October 11, 2021

Today I was at the postoffice, simply to drop off a couple of letters.  Two ladies were wanting to do some business there, but the doors were locked, and they seemed confused.  It was Monday, after all.  I made a mindless quip: blame Columbus.  I hadn’t thought of the quip till the situation came up.  But coming home just now I thought it wasn’t particularly funny.  It wasn’t even thought out….

I’m here solely because of colonizing by white Europeans, of whom Christopher Columbus was one of the first.  Genetically I’m 100% European stock, French and German (they group the two nationalities together in my ancestral tree).  My first French-Canadian forebears was in N. America before 1620, but when he came North America was already well populated with a large assortment of native peoples.

And the story continues from there.

But I’ll leave that aside for this day, for which Indigenous People’s day is gradually gaining more traction.

Today, an offering from the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, here.

Tomorrow, a zoom offering from World Without Genocide, In commemoration of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, “Genocide of the American Indians:  From 1492 to Today” will be held on Tuesday, October 12, 7:00-9:00 pm CT. Register here.

Personally, I’ve had a bit of a walk with this issue in the last several months, becoming acquainted with an ancient Metis cemetery at Pembina ND.  If you’re interested, you can read my account about it here.  I am grateful to Ed Jerome and Ruth Swan for their many years of advocacy about this sacred ground.