The documentary film, “Our Land, Our Life” on YouTube, reveals more than just exploiting the environment for the economic profitability; it hints our horrendous history of a takeover of this continent against the indigenous. The video once again proves where the natives stand in our government’s agenda, hence the lack of respect natives receive. Being a member for the tribal unity of the Tulalip, the main goal of the tribe is to forgive “the past”, hoping to find peace within. What hurts me is though; I do not think our government has sincerely admitted and recognized how the past has inflicted a great deal of pain in the name of manifest destiny, which I believe is the reason why such tragedy we see on the video against Shoshone still exists ‘til this day.
I am not surprised by any footages or information from the film. What we see in the video is nothing new; it has been going on everyday throughout our history. We as Americans have failed to recognize it. And by “it”, I mean the Native Americans.
Finding the balance between the economy and nature has always been the challenge of the new generations on this planet. Perhaps the tumultuous destruction of the nature with no regards to the balance could also be interpreted as the destruction of the tribes. And it is very true to the point. In the midst of our economic expansion and prosperity, America as a whole has failed to truly appreciate and respect our nature, ultimately, the Native Americans, who are known as the people of nature. "The earth brought forth life, but the warming, enticing rays of the sun coaxed it into being. The earth yielded, the sun engendered" (328, Luther Standing Bear).
Democracy is obviously a group effort, but it requires the commitment of individuals. I am talking about respecting individuals and differences of cultures, more specifically, being able to find the balance between nature and economy, serving respect to the endemic members. The early European settlers and the Native Americans simply have different perspective and understanding of the earth. In classic feudalism in Europe where land was scarce, a lord was in broad terms a noble who held land, a vassal was a person who was granted possession of the land by the lord, and the land was known as a fief. In exchange for the use of the fief and the protection of the lord, the vassal would provide some sort of service to the lord. As Dr. Atkinson stated, the early European settlers viewed land as a form of a property while the native Americans considered it as the stewardship. “Consequently the white man finds Indian philosophy obscure – wrapped, as he says, in a maze of ideas and symbols which he does not understand” (330, Luther Standing Bear).
I believe the American government’s relationship with the natives is the root of our current social problems as a whole. Recognizing the issue here of the past and being able to co-exist with certain respect to the differences would strengthen our nation, that is currently struggling as a world leader, even to another level. Many countries view America as the face of democracy. It is a must that we fully recognize the shameful past, hence the present, and that such tragedy which happened to the Shoshone tribe won’t be seen on the news or YouTube again.
Work Cited:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JJ2N9-n-ka0
Finch, Robert, and John Elder. The Norton book of nature writing. W. W. Norton & Company, 2002. 328. Print.
