245 years to get to Indigenous Peoples' Day

It just took 245 years to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day as a National Holiday in 2021. 

Till I came to Berkeley, I had not been aware that a simple start (though by no means enough) was land acknowledgment, which I saw at many events; recognition that UC Berkeley sits on the territory of xučyun (Huichin), the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo speaking Ohlone people.

Reflecting below on an assignment done on Zitkala-Sa for American Literature back in Grade 10 and an essay on Black Elk Speaks for my American Indian Ethnic Studies course a few years back.

You have to think about the terrific power play at work here (sarcasm intended) - the dominant party strips away the very identity and resources of non-dominant party (identity and resources which gives them confidence and which makes them strong), so the latter will stay second class and subservient in the former's socio-economic structure. 

I'm always felt very sad when studying history as it seems to be a series of such power plays, one group suppressing another. This has been the history of colonialism and occupation the world over. The first thing the invader does is to destroy the structure of the old culture, then replace it with the own religious structures and values, till the old culture becomes one of shame for its practitioners. After a few generations all knowledge of the old culture is lost to human memory. 

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School Days of An Indian Girl by Zitkala-Sa - Example of Realism
(Grade 10 assignment)

Zitkala-Sa’s recollection is a poignant account of the conflict and clash between two cultures and the frustration of ending up in a no-man’s land. She is a young Indian girl who is taken away to be assimilated into the white society; by teaching her the mannerisms and customs of the white race. The problem with assimilation seems to be an all-or-nothing attitude by the teachers. She is forced to forsake her own native customs and language (including cutting her hair) and then told to go live on the reservation. So she can never be fully Indian. Even her own mother is not able to relate to her and vice versa. Yet the color of her skin will always make her a second class citizen in the white community. She will never get full acceptance there either. She may have won the speaking contest, yet every time she goes to a new place it would be like starting over with the new set of audience. She would have to prove herself over and over again. The reader is profoundly affected by the stark realism and detail of her experiences in her narrative. The reader journeys with her on her loss of innocence - “ we had been very impatient to start our journey...” (207) to a dissatisfied state of bewilderment - “The little taste of victory in my heart, did not satisfy a hunger in my heart.”(221).

The story has all the elements of realism. It is devoid of emotionalism or melodrama. The events are presented in a very matter of fact way. “Their mothers, instead of reproving them such rude curiosity, looked closely at me, and attracted their children’s attention further to my blanket.”(208). At each stage there is another grim reality to be faced. There are outside forces (the assimilation process) and events that affect that affect her at every turn.

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