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Posted: 5/23/2006 6:05:20 AM | "Those who know me realize that I don't make an opinion on a subject this deep without careful thought"
yna6, Again, I beg to differ. Your "careful thought" is on parallel with other deep thinkers in the government, hmmm, such as Vellacourt, Harper.
Your take on who was here first is also laughable. Shall we bring it to the absolute beginning where we all owe our roots to Africa?? I'm cool with that, are you? That there is research that proves that the Sollutrians from France may be all North Americans' ancestors?? If proven, then the French have a greater claim on this continent too. (oooo, the implications are hilarious in my opinion) No, the absolute proof is that Native American Indians have been here for at least 20,000 years and as such, developed their cultures and beliefs, that have stood the test of time. Are you jealous?? Do you have any culture or belief system that is uniquely yours that has been handed down from generations untold?? Do you come from a culture that values all life forms and their unique take that they are allowed to worship as they see fit for generations untold?? My thought is that you don't, or rather, it is relatively new, therefore you do not have the "careful thought" ability to comprehend why our culture is so valuable, needs to be preserved and needs to recover from three attempts of canadian government/church genocide. | |
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yna6
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Joined: 5/2/2004
Msg: 27 | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 6:40:30 AM | No...not at all. What I said, and continue to say, is that any time any type of evidence shows up that may disprove your tenuous claim, it is quickly buried under a legal barrage, to keep it quiet and out of public view. Why? What is it you are hiding? Your claims have NOT stood the tests of time, and are starting to look as if they are on shaky ground at best.
Do you think raising generation afetr generation of children to think of themselves as victims and everyone else as thieves is a good idea? I don't.
I don't think raising my kids to think that they and their ancestors are thieves is a good idea.
I also said (go back and read it this time!) that IF natives wish to keep their culture, language, and heritage alive, fine and dandy! I even gave examples as to how other cultures do this and encouraged it. Where is the genocidal nature in that? I fail to see it!! So does everyone else!
You can be a professional Indian and have a good income from it, etc, all you want. It does not make your stand on this matter any better.
I have stated (Again...go back and READ it) that all should be EQUAL. No special considerations or laws for minorities....just simple equality. Where is the shame in wanting everyone to BE equal? I don't see it. Anyone disagreeing with that shows their own bigotry and prejudices.
I can name-call and argue with the best of them. At least I try to understand the issues from BOTH sides, rather than just jumping onto popular opinion. I actually took the time and looked things up for myself and cropss checked them. Unlike people here who take the words spilled off a professional victims lips as pure gospel!
There is a growing voice in Canada which is becoming louder by the day which are stating much of what I have been saying. The groundswell of support on this "politically incorrect" stance is fast becoming a political hot-potatoe. More politicians than ever are hearing the other side of the story, and paying close attention to it. They have to. They cannot make deals and judgments by hearing and seeing only one side of the picture.
The "bad guy" is never a bad guy in his eyes. Keeping this in mind, I try to deal with this subject without the personal name-calling, etc.
Not one person here, not a one, has offered any sort of argument against anything I have stated. There cannot BE an argument against those statements without revealing your own prejudices and bigotry. Therefore, we see the name calling and the "Oh, I gave up trying to beat this into your heads" type thing. My points are valid. I think moreso than yours. More people are beginning to agree with me. I am a danger to your cause. You can't shut me up, nor refute what I have said. Therefore, I am "the enemy" and suspect in whatever I say.
I say, go look for yourself. Go back and actually READ what I said. Try reading it with the intent it was written with...a sense of balance for all. For equality for all. Not putting anyone ahead of another because of race. Then, try telling me how wrong I am, and why I am wrong. | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 6:56:04 AM | yna6, your arguments just get worser and worser…
I hope you can see now the how ingrained the problem is in our society. Your ideas are wrong and hurtful and you do not even see the problem with your statements.
Bigots never know they are bigots.
These ideas are systemic in our society and with the Harpers support of Hill and Knowlton, they will only get worse.
“these are ideals of the past, they don’t work here any more” Poi Dog Pondering. | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 9:33:06 AM | | lets stick to the subject you are going way off track, i thought origionally the subject was residential school issues not land or treaty stuff. and as far as my opinion goes the abuse did not just happen to us it happened to everyone. i also don't agree with the first nation name or what ever you want to call it though that is what i am. we should all be considered equal not being put in categories. i was also in a residential school myself but was only physically abused not sexually abused and all lot of the time the sexual abuse happens right at home and nobody at that time never went out of their way to help you. but our culture was taken away from us and our language. | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 9:36:10 AM | Oh my...
I laughed and laughed at "a professional Indian and making a good income from it......." So being proud, angry at genocide aimed at my race, able to form a rational opinion and just plain being born a Cree constitutes being a "professional Indian"?
I wonder what constitutes a "professional" Asian or European or Afro-Canadian or even, heaven forbid, a "professional" Caucasion?
So Native people have a voice now and are able to call the lies for what they are and are now "professional" for doing so?
Cheers everyone, the "professional" Raven | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 2:19:14 PM | Yna I have tried to be patient with your posts but you research data which only supports your case and half the time miss the point completely only to spread your hate propaganda. Instead of addressing the actual issues raised its you who are going back into the past to prove natives aren't victims.
Natives didn't lose their land by just displacement...geeez.
No native is saying...get out we want our land back. What they are saying is that government signed BINDING CONTRACTS that they are legally obliged to adhere to.
Some of the contracts and lands were given, not only to maintain the peace between the two but as payment for the military service of native tribes in the war of 1812.
The crown took control of all native property...natives don't get to own land individually on a reserve like white people do in their community. Every aspect of their life was controlled and mismanaged which led to these things happening. But natives NEVER gave up ownership of those treaty lands and it belongs to them.
Are you saying that people who commit crimes (because that is what they were) should not be held accountable for their actions? You seem more than willing to commit cultural genocide against natives and that's ok if some die in the process, but claim not to be a biggott?
As for playing victim, why do you think the natives are fighting.. because they are NOT victims and won't be anymore. You sit there and flame a whole race because of your experiences with a few. Trying to make out like were all just a bunch of greedy indians.
You simply refuse to recognize what data, studies and even the UN recognizes which is that Canada has created this situation. Natves are merely fighting for their legal rights because they have to. If they didn't, all their land would be gone in a heartbeat. | |
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allie8
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Joined: 2/11/2006
Msg: 32 | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 5:29:56 PM | I'm appalled at how little people on this board know.
It's not because your opinion is politically incorrect; it's because it's incorrect in general.
Umm...that's a little bullsh!t. Opinions can't be incorrect, dear. Everyone's entitled to think what they want. That's the great thing about this country called CANADA that we live in.
worser and worser
Learn correct grammar, dear.
I'm for equality. Equal right, yes. Special rights, no. At some point in the past some of my ancestors may have done some wrong things, and others were done wrong by them...But I've done nothing wrong. I shouldn't watch my friend get free education just because she was born into the right heritage while I have to work 2 jobs, struggling to pay my tuition.
We live in a world that's moving into the future, we shouldn't be stuck in the past.
PS- In the past few years artifacts have been discovered in the Miramichi area that may put Vikings here ahead of Natives. | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 5:38:14 PM | Umm...that's a little bullsh!t. Opinions can't be incorrect, dear. Everyone's entitled to think what they want. That's the great thing about this country called CANADA that we live in.
The gentlemen I was talking too feels it would be better if aboriginal culture died out. Sorry, that's just an ideal I can't respect.
I shouldn't watch my friend get free education just because she was born into the right heritage while I have to work 2 jobs, struggling to pay my tuition
Hmm.. What can I say? Deal with it. I get to watch some of my rich friends get a free education because there parents could afford to buy it for them. What the f--- is the difference?
PS- In the past few years artifacts have been discovered in the Miramichi area that may put Vikings here ahead of Natives
Then it's settled. Canada belongs to Norway. I for one welcome our new overlords! | |
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soph
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Joined: 4/30/2006
Msg: 34 | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 5:59:05 PM | They can have the headaches for awhile! Hope they like thier tenants | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 6:06:46 PM |
Opinions can't be incorrect
When they are based on false information and used to propagate hate, I disagree. That is why we have hate laws in Canada.
As for natives getting free education. Why are you even b1tching about something that many natives never get the opportunity to do? They are so beat up by the system they don't make it that far. I think you would be suprised to know just how many natives don't take advantage of these rights because of reasons related to abuse.
How are natives ever supposed to not be a drain on the system if they don't get an education?
If there is no cost benefit to removing native rights however, there will be cost defecit, why would you promote something that only harms the econonomy and transfers them to state of welfare which they might never be able to escape from? Why should you care? They are the fastest growing demographic in North America. Would you like to support this very large group for an eternity or do the things required to make them self-sustaining and independent?
Your "opinion" is unproductive and not thought out. That makes it ignorance. | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 6:48:37 PM | @Polly G
you know what that is so true whether our education gets paid for there is alot of truth to what you said. for one thing we never had high schools at home so we had to go to the city for high school and of course to residential school and also had to board out with white people. so then i just dropped out of school which was a big mistake on my part,the school system is so bad even none of my kids graduated out of high school anyway back to the subject. like i mentioned before we lost our culture and our language because of the residential school.i don't even know my own language and you know how bad thats makes me feel when an elder is trying to talk to me. | |
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soph
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Joined: 4/30/2006
Msg: 37 | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 7:17:20 PM | I know Indian Affairs isn't banging down my door to pay MY student loan for me...or handing me a house, or cash, nope...worked my A$$ off my whole life, for everything I own and everything I have given my daughter. The pride we have can't be bought.
I myself when I was a baby was taken away and put with a upstanding white family, they have the $$$ so it must of been a better life for me...right? sure ok...thanks to those nuns at the catholic family beauro, I was taken away, and grew up not knowing my language, and brainwashed to think being Native is bad, shameful and nothing to be proud of. Unintentionally of course, but when brought up among the "better world" in an upscale society, what else am I to think?
You can take us off the reserve, but you can't take the reserve out of us. My heart beats as one with the drum, no matter where I live. I found my Native Pride. | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 7:26:16 PM | I dropped out of high school because of the Oka incident. The town was already racist towards natives and that just gave them free reign to express it. I think that is why this all bugs me so much. It is so reminiscent of what was going on then.
Where I don't look native I had to listen to a huge amount of it on a daily basis. I brought it to the school authorities and they were going suspend about 70 students for racism. Oh yeah, that would have made me REALLY well liked at school. They could have done something a lot more productive than that like brought in awareness trainers etc.
So I dropped out and got my equivalent at a native school. Then upgraded etc. etc. I'm proud of how far I've gotten considering everything and only sometimes let myself go to what might have been had I went to University.
I just can't at this stage of my life because I have bills to pay. Even with the tuition and grants that still doesn't cover the cost of living. Besides, if I did it now, I would want to go part-time and work part-time and they don't allow that at least here and still get access to a native grant.
Getting a large student loan at 33 when I make what a lot of grads do anyway now just doesn't appeal to me either.
Point is, I only know a handfull of natives who actually make it through the school system to even get that benefit. | |
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chinua
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Joined: 9/30/2005
Msg: 40 | |
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Posted: 5/23/2006 11:01:34 PM | I don't like being called PC.........cause I don't agree with what someone says.........especially since that person does not know me at all..............I used to live in a small town that was surrounded by reserve......I've seen both sides...........and think i can say my opinion with out being insulted. Residential schools? bad!!!!! I've seen what it has done to more than one generation.........and haven't seen any good come of it. If a culture was meant to die out; it would on its own...........and this one hasn't, even with extreme measures.
As for history........there might have been a culture here first; but, we might never know what happened to them; they might been absorbed, or added to the new one......... | |
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yna6
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Joined: 5/2/2004
Msg: 41 | |
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Posted: 5/24/2006 2:07:43 PM | I just can't believe this. I have practically pounded on heads saying that keeping culture and language is a good thing, and even showed how others have done it. Yet, still accused of being a genocidal bigot! My gawd, how thick headed do you have to be to NOT understand that "equal IS equal". I don't care if you're a high-school dropout or a kid having to share a box of smarties with your little brother, they seem to know what equal is. But get some pro-native rights fool going on that topic and nothing is equal ever!
Polly...your idea of land claims is way out of whack. They have already tied up the court systems in BC by claiming 110% of the land mass. Overlap? The sea-bed? I don't know. You said they did not want to claim it all? The proof that you are dead wrong is right there. Therefore your so-called opinion is just that..an opinion ( a wrong one at that). It goes against all established fact, and makes any of your "opinions" suspect in this subject.
The term "professional Indian". I first heard this as a job description for natives here in Canada. Being a "professional Indian", is basically a lobbyist for Indian rights. This was the term used by natives from the area I was in to describe these people. Good pay job too.
In Canada, yes, the natives did lose their lands by assimilation. Not by war, as they did in some places in the States. Again, slightly different here in Canada. Show me exactly how they did NOT lose them? If this was so, why are we going through land claims now? Duh...guess they DID lose the lands then, huh?
Nothing wrong with being proud and happy about your particular culture, religion, whatever. There are all kinds of people in the same boat from all walks of life. Some poor, some rich. You want your culture and language to be kept? Then do so. Learn it. There are people quite willing to teach it. Teach your kids. Use the language around the house and it comes easier for the kids.
Sure...some deals were made with natives. Can those deals be kept going into perpetuality? If that was so, I don't think the natives would be in near as good a shape as they are today. One simple comparison was health care. A treaty may allow a tribe to have a "medicine box" once a year. Think "first aid kit". No mention of health care European style. They had their own ideas of healthcare. They soon saw that their healthcare left much to be desired, and tossed most of it aside in order to get better care. No deals made on that though. They gave it up voluntarily, in order to take advantage of a better system.
That is just ONE small point from ONE treaty. There are hundreds of others. Tell me again that we should "honour the treaties and deals". Then, IF the current gov't does, who'll be screaming and crying for "a better deal" then? I personally would want no part in placing people in that position. Some treaties offered 5 bucks a year, per head, to tribes, in order for them to buy European goods that were not available to natives because they just didn't have them. (Name anything, it probably wasn't readily available to natives because they didn't have the technology. ) From gunpowder to tinned foods, to glass and mirrors to metal farm impliments. Still want the gov't to give 5 bucks a year per head? I really don't think you do, although many a Canadian taxpayer would shout with joy form the tax relief that it would give them. (Then again, our gov't would find somewhere to sink the cash, so we'd not be seeing a cent in rebates.)
We can't afford to keep some of our own towns and villages going, yet are expected to perpetually keep native ones going? Sinking cash into a dead horse there. Move them somewhere where they CAN make a town that will support itself, OR, allow them to stay and give no other help than what a normal town gets. No special compensation cause they are placed way the heck and gone out in the middle of nowhere.
Nope....my opinion is not an ignorant one. It is not a bigotted one. It is simple common sense.
Again...not one person has been able to refute anything I've said, except by the name-calling or, as I said before, the old "I'm tired of trying to explain" BS. That tells me that you haven't a leg to stand on. If you did, you'd bring it forth, and allow people to either support it, or try tearing it down with FACTS, rather than saying something "You're an ignorant bigot for even bringing that point up!" But, those with no real idea have the foulest mouths here. | |
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chinua
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Joined: 9/30/2005
Msg: 42 | |
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Posted: 5/24/2006 4:02:12 PM | what was the OP's question again??.....wasn't it about residential schools??
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Posted: 5/24/2006 4:38:18 PM | Chinua, yes it indeed was.
That's why I was so ticked by Yna's comments. Used it to again point out how we are a drain on his system.
As for the treaties I have read many of them (some signees are my ancestors). There are also many chiefs, spiritual and human rights activists in my family. Several travelled to Geneva to fight for native rights because they saw what was happening. So I guess they are your "Professional Indians". It was not lucrative though.
I never said that some reserves weren't created out of displacement reasons, I did point out that it wasn't the ONLY reason. The Oneida WERE split up because of loyalties to Brittain. There is a huge reserve of Oneida in New York and another in Ontario because of it. These were originally all one group. It was our own version of North and South.
If it wasn't for the natives, there is a good possibilty there would be no Canada. They helped defend the border when the Americans attacked in 1812.
As for common sense. That's actually what your post lacks. To just remove native rights would just replace the current system with a welfare one. Any plans to bring industry so they just don't starve to death while they live on an isolated reserve? Any plans to ensure that there will be those who can lead the others to self-reliancy? Any plans to educate our youth about our history ..the real history? I see no real thought has gone into your brainchild other than just remove the rights. No thought has been given to the devistating impacts this could have on a culture just now struggling to its feet. No thought as to the future drain this could cause on the economy if it was done this way. They ARE the largest growing demographic in North America. You want to just remove the things that will allow them to achieve their own stability and create an even bigger drain on society.
Just a few years ago if I do recall, native deligations went to meet with Holocoast survivors and found they had much in common. Holocost survivor's have tried too to get monies and property back that were taken by Nazis. | |
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Posted: 5/24/2006 5:11:31 PM | | Pixie 70, Tom flanagan is nothing more than a racist and a bigot. Hie work has been condemned by his collegues as being " ...more like propaganda than actual science." This is how flanagan got the monicker "professor flim flam" Propaganda by iteslf does not work according to Eric Hoffer but, it justifies opinions already present. People can only be made to believe what they already "know" This is what the Reform (conservative) Prime Minister Harper will use to implement his racist policies. | |
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Posted: 5/24/2006 7:57:29 PM | yna6 i think i totally understand what you mean when you say "equal IS equal" and i agree. Yet, i think some of us hear something else. i think you’ve been told some lies. because i for one, think you are a really great guy and i like reading your post... but sometimes... for me as a non-native, i can see the “ideas” that you have been taught, that I once believed, and they stem back to colonials times, and to tell the truth, i find they connect back to Bush and his propaganda machine and it worries me...
My apologies, it was not your "intent" and i think i understand that now. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
And as always Polly G, glad to run across you ideas and explanations. Awesome. Or as i like to say, some awe.
The tricks that tricked you are taught by the Rovian Ravers (I call them)... the mirrors, the echoes of the current propaganda machine... i connect the 'system' of abuse in the past to the ‘systems’ we are using now...
All you have to do is start and look at who and why the schools where started, who ran them during that time and who has replaced them. Any guesses?
That is why I speak.
Did someone say Tom Flanagan? | |
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yna6
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Joined: 5/2/2004
Msg: 46 | |
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Posted: 5/24/2006 10:46:16 PM | I never liked the idea of forcefully removing kids out of their parents reach to "educate" them. Then again, I was all for sending my kid to military school, but got vetoed on that one.
I don't like what happened in the past, but there is really nothing anyone can do about it. It is now history. We have to remember what did happen, so that we can avoid that type of thing in the future though.
I can only really talk about Canada though. I don;t know enough about natives in the States to really say much about that set-up.
How are we supposed to educate native kids who are in the boonies? Internet connections with regular school hours via computer? With the watchful eye of a couple adults there to make sure the kids are actually doing the work? It could work. At least give them a fighting chance in todays world. teaching them the "old ways" is all fine and dandy...but they can't make a real living doing that. the days of the "hunter gatherer" for a whole nation is long gone. We can't bring it back. So....we do something else.
Polly pointed out that natives are the fastest growing demographic in the country. It isn't because of increased birthrates! From what I understand, it takes one grandparent for you to be able to "claim your native heritage". At the expense fo the other three quarters being "lost and left behind." Why have so many people turned their backs on three quarters of their heritage, to acknowledge just the one? The usual answer...money. Gov't programs and goodies do pay. Otherwise people would not be so suddenly interested in their heritage. The tax breaks alone are worth it. I think this is where most of the "growth" comes from. I am sure gov't figures will back that up too.
Sure...I know that the education system gave me a slanted version of history. My father made darned sure I knew that, aand encouraged me to find out a more "balanced" version of what happened. I have tried to instill this into my kids, and encourage them to take a balanced view of history. "History is written by the winners." Some of us don't think that idea is such a good one. Small example...Thanksgiving at Plymouth rock. (Ok...a bit of family history here....one of my ancestors was there, having come over on the Mayflower.) Kidnapping? threatening death? Holding women and kids for ransom in the form of enough foodstuffs to survive the winter? Hmm...Yet some folks think that I should be held directly accountable for that, and make amends for it. Well duh! I wasn't there, I don't have the same attitudes and morals they had, and I could in no way affect that action at any time that it was happening. I do not agree that the sins of the father are visited upon the son for three generations! (or more!) Anyhow's....I can't do anything about the past. But i can sure as heck try to do something about the future.
The schooling we offer natives on reservations or out in the boonies is substandard. Even here, small town education is subpar when compared against a city education. We have the technology to offer better education via computer and internet. It costs a bit, but is far cheaper than trying to supply teachers to every tiny community there is. The education system in itself needs a huge overhaul. I can't see why in some towns education is geared towards teaching the next generation of farmers and woodworkers, and in the city it is more geared towards high tech and doctors and lawyers. An even field would be far superior. Offer those who are more bright tougher courses. Get rid of the idea of "mainstreaming" and allow the individual the chance to get the best education they are capable of. Why can't natives become the doctors, lawyers, nurses, engineers with the help of a half decent education, while still practicing their own culture, and using their own language for social purposes? A lot of people do that. Education costs too much is the usual excuse, but I could easily see that being remedied by charging a lot less for education, and getting rid of certain areas of education. (do we need to pay a college professor to teach a course on how to make batberry candles? )
The idea that "it was good enough for my father and his father, so it is good enough for my kids" is no longer a viable way to raise kids. We can't be teaching the kids "the old ways" without arming them with a modern education to give them that boost they need to make it as adults in modern society. Yet, there are those who feel that "the old ways are best, it was good enough for me..." etc. These are the first ones looking for gov't assistance though. (so it seems at times!)
The systems were set up with good intent, for those time periods. We can look back with perfect 20/20 vision and see what a mistake it was. What is being done now at times isn't so hot either. I don't like the idea of not developing resources for the people rather than a corporation. Privatization is not what it is all cracked up to be. We have to start thinking of the individual, rather than whhole groups of people with a common bond. What is good for one sector of society may not be good for another. But if it benefits ALL people, then where is the problem? Some may not like the way it does benefit them, but, as usual, the best solutions are those that leave everyone feeling screwed.
anyhow's....enough for tonight, tomaorrow is another day. Who the heck is Tom Flanagan? | |
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Posted: 5/25/2006 4:10:31 PM | | stick with the subject (residential school) you go way off track you know. you still don't understand i guess or you are not listening. | |
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Posted: 5/25/2006 5:45:16 PM | I don't see what habitual smoking and VD have to do with the treatment of little children. Natives were not habitual tobacco smokers.
- --
The last Canadian government in power spoke
of truth and reconciliation hearings as part and
parcel to offers of compensation.
They themselves should now consider that if they
believe assauging problems strictly through just one
path i.e. monetary compensation as a total dignified
answer; without being coupled with truth and
reconciliation; they would be wise to look down that
long road of the historical past, decide to quit
competing with the here and now and the waging of
a war against the march of time amd immediately
begin to cease disrupting and cavourting the path to
justice; impeding on the rights of natives in
accordance with a Universality afforded all human
beings to seek closure witht he past, and begin
walking the talk at home aligned with what Canada
as a nation is doing in other countries: specifically
Afghanistan, Haiti and most recently: Sudan.
To play Russian Roullette with the minds of aboriginals
peoples when talking about such notable advancements
as prospects of truth and reconsiliaiton in an aid to the
entire healing of this country from one end of it to
another across its entire breadth from coast to coast
and then rescinding them as a result of political whim or
partisanism or political philosophy or party lines is
inhumane and creates a schizophrenic position for natives
and their leadership.
If elected politicians rise to platforms using the word
'accountable', meanig to the electorate as the new "buzzword"
that secures their entrance to power and leadership, then the
parties in power should be held accountable by the First Nations
regardless of what political affiliation they hold; in accordance
with Universal Rights that Canada so proudly trumpets abroad.
People die for those rights, they are fought for, have been fought for,
and we owe it to all our ancestors, both native and non-native, to
strive for the vision of Canada that earns us the right of being the
best country in the world in living by a creed that recognizes justice
for all nations as a pillar of our place in the world.
Compensation for these children, yes; thats certainly a step forward. | |
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Posted: 5/26/2006 2:58:37 AM | @Yna
I didn't have a chance to read your whole post, I have to work but will later. I just wanted to echo the point that I don't think you are a bad person either but its a way of thinking that yes, is a bit colonial when it comes to these topics.
"Equal" is not equal to many miniorities in this country. It means they are the ones that give up their essence to become "equal" that is not equal. Its sometimes hard for some people to see and understand when you are on the priveleged side looking in. BEFORE anyone jumps on me about how they are not priveleged, I know we all come from different backgrounds some more impovershed than others. Its a societal privelege in the ranking as a race, caucasions get to make and set the rules and force others to follow them.
As for the birthrate I mentioned, I never said it was a good thing. It's actually a large concern and native organizations are trying to promote safe sex. We don't want our youths getting STDs. If they are getting pregnant young, that means they are having unprotected sex. THAT is one of the reasons why its so important that we educate them.
As I mentioned in another post. My neice is going to a native school. She is taught bits of native language, culture, and a respect for nature. It's not like natives are saying they want to go back to the old ways. They want to create a whole new path. One that functions in and with society while preserving their own culture (this includes technology).
As long as people think that you can just assimilate other races, you are going to have racial tensions. | |
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| Residential Schools
Posted: 5/26/2006 5:08:03 AM | Polly, your posts are as usual very perceptive....."caucasions get to make and set the rules and force others to follow them"
R n' C quoted..."and then rescinding them as a result of political whim or partisanism or political philosophy or party lines is inhumane and creates a schizophrenic position for Natives and their leadership".
Schizophrenic is probably the most appropriate verb I have heard when it refers the the governments' actions regarding apologies and restitution regarding the Residential School issue. And although money is important, it is NOT the only restitution that is being sought by survivors. Survivors want their stories to be heard, recognised for the brutality and inhumaneness that an entire culture was subjected to.
And to also comment on "schizophrenic position ...and their leadership", truer words were never spoken. There is never a level playing field in Indian politics because the government keeps changing the rules....no wonder our leadership is floundering, one could even make a plausible argument that this is done deliberately. BUT, in terms of recognising the Residential School issues and reparations, ALL Native leaders are in solidarity and will never waver. Our people were deliberately and purposefully identified as a "problem" and the answer was government/church sanctioned genocide. And, it will take several generations for the residual effects to be healed and once again have a healthy and proud Native Nation living peacefully with fellow Canadians. | |
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