“Kill the Indian, Save the Man.” – Captain Richard H. Subjugation and Reservation Period Confined / translocated Lack of security Forced dependency on the Oppressor Boarding School Period Destroyed family system Beatings and rape Prohibition of Native languages and religion Last effect: Ill prepared for parenting and identity confusion Forced Relocation and Termination Period Transfer to urban areas Prohibition of religious freedom Beginning of Contact Life shock Genocide No time for grief Colonization Period: introduction of disease and alcohol, traumatic events such as Wounded Knee Massacre Economic Competition Sustenance loss (physical/spiritual) Invasion War Period Extermination Refugee symptoms Understanding the trauma Releasing our pain Transcending the trauma The resulting trauma is conceptualized as collective in that it impacts a significant portion of the community and compounding, as multiple historically traumatic events occurring over generations join an overarching legacy of assaults. Thus, even family members who have not directly experienced the trauma can feel the effects of the event generations later. The trauma is held personally and transmitted over generations. 432) “State child custody laws, to which tribes were subject, allowed non-Indian state employees with little understanding of Indian culture to make decision about when to remove children from their families…by 1977, 25 to 35 percent of all Indian children had been taken from their homes by bureaucratic authorization.”(Jones, 1995) ġ0 Individually, each event is profoundly traumatic taken together they constitute a history of sustained cultural disruption and destruction directed at communities. Then I would say to these people, “Put your children in school”, and they would do it.” Indian Commissioner, Thomas Jefferson Morgan, 1889 (as cited in Josephy, 1994, p.

140) “ I would withhold from rations and supplies…and when every other means was exhausted…I would send a troop of United States soldiers, not to seize them, but simply to present as an expression of the power of the government. Government for rations Daily reminders Loss of land, loss of languages, spirituality, healing traditions Highly traumatized group in present Lower life expectancies, higher rates of violent victimization ĩ Length of the Trauma “But if you do not …we shall take you, and your wives, and your children, and shall make slaves of them…and we shall take away your goods and shall do you all the harm and damage we can.” Requerimiento, read by Priests/Spanish Conquistadors, 1500s (as cited in Josephy, 1994, p.

Length of trauma Losses were felt across tribal nations over 500 year period There was no end to ethnic cleansing (ongoing and legal) No place to go Relocated to areas with no economic value where leaving was illegal Dependent on U.S.

Religious ceremonies that would have addressed the trauma, allowed grief expression, and permitted healing were denied. laws forbade the practice of tribal religions. Similarities Holocaust Indigenous Experience Imprisonment Forced Relocation Death Abuse Imprisonment Forced Relocation Death Abuse Wounded Knee Massacre 1890 Jewish Holocaust Historical Trauma Response “Constellation of features in reaction to this trauma” Depression Anxiety Low self esteem Anger Substance abuse Difficulty with emotional identification and expression Historical unresolved grief is the grief that accompanies the trauma. nationality, tribal affiliation, ethnicity, religious affiliation) with genocidal or ethnocidal intent (i.e annihilation or disruption to traditional lifeways, culture and identity. Historical trauma can be conceptualized as an event or set of events perpetrated on a group of people (including their environment) who share specific group identity (e.g. Sina Ikikcu Win (Takes the Robe Woman) Ethleen Iron Cloud- Two Dogs Hmuya Mani (Walks with a Roaring) Richard Two Dogs “A society that cannot remember its past and honor it, is in peril of losing its spirit” ~Vine Deloria Jr.

Intergenerational trauma dogs