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Mutual Aid and LANDBACK

As I began to write this article several days ago, I wrote “its been a long time since I’ve felt this lost.” I’ve been struggling with Quaker history and present related to black, Indigenous and other people of color (BIPOC). Miraculously, praying since then and spending yet another Saturday morning with my Mutual Aid family at our food giveaway, a clear vision of what I am being led to do has emerged. As is often the case, the answer seems so obvious I don’t know why I didn’t realize it before.

What I’m about to do is step away from my Quaker meeting, for reasons I’ll try to explain here.

Since moving to Iowa three years ago I’ve been blessed to become good friends with a number of Native people. It was transformative to walk and camp for a week, 94 miles along the path of the Dakota Access pipeline with a small group of Native and non-native people. About 25 of us. Someone pointed out it was a sacred journey. One purpose of the First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March was for the group to begin to get to know each other. Begin to build trust so we could work together on things of common concern going forward. This succeeded beyond my wildest dreams.
See: First Nation-Farmer Climate Unity March (firstnationfarmer.com)

Since then, we would come together for various actions. For example to lobby Senator Grassley’s staff about legislation that would affect Native peoples. And for Indigenous People’s Day, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, to get rid of racist statues, support the black liberation movement.

As I was preparing to go on that March in 2018, I thought a lot about Quakers’ participation in the Native residential schools in the late 1800’s. When I first heard about this, I assumed the Quakers involved were doing a good thing, as they helped the Native children learn how to live in the white culture that was beginning to envelop them.

So much for assumptions. I am not judging those Quakers. What I am judging is the very idea that white settlers thought they had to try to forcibly assimilate Native children. The very idea that Native culture needed to be replaced, erased. Very recently what I learned was even worse. That cruelty was to crush the resistance of Natives peoples as they were forced off their lands. The more I learned about this, the more distraught I became.

Of course the children’s parents, their whole tribe, suffered immeasurably as well. Every child subsequently born into these Native communities grew up and became aware of these tragedies, and were thus traumatized themselves. Native people alive today are suffering. In numerous ways I’ve seen that suffering of my Native friends.

Returning to the Climate Unity March, I wondered if and how I should bring up the subject of the residential schools. People on the March became aware that I am a Quaker, as was my friend Peter Clay who also participated on the March. I wondered if bringing up the schools would add to the trauma of the Native folks I was beginning to know.

The biggest reason for my hesitation was fear of their reaction if I did bring it up. Of perhaps anger and/or condemnation.

Walking and camping together over eight days afforded opportunities to share our stories with each other. As we got to know each other, we shared more intimate stories. Early in our time together, I began to feel very uncomfortable about not bringing up the subject of the Indian Boarding Schools. Not doing so felt like an act of omission. Felt dishonest. I did not think it would not be possible for trust to be built without somehow addressing this history. Following is the story of how sharing that history came about, and the reaction to it.

It didn’t take too many hours of getting to know Matthew when the Spirit led me to say to him, “I know about Quakers’ involvement in the Indian boarding schools. I’m sorry they did that.” I was apprehensive about whether I should have said that, whether that was appropriate or could pull up bad memories. We continued to walk side by side. All I noticed was a slight nod of his head. He always smiles, and that didn’t change.

But as we walked together a little later, Matthew shared a story with me. He had been living at Standing Rock for about six months. When he learned a new rope was needed to ferry people back and forth across a narrow channel of water, he offered his rope so the ferry’s operation could continue. He went on to say his mother called him after she recognized the rope while watching a TV news story. She was very upset because that brought back terrifying memories of how the Native families would try to help their children escape when white men came to kidnap them and take them to a boarding school.

Later that day he was shooting a video, and as I came into the picture he waved and said, “hi buddy”, and we both laughed. Every time we saw each other after that, we would say “hi buddy” and laugh. We have kept in touch and maintained our friendship since.

I don’t believe that would have happened if we had not shared our stories about the residential schools. I didn’t bring up the subject with anyone else during the March. But over the next few years, when it seemed an appropriate time, I brought this up with each of my friends. One shared this was a good first step. Several told me briefly of their family’s experiences. Their hurt was palpable as they spoke.

My friend Paula Palmer wrote an excellent article for Friends Journal, Oct 1, 2016. “Quaker Boarding Schools: Facing Our History and Ourselves”.

In the same way I couldn’t understand the involvement of so many Quakers in the slave trade, and having enslaved people, I couldn’t understand Quaker’s involvement with forced assimilation.

Some Quakers were involved in the Underground Railroad, to help people who had been enslaved escape from the South. Many Friends today bring up those stories in an attempt to indicate Quakers did some good related to enslavement and racial justice. It appears not that many Quakers were actually involved in the Underground Railroad. And in any case, people should not take credit for things they themselves didn’t do.

But there aren’t even such stories of Quakers’ work regarding the Native residential schools.

What does this mean for Quakers today?

First, there is very little diversity in most Quaker meetings in the country called the United States. Do white Friends think about this in relation to our history?

In the past Friends were sometimes called peculiar people as a result of public examples of their faith. For an example, Quakers would not do things like remove their hats when approaching others, or use titles to address people, such as “your highness” because they did not believe certain people were better than others. Many Friends were imprisoned for such actions.

Today most Friends are so integrated into society you don’t know they are Quakers. This begins to explain why I feel I need to distance myself from Friends. We need to make our lives reflect our concerns, to be public examples of our support for BIPOC folks. We can say we are for racial justice and Indigenous rights, but how do we actually do that? Especially when our daily lives benefit from the labor of enslaved people, and lands stolen from Native peoples. Every day. My BIPOC friends don’t care about what I say, but do care about what I do.

We can choose how much we engage with the culture of white supremacy. The culture behind the idea of forced assimilation of Native children. A culture that feels it does not have to honor treaties with tribal nations. A culture that feels it can pollute and otherwise destroy the water, land and air Native people try to protect, for the benefit of us all.

And there is the white, mainstream economic system of colonial capitalism Quakers are living in. A system that puts a price on everything, including what is priceless. A system of economic servitude that requires money for any commodity or service. That doesn’t care if people are hungry or living on the street if they don’t have money.

So no matter what we say about justice for BIPOC folks, those words are empty as long as we continue to take advantage of colonial capitalism and white supremacy.

It has been traumatic to find my Quaker community, which is nearly entirely white, has not had the understanding, yet, to break free from capitalism and white supremacy. People who have in many ways inspired me by their concerns for peace and justice. But, as with all white communities, no progress toward justice occurs when we are afraid to leave the frameworks that cause the injustice. It should be no surprise that few BIPOC people join us, much as we appreciate those who do.

The recent news of 215 Kamloops Native children buried on the grounds of a residential school has shocked non-native people, who did not know how many of these residential schools existed in the lands called the United States and Canada. Did not know tens of thousands of Native children were forcibly removed from their families and taken to these institutions where thousands were abused in many ways. Thousands killed or died. Though the stated reason for doing this was to assimilate Native children into white society for their benefit, the real intent was to quell Indigenous resistance to the theft of their land by white settler colonists.

The news has re-opened deep wounds in Native communities. Many have been triggered by this atrocity. One of my Native friends wrote that she was NOT OK. Another told me, “I’m trying not to be enraged in my mourning.”

One of my Native friends also told me, “The church is the church’s past, which is its future. It continues to see my people as obstacles in its endless conquest. To be blunt, there is too much damage that the church profits from and needs to protect to have any future there.” Vigorous attempts are made to hide it, but history does not lie. He also told me, regarding what I had been telling him about my efforts with Quakers, “I wish you the best. I imagine its a hard struggle.”

I cannot face my BIPOC friends if I don’t continue to seek the Spirit, and act on the leadings I am given.

“Don’t make orphans stand here covered in the blood of our parents and explain to you how this all came to be without doing something about it.“

The Tragedy of 215. Without truth, there can be no healing, by Sarah Rose Harper, Lakota People’s Law Project, 6/2/2021

I am so grateful to my BIPOC friends for teaching me that Mutual Aid and LANDBACK are alternatives to colonial capitalism and white superiority. LANDBACK is how to restore Native lands and leadership.

As environmental chaos deepens, with the resulting collapse of the colonial capitalist economic system and the political systems propping up white supremacy, we will have no choice but to find alternatives. Ideally those would be Mutual Aid and LANDBACK. This is powerful incentive to embrace these concepts now.