Silent Genocide

Can’t say that I would argue with singer Billie Elish’s statement made when she accepted her 2026 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.  She stated, “No one is illegal on stolen land.”  This is in reference to the war being waged on immigrants by the Trump administration.  The land our nation claims is land stolen—not bought and paid for—from the original people who inhabited it.  History clearly documents the “land grab”.  In this way, we are all immigrants.  outside of Native Americans, all of us originated from somewhere else . . .came from somewhere else . . . immigrated here. 

 

I can’t argue with that because it is true.  Ms. Eilish caught some flack over the statement because it seems that her home—a multi-million-dollar mansion—sits on “stolen land”.  That land originally belonged to the Tongva Tribal Nation.  The tribe acknowledged this fact but stated that the singer has never contacted them about the land.  They appreciate the acknowledgement of the land as “indigenous” but question her sincerity.  They kind of see it as a “prayer and thoughts” sort of statement. 

 

No one wants to be called a hypocrite.  A day or two after the Grammy Awards, Ms. Eilish put out a statement about a recent ancestry test she took.  The test revealed that she had a small percentage of Native American heritage in her family background.  A DNA test. The test confirmed that she was 1/164th Native American.  Though she doesn’t agree, the implication is that “technically” she has a right to the land that her mansion sits on.  She acknowledges that being “native” is more than a number from a DNA test.  That just shows the person where he or she comes from.  Real proof comes in honoring the land, history, culture, and living communities. 

 

Though Ms. Eilish understands this, there are a lot of people who see her 1/164th score as validation of her indigenous heritage and place in a tribe.  Lots of people believe this.  They believe it because that is the great American myth and most are ignorant of history and reality. 

From the beginning, the goal of the people who settled here and formed our nation was the land.  To own the land, they need to remove the inhabitants already occupying it. They used concepts like the “Doctrine of Discovery” and “Manifest Destiny” to justify their actions.  Our nation was built upon these ideologies.  Colonialization—plain and simple. But to work the inhabitants either had to be removed, assimilated, or eliminated . . . they had to disappear.  

 

History paints the story if we want to delve deeper than the white-washed garbage the present administration wants to sell us.  From the beginning of our nation, the original inhabitants were to be removed—even extinguished.  Pushed westward from their lands, found, massacred, poisoned with disease, starved as their food sources were annihilated, rounded up, placed on reservations, made to assimilate, boarding schools . . . all designed to rid the land of these people.  To get rid of them.  Genocide.  History shows this movement of genocide.  

 

General Philip Sheridan in 1869 declared, “The only good Indian I ever saw is a dead Indian.”  This became “The only good Indian is a dead Indian.”  Richard Pratt, founder of the Carlisle Indian Industrial School in Pennsylvania (model for all boarding schools), in 1879, had this to say, “Kill the Indian, save the man.”  Both were staunch in their goals of getting rid of the “Indian problem” . . . both had their methods of genocide.  The goal was removal and the mans was genocide.  Look it up. Plenty has been written and is being written about it.  It is the wiping out of people and their cultures. 

 

Thank goodness our nation no longer practices genocide . . . right?  I suppose, considering the present administration’s immigration policies and activities, that statement is debatable.  It sure feels like genocide no matter how much this administration wraps it up in “red, white, and blue”.  If you ask the Native American tribes, they will tell you that genocide is alive and well.  Instead of blatant it is more subtle . . . almost silent, but it is still there.  Which brings me back to Ms. Eilish and this idea of DNA or blood as the definitive solution to who us a Native American. 

 

Blood quantum—a controversial, colonial-era policy measuring the amount of “Indian blood” a person possesses to determine Native American identity and tribal enrollment. 

 

The goal of blood quantum is not to quantify “Indianness” but to bring “Indianness” or “Indians” to the state of extinction.  To make them disappear.  This is not a scientific-based method—there is no science that grounds it.  The only “science” might be the fact that if this practice continues there will be no Indians/Native Americans remaining—no tribes—they will be eliminated through simple math.  Blood quantum is not real.  It is made up.  Created to extinguish Native Americans.  Silent genocide.  

 

Tailyr Irvine is a photojournalist whose work has been published in National Geographic, the New York Times, the Smithsonian, the Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal. She has hosted shows across the country.  She has been on the national Public Broadcasting System’s programs.  She is a registered member of the Salish and Kootenai Tribal Nation on the Flathead Reservation in Montana.  She shares the stories of life and culture from the Native side.  One story that intrigued and bothered her was about blood quantum.  The result was a documentary story, Reservation Mathematics: Navigating Love in Native America.  Ms. Irvine states that this “not real” issue “focuses on how the government-imposed system of blood quantum affects who Natives marry, who they have kids with, who they spend their life with and how this number dictates one of the intimate choices that we have.”  The end result is extinction.  Take a moment to watch her as she explains this silent genocide.  There is a short version at this link, or a longer version that explains it in greater deal at this link.  She tells the story well. 

 

Ms. Eilish’s statement pulled back the curtain hiding the long-held secret of genocide against Native Americans who were the original inhabitants of our nation.  It still exists.  It is still practiced.  Amazingly the Native Americans are a resilient people who have survived this continuing onslaught of purposeful extinction.  And, yes, it will continue.  As the Trump administration has demonstrated since Day One, there is an on-going cleansing of America hidden behind ridding our country of illegal immigrants.  It is “cleansing”.  It is an act of aggression.  An act of cruelty.  All aimed at ridding our nation of people of color. We witness it daily.  Because their skin and culture are not “white” . . . they must go. 

 

I have Native American friends who now carry tribal documents stating that they are American citizens.  Proof that they belong.  I am scared for them.  I am scared for my neighbor who is Hispanic.  He is a naturalized citizen of the United States.  A legal resident who has jumped through all the hoops, signed all the papers, and sworn allegiance to the country.  But I watch daily to see if unmarked vehicles will come, a knock upon his door, and him being escorted away.  Not only him, but others.  Not only people of color, but people of gender.  A couple, gay, live on the corner of the street.  The vile rhetoric and treatment against the LGBTQ+ have made me fear for them.  They are not wanted by the present administration.  Actions speak louder than words and demonstrate this fact.  No one is safe who is contrary to the present administration’s desires and whims . . . no one.  

These are scary times.  We are witnessing the act of genocide cloaked in patriotism . . . draped in “red, white, and blue”.  We cannot turn away.  We must ally ourselves with those who are being attacked.  If not . . . well, remember the words of Pastor Martim Niemoller: 

First they came for the Communists 

And I did not speak out 

Because I was not a Communist 

Then they came for the Socialists 

And I did not speak out 

Because I was not a Socialist 

Then they came for the trade unionists 

And I did not speak out 

Because I was not a trade unionist 

Then they came for the Jews 

And I did not speak out 

Because I was not a Jew 

Then they came for me 

And there was no one left 

To speak out for me 

 

Bring Them Home

If you have been to Yellowstone National Park, you would think they are the only animals in the park . . . them and elk.  It seems everywhere you look there are bison . . . or what most people refer to as buffalo.  You would never think by looking at their numbers in Yellowstone that they were nearly extinct by the end of the 19^th century.  It is thought that more than 30 million bison—some estimates range as high as 60 million—once roamed North America in colossal, nomadic herds.  That is a lot of bison! 

The bison were almost annihilated by the end of the 19^th century as victims of a market for hides and meat . . . and, as a United States government plan that allowed the slaughter to continue as a means of undermining and controlling the Plains Indian tribes.  “Let them kill, skin and sell until the buffalo is exterminated,” wrote U.S. general Philip Sheridan, “as it is the only way to bring lasting peace and allow civilization to advance.”  In annihilating the bison, the government was working on corralling the Indians by taking away their greatest resource for sustenance and survival.

It nearly worked.  If one takes the time to read the history and the stories of the Indians, especially those tribes located in Montana, he or she would learn of the vital importance of the bison for the survival of these tribes.  Take away the food and people starve . . . and, people die.  The government’s idea was to force the Indians into submission by making them starve.  With the bison gone . . . well, it does not take a degree in rocket science to figure out what would happen.  The slaughter of the bison was a sad footnote in our nation’s history . . . one rarely spoken about, but borders on a near holocaust of a great and mighty animal and a people that once inhabited this beautiful land.

By the turn of the 20^th century the bison herds were pretty much decimated.  By 1902, Yellowstone National Park officials counted just 23 remaining genetically pure bison left in the park, the last known wild bison south of the Canadian border.  Today, the herd numbers a little over 3,000 inside the park—3,000 genetically pure bison from the 30 to 60 million that once roamed our great nation.  Driving around Yellowstone, one would swear that he or she has seen all 3,000 of them! 

Though the bison were here first, it is cattle that are the big boss now on these pristine lands where bison once freely roamed.  In fact, Yellowstone is not a natural habitat for bison; it is where they have been forced to go in order to survive.  The bison is a prairie animal, Yellowstone is far from being a prairie.  Cattle is boss now across the plains . . . including in Montana where there are more cows than people living in the state.  Cattle is big business, really big business . . . the type of big business that one protects at any cost . . . including allowing the bison to move back into areas where they were once as common as the landscape.  The cattle business fears the bison.

 The culprit behind this fear is brucellosis.  Brucellosis is a disease that some bison carry that causes cattle to abort fetuses.  The cattle industry does not want the bison infecting their herds, which could happen according to them if the bison are allowed outside of the park.  One of the ironic things about this argument is that there has never been a documented case of bison-fed brucellosis in cattle—never!  All the documented cases of cattle being infected with brucellosis has come from that other seemingly abundant creature in Yellowstone—the elk.  Elk are not treated for brucellosis . . . they have a pretty big lobby and bring lots of money to the area . . . thus, they have been pretty much ignored in this brucellosis argument even though they are the number carrier of the disease among cattle.  Also, another irony, brucellosis was brought to North America by cattle imported from Europe.

In 1997 a project was started to bring the bison back to their natural habitat.  Through the National Wildlife Federation and the InterTribal Bison Cooperative—which includes 56 tribes from 19 states—successfully proposed the construction of a quarantine facility where bison from the genetically pure herd in Yellowstone National Park could be monitored and tested.  The goal was to transfer brucellosis-free bison to tribal lands.  As a part of the project, animals that tested positive for the disease were killed . . . the idea was to have a disease-free, genetically pure herd to place on the reservations.

On a cold winter’s night in 2012, the Fort Peck reservation of the Assiniboine and Sioux tribes received their herd from Yellowstone National Park.  It is an opportunity of revival for the tribes.  Historically the bison offered food, clothing, ritual and a sense of connectedness.  One of the Assiniboine religious leaders stated, “The bison’s return represents a renewed celebration of who we are as a people.”  It is with a sense of hope that the bison have been welcomed home.

It is a coming full circle . . . coming back to where it all began.  It is a reconnection with roots and meaning of who a people are.  The bison has always been a central character in the lives and history of the Indians—especially in Montana.  It is an acknowledgement of a people’s existence.  But, it is not coming easily.  There is lots of opposition to the idea of returning the bison to their natural habitat . . . opposition that is being led by the cattle industry.  The cattle industry does not want the bison returned to their natural habitat because a lot of that habitat is now cattle habitat . . . habitat under cattle for over a hundred years, and it would not be fair to put such a burden on those ranchers who have been ranching that land with cattle for over a hundred years.  Never mind that the bison were there first.  The cattle industry also doesn’t want the bison there because of the threat of brucellosis.  Never mind the fact that there has never been a documented or verified case of it coming from a bison yet.  Thus the modern day remedy of lawsuits is creating the barrier from fulfilling a dream of bringing the bison home.

Presently there is a lawsuit that is now in Montana’s State Supreme Court that is keeping the project from moving forward.  There will probably be more lawsuits to come.  Two other tribal reservations are ready to receive their own bison herds.  The tribes at the Fort Belknap (Montana) and Wind River (Wyoming) reservations have made all the necessary preparations for the herds . . . done all of the things that the state and cattle industry have required . . . but, they now wait.  They wait until the lawsuits are settled.

Until then the circle cannot be closed.  One female elder at the Fort Peck reservation stated, “By bringing them back, we’re bringing back our identity.”  Of course, it should never have been taken away in the first place . . . in the story of a holocaust of an animal and people there arises hope.  Hope from 23 genetically pure bison in 1902 . . . the chain was never completely broken . . .

It is time to bring the bison home.  It is time to do the right thing.  Let us complete the circle.  Bring them home!