Opinion

Ivan Star Comes Out: Indian history altered at our own expense

Thursday, March 24, 2016

Ivan F. Star Comes Out. Photo from Native Sun News

Altering history for the sake of a new nation
By Ivan F. Star Comes Out
www.nsweekly.com

I’ve been spending a good portion of my time digging into historical events affecting “Indians.” I am not a history buff by any means but realizing that I am horribly lacking in terms of “Indian” history, I decided to remedy that. Also, I needed to know, at least for my own peace of mind, why our language and cultural ways had been forcibly suppressed, which is now nearly obliterated.

As a result, I am finding some interesting situations. For one, I learned that the newcomers had a reason behind their now conspicuous efforts at keeping Native American history obscured. My heart and soul would be putrefied if I knew that I tried to eradicate “Indians” and then altered the truths of historical events in my selfish and excessive desire to attain great personal wealth.

This is what happened and it was done intentionally. An example is the professed “Last Battle of the Sioux” notion that disguised what really happened at Wounded Knee (1890) in the minds of millions of newcomers, Natives included. Had the truth been relayed to the millions of “Indian” children in the government schools, I believe life on the homeland would be a bit more encouraging today.

We may have been able to maintain and improve on the sovereignty our ancestors had. Instead we are totally dependent of the federal government. Since we are completely unaware of our own history, we exist in the here and now with an acute awareness of the new biased American history. Our truthful past would have been a determining factor as to our identity.

The idea behind this reprehensible act of altering history for the benefit of the new nation has been used by European countries for centuries. Scholars have traced this oddity back to Europe and the Mediterranean and are linked to the rise of the Roman Empire. Perhaps it is also indirectly linked to the fall of Rome. So now it is an accepted protocol of expansionism.