Nannette Croce's Blog
Posted by Nannette Croce
At first look the UN Permanent Forum on Indiginous Issues' appeal to Pope Benedict XVI to revoke the Doctrine of Discovery sounds like one of those demands for sweeping apology so frequent these days. Speaking only for myself, I'm not a big fan of these. Not that the victims aren't deserving. But in my opinion, whether for slavery, internment, the Holocaust or what have you, even when accompanied by reparations, these apologies do more to assuage the guilt of perpetrator than the pain and suffering of the victim.
However, revoking the Doctrine of Discovery would be more than an apology. This would be big--really big.
Why? Because the Doctrine of Discovery forms the underpinning for Aboriginal-White relations all over the globe. It is the specious argument all governments fall back on when they cannot morally defend the taking of Indigenous lands and the destruction of Indigenous Resources.
The truly ironic part is that the Doctrine of Discovery is the Pope's to revoke. As far back as the 15th century, Kings began to assert their rights against the pope. Yet today, even countries like the US that hold strict separation between church and state and will have no state religion, regularly turn to these 500-year-old papal bulls to rationalize the taking of Indian land. It continues even to this day.
Posted by Nannette Croce
While this site usually focuses on more recent Aboriginal History, I can't let June 25 pass without reference to the Battle of the Little Bighorn or what my family and I, being of Italian ancestry, like to call Giovanni Martini Day.
You may know him as George Martin, Custer's bugler who served as his orderly for the day and may very well have been the last survivor to glimpse Custer alive. At the point when Custer apparently realized that he had more Indians on his hands than he had bargained for, he waived Giovanni Martini over and barked out some orders. In the best of circumstances, the recent Italian immigrant might have had difficulty understanding, but Custer also had a tendency to come out a little garbled when in a hurry. At any rate, Lieutenant William W. Cooke thought it best to scribble a note. The words are now famous:
"Benteen. Come on. Big Village. Be Quick. Bring Packs.
W. W. Cooke.
P. bring packs."
Despite Giovanni Martini's later depiction--"The last I saw of the command they were going down into the ravine. The gray horse troop was in the center and they were galloping"--this particular episode has always conjurs a humorous scene in my mind. I can't help but see Giovanni Martini as Manuel in the old BBC series, Fawlty Towers, while Custer, flustered and barely comprehensible, struggles to make him understand.
"You want I go between? That makes no sense."
"Not between, you idiot--Benteen."
"Oh, Benteen...sorry Mr. Custer, he no here."
"I know he's not here. I sent him on a scout."
"Well, if you send him out on scout, why you think he here?"
Of course the reality is that Giovanni Martini did deliver the message, and his leaving is the last we know for certain of what transpired that afternoon. Volumes have been written speculating why Custer sent Benteen out on that scout, whether he took his Indian scouts seriouly when they told him the size of the camp, whether Benteen or Reno could have done more, and whether it would have made a difference.
I'll leave that to the Custerphiles and phobes to sort out. I have much more fun speculating on that fateful conversation between Custer and the recent Italian immigrant, Giovanni Martini.
Also see Foreshadowing the Little Bighorn
Posted by Nannette Croce
Under the Doctrine of Discovery , Spain and Portugal saw the Catholic Church as giving leave to subjugate, enslave, and torture indigenous peoples in the name of bringing them into the faith. While many Europeans would look to this doctrine to rationalize Aboriginal conquests, the Spanish were the most brutal.
At the same time, French emphasis on proselytizing over permanent settlement in what is now Canada, is credited by many historians, along with the fishing and fur trades, for maintaining a more equal Aboriginal/European realationship for a much longer period than in the rest of the Americas.
The boarding school experience in the US and Canada destroyed individuals and whole cultures. Religious reformers were also responsible for many failed assimilation attempt. Yet, today, religious schools often provide the best education on reservations.
For more on this topic, see Aboriginal Rights, The Church by Tyson Yunkaporta.
Posted by Nannette Croce
Under the Indian Reorganization Act (IRA) Native American tribes had the opportunity to draft constitutions for self-government. These constitutions would take effect if approved by the Secretary of the Interior.
While, in theory, Indian nations in the US had always maintained a degree of soveriegnty, once on the reservations traditional social structures were eroded. Any attempts at preaching or maintaining traditional ways and ceremonies were viewed as dangerous by Indian Agents always seeing an uprising on the horizon. Traditional leaders were marginalized and often punished for speaking out while "progressives" who cooperated with the federal government, joined the Indian police, served on Indian courts, and spied on other tribal members, were rewarded.
This caused major schisms in Indian societies and a breakdown of the social structure which played a major roll in the growth of crime, alcoholism, and suicide.
While allowing Indians a modicum of self-determination, none of the governments formed under the IRA resembled anything near the traditional ways. The result was to further marginalize traditionals--a situation that continues to cause difficulties in modern times.
Wounded Knee II and the Leonard Peltier case were rooted in the traditionals v. progressives battle on the Pine Ridge Reservation. More recently, in 1999-2000 a grass-roots group took over the government building at Pine Ridge, forcing out members of the elected tribal council. Not long ago, a faction of Oneida--a tribe that has gained wealth through gaming and other operations--claimed that they were forced from their housing not because it was substandard and a health hazard, but to punish them for being traditionals opposed to gaming.
While many tribes function well under their IRA governments, it is not unusual for the legitimacy of tribal councils to come into question, and often governments are paralyzed during the sorting out. This can pose a danger to the financial stability, particularly of gaming tribes.
One could assume from this that Indians are incapable of self-government or it could be that the constitutional governments imposed upon them are like squeezing a foot accustomed to the moccasin into a leather boot. You can live with it, but it never feels quite like the right fit.
Posted by Nannette Croce
Tyson Yunkaporta's guest article Aboriginal Massacres draws attention to a very important point. Indigenous people on every continent from the Arctic Circle to the tip of South America, Asia, Africa, and Australia, share certain experiences in common. While the cultures of the colonized vary, the actions of the colonizers are amazingly similar, as are the long-term results to indigenous populations.
All over the world indigenous people suffer higher rates of poverty, crime, alcoholism, suicide, and spousal and child abuse than the cultures that dominate them, further feeding the myth of inherent superiority among the colonizers. (See Rape is a White Privilege) What is never adequately addressed is that these issues are the result of colonization, not the cause. Poverty, crime, suicide, and abuse inevitably result when cultures are denied their means of subsistance and the self determination to maintain their own social structures. Colonization can be especially hard on indigenous men, who, in many cultures, held the role of protector (though not lord and master as in many European cultures) of the women, children, and elderly and who suffer from a strong sense of failure.
No one expects, at this point, that the colonizers will all leave the "discovered" lands. However, recognizing indigenous peoples' right to self-determination as set out in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indegenous Peoples can go a long way to restoring self-respect and effective social structures. In some cases it may take generations for some indigenous nations to heal the schism in their governments and cultures caused by foreign domination, but the result will be emensely beneficial to both indigenous and non-indigenous alike.
At this point Australia, the Russian Federation, and the United States refuse to endorse the Declaration.
