Kill The Indian, Save The Man: A Grim Look At Native Integration Schools:

Kill the Indian, save the man. Throughout the latter half of the nineteenth century and the first of the twentieth, over one hundred thousand Native American children were torn from their families. They were placed into boarding schools designed to integrate and assimilate Indian children into Western culture. Not only were their traditional clothes stripped from them, their hair was cut, their languages were banned, and they were broken down and rebuilt in the image of the white man. These authoritarian schools operated in a militaristic fashion, corporal punishment was conventional practise, and Christianity was heavily taught by cultivated nuns and priests. The schools were no stranger to mental, physical and sexual abuse, the sufferings were cruel, unusual and strange. The children, who wore traditional Western clothing with haircuts to match were burdened by heavy schedules, English and mathematics were taught among industrialisation and an extremely sanitised depiction of history, particularly that of America.

“Transfer the savage-born infant to the surroundings of civilization, and he will grow to possess a civilized language and habit.” – Richard H Pratt.

Breakouts were common, so were harsh retaliations for such endeavours. Many schools saw Indian camps appear in their lands, relatives and tribesman of prisoned pupils, they too were met by punitive measures, albeit their only crime was to keep close to their kin, in a world where losing a loved one was another step closer to the death of an entire people, a culture, and wisdom held in a collective consciousness passed only through oral history. The schools alone were reprehensible for over twenty-thousand deaths, a huge number, particularly for a dying nation. The methods adopted in the assimilation schools were highly effective, not so much for complete integration, but for ulterior motives behind them, during this period the U.S was able to take two thirds of the Native’s land.

No sin goes unpunished, especially those that are phenomenally successful. The effectiveness drew the attention of another authoritarian leader, he studied the execution, the cleverness of the legality behind the genocide, that saw so called civilised citizens partake in. The admirer detailed as such in his book ‘Mein Kampf’, he expressed his approbation for the fashion in which the United States government handled the Native people, his expression of approval went deeper than words of adulation, a lot of what happened to the Indians, was copied to perfection, against the Jews. World War II saw many American fatalities, a war fought in the name of freedom, a war for freedom, fought by a segregated army. History rhymes, both on a personal and nationalistic degree, the way in which strategized suffering is dealt is commonly reflected by our enemies and used against us. To lead by example has a ripple effect, the severity of the returning waves depends on the initial example of which we led by.

The chaotic, ongoing story of the Native American’s is one that truly haunts, once researched to a substantial level, the tale that we all keep in our collective peripheral is humanised. We are all aware of foreign threats and the lurking tensions of opposing superpowers, for the Native’s, they didn’t have the comfort of de-escalation, or the time for preparation, the only modern narrative to comprehend the European invasion would be to picture an extraterritorial force, with technology much superior to ours, a horrifying notion that has sadly been experienced time and time again throughout history, by us, to us. It isn’t hard to imagine that if we were being studied by a superior force that their tactics would include disease, prisoner camps, segregation and an unjust cleansing of what they consider as savage barbarians.

What is striking about the boarding schools, aside from the fact they existed, is that English was taught successfully to the oppressed, a language barrier helps to de-humanise opponents in war, even with the barrier removed, the oppressor’s continued, in close quarters, pain, love and desperation are universally felt, and empathised when expressed, yet, the torture continued.

Something light must be gained from our darkest chapters, we need to realise the teachings of pain and learn compassion from those who knew nothing of it, otherwise the ripple will return a wave and humankind will again plummet into darkness, maybe next time, there is no chance for redemption.

If you liked this article please check out my latest Novella, Lead & Wax, available on eBook and paperback:

Follow me on Instagram @kurtispryde

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lead-Wax-Kurtis-Pryde-ebook/dp/B08FH8P813