My first Journal

After my initial block of reading and viewing resources from the course I've hit
on some interesting themes and ideas, one of which centers around the idea
of presentism, another around the idea of genocide, and another around the
ideas of Wab Kinew and his attempts to redefine the native relationship with
the rest of Canada.
Presentism is an interesting idea about taking the ideas of today to excuse
the ideas of the past, something akin to "well under the norms and conditions
of the past, those decisions were right, even though today we know they are
wrong." So we can't excuse the past and move on as saying the ideas of
erasing native culture is wrong now but back then was right. Alot of
references were made to the Germans after WW2 and their previous
treatment of minorities and Jews and how this precedent is used to justify the
errors of thinking of the past through the eyes of the present. Advocates of
presentism argue that the past was wrong and those must still answer to the
actions of the past even though at the time those policies were supported.
Sharing the guilt of Canada's past actions is uncomfortable to me and a little
awkward considering I'm of German decent and my past only merged with
that of Canada's from the after effects of WW2 and I wonder how much guilt a
guy should have for the wrongs of something I wasn't a part of - unless the
idea of humanity is the new mantra and that because you are a human and
allowed other humans to suffer under the guise of government policy the
world over, then for sure my guilt is much. I just don't know if humanity is
there yet...I asked my group about this idea but no one had much thoughts
on this.
Genocide was also tied into the idea of presentism and one of the book
excerpts I read talked about and how the name for Canada's policies towards
the natives is called genocide. I would agree with this definition and don't
mind the monicker, it is true, Canada was being systematic in their approach
to Native culture and the fact that we held on to those ideas even after we
signed on to the Geneva Convention on the treatment of human beings. I
just struggle with the idea that the historical episodes used to describe
genocide were all about the destruction of the cultures AND the people. We
wanted the people to stay but not the culture, which is why I really liked the
Wab Kinew stuff I've read and seen so far because he advocates for the
equality of relations on a human level. When he mentioned that Canada and
China need to have a relationship, so too do the Natives and Canada, but he
advocates something I haven't really heard about before, that in order to
have relationships with other nations, the Natives must rise up and obtain the
knowledges all the while maintaining the culture. This to me is very
refreshing. Wab acknowledges that Native culture and ideas must compete
on a level of nations, and that you must survive on your own merits or else
some country like China will take over. This is a perspective that if it ever
becomes adopted as widespread, it could unlock an energy from the Natives
few could stop!