told me seeing the film helped them better understand their parents or grandparents,” said Littlemoon. “One guy was crying after the panel discussion and saying he now realized it was his boarding-school experience that had caused him to fight so much with his parents.”

The revelations weren’t confined to the Native community, according to Littlemoon: “A Japanese man who’d been imprisoned as a child in World War II concentration camps told me he could now explain to his children how that affected him. I felt the film had impact. We got our message out, and it felt good.”Comment:  This shows how laughable the "get over it" school of thought is. Indians have suffered a long series of injustices, of which being kidnapped, brainwashed, and tortured in a boarding school is just one example. This produces stress akin to the stress suffered by US soldiers in Iraq, who are committing suicide in record numbers. Is anyone telling the soldiers to "just get over it"? Then why would anyone say that to Indians?

For more on intergenerational trauma, see Subtle Racism = Psychological Torture and Intergenerational Trauma = PTSD.

Below:  "Director Randy Vasquez, left, and Walter Littlemoon, Oglala Lakota, the subject of Vasquez's new film on the Native American boarding-school experience, shown at the American Indian Film Festival in San Francisco, where the movie won Best Documentary Feature."

UNeducation graphic novel

Jason EagleSpeaker's new graphic novel UNeducation tells "the chilling chronicles of a family's government sanctioned exploitation in residential schools." EagleSpeaker has gone with a graphic approach to show what UNeducation is about:




You can order UNeducation here. For more on the subject, see The Pact Concludes 7 Generations and Residential-School Comic-Book Videos.

The Pact concludes 7 Generations

The final chapter of the 7 Generations graphic novels I reported on earlier:

Winnipeg graphic novelist brings Aboriginal history to new audience"The Pact" concludes the graphic-novel series "7 Generations." It follows one Aboriginal family from the early 19th century to the present day and tells a story of redemption as residential school survivor James and his son, Edwin, reconcile their past and begin a new journey.

As the pain and loss of James's residential school experiences follow him into adulthood, his life spirals out of control. Haunted by guilt, he is unable to maintain a relationship with Lauren and their son Edwin. Edwin, mired in his own pain, tries to navigate past the desolation of his fatherless childhood. As James tries to heal himself he begins to realize that, somehow, he may save his son's life--as well as his own. When father and son finally meet, can they heal their shattered relationship, and themselves, or will it be too late?A brief interview with Cree writer David Alexander Robertson:What is 7 Generations about?

At its heart, 7 Generations is about a young First Nations man named Edwin and his struggle to find hope and meaning. The series looks at how the history of his ancestors, going back seven generations, has affected him today. It explores how history, our yesterday, can dictate our today and our tomorrow, and how understanding our history but not allowing it to define us can help us on a journey of healing. Edwin's struggle is to understand and accept history's role in his life but to take control of his life at the same time.

Why did you chose graphic novels as a medium to tell these stories?

The graphic novel is an incredible educational tool. It allows me to reach a broad range of people; sophisticated readers, readers that are typically hard to reach, those who are reading at a lower skill level, and both males and females. It is engaging and effective. In the end, graphic novels/comic books are cool. Who wouldn't want Super Man, for example, to teach them math? :o)Comment:  For more on the subject, see Comic Books Featuring Indians.

Boarding schools = "holocaust"?

Public outcry continues over Lawrence Joesph comparing the holocaust to the residential school experience

Jewish history prof. and journalist debate Joseph's comments

By Bre McAdamThere's been public outcry after Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River NDP candidate Lawrence Joseph compared the holocaust to the residential school experience, but a Jewish history professor and a Saskatchewan journalist think it depends on how you define holocaust.

"It means a burnt offering to the Gods," stated University of Toronto Jewish history professor Dr. Frank Bialystok. He says it all comes down to differentiating THE holocaust as a specific historical genocide, and A holocaust being any type of horrific event.

Eagle Feather News editor John Lagimodiere believes the residential school era is Canada's holocaust, and that it has left lasting effects.

"Parents had no choice but to have their children rounded up and taken. So there are comparisons," said Lagimodiere, who believes you can break down the definition of holocaust to mean widespread destruction. "You can make a fair argument that that kind of destruction did happen in the community from the policies in the residential schools and the outcomes."NDP candidate Lawrence Joseph defends residential school, holocaust comparison

Saskatchewan NDP candidate says similarities between holocaust and residential school experience

By Bre McAdamNDP candidate for Desnethe-Missinippi-Churchill River Lawrence Joseph is defending his comparison of the residential school experience to the holocaust made at a candidates forum in Meadow Lake Tuesday.

Joseph says he was responding to a specific comment made during a debate on compensation for residential school victims.

"Somebody made a comment to the effect that basically people should get on with their lives and forget. No they shouldn't. They should never do that."

Joseph stands by his comparison, telling News Talk Radio that in his opinion, there are similarities between the two historical tragedies.

"If you look at the dictionary at holocaust it describes an effort to clean-up a race. Without any doubt in my mind that was what the government wanted to do," said Joseph, who claims he wasn't trying to offend anybody but understands there will be some backlash.'Holocaust' comment not appropriate:  LaytonNDP leader Jack Layton says it's not appropriate for one of his Saskatchewan candidates to call the Indian residential school experience a "holocaust."

Speaking to reporters in Thunder Bay, Ont., on Wednesday night, Layton said he's glad Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River candidate Lawrence Joseph has apologized for using those words.

The Holocaust is a term commonly used to describe the systematic murder of six million Jewish people by the Nazis during the Second World War.

Some historians and former residential school students have likened the residential school system as Canada's own holocaust, referring to the abuse and systematic racism experienced in the schools during last half of the 20th century.

Layton said he understood where Joseph, a former chief of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, was coming from.

"There's no question that the residential school experience was devastating for a great many aboriginal Canadians. And emotions overtook him," Layton said.Comment:  I think Layton's position is a good one. Yes, we can understand why Joseph made the comparison, even though it's overblown.

Comparing the Native holocaust to the Jewish Holocaust overall is fair. But the boarding-school experience didn't result in the mass murder of millions of Indians. It was only one small part of the Native holocaust.

In that sense, Joseph's comparison misses the mark. Let's save the term "holocaust" for cases where it really and truly applies.

For more on the subject, see German Canadians Protest Holocaust Exhibit, Gover on Indians and Jews, and Jewish Politicians Want Indians to Disappear.

Boarding schools = torture

Indian Boarding Schools in Context

By Steven NewcombGessner learned how Indian children in those schools “were underfed to point of starvation, roughly treated, even beaten, and all the time made to work half a day at hard industrial labor in their fields, in the bakery, or in the laundry—child labor.”

Gessner said he had seen the jails Indian children were “thrown into after being flogged for infringement of minor rules.” He detailed eye-witness accounts: Indian boys chained to beds at night; thrown in cellars under the building, which the superintendent called a jail; shoes taken away and children made to walk through the snow to help milk the cows; children whipped with a hemp rope, and a water hose; children forced to do work for employees and superintendents without compensation under the guise of industrial employment and education. The source? “Hearings Before a Subcommittee on Indian Affairs pursuant to S. Res. 341, p. 30.”

One boarding school superintendent showed an investigator “a dungeon in his basement used for girls, up to his coming [to the school] two years ago.” The dungeon “was 18’ x 8’, absolutely dark. Girls told the superintendent of two or three of them sleeping there on mattresses and rats crawling over them at night. Their food was bread and water. Brick walls showed where the girls had worked holes through and escaped.”Comment:  From boarding schools to Guantanamo Bay, the US seems to favor the torture of brown-skinned prisoners.

For more on boarding schools, see Language Whipped Out of Indians and Libraries Hide Hidden from History.

Fischer: Indians should emulate Pocahontas

Pro-genocide Christian Bryan Fischer is trying once again to save Indians' souls. In part one, I considered his claim that Indians were thieves. Now let's get to his main assertion:

Byran Fischer:  Pocahontas shows what could have been

After noting Pocahontas's conversion to Christianity, marriage to John Rolfe, and trip to England, Fischer writes:It’s arresting to think of how different the history of the American settlement and expansion could have been if the other indigenous peoples had followed Pocahontas’s example. She not only recognized the superiority of the God whom the colonists worshipped over the gods of her native people, she recognized the superiority (not the perfection) of their culture and adopted its patterns and language as her own.

In other words, she both converted and assimilated. She became both a Christian and an American (technically, of course, an Englishman). She melded into European and Christian civilization and made her identity as a Christian and an Englishman her primary identity. She was the first manifestation of what became our national slogan, “E Pluribus Unum,” “Out of many, one.”Actually, Pocahontas would've considered herself an Englishwoman, not an Englishman--you sexist pig.

At least Fischer finally acknowledges that Indians can become Christians. In his first column, he suggested the two groups were incompatible and alien to each other. Glad to see you alleviated your ignorance, Fischer.

We know Pocahontas's story only from the British viewpoint. We have no real idea what she thought or felt. Maybe she was too young and naive to realize what she was doing. Maybe she converted and got married only to keep the peace between the Indians and British. Maybe she did it to spite the Indians who considered her a troublemaker or a sellout. Maybe she pretended to accept Christianity because she loved John Rolfe and he insisted on it. Maybe she was a golddigger who married Rolfe only for his money and status. Maybe she considered herself an Indian first and a Christian second.

And maybe the British didn't care about her conversion. Maybe they paraded her around England as a showpiece, a performing pet, to prove they were getting along with the Indians. That way, their royal and commercial backers would support more expeditions to America.

Really, you have to be naive to think anyone had pure motives in this story. Since Fischer believes the Bible's fairy tales, he may be that gullible. The rest of us aren't.

Christian Indians were massacred

Even if Pocahontas's motives were pure and the results were ideal, a single case tells us nothing. Now that Fischer has recognized that Indians can become Christians, how about surveying the long history of Christian Indians? That would be much more revealing than this questionable anecdote.

An early example of Indians converting to Christianity was the "Praying Indians" of New England. To find out what happened to them, see Pilgrims Initiated Genocide, Praying Towns in After the Mayflower, and King Philip's War in After the Mayflower. Three words should suffice: Deer Island Massacre.

Nipmucs add history to memorial to Deer Island internmentAlthough the "Praying Indians" had converted to Christianity, colonists feared they couldn't be trusted during the war between the white settlers and local Native American tribes.

"They were taken away in chains," said Mary Anne Hendricks, a Natick Nipmuc who lives in Quincy.

"They were loaded in horse-drawn carts and taken to Watertown," Ellis said. "From there, they were put in canoes" and taken to three ships in Boston Harbor that ferried the Natick Nipmucs to their internment on Deer Island.

"When the forced removals were complete, there were about 500 people out there," Ellis said. "Less than half survived. They were put out there to die.Finally, Fischer dishonestly omits the fact that Pocahontas died in England. So much for the joys of assimilation. Join the white man's world, and die.

Critics keep slamming Fischer

Once again, let's let the column's commenters tackle Fischer:It seems that Mr. Fischer has an immature understanding of theology. The gospel message is not about cultural assimilation. Read the Word of God in the King James translation: "For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him." "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: for ALL have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." The Bible does not say that one people group is inherently superior to another. In the presence of God ALL are equally sinful. Which is more authoritative? The Word of God or the words of Bryan Fischer?

Assimilation works when you move to a different geographical area and adjust to their local customs. It doesn't work when other people come into your geographical area and force YOU to adjust to THEIR customs.

The Cherokee assimilated and converted to Christianity. How do you explain their tragic fate? Or will you even publish this comment since it contradicts what you've said?

Really. You wonder why Native American's did not agree to this "Assimilation" call it what it was. The colonist conquered the nation and ousted the Native American people. They took what was NOT there's and you make it sound so enticing. History is just text told by those that tell it. Nothing more.Cherokees were condemned too

Dr. Warren Throckmorton tells us more about what happened to Christian Indians, including the Cherokees mentioned above:

Bryan Fischer speaks with forked tongueFor instance, Delaware people converted through Zeisberger's work had to relocate multiple times at the insistence of European settlers. During one move in Ohio, savagery was the downfall of a portion of Zeisberger's colony, but the perpetrators of the atrocities were Americans who brutally murdered native men, women and children. After this tragedy, Zeisberger's group found refuge in Ontario and thrived as a Christian settlement.

Fischer's thesis is most clearly devastated by the experience of the Cherokees in the south after the Revolutionary War. The Cherokees signed a treaty with the federal government in 1794 and then settled into a peaceful period where they built roads and villages. They welcomed Christian missionaries which led to many converts among the Cherokee in Northern Georgia and Tennessee. In his book on American Christianity, Noll describes "a slow but steady acceptance of the Christian faith." Noll continues the sad tale (in italics):

During the administration of President Andrew Jackson, however, the evangelism of the missionaries and the work of selective cultural adaptation by the Cherokees both received a fatal blow. After the discovery of gold in Northern Georgia about the time of Jackson's election in 1828, the lust of the White settlers for Cherokee land grew even stronger than before. Jackson and his agents for Indian affairs were eager to give it to them. The result was a forced removal of the Cherokees from Georgia to the West. Despite the fact that the Cherokees had adapted to American ways with remarkable skill, the removal proceeded with ruthless finality. The missionaries, who had come to the Native Americans as bearers of civilization as well as of Christianity, faced a terrible dilemma. They now were forced to watch their country, supposedly the embodiment of Christian civilization, turn violently against a people that had responded to their message.

The United States, bearing the gifts of Christian faith and republican politics, destroyed a tribal people that was working to accept those gifts. Some missionary spokesmen, unlike Worcester, Butler, and the Joneses, played a signal part in that destruction. Such spokesmen were good culture Christians. The agents of Andrew Jackson's Indian policy were democrats. Together they did the devil's work in the name of the Lord and of his "chosen country."

Noll's description is haunting. He repeatedly demonstrates that the Cherokee and other native peoples followed the way of Pocahontas but they were not rewarded with Fischer's "seamless and bloodless" assimilation. Instead, men, women and children were uprooted and brutally forced to march hundreds of miles, many to their deaths, because they were Native Americans. At the time, some Christians, seeing the evil, engaged in civil disobedience to try to prevent the forced relocation. In the present, why can't the American Family Association stop revising history and acknowledge this sad and painful chapter in our history?Another good example of what Christianity did to Indians was the whole boarding-school experience. Kidnapping, forced conversions, physical and mental abuse--i.e., treatment so horrible it caused generations of pain and trauma. Yay, Christians...way to emulate Jesus, who also tortured people into accepting his faith.

Summing up Fischer's message to Indians:

"We gave you 500 years to convert and you haven't done it yet. Why not?! The Great White Father (God, the US government, Bryan Fischer) thinks you're spoiled, rotten children (unlike that good girl Pocahontas). And after all the civilization we gave you, too. Repent, sinners, lest ye be damned!"

For more on Fischer's hateful hypocrisy, see Fischer Defends Pro-Genocide Column and Fischer's Passion for Killing.

Below:  "I died at 22, but at least I died a Christian!"