Saturday, October 16, 2021

The Indigenous honors

 

This is how I imagined my ancestors when I was a kid from Texas, growing up in St. Louise, Missouri. I listened to radios and then watched on early TV's the Lone Ranger, Hopalong Cassidy, and Gene Autry and Roy Rogers and Dale Evans. Indigenous was not a name in my vocabulary, though Cowboy and Indian was.


Hunkpapa Lakota chief Sitting Bull and family, 1882.

The teepees in various movies were similar, but I didn't see the starving Native Americans, nor their children torn from families and sent to boarding schools. I only saw the hero cowboys and their lives. 

So this last Monday was Indigenous People's Day in many communities around the USA. The Italian descendants all celebrated the old Columbus Day still. I noticed lots of FaceBook posts about Native Americans, and wonder if that's just because of my own interest. My Italian friends may have missed seeing all those posts!


Balanced Rock in Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, 1928.

As a tourist in 2005, I visited this park, and many of the features are still the same. They probably were the same before any western Europeans appeared on the scene, i.e. Spanish and then English explorers. I wonder how the Indigenous peoples thought about these incredible formations.

I camped in Bryce Canyon in the 1970s with my 2 older sons...a beautiful experience of nature!

Sharing with Sepia Saturday this week, where we post some old photos and stories of our own interests!

Photo Paiute Tribal Member Jeremy, Credit Arch Deac Design LLP, shared on FB

Charlie Bulletts, 
 Kaibab Band of Paiutes at Bryce Canyon.

"I'd like visitors that come to Bryce Canyon to know that Southern Paiutes are still here.

"We're not 'these people,' 'these people once lived here,' 'these people once thrived,' 'these people survived in a harsh environment.' Those types of statements, to me, are not true because it's who I am, and I am still here, we are still here."

-Charley Bulletts

"Indigenous Peoples' Day celebrates the invaluable contributions and resilience of Indigenous peoples, as well as a commitment to their inherent tribal sovereignty. It is also a day for the celebration of native culture and cultural understanding through cross-cultural teachings.

"We invite you to learn more about Bryce Canyon's indigenous peoples, their stories, and tribal elder perspectives at: https://www.nps.gov/.../history.../americanindianhistory.htm"

From Bryce Canyon National Park

And another article shared on FB...

Columbus Statue to be removed...(from Mexico City)

 "Now, reports Johnny Diaz for the New York Times, a sculpture of an Indigenous woman is set to replace the controversial explorer’s likeness."

"A pedestal in the center of Mexico City that once hosted a statue of Christopher Columbus has stood empty since last October."

A 1909 photograph of the Christopher Columbus statue

"Columbus’ gesture refers to an outdated history that casts the explorer as the “discoverer” of the Americas. In truth, Columbus ventured to the Caribbean in 1492 and met the Taíno people—one of many civilizations that had been living across North America for tens of thousands of years. The explorer enslaved and killed thousands of Indigenous people; his actions paved the way for European colonization of the Americas and the transatlantic slave trade.

"For now, reports the Times, the Columbus statue will be relocated to Parque América, in Mexico City’s wealthy Polanco neighborhood."

From: Smithsonian Magazine

14 comments:

  1. Wow, the photo of the Balanced Rock is amazing. I have been to Bryce Canyon, it is a beautiful park and one of my favorites.
    I am happy to honor our Native American history and that there is now the federal Indigenous Peoples Day. Take care, have a happy weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ah yes! Cowboys and Indians were a thing. I guess we've made some progress. I am aware ot the two places you mentioned because I watch photography vlogs.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I remember playing Cowboys and Indians as a kid. The balanced rock is incredible to see, I never heard of it before.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Barbara, We have always had an interest in Native Americans/Indigenous peoples both here and around the world. It is a rich history that we should honor and respect. Columbus discovered the Americas...for Europeans. Sadly, it is a fact that the history of the world is a history of one group of people, tribe or nation, taking over another group's land and so it was here in the USA. Recognition and acceptance has been a long time coming, Take Care, Big Daddy Dave

    ReplyDelete
  5. A very interesting and instructive theme . I liked the link between your cowboy/cowgirl heroes and the situation with indigenous people. Thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Good post. I too grew up with the cowboys and Indians motif--but I always wanted to be an Indian. Glad to see the focus shifting from Columbus to the indigenous peoples. About time.

    ReplyDelete
  7. A thoughtful post for this weekend. Two weeks ago during a long road trip up to New England, I kept thinking about all the place names that came from America's First Nations people. So many names of rivers, mountains, towns, etc. in the northeast are all that remains of the native people who once lived there when the first Europeans arrived. I kept wondering how to pronounce these unfamiliar words. What did they mean? What did the New England region look like in those pre-Columbus time? I'm not sure what should replace monuments to Columbus and the "explorers" who followed but those original native people deserve more than mere words.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This has happened all over the world, sadly.
    We have lost so much and must cherish what is left and help it thrive

    ReplyDelete
  9. The old movies did give a very one-sided image of the Cowboys and Indians theme, didn't they... From my childhood here in Sweden (1960s) I remember boys playing cowboys and Indians as well. While we girls kept to our gender role of the times, "playing house"!

    ReplyDelete
  10. In defense of Columbus, he was a product of his time and culture. Europeans were Euro-centric and completely believed in the superiority of their advanced culture. Many of them still do.

    I wonder what people in the next century will say about us? Here we are evolving in some ways, but at the same time wreaking destruction on the planet. I think we will be judged as harshly as we judge our ancestral culture.

    ReplyDelete
  11. As Linda has said, Columbus was a product of his times and I'm glad we are, at least in part, beyond the practices of those times. Besides, we now know the Vikings made it to North America long before Columbus did. I played cowboys & Indians too, and sometimes "house" with my girlfriends until I became obsessed with the game of football on Saturdays and Sundays at the age of 10. Then cowboys & Indians, and "house" went out the window!

    ReplyDelete

There is today, more than ever, the need for a compassionate regenerative world civilization.