National Museum of the American Indian Hides Genocide

National Museum of the American Indian Hides Genocide Ponca Nation, By Carter Camp

Seems we rez-based Indians always are slow to react to events taking place in Washington D.C., by the time we wake up the damage is done. The new "Redskins" stadium is one place we could have made a stand if we were serious about the mascot issue. Another cultural rip-off being foisted on our people is the National Museum of American Indian going up in D.C..

I once warned about about it in a letter carried by Indian Country Today in the early nineties, but a small voice is easily drowned out when millions of dollars are being spent and the voice of the Great WhiteFather anoints Indian leaders.

For a decade or more the Smithsonian fundraising machine has gone merrily along, draining much needed funds away from theIndian community and diverting Americas attention away from the economic, cultural and legal devastation going on across our homelands. Our leaders are grinning and shuffling into line to endorse another whitemans dream, and our artists and writers can't seem to wait for a grant, the ultimate pat on the head fromthe hand of power.

Am I the only Indian who doesn't trust the graverobbing Smithsonian or who questions the basic premise of the use of this unique space on the National Mall?

The only good thing I can see coming from this place is it probably will have an Indian-artist designed front entrance, properly blessed by a medicine man, that we can use to protest the various acts of genocide as they are carried out and we ourselves become artifacts. Just what we Indians need, a museum to celebrate our "disappearance" (albeit with a nod to our survivance) beforewe're quite dead! All is normal in Indian Country.

Once upon a time there were two open spaces for museums on the National Mall. African Americans coveted a space as did Hispanic, Jewish and Native Americans. Many interest groups, from Veterans to the D.A.R., also wanted the rare spaces. Congress in its wisdom awarded one site to a very politically powerful (and deserving) Jewish applicant and another to the very politically powerful Smithsonian Institution, their 'keeper of the loot.'

Then the "fool the Indian" process began and it proved to be very easy. Just put an Indian face on it(out of the vast Smithsonian collection) and it magically becomes an "Indian" project. With a shamans wave, shape changes and crypt-worms become our friends, close enough to be Indian-endorsed as keepers of our precious past and tellers of our history.

Is it merely my imagination that over the generations of conquest and looting, enumerating and studying, digging and classifying, collecting and recording, the Smithsonain might have learned and be USING our own sacred secrets to blind our leaders to the real plan? What else explains the lack of a desenting voice as our leaders and artists shamble all in a line?

Indians stand REDLY in the way of the American dream. For centuriesAmericans have dreamed we are "vanishing" and have tried hard to make it true. The Smithsonian was created to enclose us in their white past and to chronicle our demise, what medicine has made them our friends? Where has Coyote been lately?

Contrast the two new museums and you can see how they are used to support a conquerors, cleansed view of history: For the Jewish museum no thought at all was given to using it to show the world ancient Jewish culture and artifacts. They could have displayed scenes of ancient Jewish life -- hunting, tanning hides and pastoral living. Like an Indian museum. It would have been beautiful and easy for people to enjoy. It wasn't done that way for one reason...The Jewish people were in charge and they decided for themselves what aspect of their history to show the world. They decided with one voice to use the rare space as a shield to protect their people against a repeat of the Nazi holocaust.

Jewish politicians fundedand protected Jewish intellectuals, artists, historians, Rabbis andsurvivors as they crafted a way to commemorate their dead and to use their past to protect their future. They refused to allow the dreams of others to distort the truth of their horror, and now their museum is a powerful testament to a Jewish dream, not a gentile revision of reality.

Our space, and the worlds window to our Nations, was turned over to the Smithsonian Institution to enshrine the lie of 'manifest destiny' and the historical inevitability of the American Holocaust. Americas museums have always been a prime purveyor of the big lies of American history, now the largest and worst is given an army of non-Indian historians, anthros, romance writers and a couple of Indian scouts, to define us to the world.

THEY decided with one voice NOT to use our rare and precious space as a shield of truth against the American Holocaust, or to prevent the conclusion of its evil purpose against my people. We still die, our sacred sites still are paved over, our dead dug up, our children stolen andmis-educated. Missionaries search the jungle for the last of us. It hurts me to think about the many atrocities we may have been able to prevent had we Indian traditionalists, (for whom the American Holocaust still burns freshly) been able to tell atrue history of our own people. I envy my Jewish relatives for serving their people so well. Our Indian leaders haveseen fit to sell our history so the Whiteman can bend it to fit the myth they use to avoid histories judgement... Better for tourism in Washington D.C. too.

The Indian artifacts to be displayed in Washington and New York would be much better displayed by the people they were stolen from (or bought, same thing) upon their own reservations and homelands. If Americans want to know about my Tribe, the Ponca, they should learn from us, here at our home, they mightinvigorate our economy and begin to see us as Poncas and not"Indians." By coming here they might realize that after 500 years,vanishing is no longer an option.

The dispersal of the Smithsonian collections back to the Tribeswould benefit our children the most. They would realize the artistry and beauty of their peoples history and the value of their Nations. They would come to understand that the years since white contact have been only a short, ugly wart on the beautiful history of our people. It would give them faith that one day we will pass back into beauty. Artifacts in Washington DC are dead, cut-off relics in nothingness. At home they are freed from limbo and recharged with life and need. Even Artifacts need to be Ponca or Navajo orMakah.

Americans sensibilities will have been spared at the costof continuingdepredations against Indian people. Americans will go to theHolocaustMuseum and be told the horrible truths of what Hitler and theNazi's did tothe Jews. They will cry for the victims and mourn with thesurvivors, inthe end they too will be determined to protect the Jewishpeople from arepeat of the Holocaust. All thinking people support this.They will alsobe comforted (and exempted) to know that America defeatedthe Nazi, stoppedthe killing and helped Jews return to theirhomeland.

Next, Americans can walk over to the museum of 'Indian' history.They willbe amazed and pleased at the beauty of our past. Scenes of tipis,tanninghides and pastoral living will hide the blood coveringevery-square-inch ofAmerica. Our blood. They will go home marveling at ourancient art andbeauty and a little sad we had to pass into history becauseour buffalosuddenly "vanished." They may even feel a twinge of guilt atthe part theirancestors played in our demise. But they will go awaywithout seeing orknowing the "time of horror" each and every Tribe wentthrough upon contactwith the European. They will go home without realizinghow much of theslaughter was an officially inspired, government planned,racist policy ofgenocide. They will not realize the depth of the crimecommitted so theywill not understand the crimes being committed today orthe need forreparations to heal the devastation. They will not understandthat therewere entire Societies for whom the "final solution" worked.

Entire Tribes, as whole and complete as the the Jewish Tribes, werecompletely erased frommother earth. Their language will never be heard,their poetry, music,science and art is lost to the world, because they meta people whobelieved in their own, god given, superiority and theinferiority of allelse. (The base cause of all genocide). They will gohome without feelingthe need to help Indian Nations secure their ownhomelands or becomingdetermined there never be another American Holocaust.Worst of all, theywill go home not knowing that our people still sufferongoing policies ofgenocide and attacks on our existance. Missionaries andGovernments stillwork and plan to erase us from the face of our MotherEarth. IndianCountry, from the Artic to Anartica, is still awash in theblood of ourPeople.

Should American Indians be suspicious about theplacement and content ofthese two Museums? Jew and "Indian?" Did it takesome C.I.A. psy-war expertto figure out how best to cover-up the murder ofover 200 million people?Will this museum, with a mere nod to the 500 yearholocaust, stand as thepermanent enshrinement of the American lie and thefinal resting place ofIndian history? I believe there should be aholocaust museum on AmericasNational Mall in Americas Capitol city. Butnot one of the Europeandisaster. It must be a Bright Red Museum of theAmerican Holocaust! It mustcall the roll of entire Nations of beautifulpeople who succumbed to to thegenocidal onslaught.

Carter Camp is a member of the Ponca Nation and an activemember of theAmerican Indian Movement.

"Am I the only indian who doesn't trust the graverobbing Smithsonian..."

Judging by the indian museums I've seen, I guess only indians are permitted to be graverobbers of their indian ancestors.

"Next, Americans can walk over to the museum of 'Indian' history.They willbe amazed and pleased at the beauty of our past..."

Scalping, skinning, impaling, etc.? (These were tactics used by warring tribes long before evil whitey showed up by the way) I wonder if the butchery on the side of the indian will also be included? Besides, living day to day in mudhuts is beauty?

Theres some old indian saying that goes something like, "noone can own the earth." If that is true, a) how is it that we purchased Manhattan with trinquets, and b) how is it exactly that "evil whitey" STOLE North America from the indian? If you cant own something, I dont think that you can steal it.

My old calculus professor (in Colorado) used to tell me a story:

A group of indians came upon great flowing river. The indians, having come from an area where food was sparce, decided to attempt crossing the river. By the time the tribe crossed the river on foot, over half of them were dead- swept away by the great river.

Months later a group of white men ("evil whities") came to the banks of the same river. Studying the river, and calculating the risks to be great, the white men decided to build a bridge across it. They did, everyone survived- and subsequent travellers could also use their bridge.

Professor: "The indians were passive relative to their surroundings. The white men used what surrounded them to conquer their obstacles...

I am a BUILDER!" /prof. quote> (In this analogy indians=indiginous peoples of the world, and evil whities=advanced societies).

As the childhood diseases of the Old World traveled across the continents they sometimes killed 95% to 98% of the people.

It took over 3 centuries to repopulate the area up to anywhere near the numbers that had been here.

One of humankind's most devastating plagues destroyed the Indian nations and cultures - not genocide!

In fact, just about the only folks to survive it had an European ancestor or two from the first contacts. They still suffer a very high infant mortality rate. Reference the Apostolic Charismatic Church of the First Born. They have their Indian roots although most people who come in contact with them believe them to be white. Still, the peyote use after main church services is one give away. Another is their practice of serial polygamy. There are others.

Those still identifying themselves as Indians, particularly those on the reservations, know about the infant mortality rate first hand, as well, and will tell you about it. I don't know if they do the same things as COTFB, but I wouldn't be surprised.

Now just imagine the situation. At the time of the Pilgrims there were maybe five million Indians living in what would be the future U.S. Five million for 3.6 million square miles. That means the land was thinly populated with many areas almost totally uninhabited. Now what would you do if you were a group of people coming into a sparsely inhabited almost completely undeveloped wilderness? Would you say things were too crowded and turn back? But what did the original inhabitants (Indians) do when they settled the land thousands of years before? Do you think that they ran into some other groups of people and decided to go back to Asia? Hardly. They did what other people have done since humans began roaming the earth. They found space for themselves or drove other people off theirs. Indian victimologists like this person want to believe like many other humans that their society was totally pure and innocent of sin. No society of humans is perfect but very imperfect. That means they had killer societies like the Aztecs and others that practiced warfare and took other Indian lands like the Sioux.

But when the Europeans came the Indians faced an enemy with a superior culture and numbers. The result was inevitable. It was the same result my Slovenian ancestors experienced two thousand years ago when the Romans invaded their land. My ancestors inferior culture was swallowed up by the superior Roman one. That is the way of the world. Could the settling of this country have been done better? Obviously yes. But what do Indians like this writer wish for...a return to their hunter-gatherer past? It would just as ridiculous for my ancestors to junk their present modern life and go back to the mountains herding sheep for a living. All peoples must adjust to modern society or perish. Indians like David Yeagley have adjusted to reality. The writer of this article has not.

Truth lives somewhere in between the article and the responces so far.

I am of mixed ancestry.To look at me,my native heritage is blended,untill I tell someone I am Blackfoot.I have the same face of my mother, but brown hair and eyes and white skin.Without the black hair and the darker skin of my mother,I dont endure the slurs my mother has endured her entire life.My daughter is blond.

Many of the lost tribes warred with each other prior to European influence. But it is also true many of the lost tribes were subject to ugly genocide by the "civilised" new people in the America's.

It is also true that the governments of the Americas continue to marginalise the "native" people.I have the blood of both and I refuse to be torn by the "pride" of either culture.It is possible to live with the truth of history, accepting the horrors and the beauty of both cultures.

My least favorite holiday is Thanksgiving.For obvious reasons,I prefer to keep a low profile on this day.

Re-writing history is an incredibly ignorant passtime modern people are enjoying.It makes people feel better and relieves them of the cultural guilt some may wish to impose on them and/or the tiny voices of racial superiorty felt in some degree by everyone, no matter their ancestry. It is a human thing.

Ignoring present reality is equally ignorant.Why should anyone carry the burden of guilt for the sins of their ancestors?We would all be better served to keep the truth of the past,refuse the guilt for actions not our own,and respect the cultures that have made us what we are.

I rarely here of Europeans describing themselves as Saxons or Normans.Life goes forward.Never smoothly, but always forward.All civilizations either adjust, or fail.

Scalping, skinning, impaling, etc.? (These were tactics used by warring tribes long before evil whitey showed up by the way)

Let's not forget kidnapping and slavery,along with rape. Nothing the whites and other races didn't do too,but the point is the Indians also were doing their share of it.

Besides, living day to day in mudhuts is beauty?

What Indians lived in mud huts?

I can find documented support for a single British officer with serious mental problems having done that.

Frankly, smallpox really wasn't needed to do the job. Chickenpox, measles, mumps,... the ordinary diseases were deadly to the American Indians.

Then, think of the guys handing out the blankets? Wouldn't they get smallpox as well? Most folks who had been vaccinated still didn't mess with smallpox. There were sub-varieties of it that didn't necessarily succumb to the anti-bodies produced in response to innoculation.

Most of the big die-offs were done with by the winter of 1648. Over the next two centuries small groups of isolated individuals would catch up to the plague. Some of this was observed by Lewis and Clark.

Chicken-pox was and remains to this day, an antibody producing virtual vaccination against smallpox. A single British officer was not the culprit.The Brits were long gone in the mid-late 1800s.Revisionist history is not history.Seek deeper.

My grandfather grew up on an Oklahoma Cherokee Reservation. His father was an Indian Agent.In the 60s and 70s, the facts of history were still readily available, and taught in US schools.Now, the truth is as obscured as the Jewish hollocaust deniers wish their version could be accepted.

I could wish the tribal/reservation Indians had as powerfull an ethnic presense to force the truth to remain obvious.But the "indians" are mostly dead now.I will not play a research game with you to prove the truth.You appear not to be a serious history expert. You may claim whatever you wish.Repetition does not make it fact.

There were some such incidents. They were relatively few and together with other massacres accounted for some thousands of native americans within the boundaries of the present United States. Far more natives died in abusive slave labor conditions in central and south america and the Caribbean. Even when you add in the far more numerous unintentional epidemic deaths, these did not add up to 200 million.

It is virtually impossible that there were 200 million inhabitants of the Americas in 1492.

I did not claim a number of dead people.But it is a bit of a stretch for you to refute the authors article since he claimed 200 mil period. Not in the single year of 1492.I have not confirmed an actual count, but would surmise his estimate is closer to reality than your denial of history.

"Few and far between incidences" as you state is a patently false premise.

.Is this entire thread a reaction to re-reported news of Canadian catholic church re-education schools ,and the current suits involving child sexual abuse?If so, I would like to point out these "re-education" camps operated into the 1960s.If not, feel free to post your "feelings", but dont expect me to respect your opinion as factually based or reasoned.

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