All Mankind is One -- Susan Watkins

(Reflection on Assigned Reading)

In Native American Religions, Sam D. Gill discusses the shift in European thought from assuming Native American inferiority to acknowledging their intelligence and worth. He points out that studying Native American religion is difficult because most of the early-cataloged observations about such religion was subject to the current assumptions and biases of the Europeans at that time. Their shift in opinion about native peoples is evident in their shift in opinion about their religious practices.

As a Spanish major, I've studied a lot of South American history including the interaction of the Spanish with the indigenous peoples who lived there before the conquests. The abuse of those peoples was terrible, especially in that their captors and abusers often tried to justify the treatment to themselves and others. Apparently, the principle justification for the treatment of Native Americans (both North and South American) was the rationale that they were subhuman anyway and needed to be "civilized." This blows my mind.

I really strive to be an understanding person, to understand others' points of views and at least be able to sympathize even if I don't agree. I have tried and tried to understand this mentality but have completely failed each time. The concept of encountering a creature that looks so much like you, obviously lives in a structured society (even if it is completely different from yours), communicates with language and feels all the same emotions, and STILL convincing yourself that they are not human or somehow subhuman is staggering. I can understand the extreme culture shock of coming from a western society, so gilded and comparatively complicated. I could understand confusion, fear, and even condescension from the Europeans but the extreme to which they took it still bowls me over. Had they so completely lost their sense of wonder, their sense of humility, that they reacted this way to a new group of people?

I wonder if I would have reacted the same. The selfish, prideful part of me immediately assumes I wouldn't have, but even such apparently natural feelings as fear and condescension can mix to form dangerous ideas. I desperately hope my point of view is broader, my understanding better than that-- then again, I have the experience of hundreds of years of integrated living and experiences with all kinds of cultures and peoples. Were I to encounter a new society of green humans, my experience with all different shades of peach and brown would probably give me some sense of stability. Perhaps lacking that advantage was what made the white Europeans react so violently to those different from them.

Maybe I do understand them better than I think, or maybe just better than I want to admit.