The Sin Upon Indigenous People
written by: Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. ”
Native American individuals were a part of my life in Minnesota and Wisconsin. In high school and college, I had Native American friends. As part of my doctoral work in my first pastorate, I set up a process of communication between the white congregation and the Native American reservation. The late 1980s and early 1990s were a time of increased tension around Spear Fishing that created anger and occasional violence, because it appeared to diminish the walleye population in local waters significantly. The friendships, study, and planning helped me appreciate the brutality white people have unloaded on our indigenous neighbors.
I just finished an astonishingly painful book entitled Unworthy Republic by Claudio Saunt. I’ve heard about and read some of the injustices done to the first Americans. Still, Saunt tells the story of the 1820s and 1830s and the horrific injustices, including the “trail of tears,” forcing the indigenous people to walk nearly a thousand miles from the southeastern states to Oklahoma. White communities ignored legally binding treaties, and state and federal governments disregarded promises of prosperous lands and food for the journey. Over 30 percent of the men, women, and children died on the trip, and even more after arriving in Oklahoma.
Through the years, I’ve heard the justification that each conquering people takes their victory spoils. While that is true, if not more than a bit cynical, what white 19th century Americans did went far beyond almost any atrocity to that point in time. The rationalization that “filthy savages” were killed before they could attack and “scalp” white people was disingenuous. Saunt goes to great length, with the appropriate records and firsthand documents, showing that the white groups were overwhelmingly the aggressor. The majority of native people were violent in retaliation for the violence inflicted upon them.
There were a few white churches of the period that did speak out against the injustice. When people did address the atrocities, they spoke from a Biblical ethic. Today, pray for the indigenous people who continue to suffer for the sins of our nation’s past and present. Pray for God’s wisdom and courage so that we, too, may continue to recognize and call the wrongs of injustice by name, as people of faith. Only when we speak out are we able to bring light to injustices in our midst.
