A sad fact is that the Americas became what they are, for better or worse, by stepping on the land’s original inhabitants. One can only speculate what might’ve happened had there truly been a “melting pot” of shared cultures, understanding of differing values, and tolerance of what must have felt like alien norms. But it is easier to fear and lash out at things (or people) we don’t understand.
I haven’t traveled as much as I’d like, but having lived in another hemisphere, I always embraced the traditions and customs of wherever I was. I experienced Shinto holidays as a teen in Japan, and I experienced Orozza (Ramadan) as an adult in Central Asia. My brother married into a Mexican family which opened my eyes to that culture. I don’t claim to understand it all, but I do claim that every culture I’ve experienced is at least as full of humor and music and drama and blessed imperfection as my own. Canada has its own past, for better or worse, and having spent some time there as well, I’d say they’ve collectively done a better job as a nation of owning up to its mistakes than the US. On Sun, Dec 23, 2018 at 9:34 PM Doug Eastick <[email protected]> wrote: > sorry for the diversion, but want to share a great movie and horrible part > of Canada's history. The only 'media' relation message to this is that > Clint Eastwood joined on to this project as Exec Prod. > > The movie is Indian Horse. Available on Google Play, youtube, and > probably other places for a $5 rental. > https://www.indianhorse.ca/ > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Horse_(film) > > It is a story about a native boy taken to a Residential School, learns > hockey, and then the story continues about his life. Yes, I have > over-summarized it. If you like somewhat-historical films with a human > story, this might be good for you. > > Some historical Canadian context. I was born in 1967. I'm age 51 now. > Either I didn't pay much attention to things decades ago, or I was not > taught about the tragedy of the residential schools. I will summarise: > from the late 1800s the 'white man' figured they would take native children > away from their parents, teach them Christianity, and try to (effectively) > genocide the native culture. Yeah, shitty. I'm irritated that I didn't > learn this until much much later. I'm glad that my 20-something kids are > learning it now from books and movies. > > a short CBC article about the history of residential schools. > > https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/a-history-of-residential-schools-in-canada-1.702280 > > geographic footnote -- the movie was all shot within a 4-hour drive of > where I live. The geography is real (beautiful), and is the original > territory of the Ojibway/Anishinaabe, which is noted in the credits. > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TVorNotTV" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- Kevin M. (RPCV) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TVorNotTV" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
