Head of BIA Apologized for Genocide (2000)

(noon. – promoted by ek hornbeck)

Source

Gover recited a litany of wrongs the BIA inflicted on Indians since its creation as the Indian Office of the War Department. Estimates vary widely, but the agency is believed responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Indians.

http://scholar.google.com/scho…

The last photo from the Fort Smith Historical Society begins by asking a question: “What does it mean to be civilized?” The implication being, the dominant culture was civilized, while the American Indian culture wasn’t.

The 8 Stages of Genocide

1. Classification:

Crossposted at Native American Netroots

The 8 Stages of Genocide

2. Symbolization:

What is the proper name for “civilized” and the more overt terms used at the time?

The 8 Stages of Genocide

3. Dehumanization:

Such terms were where “One group denies the humanity of the other group.”

“This agency participated in the ethnic cleansing that befell the Western tribes,” Gover said. “It must be acknowledged that the deliberate spread of disease, the decimation of the mighty bison herds, the use of the poison alcohol to destroy mind and body, and the cowardly killing of women and children made for tragedy on a scale so ghastly that it cannot be dismissed as merely the inevitable consequence of the clash of competing ways of life.”

Furthermore, “Genocide is always organized, usually by the state, though sometimes informally.” Hence, the “deliberate spread of disease, the decimation of the mighty bison herds, the use of the poison alcohol to destroy mind and body, and the cowardly killing of women and children made for tragedy on a scale so ghastly that it cannot be dismissed as merely the inevitable consequence of the clash of competing ways of life.”

The 8 Stages of Genocide

4. Organization:

http://eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPort…

“Extremists drive the groups apart.  Hate groups broadcast polarizing propaganda.” Such as, “The practice of pitting Indians against Indians reached its peak in the next phase of military activity, the American Civil War of 1861-65,” kidnapping children and forcing them into the Boarding Schools, forcing the Cherokee into Internment Camps prior to their Trail of Tears, and the Hate Groups yelling “Kill the Indian, save the man” in the U.S. Congress.

The 8 Stages of Genocide

5. Polarization:

How generous indeed, since they didn’t want to go to the 7th stage of genocide, extermination.

The misery continued after the BIA became part of the Interior Department in 1849, Gover said. Children were brutalized in BIA-run boarding schools, Indian languages and religious practices were banned and traditional tribal governments were eliminated, he said. The high rates of alcoholism, suicide and violence in Indian communities today are the result, he said.

Was the Dominant Culture civilized?

The 8 Stages of Genocide

6. IDENTIFICATION:

Is the Dominant Culture civilized now?

The legal definition of genocide

Deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to destroy a group
includes the deliberate deprivation of resources needed for the group’s physical survival, such as clean water, food, clothing, shelter or medical services. Deprivation of the means to sustain life can be imposed through confiscation of harvests, blockade of foodstuffs, detention in camps, forcible relocation or expulsion into deserts.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

I would have to say yes, the Dominant Culture is civilized now. For to be of the mind set of the Dominant Culture, one must be in genocide denial, and what better word for a culture in denial – than “civilized?”

Civilized, Colonial indeed.

Supreme Court rules in big land-into-trust case

Tribes that weren’t under federal jurisdiction in 1934 cannot follow the land-into-trust process of the Indian Reorganization Act, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday.