Can we as Americans justify the harsh events and warfare between our early European settlers and our original Native American settlers? I truly believe the everyday poverty and struggles of the reservations and its diminishing cultures and population could never be justified or completely understood.
Although America currently pushes for human rights and represents the face of democracy across the world, we always have ignored our shameful history of violence which actually is the reason for our current prosperity as a nation. We have started off on a wrong foot. I strongly believe that the nations shameful past with the Natives is the "root" of current social problems - we will never be able to fix a list of current social problems if we ignore the past problem
It is time we face the facts especially in our K-12 history curriculum while giving the real recognition that the ancestors of our land truly deserve.
Hey Chris,
ReplyDeleteGreat points. Actually Senator John McCoy, who is from Tulalip, helped pass HB 1495 in 2005, which encourages schools to include local tribal issues in their curriculum.
They (Shana Brown and OSPI) also created a website packed with lesson plans for k-12 educators on Washington tribes, which you can access at: http://tribalsov.ospi.k12.wa.us/
It has lessons plans for all grades, and has plans that are short, medium or long- so you can choose whatever fits your class schedule.
The curriculum website was just rolled out to the public this past summer/fall, so many people/educators may not yet know it exists. Please feel free to use it and tell others about it too.