Critical Race Theory and the American Indian
‘Critical race theory’ (CRT) is an academic concept that is more than 40 years old. It proposes that race is a social construct, and that racism is not merely the product of individual bias or prejudice, but also something embedded in legal systems and policies. It’s a hot topic at the moment in the banned-books movements across America and what we can and cannot teach in our schools.
The history of our abuse of American Indian tribes across the nation is a pet interest of mine and I’ve paid close attention over the years. In most minds it is a slavery issue, but it has roots in the near-genocide carried out against our Native-American Indian population as well.
Let me quote Chief Slow Bull, an Oglala Sioux
“What treaty that the Whites have kept has the Red Man broken? Not one. What treaty that the White Man ever made with us have they kept? Not one.
“When I was a boy, the Sioux owned the world. The sun rose and set on their land. They sent ten thousand men to battle. Where are the warriors today? Who slew them? Where are our lands? Who owns them?
“What White Man can say I ever stole his land or a penny of his money? Yet, they say I am a thief. What White Woman, however lonely, was ever captive or insulted by me? Yet they say I am a bad Indian. What White Man has ever seen me drunk? Who has ever come to me hungry and been unfed? Who has ever seen me beat my wives or abuse my children? What law have I broken?
“Is it wrong for me to love my own? Is it wicked for me because my skin is red? Because I am a Sioux? Because I was born where my father lived? Because I would die for my people and my Country?”
The history of the world is its life-story
It’s true that history has mostly been written by the victors, but the truth bleeds through as surely as both victors and victims bled during the chaotic writing of that history.
Are we a stronger nation for that denial? I think not. Will our children be stronger for our hiding of the truth? In this case I insist not. And I say that, knowing full well that we somehow inscribed upon our nation the notion of our ‘manifest destiny,’ the outrageous idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America.
‘Divinely ordained’ is the lie that nations march behind, flags flying and bands playing, when they assault other tribes or nations in nothing more than illegal land-grabs.
The very first evidence of American Imperialism was the taking of those westward lands from the natives that had been here 12,000 years before our arrival.
That is our American life-story and we withhold it from our citizens (particularly our children) at our peril…