The European colonization of the Americas was effective because they were willing to kill, rape, and torture indigenous people in order to exterminate them from their land. During the European colonization of the Americas, indigenous women and Two-Spirit people were ripped away from their homes and stripped of their dignity and sense of self. In the essay, “Stolen From Our Bodies”, Quo-Li Driskill discusses the effect that settler colonialism had on women and Two-Spirited people and argues that European colonizers used sexual violence, torture, and murder as ameans of gaining power over women and Two-Spirit people. The violent tactics that colonizers introduced to the Americas ultimately tore indigenous people away from both their homes and their bodies and continues to impact communities today.

In his essay, Driskill argues that forms of oppression such as transphobia, homophobia, and sexism present in Native communities today are largely the result of European colonization and genocide (51). Sexual assault and sexism were not common nor tolerated in most cultures before colonization introduced the concept of white male supremacy and violence towards women and children (Driskill 51). To the European colonizers, raping and assaulting Native women was seen as masculine and a sign of power and control, as if stealing a person from their body should earn respect among peers. The colonization of Native communities ripped away any connection sexual assault victims had to their bodies and forced them to detatch themselves in order to conform to cultural imperialism. In the YouTube video "Resilient Histories for Resilient Futures: CA Indian History & Community Empowerment'', Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy includes a particular incident where Father Junipero Serra, a priest from an early spanish mission, expressed in his writings that soldiers would openly sexually assault indigenous women and children and were surprised when Native people tried to stop the violence (31:56). These acts of violence stripped them of their self esteem and publically humiliated them to the point where they disassociated themselves from their surroundings and their physical bodies. Before colonization, indigenous people saw sex as something beautiful and sacred, however, the colonizers turned it into a weapon. Beyond sexual assault, colonizers introduced the idea that only heterosexual peoples deserved respect and Two-Spirit people who identify with different gender identities and expressions were degraded and ostrocised from the community (Driskill 54). The sexual violence that occurred in the missions during the colonization of the Americas separated indigenous people from their homes and their bodies because it introduced racist and sexist ideas surrounding gender and identity.

Erdrich, Louise. “Rape on the Reservation.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 27 Feb. 2013, www.nytimes.com/2013/02/27/opinion/native-americans-and-the-violence-against-women-act.html.

The sexual and non-sexual violence towards indigenous people was a culture shock and made it difficult for them to resist or defend themselves right away. It was especially hard for young women to defend themselves as new ideologies surrounding sexism and patriarchy became evident in their everyday lives. In Bad Indians, Deborah A. Miranda shares a testimony from Isabel Meadows, titled “Dear Vicenta”, and describes how even priests would take part in the raping of young indigenous girls and women. In this testimony, Meadows claims that no one resisted the sexual violence because “No one believes what you say. Or cares. Until over a century has passed and the damn guy is dead and buried and safe in his own little mission graveyard” (Miranda 23). In this story specifically, Vicenta, the young girl that was raped by a preist, resisted colonization by being one of the few women who stood up for herself and told her sexual assault story, even though she knew no one would believe her. Because of this, her story was kept alive and told a century later by Isabel in an attempt to get justice. Although there may not have been justice for Vicenta in the end, her story lives on today as indigenous women continue to resist colonization by studying the sexual violence against colonized women as well as researching what it was like for woman in an environment where rape, self-induced abortions, and infanticides were commonplace (Miranda 23). Women were not alone in their struggle with resisting colonization as Two-Spirit people also faced oppression in a heteropatriarchal environment. After the colonizers beat and threatened them for acting and looking different, they were rejected from their Native communities (Miranda 31). Historically, it was difficult for women and Two-Spirit people to resist colonization when they held no power over the white man and struggled with systems of oppression such as patriarchy, heteropatriarchy, sexism, and racism.

“It's Legal to Rape Native American Women in America.” Daily Kos, 2018, www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/9/23/1798048/-It-s-Legal-to-Rape-Native-American-Women-in-America.

Indigenous people continue to resist colonization today by demanding that their land is returned to them through decolonization. According to Dr. Cutcha Risling Baldy, decolonization is the process in which land is returned to indigenous people in order to reclaim traditions from before the Americas were colonized (21:40). In order to undo the colonization of the Americas, both Native and non-Native people need to start a conversation about giving land back that was stolen from indigenous people. A start to this process would be receiving land acknowledgements for the land that was stolen. To make real progress towards undoing colonization, society needs to start envisioning what it means to return the land to its rightful inhabitants. In order for indigenous people to heal from the aftermath of colonization, the land that was stolen must be returned. There will be racial, environmental, and social unrest until this happens.

“Idle No More: Indigenous Activists Call for Peaceful Revolution.” Seeds of Good Anthropocenes, 26 May 2016, goodanthropocenes.net/idle-no-more-indigenous-activists-call-for-peaceful-revolution/.

This history of colonization continues to impact indigenous communities today. Indigenous people continue to be marginalized by society as they are forced to live in reservations on remote land with limited resources. In addition, they continue to struggle to revitalize their traditions and keep their stories and ancestral histories alive. Lastly, indigenous women continue to fight against sexual violence through campaigns for missing women. The National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center is specifically dedicated to keeping women and children safe against sexual violence and continues to provide resources and advocate for Native women (“National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center”) .

“Indigenous Peoples and Violence.” Association on American Indian Affairs, www.indian-affairs.org/indigenous-peoples-and-violence.html.

A significant event that shaped how present day ingidenous people resist colonization was the American Indian Movement in 1964, which began after indigenous people marched for their right to fish in their traditional fishing waters, gaining massive media attention because of the unlawful beating, destruction of property, and arrest of many Indigenous people (Dunbar-Ortiz 180). The indigenous peoples’ history of oppression impacts them today as they fight to continue their customs and keep their culture alive. According to Driskill, in order to heal from the past and remind themselves of what once was, indigenous people look back at stories from their ancestors (56). Many tribal stories revolve around characters who are considered outsiders in society and encourage differences between body and environment (Driskill 56). Revisiting these stories is a reminder that indigenous women and Two-Spirit people can continue to resist the sexism present in society that the Europeans brought. Although there have been breakthroughs of resistance coming from the indigenous people today, from taking back their land to speaking out against sexual assault, there is still much more work to do to bring justice to the indigenous people of America. While European colonization happened long ago, it’s repercussions left society with a patriarchal system, riddled with racism and sexism towards women, Two-Spirit people, and people of color.

Native American Rights. (2016, April 8). Gender, Race, and Class. https://genderraceclassblog.wordpress.com/native-american-rights/

As someone who has lived in the bay area my whole life, I had the opportunity to learn about the indigenous people that once walked, fished, and danced on that land. I learned about their colorful clothing, weaving techniques, and traditional dances through school field trips and reports. Due to settler culture, the education system failed to educate me about the genocide, rapes, and ethnic cleansing that forced indigenous people to give up land that is rightfully theirs. The Muwekma Ohlone Tribe’s Native land includes the following counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, Santa Clara, San Mateo, as well as parts of Napa, Santa Cruz, Solano, and San Joaquin. The land that my home sits on, the land that my family and I have been occupying for my entire life, was not given willingly by the Muwekma Ohlone people. It was stolen from them in 1776 when Mission Dolores was founded; and again one year later with the founding of Mission Santa Clara and Mission San Jose. However, this injustice has not stopped the Ohlone people from continuing to push for decolonization of their land. The Muwekma Ohlone people keep their traditions alive through ceremonial gatherings on their aborigional land, such as the one in San Francisco called Big Time, where Ohlone people speak, pray, and sing in their Native languages. Gatherings like these remind the present day indigenous people that they have a community and some place to call home, even if the land is not returned, because their traditions are rooted in their land.

My knowledge is still very limited, and I am aware that I will never truly understand what it was like to be an indigenous person when the land was first stolen, nor will I know what it is like to be an indigenous person today, living on stolen land. I acknowledge that I lived my life for 18 years in my hometown on the traditional land of the Muwekma Ohlone people. I honor and respect the people who have inhabited it for generations and I will continue to expand my knowledge by learning about what came before colonization. I acknowledge that there were always indigenous people living in my hometown of Contra Costa County, and there always will be.

Kamalakanthan, Prashanth. “The Ohlone: San Francisco’s Original People.” YouTube, uploaded by Mother Jones, 20 Nov. 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl4_Kg6kvzc

Muwekma Ohlone Tribe of the San Francisco Bay Area. http://www.muwekma.org/tribalhistory/historicaltimeline.html. Accessed 1 Oct. 2020.