Here’s a story on the continuing fight for sacred sites and the environment. Another story about it here.

Why are they making fake snow? And why are they occupying a sacred space?

~~~~~~~

Story here on the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous.  I’m glad that the U.S. has finally signed on.  Special Rappoteur statement here.

One of the problems is that with my generation, the Boomers, we grew up with “Cowboys and Indians” …with the Indians being the “bad guys”.  Along with that, we had John Wayne movies (and others) that also portrayed them as the bad guys.  Then, when we studied history, we were told of all the brave settlers and how they were to be commended for “settling” the West…we were never told of the other side, or if there was, it was only when the “good Indians” helped whites to settle the land.

It was only when I began reading the Native Americans own account of their history that I began to realize how one-sided my history book had been.  This would also include women’s history, by the way, but that is another topic for another day.

I would learn that they were in many ways just the opposite of what I had been told:  they were spiritual; they were compassionate; they cared deeply for the environment (the “wilderness” of America was actually a carefully cultivated ecosystem); they respected their elders; they looked out for one another; they were not greedy–they took only what they needed.

We lost so much when we sought to impose our own beliefs on the Native Americans instead of trying to understand their culture.