I was born in America but English was not my first Language... English was forced upon me

I was born native with the first language of English. fluent English to be exact.

My dad was an anti BIA radical. Siksika.. Blackfeet here. He made sure I was born off rez and I thank him for it. I was taught English, I was sent to off rez private schools, paid for my own college education without handouts due to my blood, and taught to maneuver in the current world. I definitely thank him for this. Both he and my mother were rez born and he saw it as slavery.. and I agree. Youre given crap land, a crap future, and lacking education.. and you even have to have a card issued to you by the feds in cooperation with the BIA to EXIST. I happen to exist as a human being without being given federal permission to do so If anyone here thinks a rez is an NDN utopia.. they are delusional, liars, or have never set foot on a rez. If I hear one more foolish white mention a casino.. I swear. My entire family lives on one and only a few had the sense to get off of it and actually succeed without being handheld. Some will say that those of us who succeeded are sell outs and turn our backs on our blood... I guess they prefer living on comods and enjoying the crap land they are told is "theirs" and see this as success. I have found NO conflict in maneuvering both cultures and being an American as well as an ndn.

My grandfather said it was disgusting to smear the blood of your ancestors on yourself to gain favors, extras, special treatment, etc. He spoke of this due to the blacks behavior as well as our own. Reparations.. dont even get me on that nonsense. Oh, and he also said that the BIA was the red equivalent of the NAACP.. both corrupt racist organizations using us under the guise of protecting our intrests. I find it offensive when I get offered apologies by whites because they have no idea what they are talking about. What my family are living on isnt theirs. Its a plot of garbage that was given to them to segregate and pacify. A rez is a self limiting container and not learning the dominant language is foolish. You do realize thats how the Spanish started our genocide in 1492, right? As far as my people... we arent "from" Browning, Montana or that scrub land we call our own since we were told it was ours. What I have and what Ive accomplished I needed no white hand to help me.. and Ive needed no NDN org to support me or back me up... and I certainly havent needed to feds to occupy me, tell me what I am or where I can live.

Im thankful every day I was raised by an anti-BIA and anti-slave camp/rez radical.

Daddy, love you to death and your posts are great, but people can only force you to do things or take things from you if you allow them. If a rez was self sufficient and able to exist without the great white federal hand then you could say they forced you to learn English. As it is, you are a commodity as much as the cheese you get and youre going to play by their rules since your Elders and the BIA have used you as currency. You have to learn English if you want to work in this world ( we've known this for generations), and the conquerers make the rules. There doesnt need to be a clash between your first language and the countries main language, your culture or the American "culture". I will never allow myself to be crushed under one or the other. Im sure you are aware that Hitler praised the "reservations" and were a first model for the camps he crafted for his own undesirables... and language/culture was used against the jews just like it was against us.
aradicalblackfoot.blogspot.com...

I'm surprised this thread has turned into a debate on whether it's appropriate for English to be the world's language, the OP was not really dealing with that so much as the Draconian tactics used by our education system to force young children into compliance. It's truly a sad statement and has nothing to do with English being our national language. Imagine these young children in class, struggling with a language they are not familiar with, talking among themselves trying to help each other understand, and then being sent to the principal and beaten for "daring" to speak another language in class. It's shameful and despicable. What horrible thing did these kids do to deserve being paddled? Did they beat someone up? Steal something? Not at all, they simply spoke another language in an effort to help their fellow students understand the lesson being taught. It is absolutely insane that we can be so intolerant. When I was a kid in the 60's, I remember very clearly a related experience I had. One of my schoolmates was having trouble with a paper we were supposed to write so asked for my help after class. We discussed it at length during the "work session" in the latter part of the class. The teacher of course saw us. After the papers were turned in a few days later I got called into the principal's office along with the other student (the teacher was there too). They asked why our two papers were so similar. At first I didn't even remember the event and had no idea how to respond. When they showed me my paper it jogged my memory and I explained that the other student had asked for my help and I gave it. I honestly still didn't understand what the issue was, I didn't see a problem at all (this was in primary school by the way). They told me that was cheating, and they gave me a zero on the paper, but said that due to my record (I was a straight A student) they would be lenient on me and not send me to detention. How kind. And that wouldn't be the last such experience I had in the public school system. To this day the irony is not lost on me, nearly everything I've done as a project manager in my working career has required networking and teamwork- close interaction with other people. It amazes me to think about how my schools totally squelched any efforts at cross-student communication as I was growing up. The one skill that's most important in life is the very one they discouraged even to the point of physical punishment.

Everyone's an immigrant including natives. English in the western world is universal. IMHO learn it or don't receive government cheques and don't complain when your living in a tent outside wally world.

TBH, this is like me complaining about society, how it was forced upon us, nobody asked us if we'd like to be born into it.

Just bam,here you are.

and you know what?

We just deal with it, such is life.

Originally posted by Codered88
Everyone's an immigrant including natives. English in the western world is universal. IMHO learn it or don't receive government cheques and don't complain when your living in a tent outside wally world.

Just so you know the only government check I ever got..
is my tax returns
and now my retirement from the Marines....

it is very dangerous to assume ya know

Originally posted by DaddyBare

Originally posted by Codered88
Everyone's an immigrant including natives. English in the western world is universal. IMHO learn it or don't receive government cheques and don't complain when your living in a tent outside wally world.

Just so you know the only government check I ever got..
is my tax returns
and now my retirement from the Marines....

it is very dangerous to assume ya know

Ive found it to be a futile effort to educate people concerning all of these odd things they feel are facts concerning NDNs.. just let them wallow in ignorance. If you tell the truth, they will deny it all. The "education" non natives receive is working well. Marginalize, ostracize, and spread lies as truth. Its worked well. Just like in another thread.. cant imagine WHY the buffalo were slaughtered and left to rot in the sun by the thousands. Hmm.... the good Govt surely woudnt promote genocide by starvation even in the late 1800s when America was so civilized and "good". The sad thing is that the question of why is asked.. but they dont even care to seek out the truthful answers to it or even consider the facts of why the govt gave certain land and moved us off of other land. The worship of the almighty dollar sure wasnt invented in the last few administrations! But yeah, we're all handed checks and free money! YAAAYY!!

As they say, ignorance is bliss.. and there are some hellaciously blissful folks out there.

He is forced too!

reply to post by DaddyBare


Hello Daddybear..I remember going to public school in the late 50s.I am as the kids say a Gringo.I remember kids getting caught by teachers and sent to the office for speaking Spanish While you must learn english in America ..ones heratage should not be lost in the prosess . Times change and im glad of it ! No doubt the American Indian is one of the most persucuted races in America..I remember Jonnie Cash..singing Ira Hayse..I never knew about him till that song..Does his ghost lie thirsty in a ditch to this day ?.

Originally posted by ThirdEyeofHorus
reply to post by NoHierarchy

 

You sound like a No Borders kind of person. You say that nationalism is disgusting. Were you thinking of Nazi Germany? Or Russian communism? Maybe the Chinese military parades on May 1? I get so tired of hearing Progressives whine about how bad nationalism is, and then complain about the NAU or NAFTA, CAFTA, the trans-corridor cutting the country in half, or any other number of NWO traps. I don't want to hear people complaining about how they lost their language then say how bad nationalism is. Don't people see the hypocrisy? Preserving one's language is preserving a national identity, but because there are so many different languages within a given territory it tends to break down the sense of unity.
People who are into the whole No Borders thing are just begging for the One World Totalitarian govt.

edit on 19-6-2011 by ThirdEyeofHorus because: (no reason given)

You don't get it.

reply to post by DaddyBare


You certainly have a better grasp of the English language than a great deal of young people in English speaking countries these days.

Originally posted by Codered88
Everyone's an immigrant including natives. English in the western world is universal. IMHO learn it or don't receive government cheques and don't complain when your living in a tent outside wally world.

Well stated...thank you

Originally posted by WineFly
reply to post by DaddyBare

 

You certainly have a better grasp of the English language than a great deal of young people in English speaking countries these days.

well thank you for your kind words...
Given my background you would never guess I am a published author... although my book never sold well in my own country

Sorry to say but the Indian nations were defeated, and were given reservation land which defines borders of their nations. It is important to preserve the language and cultures within those borders, a shame if lost, but that's the responsibility of the keepers of the language and cultures. Across the border is a different nation, made of people from around the world, but unified by a common language.

Just for comparison
There are other dark skinned Indian people on the other side of the earth who were also conquered by the English. They are now increasingly united by a common language, English. Their nation is rising, their incomes are rising, their skills are rising, and they're taking jobs away from Americans. They don't whine about English, they celebrate it.

A common language unites us to stand together. Languages divide, and we fall as a nation.

reply to post by David291

Like I said earlier, learning a new language is a very useful tool so why do you care if it was forced upon you? You have gained something good. I wish I had Polish forced upon me or I wouldn't have this problem of learning it now.

Well well well, so you DO learn Polish? Is it by neccesity or just because you want to know the language of your ancestors? Can you say something more than that you love me?
I've talked to a fair share of Brits and many of them (mostly older people) speak very highly of Polish people thanks to the Battle of Britain where we had more than lent a hand to the UK in their struggle against Goring's Luftwaffe. Some of them still remember the polish Government On Exile that resided in London and they've often shown compassion towards our proud yet troubled history.
But many of the new generation neither care about that or treating immmigrants (especially Polish) well. Sometimes I trhink that the UK is a little claustrophobic maybe, despite London being almost torn apart by minorities.

Sorry to say but the Indian nations were defeated, and were given reservation land which defines borders of their nations. It is important to preserve the language and cultures within those borders, a shame if lost, but that's the responsibility of the keepers of the language and cultures. Across the border is a different nation, made of people from around the world, but unified by a common language.

Dude, that's just outrageous. The Indians were ripped apart bu you great settlers just because you wanted more and more land. Ironically the US was built by the people who forcefully removed Indians from their native land and caused great suffering to them. Say, the Indians killed a fair share of your people in defence of their homeland. So what? Wouldn't you defend your homeas well? And now you, the conquerors who call themselves "free people" and cxome from the "land of the free" speak about Indians as if they were cattle, left away to rot in their reservations. It's their land in the first place, and if you've conquered them you either give them a chance to influence your culture as a way of showing respect towards this continent's real natives, or you just wait for them to assimilate or die or both. Great ideology.

Just for comparison There are other dark skinned Indian people on the other side of the earth who were also conquered by the English. They are now increasingly united by a common language, English. Their nation is rising, their incomes are rising, their skills are rising, and they're taking jobs away from Americans. They don't whine about English, they celebrate it.

They do that not because they want it but because they have to do it if they want to make any difference. Truth is, they hate you and all of the white conquerors as much as they did when you first sent your great barques, ships-of-the-line or whatever to gather them like apes and transport them to the other colonies or later (when such expeditions were sent by the United States) to make them work as your slaves in the America: Home Of The White Only.
That's equally fun and sadness in your post: You think that you know other cultures, other nations and that you give them happiness. You don't, face it.

A common language unites us to stand together. Languages divide, and we fall as a nation.

I think that this line speaks for itself, quite honestly it's a definition of semi-nazi "racial cleaniness" ideology. Where's that America that was proud of its multi-national heritage? It's a short trip from such statements to Endlosung or Lebensborn, trust me.

reply to post by Jelonek


Pretty much sums up a collection of completely misguided views.

You realize you are communicating in English, right? We're all posting in the same language.

I am also from that brown skin region of the world.

reply to post by DaddyBare


Semper Fi, devil dog.

Originally posted by Dbriefed
reply to post by Jelonek

 

Pretty much sums up a collection of completely misguided views.

You realize you are communicating in English, right? We're all posting in the same language.

I am also from that brown skin region of the world.

You do realize that way back when, ndn kids werent ALLOWED to speak in their native language or they would be beaten, correct?Immediate fluency was demanded, and violators were treated harshly. Any native language spoken or way of daily life that they held before the whites came resulted in harsh punishment. It wasnt a matter of CHOOSING to learn another language for commerce or national unity, it was beaten into them and our culture stripped from us. Ever heard of "indian schools"? White people indoctrinated, punished, abused, sexually brutalized children because they were regarded as non-human, and many times killed native kids with impunity. This was done to make them conform to a "civilized" society and learn about a superior God. It had NOTHING tyo do with communication or national unity, and for you to suggest such is laughable. Google is your friend, its all there for you to educate yourself easily. This began for the most part in 1492.. start there.

DaddyBare isnt of the age to have suffered this as it once was, but it is a truth and the heritage of the United States. It simply is what it is. To deny the truth makes you appear foolish or at least lead by propaganda. My folks werent a "civilized tribe" as designated by the Feds. We were treated very horrendously, and it hasnt been forgotten... mainly because it is still happening. Unfortunately most Americans are in "love" with ndn spirituality and culture.. and know nothing other than flasehoods and assumptions. RezDogs hang around and play pretend ndn. 1/16 ndn folks want a CDIB, but want to contribute nothing to the tribe or reservation.. only to take and perpetuate the BS. This is what they like to call " cultural sensitivity"... which one can only laugh at. No one seems to want to tell the truth concerning any of this.. much less educate themselves. Ive encountered people here on ATS that think every tribe is the same, have the same spirituality, are the same culturally, and look alike! The ignorance is astounding. No one needs your empty apologies, reparations, or white helping hand, but an end to the lies and revisionist history would be very appreciated.


It IS possible to maintain ones ancestral culture and assimilate into the dominant culture. I know, Ive done it for almost 50 years. The problem is that assimilation isnt enough for some.. complete denial of your culture and fitting yourself into their preconceptions is demanded. You are also NOT allowed to voice the idea that you want to preserve your culture or you are a racist. In fact, I was called a racist here on ATS simply for wanting to preserve my culture..... which I have to admit, made me chuckle considering who it came from.

Thank you so much for your reply. I have been waiting for someone to STAND UP about this issue. I am Mexican, so sadly my opinion doesn't matter (you know because my race is full of lazy, spanish speaking who are too stupid to learn english, job stealing people)
*Note my sarcasm*

Anyway, I loved your post. Keep up the good work!

Don't worry, many people who's only language is English don't speak English


At least not well ...