Teach the Truth

I remember, back in 8th grade mebbe, other kids giving me shit for reading Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee. Rather, they thought I was wicked pretentious for carrying it around for such a long time. I replied with ‘it’s a depressing, intellectually heavy book. I’m not gonna get through it in a week.’ No one else was reading it, let alone zipping through it. NO, this was a rural backwater where the first day of hunting season was an official day off from school. Most, it seemed, had other things on their minds

I was trying to read what the history teachers weren’t telling us (and possibly were unaware of themselves).  This wasn't easy and here it is, back in the news.

The gruesome discovery took decades and for some survivors of the Kamloops Indian Residential School in Canada, the confirmation that children as young as 3 were buried on school grounds crystallizes the sorrow they have carried all their lives. (source)

Make no mistake, the abuse of Indigenous children, stolen from their families and put into ‘schools’ happened here in the U.S. too. Ya know, kill the Indian, save the man and shit. 

How can you apologize for genocide.

You can’t. Well, you can but it’s pretty much worthless. What CAN be done is this – we can make sure our children are properly, fully educated. They should learn the good as well as the horrific crimes of our forefathers and mothers. How can we be a better nation if we refuse to recognize our past?