SAY WHAT!? “Educate First Nations to be Modern Citizens”

 

Good thing we, as natives, have a culturally superior people (like Don Olson for one – see the full text of his article here) to look up to and emulate to better ourselves and forget what it means to be native and be proud of it. Our history and culture show just how much we need his help! Natives never “invented the wheel,” we only had silly old “drums and rattles,” we had no written languages, we knew nothing of medicine (how ever did we survive any of the common ailments which must have plagued us periodically?), natives were complete and utter “under-achievers.” Natives must have survived on pure dumb luck alone! What other logical and completely sane answer is there?!

 

We must “Do away with this “traditional use” and “cultural” nonsense. “Educate their children to become modern citizens.” “Instead of finding their identity and source of pride in some folks who occupied the land 15,000 years ago.” Because no peoples or cultures ever look back with pride in who they were and what that means to them personally and as a whole, and how it shaped who they are as a people today. I mean, really, no one studies history today and takes pride in, say, Canadian History (since I am Canadian, and this is something I am inexplicably familiar with. The construction of the Canadian Railway, Louis Riel, William Lyon Mackenzie King, Women’s Suffrage, Nelly McClung, to name a few unimportant, inconsequential historical figures and events.)

 

Who knew “we” were so base and uncivilized to this day. We should be happy to be “educated” to be more like equals and less … unequal, like we are now. “The only way to fix this situation is to bring them into society as equals. They should be getting jobs and paying taxes like the rest of us ….” Yes, because not one native out there is a contributing member of society. Or maybe, is he trying to say that ONLY natives do not contribute? And all other races, his included, pull all the weight? Mr. Olson must be from a far superior race of over achievers, with no one lagging behind, no one living in trailer parks, living off the government, no one on welfare, not one person living in low-income housing, not one person taking what one does not need from the rest of hard-working non-native society. Oh, the shame I feel! … For having someone around who really believes everything he wrote in the aforementioned article.

 

Yes, I am proud to be Haida and proud of my heritage; and at the very same time, I am also proud to be Canadian and the heritage that comes along with that as well.

 

by Sarah Hill, March 28, 2013
This article was first posted on Sarah’s website  Check it out!