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Indigenous Women Fight Back
Indigenous Women Fight Back
Throughout this semester we have researched, in depth, what it means to be an indigenous person in the United States and the struggles imposed on them by our society. We read, listened and watched many different resources that provided us with an immense amount of information and clarity. In addition, we identified indigenous people that are located where we live and researched their history and what they support. With all of this information, this web page will argue what Qwo-Li Driskill means when he states that indigenous people were stolen from their homes and their bodies through European Colonialism.
Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash
European colonization separated indigenous women from their homes by using aggressive means to move westward. Unfortunately, the European settlers did not care what they needed to do in order to steal the homes of indigenous people. Their willingness to take over an entire population and not feel any remorse for their actions made them able to conquer the United States. According to Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, in her book, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States, the European settlers expanded using "brutal counterinsurgency warfare" (Dunbar-Ortiz 80) that eliminated and destroyed indigenous territory. The poem in Qwo-Li Driskill’s article also supports the idea of how indigenous women were stolen from their land. To begin, this poem is being sent to the Smoky Mountains from Oregon because the Cherokee were from the Smoky Mountains. Thousands of Cherokee were located in the Smoky Mountains when European settlers arrived and, shortly after the Declaration of Independence, they began to move westward. The government used direct violence, including burning land and houses of the Cherokee people, which ignited the Trail of Tears. To say the indigenous people were stolen from their bodies can be interpreted in a few different ways. I believe many indigenous people view their body as an extension of the land, so when they were forced to relocate by the European settlers, they had to leave an essential part of themselves behind. However, in the following paragraphs there are more in depth examples of how women were stolen from their bodies through the aggressive and degrading means of the European settlers.
The history of colonization continues to impact many communities to this day. One major group that has been affected are women. Settler colonialism destroyed systems of equality that existed in indigenous communities. Prior to settler colonialism, indigenous people did not have so much gender inequality. In other words, it was a western idea brought by Europeans that one gender is superior to the other and there are only two genders. In the podcast, “All My Relations”, Matika Wilbur and Adrienne Keene mention how women had “decision making roles, power holding roles” (Wilbur 35:30) in their indigenous societies prior to settler colonialism. As we discussed in class, Indigenous people also continue to feel the impacts of colonialism through not being able to reclaim their land. The United States is failing to recognize historical treaties and has not returned land back to indigenous groups which is illegal.
Photo by Dulcey Lima on Unsplash
Indigenous women resisted and continued to resist colonialism in many different manners. The most commonly used form of resistance is their continuous refusal to remain silent about how indigenous women were treated by Europeans. In the book, Bad Indians, Deborah Miranda writes, “it’s not just that we’re women; we’re Indian women...thirty-four percent of us raped...and ninety percent of the rapists are non-Indian” (Miranda 23). This quote exemplifies how poorly women were treated by European men when they came to America and how exactly women were stolen from their bodies. Indigenous women speak out about violence and stories have been passed on for continuous generations to be properly informed. Women use protests to bring awareness to the violence of colonialism and the many murdered and missing indigenous women.
Photo by Lucas Myers on Unsplash
Decolonization is the undoing of harmful western ideas that were put in place when European settlers arrived in America. Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy believes that it is important to return land back to indigenous groups and for people to take accountability for the ongoing genocide against indigenous people. She clearly states, “until we start talking about it [decolonization] and envisioning it, it’s not ever going to happen so we need to start saying out loud that giving land back is possible…” (Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy 21:42). This quote from her presentation explains that the first step to decolonization must be to return land. Once land has been returned to those to whom it belongs, then we can continue the decolonization process and have conversations with indigenous people on their land.
Photo by Todd Diemer on Unsplash
Coast Miwok Land Acknowledgement
Coast Miwok Land Acknowledgement
The acres of beautiful land in West Marin are the home to the culture and legacy of the Coast Miwok people. Records of the Coast Miwok date back to the year of 1579, but it is thought that they were located in Marin County years prior to that record. They are people who focus greatly on the importance of the environment and the preservation of their land. This land and the Coast Miwok possess a deeply rooted relationship that relies on respect and reciprocity. They have persevered through the disrespect they have endured throughout American history. They were put through degrading experiences, including being used as labor and placed into missions, that must be recognized as disgraceful. It was on this West Marin land that the Coast Miwok shared their spiritual values through dancing and other ceremonies.
As a member of the West Marin community, I acknowledge that the land I have grown up on is not a property of mine. I have admiration for the Coast Miwok and I continue to be inspired as I increase my knowledge about them. I recognize that there is an immense amount of information that I have yet to learn about the specifics of the Coast Miwok culture and traditions. I am going to continue to inspire others to recognize who came before them because indigenous people deserve that respect. It is the land of the Coast Miwok that I grew up on.
Work Cited
Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy. “‘Resilient Histories for Resilient Futures: CA Indian History & Community Empowerment.’” Youtube, Two Feathers NAFS, 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=andi7-CKN7U.
Dunbar-Ortiz, Roxanne. An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States. Boston, MA: Beacon Press, 2015.
“History.” Federated Indians Graton Rancheria. Accessed October 5, 2020. https://gratonrancheria.com/culture/history/.
Miranda, Deborah. Bad Indians: a Tribal Memoir. Berkeley, CA: Heyday, 2013.
Miwok Archeological Preserve of Marin (MAPOM). Accessed October 5, 2020. https://www.mapom.org/.
Wilbur, Matika, and Adrienne Keene. All My Relations, February 26, 2019. https://www.allmyrelationspodcast.com/podcast/episode/32b0bd95/ep-1-all-my-relations-and-indigenous-feminism.
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