July 4th on the Rez'

Fourth of July... From an NDN Perspective


 
 
When I was growing up on the "rez," the 4th of July was a holiday.
Nobody had to go to work.  It was a time of picnics, great eating, and
fireworks.
 
I noticed that people, both Dakota and non-Dakota, flew a lot of U.S.
flags. Later, I learned in school that "we" were celebrating
independence that the American colonies gained by breaking away from Great Britain.  I learned that Thomas Jefferson was one of the "great men" who wrote the Declaration of Independence.  He said that all men were created equal and that all were endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among them life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  I thought this was a great philosophy!  I could see why he was considered great.
 
Then, I learned other things along the way, esp. in taking courses at
the University of Minnesota in American Indian Studies.  I learned that
Thomas Jefferson owned slaves. He was a slave-owner!  Jefferson believed that black people were people who could be his slaves, even though they are human beings, entitled to respect and dignity.  I learned that black people were exempt from those "inalienable rights" of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," at least, according to Jefferson's actions of owning black people as slaves.  I can see why David Stannard, the author of American Holocaust, refers to Jefferson as "the slave-holding philosopher of freedom."
 
It is difficult for me to reconcile Jefferson's actions with his words,
then as well as now. Perhaps it is for some of you out there as well.
Then, I learned one of the reasons Jefferson gave for the colonies'
declaring independence and rebelling against the British Crown.  In his
"black Catalogue of unprovoked injuries" against England, Jefferson made the charge against George III that "he has excited domestic
insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the
inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions."  This statement makes it quite clear that he didn't have the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas in mind as being "created equal" in "inalienable rights," nor did Jefferson have in mind
"independence" for native peoples, esp. when Jefferson regarded
Indigenous Peoples as "the merciless Indian Savages." It is apparent
that Jefferson was thinking of only white people, his fellow
Euroamericans, as being created equal and having the "inalienable
rights" of "life, liberty, and happiness."  And, when I think about it,
Jefferson probably didn't have in mind Mexican-Americans, or
Asian-Americans, or any other peoples of color as well.
 
An incidental observation re: terms and phrases - winners write the
books.  Thus, in our books on Euroamerican history, which is commonly
called U.S. history, the white male Ph.D. historians use the phrase "The
American Revolution" to apply to what happened in 1776.  Then, the white historians use the term "uprising" to apply to the Dakota-U.S. War in 1862.  In my mind, the term "uprising" is more applicable to what happened in 1776 because the colonies broke away from the established and legal authority, Great Britain.  That is why I generally use the phrase, "The Colonial Uprising of 1776."  What happened in 1862 was that the Dakota were fighting for their land, their people, and their way of life.  It was not something illegal they were doing.  It was, and is, what any people who own land would do if someone else comes along and tries to steal their land.
 
Another thing that I wish to point out is that back in the late 1800s,
there was suppression of religious freedom for Indigenous Peoples by the U.S. and its military, missionaries, educators, agents, et. al.  One of
our elders, now deceased, from the Lower Sioux Community, used the
_expression, "nahma wacipi," or "they danced in secret" to refer to this
time of suppression. Our Dakota People of Minnesota, as well as other
Indigenous Peoples, had to take their songs, dances, prayers, rituals,
and ceremonies underground.  One of the things that happened was that native peoples used the white man's holidays, esp. 4th of July, to sing, dance, perform some public ceremonies under the guise of celebrating "independence."  The white missionaries, teachers, superinten-dents, and other agents of U.S. colonialism would beam in satisfaction as their "little red children" sang and danced because they thought the native peoples were also celebrating "freedom."
 
This was ironic since the people who came here to this great land to
escape religious persecution in Europe themselves became the persecutors and suppressers of religious freedom for the Indigenous Peoples, the original "Americans." Another thing I learned along the way was that Jefferson wanted to exterminate the native peoples.  At different times in the early 1800s, Jefferson used phrases such as, "till that tribe is exterminated,"  "we shall destroy all of them,"  "to pursue them to extermination," or "to be extirpated from the earth."  Thus, this is another reason why Jefferson was not thinking of Indigenous peoples when he penned the above great words, "all men are created equal" - he wanted to kill all of the native peoples. Also, Jefferson wrote, in 1803, a constitutional amendment that would remove all the native peoples east of the Mississippi River to west of the Mississippi.  In other words, Jefferson was an advocate of "ethnic cleansing."    Jefferson, Monroe, Jackson, Van Buren, et. al. and the U.S. practiced "ethnic cleansing" long before it became a well-known phrase in the 20th and, now , in the 21st century.  "Ethnic cleansing" became a U.S. policy with the congressional passage of the Indian Removal Act of 1830. The above comments are why I think that the 4th of July is primarily a white man's holiday, an Euroamerican celebration.  However, I still regard it as a good time to get together with family, relatives, and friends, to eat, and to watch fireworks. For people who wish documentation on the above, please feel free to contact me at "matonunpa@kilowatt.net ".
 
Chris Mato Nunpa, Ph.D. Associate Professor Indigenous Nations & Dakota Studies (INDS)