I found Sonja Thomas’ lecture, “Indians on the Reservation: Missionary Priests from India and Catholic Settler Colonialism”, to be extremely moving. This past semester I attended the showing of the film Dawnland, which I consider to be my first true exposure to the narratives of Native American people in my home state of Maine. Looking through the other posts by my peers, it is overwhelming that many of us share in the perspective that we were not well educated in elementary school (and even high school) around the issues of cultural genocide that has taken place here in the United States. I can vividly remember reading picture books in November leading up to Thanksgiving holiday that romanticized the relationship between American Indians and the white settlers. I can honestly share that my personal misconceptions and misunderstandings of American Indians continued until I was a collegiate student (and even still I am sure I do not truly understand fully). Professor Thomas’ talk brought to light additional aspects of this genocide that I would not have otherwise considered.
Continue reading “Swept Under the Rug: Lack of U.S. education regarding the Indian Genocide”