Introduction

STORY TWO: Coping in a World Not of Our Making – One American Indian Woman’s Story
As told by Theresa.
For American Indians, historical trauma and unresolved grief plays out in the way in which we cope with life today. We are torn between two world views – those of the dominant society versus those of the natural world. This split started with the coming of the non-Indians who didn’t share our same values – those values that we were taught in order to survive in this world. Kinship is one of our values that is very important to us. To have the group values over individual values means more – it means the survival of the people.

My grandpa told me when I went to boarding school that I would be taught to be ashamed of who I was. He said I would be taught to forget our ancestors and our ways of living with the earth and the rest of creation. He said I would be taught English and not Lakota and would not be able to pray in the traditional way. He said to never forget who I was and where I come from and to always be proud that I am a Lakota girl. He told me about this because that is what they did to him at a boarding school in Pennsylvania. He was a full blood Oglala/Sicangu Lakota who was a medicine man in training and was not suppose to be educated in the white man’s ways. He was punished severely for speaking Lakota and practicing traditional ceremonies. Many of our medicine people were sent to mental hospitals because they heard and saw spirits when they were doing their healing ceremonies that put Native peoples back in balance. This misunderstanding of our native world view led people to think we were uncivilized even though we had our own languages, governments, ways of thinking and religions.

I was sent to boarding school, as were many other American Indian youth. We were not taught how to be parents and could not rely on a role model since our parents were miles away. Because of this, many of us were taught to be afraid of authority. I’ve had to help Indian parents learn how to speak to teachers when it comes to special education staffings and parent-teacher conferences, and would be asked to attend the meetings with the parents. Since the 1970s, we have returned to our traditional ways and have revived them. Thirty-three tribal colleges teach the tribal knowledge through the Indian Studies classes, the Native language and history. We are using the traditional ways of doctoring in the Indian Health Services hospitals (IHS) along side with western medicine. The Navajo medicine men are able to get paid through IHS. Hopefully, our traditional healers may be brought to the urban hospitals and get reimbursed for these services to complement western medical care.

The teachings of our ancestors are very important in keeping the circle whole. These teachings guide the delivery of care in a more holistic and less individualistic way. The collective approach works because if one person is sick in the family, everyone is sick. When you work with the family as a whole then everyone gets well and doesn’t get the group sick. You see this practiced when we send our people off to war, even in this day. They are doctored and sent with good thoughts. When they return from war they are brought back into the group by having a ceremony to get rid of the illness that being in war brings. Many tribes have lost that tie and now have talking circles at Veterans Administration (VA) hospitals. These provide time to talk and people like them, to listen. This method works best with Indians because it conforms to our cultural practices. The sense of respect is overwhelming. There are no interruptions, no shouting matches. When a speaker pauses during a particularly emotional story, the room waits silently for him or her to continue.

People see our symptoms of alcohol and substance abuse and blame the victim, but they fail to see the historical trauma and unresolved grief. We must live with our enemy and we must cope in a world not of our making. There are many of us who will continue to practice the teachings of our grandfathers and grandmothers, so that our people may live for the next seven generations and beyond.