Todays Warm and Fuzzy Thought

Today’s Warm and Fuzzy Thought

Over the weekend, I heard a news article on NPR that completely mortified me. I had not heard of the program called Indian Student Placement Programs until this article and I am apparently way behind the curve on this.

For those who may not know, from about 1954 to 1996 The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would take children from a number of reservations and bring them to Utah to stay with foster families in an attempt to bring them back to the gospel of Jesus Christ. The reason that they were doing is because of the Book of Mormon’s teachings that the Native American’s originally held the gospel, and that once they fell from the grace of G-d their skin and hair turned dark and they were now the dark race. So, the Book of Mormon teaches that bringing them back to the church is one of their great missions.

I don’t want to go too far off on this subject because it is new to me but I just wanted to share a couple of thoughts. First, I cannot understand how as recent as 1996, organized intellectual genocide was still being sanctioned against Native Americans. I had hoped, perhaps with a little naiveté, that we had moved past this mentality as a Nation. Second, I find it unconscionable that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints would take children from their homes to indoctrinate them into their religion. I understand that this is not a new policy but for some reason I really see this as being far worse than anything I have heard before. Above all, I am offended that this is the first I have heard of such things taking place in my lifetime. That is not the fault of any one person, but I believe the cumulative fault of many, myself included.

What this information has really taught me is that I apparently don’t know as much as I thought about the struggle of the American Native. I guess I haven’t really gone beyond what I have learned in grade school, and that saddens me. I realize that I want to learn more, that I need to try and understand what my country has done to its own people. As our soldiers are fighting and dying to liberate a country from a leader who systematically tried to eliminate one of the sects of his own country, I am learning more of what we have done and, are still doing as a Nation to our own people. I have often had difficulty with our hypocrisy as a country but the more I learn, the worse it gets.

So, I will close with this. If you have any credible resources or links that you can share with me on this subject, please do.

Shaych