Professor Sonja Thomas presented her current research and ideas behind her previous works last week in Presence of the Past. She began by discussing the history of the small town where she grew up in Montana. In the past the catholic church had taken over indigenous peoples\u2019 land and forced the Native American children into catholic schools, where they were abused and forced to take on the catholic faith. Children were forced into the missions without a choice where they were bullied into accepting the Catholic faith. In the schools they were not allowed to speak their native language and when they went home to their families they would not discuss their experience at the schools. Thomas elaborated on the unjust treatment of the natives and how they were restricted by the catholic settlers. Natives were not considered citizens until 1924 and were not allowed to vote until 1965. It was truly unsettling to hear about the ongoing abuse of the people who had lived on the lands in Montana long before the Catholics decided to plant their roots. While the religious lessons may not have stayed with them through the years, they still remember the abuse that was inflicted by the people who took over their lands.<\/p>\n
Thomas, then moved on to discuss the current work that she has been researching for, a book based upon Indian missionary priests that have migrated and come to work in Montana around where she grew up. The topic of the book is specifically focused on the interaction between the missionary priests and the Native Americans that have previously had issues with other Catholic priests settling on their lands. Professor Thomas was looking to see if the Indian priests would have the same experience with racism that the Native Americans had. The new book will be an autoethnography in which Thomas has interviewed 40 people both Native Americans, white and Indian Priests. One interesting takeaway was that the children in her town were not educated on the history and as a part of that were not educated about the Native Americans that share their towns. The Indian missionary priests have been subject to some racism since their arrival. They are referred to as imports rather than missionaries, which is what white priests are called when they travel abroad to other countries, and many white Catholics have resisted Indian priests if they join their parish.<\/p>\n
Thomas did not get the response that she anticipated when she interviewed Native Americans about the missionary priests. They are still caught up in the abuse and racism that they face from whites against the natives in schools. There seems to be no solution to the problem as the segregation between them only continues to grow with more hostility. I thought Kallie\u2019s discussion about education around Native Americans in the United States was interesting and true. There is a widespread issue with the way history is written in our country, and there is no way for the lives of the natives to improve if the history is continuously discredited and ignored.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Professor Sonja Thomas presented her current research and ideas behind her previous works last week in Presence of the Past. She began by discussing the history of the small town where she grew up in Montana. In the past the catholic church had taken over indigenous peoples\u2019 land and forced the Native American children into … <\/p>\n