Sometimes history manages to catch up with current events. The recent studies about the history of indigenous people in Canada have proved this hypothesis to be true. In the last few weeks, history studies have served as a reminder of the painful history of the indigenous American People.
In some instances, this history has been directly connected to current events. From the topic about the European settlers and their unjust residential schools to the story about a school district embracing native worldviews in their curriculum, the recent weeks have been characterized by interesting studies. Some of these studies have had shocking elements while others have been eye-opening. This paper is a personal reaction to the teachings that I have received in class over the last few weeks.
The most interesting topic was the one about residential schools. In the course of my studies, I have encountered several instances of injustices that were conducted on Native Americans. However, the operations in residential schools were the most shocking in several aspects. First, residential schools were a brainchild of Christian churches. Churches are viewed as the pillars of society as well as advocates of social justice. The involvement of churches in the operation of residential schools challenges the notion of churches being guardians of social justice. According to recent studies, churches went to great lengths to ensure that the organization of the Aboriginal People was dismantled.
For example, in one lesson we learned that the people who were running the residential schools enlisted the services of trackers. The job of these trackers was to ‘hunt’ and return the students who ran away. It would also be prudent to assume that such activities involved a lot of violence. The use of trackers is reminiscent of the slavery period where runaway slaves were subjected to track. The intentions of the churches and the federal government are hard to understand.
It was irrational to go through all that trouble just to ‘educate’ the Native Aboriginal People. These actions also defy the institution of colonization. The only logical explanation for such actions would be racism or another form of social evil.
The other astounding detail about the recent studies is the period that residential schools remained in operation. According to the studies, the first residential schools were initiated in the early 1900s and the last residential school was closed up in 1996. This indicates that the effects of residential schools affected a few generations of the Indigenous People. Moreover, even though governments have acknowledged their participation in this social injustice, none of the churches has taken a similar step. This type of denial does not reflect on the good faith of the church institution.
In another lesson, the story of how schools are embracing the Native American’s worldviews in their curriculums was told. In the story, an entire school district is taking measures to embrace native worldviews. This part of the studies was more encouraging as opposed to the part of residential schools. Some of the efforts to incorporate the forgotten culture into the school system include enlisting the services of elders in rectifying misplaced history and including the Aboriginal communities in community services. Several experts have blamed the westernized worldviews for the deteriorating morals in our society.
If these experts are right, then incorporating native worldviews into the school curriculum could remedy this problem. Overall, the studies were interesting and lively. Besides, they served as an eye-opener to the tribulations of the Aboriginal People.