Blog Number Seven: The Silence of A Lost Civilization

I believe we can all reminisce about the weeks we spent in school studying the "enlightened" and "morally just" actions of America's founding fathers- George Washington, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson to name a few. While these men did contribute unquestionably to our democratic government and thereby our modern lifestyle, they became part of our history far later than the true cultivators of our great nation-the Native Americans. To call oneself a literate American should be synonymous with understanding the origins of the questionable decisions our "fathers" made to carve out the country for themselves. Time has proven that ignorance is one of the deadliest weapons known to humankind so continuing to let the memory of the Native Americans live on in silence while we thrive on the homeland they worshipped is an stark transgression. Moreover, I believe it is far more important to utilize our literacy to foster our awareness of the world as it existed in the past, or could exist in the future given the unimaginable resources we have at our fingertips in today's era. If I had been dead for three centuries I would give anything for children to read about my way of life and gain some greater sense of their place in the world. As far as historians know, the Native Americans have lived in North America for roughly 15,000 years, uninterrupted until the arrival of Europeans in 1492 who then proceeded to upheave their sense of identity and culture. A literate person should become acquainted with the true inklings of our nation even if we have nothing in common or knowledge of who the Native Americans were apart from their conquerors. In fact, we have a responsibility to acknowledge the people our ancestors desecrated to build a new society for us otherwise we loose a fundamental part of the American identity. Several prominent books that divulge insightful information about the Native Americans are These Mountains Are Our Sacred Places: The Story of the Stony People by John Snow or Blackfoot History and Culture by Helen Dwyer. Both highlight the horrors of their "resettlement", and illustrate first person narratives that capture the essence of what the Native Americans lost in their struggle to hold onto their tribal lands. If, like me you are more of a visual oriented person, movies such as Last of the Mohicans and Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner  offer an impressively enriching perspective into the daily lives of the tribal nations as well as their turmoil with the alien Europeans who "seemed strangely intent on acquiring things". Personally, I have sought to become knowledgeable about the local tribes (Lenape and Mohicans) who used to live in the Hudson Valley out of a deep sense of remorse and frustration that their lifestyle was uprooted so suddenly and so mercilessly in my neighborhood. In my opinion, we can never repent enough for the actions of our predecessors no matter how many college grants or free land our government gives to their descendants; however we can still salvage a small piece of their beautiful legacy by re-educating ourselves with their culture and their connection with nature.