Carol A Hand is a fellow blogger whose words of wisdom I follow avidly and the ‘Reflections about Loss’ that carol posted on the 12th Jan really struck a chord with me. They reminded me of the pain that so often comes with increased awareness of our history and culture …. so deserving of a reblog……..
Carol A. Hand
What happens to a culture, to people,
When unknown diseases sweep their lands
Killing so many indiscriminately
The children, the wisdom keepers,
The mothers, the hunters
When their medicines fail to heal
And prayers to the gods and ancestors
Remain unanswered
When those who survive
Are driven from their homes
By hunger and unrelenting war
Photo: Eight Crow prisoners under guard at Crow agency, Montana, 1887
Separated from the land that has housed and fed them
And their ancestors for generations
When the few who survive are rounded up
Confined on reservations or in institutions
Treated with scorn and cruelty,
Their children stolen and abused
Generation after generation
Photo: Carlisle Indian Industrial School
How can this magnitude of harm ever be healed?
Injury added to injury
To witness other peoples suffer all around the world we share
The same fate year after year
To feed the rapacious appetite…
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Thank you for sharing this on your thought-provoking blog, Pat. (It seems it’s not a topic that appeals to many people – just those of us on the margins? 🙂 )
Unfortunately, many if not most of the white population in both America and Europe, just don’t think of the plight of the indigenous nations of native Americans… If they did then they would no doubt be thoroughly ashamed of their history and THAT is what is so painful when you gain awareness of the facts … There must be, to my naive mind some redress in human rights legislation .. somehow 🌹🌹