Same Sad Story Set In A Different Location

CONNECTION

Despite all the scientific advancements in society, some stories remain the same.

The Mapuches are victims of virtual genocide, said Martina Whelshula, a professor in the American Indian studies program at North Idaho College.

Their struggle is far too familiar, said the Colville Tribes member.

“This article could have, just as easily, been written about any Indian tribe in the United States,” she said.

Toss in different names, locations and governments, Whelshula said, and the Mapuche story is basically the same.

The Mapuches have seen many of their sacred herbs, key to ceremonies, disappear as the region has been deforested. For years, the coastal tribes of Washington were banned from harvesting old growth cedar trees, a key cultural element for dug out canoes and ceremonies. The Makahs gave up their tradition of whaling until recently because commercial harvesting nearly destroyed whale populations.

The American Indian culture has survived federal programs that were intended to help Indians adjust to mainstream life at the turn of the century. Boarding schools pulled children from families, cut their hair and punished them for speaking their traditional language.

Allotments of reservation land to Indians and homesteaders almost destroyed the reservation system. The Spokane reservation was opened to homesteading in 1909.

Many tribes like the Coeur d’Alenes have implemented aggressive land-buy programs to reclaim land within reservation boundaries.

“The real tragedy is in the realization that, as we approach the new millennium, the treatment of indigenous people around the world is just as brutal as it was at the turn of this last century,” Whelshula said. “Not much has changed since then. And even worse … the world sits by and watches.”