Remembering Wounded Knee
Dec. 27th, 2009 05:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithThe massacre at Wounded Knee is one of many dark blots on American history. Here is a petition to remove medals of honor bestowed upon soldiers in the Seventh Cavalry ... for shooting unarmed people including women and children. Remember that the root cause of conflict between the indigenous nations and the European invaders is that the European settlers were engaged in multiple counts of land theft and genocide.
While this is historically common behavior, it is not honorable or acceptable, and should not be presented as such. That dark history contributes to many of the problems complicating our lives today. To honor it is to perpetuate it. To rebuke it is to take a step away from it, toward a more peaceful future. We cannot change the past, but we can choose which parts of it we honor and emulate or disdain and improve upon. We cannot choose our ancestors, but we can examine the deeds of those who came before and decide whom we will honor and whom we will condemn.
Mitakuye oyasin.
While this is historically common behavior, it is not honorable or acceptable, and should not be presented as such. That dark history contributes to many of the problems complicating our lives today. To honor it is to perpetuate it. To rebuke it is to take a step away from it, toward a more peaceful future. We cannot change the past, but we can choose which parts of it we honor and emulate or disdain and improve upon. We cannot choose our ancestors, but we can examine the deeds of those who came before and decide whom we will honor and whom we will condemn.
Mitakuye oyasin.
