Somersaultr

Indian Removal in the early 1800s

In the winter of 1802-03, Thomas Jefferson told Delaware and Shawnee delegates in Washington that he would “pay the most sacred regard to existing treaties between your respective nations and ours, and protect your whole territories against all intrusions that may be attempted by white people.” At the same time, Jefferson was implementing plans to dispossess the Indians of their lands.

Jefferson and others easily solved the dilemma of how to take Indian lands with honor by determining that too much land was a disincentive for Indians to become “civilized.” Ignoring the role of agriculture in Eastern Woodland societies, they argued that Indians would continue to hunt rather than settle down as farmers unless their options were restricted. Taking their lands forced Indians into a settled, agricultural, and “civilized” way of life and was, therefore, good for them in the long run. As Indians took up farming, Jefferson wrote in 1803 to William Henry Harrison, governor of Indiana Territory, “they will perceive how useless to them are their extensive forests, and will be willing to pare them off from time to time in exchange for necessaries for their farms and families.” To promote this process “we shall push our trading houses, and be glad to see the good and influential individuals run into debt, because we observe that when these debts get beyond what the individuals can pay, they become willing to lop them off by a cession of lands.” In this way, American settlements would gradually surround the Indians “and they will in time either incorporate with us as citizens of the United States, or remove beyond the Mississippi.” … The government could do little to regulate the frontier and protect Indian lands, causing Indians to fight for their land. The government would have no choice but to invade Indian country, suppress the uprising, and dictate treaties in which defeated Indians signed away land. […]

Jefferson’s strategy for acquiring Indian lands resulted in some thirty treaties with a dozen or so tribal groups and the cession of almost 200,000 square miles of Indian territory in nine states. Jefferson regretted that Indians seemed doomed to extinction, but he showed little compunction in taking away their homelands.

— First Peoples: A Documentary Survey of American Indian History by Colin Calloway

I realize that Jefferson’s 19th-century-speak may be a little hard to parse, so allow me to offer a summary of his plan to take Indian lands:

1. Promote trading between whites and Indians.

2. Encourage Indians to buy lots of stuff, causing them to rack up huge debts.

3. Indians are driven to sell off bits of their land to pay off their debts.

4. White settlers move into sold-off lands and live next to Indians.

5. Indians get exposed to and assimilated into ~~the Borg~~ white culture.

5b. Or they pack up and move away, conveniently leaving their land empty.

5c. Or alternatively, they get pissed off at the encroachment and use force to defend their home.

6. Oh dear, now that you’ve resorted to violence, we have no choice but to send in the US army and fight a war against you. Why did you make us do that? :(

7. Now that we’ve beaten the shit out of you, you have to do whatever we say. And we say, give us the rest of your land.

Yep, that Thomas Jefferson was pretty smart guy. So smart that he got his face carved onto the side of Mount Rushmore aka the Black Hills aka the location that Lakota people venerate in the same way that Muslims venerate Mecca or Jews venerate Jerusalem. Talk about adding insult to injury.

Also:

My least favorite rationale for stealing Indian land: We’re doing it for your own good!

My other least favorite rationale for stealing Indian land: Those greedy Indians are hogging way more land than they actually need! (Even though the whites were practically addicted to land-grabbing like it was some alternate form of crack cocaine.)

1 year ago 3 notes

Things People Need To Stop Believing

panasonicyouth:

jaded16india:

As a dusty third worldling, one of the things I learnt first was to see if there were other dusty people in the room whenever I go to any transnational feminist conferences. Something else I also learnt is to not expect ‘solidarity’ from anyone unless expressly proven otherwise — and these views are a result of the way people view me and my body in notIndia, what people assume of me in most internet spaces and fandoms. My friend and I compiled this list comprising of a few of the most repetitive and inane stereotypes that we’ve encountered of Third World Women. By no means is this list exhaustive, feel free to add your experiences in the comments — and tread carefully, the list is full of racial slurs and epithets.

1. We’re not disposable objects or your fetish or ‘flavour’ of the month. Not all Third World Women are ‘women’, but we don’t have the choice to identify the way we want, because exotification gets in the way of our special plans.

2. Not all Third World Women live in lands that are in a state of constant war. We exist in cities, between towns and villages — many in the West. There is no fixity of geo-political location, we don’t need to be in the Third World to be marginalised.

3. Not all of us live in tin shacks or mud houses, like every other group we too are scattered across classes and communities across the planet.

4. In popular culture and media, if Third World Women characters don’t wear shiny and bright colours, reality will not crack I assure you.

5. Hospitals exist in the third world too. So not all Third World Women need to squat in bushes to give birth.

6. Third World Women aren’t all ‘irresponsible mothers’ or ‘birthing cows’ because they have children at [x] age instead of the more socially ‘forward’ and ‘acceptable’ [y] age. I can vouch that the world will not come to an end if you don’t see Third World Women as ‘bad people’ for ‘not knowing better’ and ‘not having careers’.

7. We’re not your ‘Eternal She’, Earth Mother, Infinite Vessel, [Insert Inappropriate Phrase That focuses And Equates Sex Organ With Gender Here].

8. We are capable of doing more than care-taking children, cleaning houses and sewing immaculate quilts. We exist in all fields of work, equating every Third World Woman as a sweatshop worker is not necessary.

9. There is no situation where phrases like ‘exotic princess’ can be considered a compliment, even more so if this ‘compliment’ is based solely on skin hue.

10. We’re not always natural cooks or nurturing ‘goddesses’. We can do said jobs if need be, doesn’t mean we’re ‘more’ adept at menial jobs than anyone else.

11. We’re not ‘eager’ to dispense dusty wisdom and folktales on demand — especially about breastfeeding or childbirth. Take a close look at the Not All Third World Women Are ‘Women’ bit here.

12. No, we cannot be ‘purchased’ outright — definitely not if the sole ‘value’ that decides the ‘purchase’ are our hues.

13. When we say ‘no’ we mean ‘NO’ too. So saying ‘we can’t decipher your tongues’ is not an excuse.

14. Third World Women aren’t always looking to ‘entice’ White Men. Shocking, I know!

15. We’re more than just ‘enticing eyes’, or ‘gorgeous hair’ — we’re people and not body parts.

16. Most of us don’t have names like ‘Kali’, ‘Sarasvati’, [Insert Name Of Exotic Goddess], generally because we know the magnitude behind adopting such names and the cultural significance they carry.

17. If Third World Women have voice parts in popular media, the world will not turn upside down. Especially not if the said voice parts don’t involve being in the hotel industry.

18. Representation of Third World Women that doesn’t posit the hijab synonymous to oppression will not mess with Global Time.

19. We don’t like to be compared to food — ‘exotic’ or not.

20. When we’re involved with White people — sexually and otherwise — saying, “You’re a beautiful hue of Brown” isn’t helping anyone get laid.

21. Not all Third World Women roam shoe-less. (Sidenote: how come we can be shoe-less, but can afford to buy dresses? Curious minds want to know).

22. We’re not ‘sexually unrestrained’ — our cultures do not ‘encourage’ “godless unions and perpetual orgies”.

23. Not all of us have British accents, we don’t speak in archaic prose when addressed. And we do speak even when no one addresses us — apparently this is very shocking for people.

24. In the rare instance we do have voice-parts in popular media, and we’re speaking out against the dominant culture, our hair is ‘natural’ and ‘loose’ and ‘wild’.

25. In other rare instances where we do get screen time and space in popular media, we’re freedom fighters, UN refugees, sometimes nurses to Big Important White doctors, almost never as fully developed characters.

26. We’re not ‘natural hard-workers’. Back-breaking straining physical labour isn’t ‘easy’ for us either.

27. As Third World Women, we’re not ‘in tune’ with our ‘natural femininity’. Subservience isn’t coded into our genes.

28. Third World Women are queer too! And still people! Who knew?

29. Contrary to popular opinion, I have on good authority that not all Third World Women despise sex. And we need consensual sex as much as everyone else — even the supposed ‘desperate hookers’ from Pan Asia — and yes, they’re all in one monolithic identity like the rest of us.

30. Some of us speak multiple languages, some don’t. Some have the privilege of speaking in our native tongues and not get shamed for it, some don’t. Don’t expect ALL Third World Women to start ‘shrieking hysterically’ in ‘devilish tongues’ over canned soup.

—-

P.S. Thank you Roshan for your help and company while writing this.

Simply amazing. And much love for Roshan, too! GET ONLINE AND TALK TO ME ABOUT AVATAR, ROSHAN.

(via pseudo-tsuga)

2 years ago 208 notes

The head chief told us there was not a family in that whole Nation that had not a home of its own. There was not a pauper in that nation and the nation did not owe a dollar. It built its own capitol … and it built its schools and its hospitals. Yet the defect of the system was apparent. They have got as far as they can go, because they own their land in common … and under that there is no enterprise to make your home any better than that of your neighbors. There is no selfishness, which is at the bottom of civilization. Till this people will consent to give up their lands, and their citizens so that each can own the land he cultivates, they will not make much more progress.

–

Senator Henry Dawes (main supporter of the disastrous Dawes Allotment Act, which gutted the remaining tribal land base and generally fucked things up) speaking in 1883

Every time I read this quote, I get more and more cross-eyed with rage. He’s basically saying “Oh yeah, these Indians live in what is basically a fucking utopia, with no poverty, no homelessness, no orphans, no debt, self-built schools and hospitals, where everybody takes care of each other, but FUCK THAT! What they really need is selfishness. Yeah. Because selfishness has worked out so well for the working-class poor in Western society, and because greed is such a nice, wholesome, Christian value… oh wait.” What a fucking prick.

Of course, I’ve learned to take quotes like this with a grain of salt, because in most cases, whenever some old white dudes are talking about civilizing the Indians or “helping” them or “educating” them or whatever, what the white dudes really want is the Indians’ land, and the “helping/educating/civilizing” bullshit is just a flimsy justification for why the land theft is okay. So I remain skeptical about whether Dawes even gave two shits about the Indians’ “progress” at all.

2 years ago 1 note

mainvarivari:

coolkahanibhai:

fuckyeahradicalcartoons:

baconeggsandzombies:

This is a hilarious photo with a very serious undertone to it. Too many westerners think that the hijab oppresses women, but to the contrary it liberates women. People need to gain a better understanding about the reasoning for wearing a hijab and not following an biased fictional opinion of someone who doesn’t even participate in their culture. Ignorance is Bliss!

You will be liberated against your own will!

this is genius.

CITIZEN KANE CLAP

(via pseudo-tsuga)

2 years ago 723 notes View high resolution