A message from the Chair
Yesterday was, and has always been, a difficult day for me. Protected by my parents, and guided by a whitewashed history education, I always looked forward to the Fourth of July. I grew up with romantic visions of defiant colonists throwing tea into Boston Harbor, and hearing about the heroics of George Washington and Paul Revere. In primary school, we started each day with the Pledge of Allegiance and I sang the National Anthem in chorus and at ball games. As I got older, the Fourth of July became my favorite holiday because I lit off fireworks every year. Not the ones you bought at the little stands; we lit off big stuff that you see at shows, and at times, we even fired a cannon. It was exciting and dangerous, but most of all, it was fun.
But over the years, as I have become more educated, the holiday has lost all meaning for me. I am no longer able to celebrate this nation, say the Pledge of Allegiance, or to sing or stand for the National Anthem, as I no longer have pride in our nation at all - not for its past, nor for its present.
250 years ago, the 13 original colonies announced their intent to sever their ties with England when the Second Continental Congress signed the Declaration of Independence. History books teach us that the colonies were seeking reprieve from over taxation and policing. But the actual text of the declaration describes the true motivation. The signers decried that the king “has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”
The racist term “merciless Indian Savages” was used to dehumanize the Indigenous people and to provide justification for the colonies to expand westward, which wasn’t allowed by the treaties between England and the tribal nations.
The colonies needed to expand westward so the ruling class could maintain their profits, fulfill their obligations to indentured servants, and to prevent further civil unrest from former indentured servants and their off-spring. The treaties between the crown and the tribes made this impossible.
Bacon’s 1676 rebellion is an example of the civil unrest the ruling class faced and served as a turning point in how white and black indentured servants were treated, with black servants subsequently becoming enslaved thereafter. The rebellion was made up of white and black formerly indentured servants, who were promised land in exchange for working that of another, but were given rugged terrain, inland towards the Appalachian mountains, instead of fertile farmland, as that was all that was available. The most fertile farmland had already been taken by the original colonists through force, deceit, or disease.
Since the founding of our Nation 250 years ago, the United States of America has never ceased its reign of terror and genocide of indigenous people across Turtle Island, with the genocide taking on new and less direct forms since the the time the entire continent was taken over. For example, police forces that grew out of militias continue to kill Native people at a disproportionately higher rate than any other race. According to the CDC, American Indian/Alaskan Native people are 6 times more likely to be killed by police than white people and 3 times more likely to be killed than black people.
Over the last hundred years, the United States operated 526 Indian Boarding Schools across the country. By 1926, 83% of Native school-age children were attending boarding schools, where the goal was to “Kill the Indian, save the man.” In these schools, children were forbidden from speaking their language, wearing traditional clothing, or engaging in cultural practices. They were also forced to cut their hair and convert to Christianity. Worst of all, these children were subjected to inhumane experiments and torture, and older children were also forced to harm younger children by inflicting punishments.
The United States Government still behaves in a racist manor towards Native Nations by holding their land in trust and "managing" it. That land is regularly exploited by corporations, ranchers, and farmers who don't pay the fair value for the use of their land. Furthermore, our nation has not met all of its treaty obligations to First Nations and their people, and continues to deny treaty rights to other nations and their descendants. One of the consequences of these failures is the disproportionately high rate of homelessness amongst First Nations people.
It isn’t just our government that commits harm against Native people and their communities. Native communities are experiencing a Missing and Murdered Indigenous People Crisis, wherein First Nations people are disproportionately victims of physical and sexual violence, abduction, trafficking, and murder. According to the Urban Indian Health Institute, more than 95% of these crimes are unreported by the mainstream media. As a whole, such cases involving people of color are so under-reported compared to white victims that social scientists created a term for the phenomenon – “Missing White Woman Syndrome.”
Sadly, even well meaning people commit harm. Native art and culture was and continues to be stolen and appropriated. Non-Natives, “inspired by” Native art, sell their wares, which takes away resources from Native artists, and non-Native corporations manufacture items with Native designs overseas. All of which takes money from native communities and artists and redirects wealth to non-Natives. Native movements are also co-opted and exploited by non-Natives, profiting off of Native efforts and values. Such appropriation hurts Natives financially and spiritually and is a part of the cultural genocide that persists today.
I say this all from my personal perspective, as an enrolled member of an Alaskan Tribe. I acknowledge that similar atrocities were committed by our government against African Americans, Asian Americans, and other races and ethnic groups, and that our nation continues to colonize other nations and claim territories around the world. I did not attempt to speak from those perspectives, as I am unable to do so, but I do want to acknowledge our nation has and continues to cause disproportionate harm to people of color and those who are LGBTQIA+, compared to their cis, hetero, white, counterparts.
In closing, I hope that you chose to celebrate what this nation could be, not what it is and has always been. I also hope that you used the day to recharge yourself, so you can take on the good work of moving our party and this nation to actually becoming great. An organization and nation where the most vulnerable are protected. A nation that takes care of its citizens and all people within its territories (or better yet, frees its territories or allows them to become states, with all the rights and privileges, if the people there so choose statehood). And that you work to move this nation to one of peace and prosperity, that ends all aid to war criminals and other nations committing genocide and stealing land, and that in turn, defends nations and people facing genocide and forced relocation. It is possible, but It will take all of us to get there.
Hunter Brown
Chair, 46th District Democrats
Kenaitze Tribal Member
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