"A degree is not an education, and the confusion on this point is perhaps the gravest weakness in American thinking about education."
~Dolly Parton~
While this trip was certainly about getting out and stretching the legs on the RV and exploring some things we had never seen together as a couple, it was also about exploring historical Native American culture throughout South Dakota and Wyoming, largely Lakota Sioux country. Gina has felt a particular calling to embrace the vast cultural beauty of our nation's First People. And I have to tell you, what we learned (or perhaps unlearned) did not make us feel good. Sometimes, the truth is hard.
What we discovered along the way, from Chamberlain, to Mt. Rushmore (WAY more on Mt Rushmore later), to the Crazy Horse memorial, to Devils Tower (referred to by most natives as Bear Lodge), to Fort Robinson State Park was so unlike anything we were taught in school and continue to be indoctrinated with today, it made us ill. And although I had been to many of these places in the past, it was only on this trip I began to see these attractions with an open mind and heart, outside of the historic indoctrination.
If you want to read further about warm and fuzzy tourist attractions, stop here. You won't like what you're about to read. But, if you want some insight as to our experiences from a perspective of Critical Race Theory, or what I prefer to call "Historical Truth," then read on. You might find it enlightening.
Let's start with what you can find on nearly any basic Google search. St Joseph's is an American Indian boarding school run by Priests of the Sacred Heart. The school and adjacent museum are located inside the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls, but operated independently of the diocese. The school opened in 1927 with 53 "students," and as of 2020, boasted a class of 221 (K-8th).
There is a long history, starting in 1898 when the school was born of our federal government as the Chamberlain Indian School, whereby Native American children could receive a "white" education and assimilate to white culture. In other words, since we'd just annihilated the majority of the First People population throughout the Americas, our federal government needed a place to send kids to make itself less "ogre-esk." It eventually became a Catholic school, allegedly modeled after places like Boys Town, and native people were further indoctrinated into, not only while culture, but white religion. And not just any religion...Catholicism.
Let me be clear. This is a blog, not a doctoral dissertation, and I'm no expert on history of any kind, let alone Native American History, but facts are hard to ignore, even at the most basic level. I'm only hitting the highlights. And while I can appreciate the fact our government made a feeble attempt to right an unforgivable wrong, and a church which I loath is continuing to indoctrinate native kids to follow "the correct religion," we learn more and more each day about how things really went versus how they've been made to appear.
From the first time white European settlers reached the shore of what is now the United States of America, despite what the cute pictures of the First Thanksgiving would want you believe, they've been doing their best to eradicate the native population. Whether it be for land, gold, greed or cruelty, white settlers and the US Army killed off about 54 million Native Americans. Read that again. 54 million. (I'm sorry People of Color from other nations. Your abuse was equally horrifying, but today we're talking about First People).
Not only did we basically murder the majority of native people, we likewise almost completely killed off their primary food source...buffalo. And for what? For commerce. To make a buck. To sell hide while the meat rotted and millions upon millions of buffalo were hunted to near extinction from the land. And then...THEN, literally defeated, most First People were forced to live on barren land no one else wanted. Their life and culture were destroyed. Their spirits broken.
But what about these "schools" we now know about. Sure, many native families began to see that, in order to survive in a new world, they would have to encourage their children to learn white ways. My question is this. What was wrong with their own ways? To force an entire population to abandon their culture, their spiritual foundations, and their entire way of life in order to survive in a new land that was stolen from them in the first place, is the ultimate slap in the face. I don't know how to feel anything but ashamed about how a wonderful, peaceful people were obliterated for no reason.
Fast forward 150 years and you can almost feel the defeat from a proud people and see the melding of a proud native people into the lifestyle of abusive white people. And while it's true, there is progress being made in the uncovering of the truth about what happened then, and reintroducing us to native culture, as well as, encouraging First People to embrace their traditions once again, it feels like too little, too late. Don't forget, we're only recently learning that children reported to have run away from schools like I'm talking about, didn't run away at all. They were murdered for their non-comformity and buried in vast fields. It's sickening. Last I knew, that number was well over 800 souls.
As I mentioned, I'll have more to say about all this as we move across Lakota Land, but a conversation we had with a native Lakota man while at the museum near the school is worth revealing. I asked him how, after all the wrongs that were done to his people, how is it he and all Lakota people live their lives with anything but hate in their hearts? What he said is humbling and I'll paraphrase what I understood.
"We First People believe that everything is cyclical. All things die and even become extinct. We have come to accept that what happened to us then, was just our time." He went on to say that the Lakota and Dakota share a word, and I don't remember what it was. But I do remember the English translation.
"We Are One."
Namaste,
Matt and Gina
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