Today marks the celebration of Indigenous People’s Day (also known as Columbus Day) around the United States. It is an attempt to begin to address our settler-colonial past and acknowledge the enduring presence of the original peoples of this land who have been here for tens of thousands of years.
Almost as soon as settlers arrived on these shores, they enslaved and robbed the people who lived here. Utilizing Catholic papal documents like the Doctrine of Discovery (which allowed for all kinds of atrocities), European settlers took land, took people, took children, took resources and caused great harm. Continuing to celebrate someone like Columbus only serves to deepen the wounds and continues an erasure of the very real and ongoing effects of colonialism.
Of course Indigenous people are still with us and have resisted their own oppression and diminishment since the beginning. As the Smithsonian says, “Native people continue to fight to maintain the integrity and viability of Indigenous societies. American Indian history is one of cultural persistence, creative adaptation, renewal, and resilience.”
Local celebrations of Indigenous People’s Day are everywhere, and Rochester is no exception. At Spiritus, our own Indigenous Allies Group encourages everyone to get involved in and/or attend some of our local activities (check out the website here) and one of our group leaders, Marcy DeJesus-Rueff, wrote a very informative and timely reflection piece for the Pachamama Alliance called “Out of the Many, One; Out of the One, Many” which I would encourage you all to read.
In our first reading from Galatians 4, Paul is telling his readers that they are not descended from those who are in bondage but are free. He says, “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”
This is a powerful message indeed.
It is powerful for Indigenous people because it is a reminder that no matter what has happened, no matter how hard white supremacy has tried, no matter how much “evidence” is presented to the contrary, the birthright of Indigenous people is freedom. Period. Full stop.
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson in her book As We Have Always Done (2017) speaks about the need for ongoing Indigenous resistance. In the introduction of her book, she says that, “The fact that I am here today is a miracle, because it means my family, like every Indigenous family, did whatever they could to ensure that I survived the past four hundred years of violence.” She goes on to say that the work of her freedom is profoundly internal (remembering her ancestors and all that has come before her) as well as external “as Indigenous people categorically refuse and reject dispossession and settler colonialism and the violence of capitalism, heteropatriarchy, white supremacy, and anti-Blackness that maintains them.”
And while Paul’s statement to the Galatians speaks profoundly to people who have been enslaved and erased, his words also speak to those who were part of the enslaving, dispossession and erasure.
In my reading of it, he is reminding us that we, too, were once free and did not have a white supremacy and settler-colonial worldview that has come to dominate our bodies and souls. He is urging us to “stand firm and do not submit” to it because it robs us of our humanity.
Tema Okun who wrote a profound article called Characteristics of White Supremacy Culture (which is now a brilliant website) names that we are “all impacted [by white supremacy and settler-colonialism]. And we are all impacted uniquely. And we are all impacted collectively. And we are all impacted differently.”
A huge step for white people recovering from white supremacy is to remember that an end to white supremacy is not an end to our life – in fact it is what restores it. And as part of this recovery process, we need to differentiate our spiritual self from our socialized self (see the work of Greg Elliott). Paul is calling us back to our spiritual selves – whose birthright is freedom – so that we might do the social/collective work of undoing the systems which have taken something from everyone.
Resistance to white supremacy and settler-colonialism is no small undertaking, however, and renaming a holiday (or writing a blog about it!) is a start but not a final step. Change seems to take so long and resistance to change is everywhere.
In Luke 11, Jesus expresses his frustration with the crowd and calls them an “evil generation” because they want a “sign” that they must change. He cites the story of Jonah (which I have written about elsewhere) which is about radical transformation when a people who are lost are given a way out.
I could imagine that Jesus would experience much frustration in our world today as so many people and systems seem to be doubling down on white supremacy and settler-colonialist projects.
Indigenous People’s day is both a sign and an invitation. It offers us hope that change is possible, and that we can follow the lead of our Indigenous kin and work together to bring about changes that keep opening us up to new possibilities. And it invites us into the daily work of resistance and making that freedom a reality in our midst.
Note: If you are interested, our next Indigenous Ally group meeting at Spiritus will be on Tuesday, October 29 at 7pm. Please check the bulletin for full details.