Indian Schools

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY

Indian Schools

 

We took children from their families

Sent them away to boarding schools

To break them of their cultures

To strip them of their languages

We regarded them as savages

Unworthy of our kindness

We beat them down with our religion

Replaced their history with ours

We punished them with civil manners

We told them they were dirty

Unnatural primitive and cruel

We instructed them to forget the past

Their tribes and tribal ways

Their ancestors were animals

Their elders were lost souls

We ordered them to sever ties

With all that came before them

And oh yes, we exploited them

Sexually and physically abuse them

We stole everything they valued

Including their dignity

Now we wonder why they drink

Why they do drugs

Why they live in poverty

Why they live apart from us

Why they turn their backs away

They are proud people

With long and storied histories

Of courageous warriors

And strong women

With words of infinite wisdom

With traditions and beliefs

They do not wish to lose

They remember what we did to them

They remember Indian schools

They remember the reservations

And how they came to be

So no, they will not forget the past

They will remember always

Until the past becomes the present

And paves the red road forward