Final Solution: The Whites and Their “Indian Residential Schools”
Dedicated to Ward Churchill and all who speak the absolute truth about amerikkka .
The PBS documentary “In the White Man’s Image” follows the initial development of the “Indian Residential Schools.” PBS advertises the documentary as “the story of a humanist experiment gone bad.” This one simple characterization should be all any rational persyn requires as proof that amerika is simply too fucked to fix and needs utter destroying. Consider. The assailant stands with dagger full force and to the hilt into the victim’s gut. Then what possible next action on the part of the assailant toward the victim could possibly be called a “humanist” action? Removal of the dagger? A bit better, but not “humanist.” Removal of the dagger, binding the wound, and rushing the victim to medical aid? Still better, but has the assailant has now become a “humanist?” Not hardly. How about this: no rush to medical attention, no binding the wound, the dagger remains held fully in place. The assailant’s very next action is to then tell the victim, “and now my good buddies will kill your children.” According to the oppressor nation ideology of the amerikans, when the perpetration is against First Nations, it is precisely in this last scene that the assailant fully deserves the mantle of “humanist.”
The white nation pogrom against the First Nations called the Residential Schools was in no sense a matter of “good intentions gone wrong.” Even the paraded catch phrase summation of this policy, “Kill the Indian, Save the Man,” belies such a whitewashing characterization. The comprehensive violence to be necessarily inflicted on the First Nations children in the intent to “Kill the Indian” ensured just that: they would be killed – emotionally, ideologically, and physically. No “Man” would be saved by this policy of the whites other than the White Man, who through extermination would be saved having to be accountable to the oppressed. Those who want to impute “good intent” to the whites’ Residential School policy openly wave the banner of national oppression. Only that ideology would be other than completely skeptical of any white intent after the whites had already committed hundreds of years to First Nation genocide. Only that ideology would be accepting of any white nation intent as “good” that did not demonstrate immediately and tangibly that the whites were leaving the territories they had stolen and were, on their way out, divesting themselves of all possessions to the First Nations by way of reparations. Waving the banner of national oppression, the “good intent gone wrong” characterization of course assumes that neither of these conditions will obtain. “Well of course the assailant won’t remove the dagger or try to undo the damage done. How silly to think otherwise.” This white nationalism just assumes continued national oppression and then tries to conjure up good intent within that reactionary context. So we shouldn’t be surprised when the “good intent” conjured up turns out to be, well, killing First Nation children. And generally we should never be surprised at the contortions resorted to by the whites to get themselves off the hook for crimes committed by them and for their benefit.
The video here, Final Solution, is presented by way of agitation as the briefest of introductions to the growing body of work laying bare the murderous nature of the amerikan and kanadian Residential Schools, as well as the little Eeichmann complicity of all whites in this program of extermination. This introduction will hopefully lead potential allies of all oppressed nations to study this history and rethink any illusions they may still harbor around the issue of friends and enemies – the white nation always stakes its claim to the latter category. The video relies on 3 books: Ward Churchill’s “Kill the Indian, Save the Man,” John Milloy’s “A National Crime,” and David Wallace Adams’ “Education for Extinction.” The latter two works are excellent for their detail in exposing the history of these white nation concentration camps, Milloy for kanada and Adams for amerika. (And even a cursory reading of these two books and comparing the policies toward the First Nations in kanada and amerika will go a long way in explaining why we Maoists consider this as simply one white settler nation.) Churchill’s is much the shorter book, being itself an overview of already existing research. What Churchill does add is unambiguous political context. First, he calls the Residential Schools policy just exactly what it was: the continuation of the war of genocide by the whites on the First Nations. Secondly, Churchill correctly tosses aside the frivolous new age approaches to “healing” between the First Nations and their white oppressors as so much psychological smoke and mirrors while the white nation occupation of First Nation territory continues. He does the same with white nationalist “leftist” notions of First Nation “self-determination” without return of their stolen territory – Churchill estimates that at half the continent, and we’d agree with that as a minimum.
What is quite clear throughout the literature on the Residential Schools is that the whites – all whites – knew and approved. Reports of the “abuses” of this genocidal policy were in government documents, books, magazines, newspaper headlines. To be sure, these reports questioned only the “overly harsh” administration of the policy. The general plan of “Killing the Indian,” needed no reporting – it was known by the whites as a simple fact of daily life and was completely uncontorversial amongst them. Of course even the “abuses” raised no hue and cry among the oppressors, and nothing was done even about these. Here you can look for another contorted excuse from the whites to get themselves off the hook for genocide – maybe they did know all about the Residential Schools, but nobody back then knew that it was genocide, nobody knew it was “wrong.” You know, it was “just another time,” and they “did things differently back then.” Well that won’t wash because lots of people did peg the Residential Schools precisely as genocide. The First Nations peoples knew genocide when they saw it. That’s why they hid in the hills with their children, and faced beating and jail rather than comply with the white “officials.” That’s why they ran away from the schools, and faced death in trying to get home or torture on capture. The oppressed will always recognize oppression. The oppressors will always pretend ignorance.
Adams, David Wallace, “Education for Extinction” (University Press of Kansas, 1995)
Churchill, Ward, “Kill the Indian, Save the Man” (San Francisco, City Lights Books, 2004)
Milloy, John S., “A National Crime” (University of Manitoba Press, 1999)
Notes to Final Solution:
1. Adams, 140.
2. Milloy, 137.
3. Churchill, 21.
4. Adams, 147.
5. Adams, 148.
6. Milloy, 143.
7. Churchill, 62.
8. Adams, 115.
9. Adams, 152.
10. Churchill, 34.
11. Churchill, 43.
12. Churchill, 36.
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