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We were stolen from our bodies
We were stolen from our homes
And we are fighters in this long war
To bring is all back home -Qwo-Li Driskill
Little did the indigenous people inhabiting the western hemisphere know that upon Christopher Columbus’ first steps on the shores of Guanahani would they be robbed of the world that they know. Qwo-Li Driskill’s claim that indigenous people were stolen from their homes and their bodies is not only call to attention of the atrocities committed by European colonizers to displace indigenous people from their native lands, but also an exposé of the cultural genocide that indigenous people have suffered, and continue to experience to this day.
From murder and destruction of the environment, to the physical displacement of nations, European colonizers utilized numerous methods to seize land and expand for means of religious conversion, agricultural land, or “manifest destiny”. The arrival of European settlers was synonymous with “The End of the World”, as Dr.Cutcha Risling Baldy, and numerous California-Indian scholars, refers to it as — and rightly so. According to Ortiz, the outright murder of indigenous people became a normal practice in North America, even encouraged, as bounties were placed to reward those who brought in the heads of indigenous people, and later for only their scalps. Alongside direct murder, European settlers destroyed the land that sustained the indigenous nations. Dr.Baldy stated how California gold miners would essentially poison the local water sources in their pursuit of flecks of gold, cut down forests, and slaughter wildlife without thought to the repercussions for local indigenous populations.
Though if the U.S. settlers didn’t already rid the land of its prior inhabitants, the government took it into their own hands to “civilly” move the indigenous nations to land reservations. Most famously, the 7th President of the United States Andrew Jackson carried out the “voluntary emigration” of Southeastern U.S. indigenous nations, known as the Trail of Tears.
Though on the contrary, Ortiz reveals that the “nations were driven into exile,” and we’re forced to march in the dead of winter (Pg.113). It is from these tragic occurrences that indigenous people were quite literally stolen from their homes, either through involuntary removal, or in their parting from this world by the hands of settlers themselves.
The beginning of the apocalypse for indigenous people didn’t just begin and end with genocide, but there was also a large component of “cultural cleansing” that took place: a problem which is most evident in numerous indigenous feminist issues that continue to today. Upon the arrival of Spanish missionaries to North America did we see the establishment of the mission system, where many indigenous groups were brought in and forced to convert to Catholicism and forget their previous ways of living.
Even though the missions primarily aimed to “civilize” indigenous people, it was not unheard of for indigenous women to be sexually assaulted by the Padre of the mission. Used as a weapon of war, European settlers commonly committed sexual violence against indigenous women. According to Deborah Miranda, the term “Digger Belle” arose as a derogatory term throughout California to connote civilizing indigenous women “with the sole purpose of serving as objects for male enjoyment” (Pg. 47).
Furthermore, we continue to see the consequences of the dehumanization of indigenous women with the shocking statistic given by Matika Wilbur, that 3 in 4 indigenous women today are sexually assaulted. With western societies being held as the standard of civilization, it was not surprising that colonization became synonymous with the imposition of patriarchy among indigenous nations. It is for this reason that many indigenous feminists today, including Wilbur, do not align themselves with modern feminists movements, but instead resist white feminism as an act of resistance against colonialism. According to Ortiz, there existed numerous matrilineal indigenous societies, and for the most part men and women equally participated in governmental affairs. It wasn’t until European colonizers came along that indigenous women had to fight back for rights that they had already had.
Though indigenous nations and communities no longer have to endure horrific genocide, or forced “cultural cleansing”, we continue to see the consequences of European colonization on existing indigenous communities today. In 1978 the federal government began an acknowledgment process for recognizing Native American tribes, where they could gain some governmental autonomy and access to federal programs.
However, there are several indigenous groups who are not federally recognized, and struggle to establish themselves as a legitimate sovereign nation, one community being the Ohlone. The homeland of the Ohlone people is near and around the San Francisco area, and it is due to the urbanization and economic development of the bay area that they cannot gain federal recognition. Corrina Gould recognizes the dilemma that her people face, and instead is working towards the cultural conservation of the Ohlone. Whether it be through cultural revival or land grants, decolonization is an ongoing process for numerous indigenous communities who seek to regain what was taken from them. For Gould, decolonization is about the preservation of her ancestor’s practices. For Dr.Baldy, decolonization is a return of the land to its original owners.
In reality, indigenous communities are not just a single group of individuals, but are their own nations with their own respective cultural practices, languages, and ancestral histories. Western society for the most part wants us to believe that indigenous people have disappeared, but as Deborah Miranda states it “There really are liv[ing]... Indians” (Pg.xix). Decolonization begins with the recognition that indigenous communities still exist, and that they continue to face the consequences of colonization. While some struggle to preserve their culture, others toil to regain the land that was stolen from them. Just as Driskill claimed, they were “stolen from [their] bodies” and “stolen from [their] homes”, and it is up to descendants of European colonizers and individuals who inhabit the stolen land to recognize and amplify indigenous voices.
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