Indigenous Wisdom, White Boys' Bullshit, Defined My Yesterday

Graphic credit: Native Lives Matter

Yesterday was an interesting day full of indigenous wisdom and white boys' bullshit.

(There was a lot of white people's wisdom, too, and Black wisdom, and young women's wisdom, too, so keep reading.)

I had been invited to Waterville, Maine to share the words my sister Hope wrote for the Skowhegan school board meeting back in November, asking them to retire their "Indian" mascot. Hope's poetic speech, "I Listened," has now been viewed over 7,000 times on this blog. It was well-received in Waterville.

My former colleague and friend Maryellen Dunn had helped organize an Equality Rally and it was held despite bitter cold. We heard from 4th and 5th grade girls who belong to the Albert Hall Elementary School Civil Rights Team. We heard from high school girls who had attended the Seeds of Peace camp.

Photo credit: Maryellen Dunn

Amaryllis Charles, a Waterville High School student, was especially memorable describing what it's like to be a lone Black girl in white central Maine, and how the camp helped her find her voice.

There were several excellent speakers, and you can read more about them here in the Portland Press Herald article by Meg Robbins, "Waterville Equality Rally aims to foster community compassion."

My photo, taken with permission

The rally ended with the strong spiritual presence of Native women elders who shared their drumming and singing. 

Tracey Tinyhouse Elohi, indentified in the newspaper as a Cherokee woman, who works as a "wildlife rehabber" for Maine fish and other critters, brought her drum and her strong voice. Along with her elders, her songs reminded me that by standing in Waterville we were standing in indigenous territory.

Then, I came home to this horrifying display of bullying and mockery at the Indigenous Peoples March in Washington DC from Friday.

Screenshot from YouTube video "Indigenous Peoples March in Washington DC" posted by KC Noland

A large group of Catholic high school boys who had been bused in to attend an anti-abortion rally began jeering at, mocking and physically confronting some Native men who were drumming and singing.

You can hear Nathan Phillips, one of the men the boys targeted, talking afterwards about what happened here on CNN: "Native American man harassed and mocked by teens speaks out."

Covington Catholic High School appears to have shut down its email account (mine bounced back) but you can still contact the Catholic diocese in Kentucky that runs the school at this link: https://www.covdio.org/contact/. Or telephone them at (859) 491-2247.

As an educator watching teenage white boys acting out in public, here's what I wrote:

Covington Catholic High School

Covington Archdiocese of Kentucky

1125 Madison Ave.
Covington, KY 41011 

To whom it may concern:

The nation has been shocked and appalled by the behavior of the students of Covington Catholic High School during their field trip to Washington DC. I refer to this video evidence of their harassment of a group of indigenous people performing a song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIG5ZB0fw1k

As an educator myself, I know that it can be difficult to supervise teenagers on field trips. I'm not sure what the boys were in Washington DC to learn, but it's clear that there is a pressing need to address their moral education. Can the the Diocese do no better than this at educating young boys?

I urge you to investigate this incident and, in the future, to do better by these students.

Sincerely,

Lisa Savage

A comment on Facebook provided the current events context for the boys' bad behavior.

Indigenous wisdom built no walls, jails, or reform schools. Native people seemed to understand far better than European colonizers how to respect autonomy and raise children without coercion. I am grateful to keep learning from them.