Trail Dust: Indian schools' history militaristic, checkered

That article on the Indian Schools was great. I'd like to see more written in the column regarding Charles Lummis. Quote: "Resident in the pueblo at the time was writer Charles F. Lummis." He was a very unusual person and isn't all that well known it seems. He had a long association with various people and events in New Mexico during his lifetime.

"Checkered?" "Checkered" means mixed. Attempting to eradicate a culture is not "checkered;" it is the very definition of genocide.

Now the tribes are assimilated and cannot wait to kiss the feet of their Spanish masters, renacted every year at the Fiesta.

Disgusting. But the Spanish are proud that of the 100,000 pueblo indians living along the rio grande when the conquistatores arrived, only 10000 remained 100 years later.

A 90% genocidal rate is called 'being kind to the natives that were conquered'

the sad thing is all the nates who worship jesus, their killer god.

My grandfather, John Collier Sr., as commissioner of Indian Affairs under President Roosevelt, in the 1930's moved to replace Boarding Schools with day schools within each Native American community and introduced bilingual education and text books. While some of his programs where lost in the Republican administrations of the 50's, local Native American school boards in the 60's & 70's took ownership and control of these initiatives and continue to this day to work to preserve Native American tradtions & language.

Great article!

Whenever a high-tech culture meets a lower-tech culture, the lower-tech culture is descimated. Much is said about assimilation but that seldom happens. Thus the history of the treatment of Native Americans by whites and Spaniards and Mexicans. It doesn't have all that much to do with God, because both whites and Hispanics thought they had God on their side. This led to a shameful trail of tears across America.

It is a sign of our southwestern history; where I lived in Phoenix, we, too had an Indian School, and it was on (what else?) Indian School Road.

Some historians have noted that when the white men first arrived on this continent, the Natives could have beat them back easily (and maybe they should have?) BUT...this is a big BUT...they were too busy with their traditions of tribal warfare. They never really united for the greater good of their kind. Tribal societies are like this...and then came the "superior" culture.

The mind-set of those in the 1800s that tried to assimilate them and subjugate them are no longer with us, at least I hope not. Every culture and race has its pluses and minuses as does every culture. These days we can celebrate the Native American cultures and all their finer points, as gifts to the country in general.

If you've never read "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee," I highly recommend it.

And you wonder why natives drink to forget.

Habitute wrote:

Now the tribes are assimilated and cannot wait to kiss the feet of their Spanish masters, renacted every year at the Fiesta.
Disgusting. But the Spanish are proud that of the 100,000 pueblo indians living along the rio grande when the conquistatores arrived, only 10000 remained 100 years later.
A 90% genocidal rate is called 'being kind to the natives that were conquered'
the sad thing is all the nates who worship jesus, their killer god.

Not all pueblos worship the white mans god in its entirety.... most of the pueblos especially the ones in the middle rio grande areas are devoted to their native religions more so than the church...

nmweatherman wrote:

Whenever a high-tech culture meets a lower-tech culture, the lower-tech culture is descimated. Much is said about assimilation but that seldom happens. Thus the history of the treatment of Native Americans by whites and Spaniards and Mexicans. It doesn't have all that much to do with God, because both whites and Hispanics thought they had God on their side. This led to a shameful trail of tears across America.
It is a sign of our southwestern history; where I lived in Phoenix, we, too had an Indian School, and it was on (what else?) Indian School Road.
Some historians have noted that when the white men first arrived on this continent, the Natives could have beat them back easily (and maybe they should have?) BUT...this is a big BUT...they were too busy with their traditions of tribal warfare. They never really united for the greater good of their kind. Tribal societies are like this...and then came the "superior" culture.
The mind-set of those in the 1800s that tried to assimilate them and subjugate them are no longer with us, at least I hope not. Every culture and race has its pluses and minuses as does every culture. These days we can celebrate the Native American cultures and all their finer points, as gifts to the country in general.
If you've never read "Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee," I highly recommend it.

great book to read... another book to read is the "pueblo Revolt" the fisrt time and european lead country was drivin out by native americans during the 1680 uprising from the pueblo indians...

Thanks changes in the policy or rules students did not have to endure this type of abuse in the later years of boarding school in the 1950's and later. I attended a boarding school and by that time the treatment of Indian students was more humane. There was still an attempt to discourage speaking of the native language but we continued to speak our language in spite of this. I have seen the display of boarding schools at the Heard Museum and it is sad that human beings of the major society saw fit to alienate Indians from their own language and culture. If they were treated the same way they would not survive and endure like the Natives have.

nmweatherman states that whenever a high-tech culture meets a low-tech culture, the low-tech culture is decimated.
While this has been true in many cases, seems not to be happening in Afghanistan. We and the Russians with all our high-tech gadgets don't seem to be making much of a dent there ( and the various tribes do not seem to be that friendly with one another)
Not to get far off the subject of our Native Americans, but why the difference now in Afghanistan?