Reflection on Indigenous People’s Day

I remember sitting at my desk in fourth grade. It was a sunny day and out the window I could see some hills of Palouse farmland. Our teacher was covering the westward expansion of Europeans. I found myself wondering what happened to the Indigenous people and asked about it. “They moved away,” she said, “They live over toward Yakima.” I remember feeling a pain in my stomach. It didn’t feel right. She moved on to another topic and then it was recess.

It wasn’t until much later that I learned the truth. For millennia our Indigenous siblings managed these lands with science and wisdom – stewarding the land for future generations. They lived, laughed and raised their children to see their connection to all of life. Between 60 and 100 million human beings lived on this continent in 1492.

In 1453, the leader of the Western Church in Europe authorized murder, theft of land and the perpetual enslavement of non-Christians by a king in Spain. At the time, this applied to Muslims and Jews. Forty years later this authorization was expanded to the “new world.” When European kings “discovered” a land, they could claim it and all the people therein for their benefit. This is called the “Doctrines of Discovery.” Of course, this was propaganda. If I come into your garage and take your table saw, I am no less in the wrong if I claim that I “discovered” it. If I enslave or kill people, I am no less in the wrong if I claim that God told me to do it.

I am an inheritor of land systematically taken from other human beings. I am an inheritor of the doctrine of discovery which offered divine sanction to dehumanize and dominate other human beings. The question is: what will I do with that?

Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote that we are not responsible for the world we are born into. But we are responsible to recognize the truth about it and do what we can, with others, to make it better.

Indigenous People’s Day was Oct. 11.

I would encourage all of us to do three things.

First, do some reading on how we got here.

I encourage you to read “The Bitter Waters of Medicine Creek,” “Pagans in the Promised Land” and “Native Science: Natural Laws of Interdependence.” We must uncover the history that we have covered up.

Second, listen to the leadership of local Indigenous nations and follow their lead.

Show up when it is appropriate.

Support them.

Just sit and listen and appreciate and keep your advice to yourself.

Third, begin to envision the future with all the people in this valley.

When we plan for the future, let’s partner with diverse voices and communities.

Ask how you all could work together.

We have much to uncover, much to learn and many people to meet. Together we can create a better future. It is time to renounce the terrible inheritance of “discovery,” make restitution and build a future together.