Silent Voices

The silent voices are those voices we choose not to hear. They are the cries, the prayers, the ceremonies for healing, the horrors and the atrocities of indigenous peoples and their cultures all around the world who have been ignored, shunned and demonized by the rest of the world because they believe and choose to live their ancient traditional ways. For many indigenous peoples, their lands, their traditions, their cultures, their ceremonies, their languages taken away and strip them of their very souls – stolen by outsiders. When their sacred lands are forever violated by others, no one cares or listens when they try to speak for their lands and what makes them who they are. The governments and churches have tried to silence their voices by forces assimilation, punishment, death and genocide. One famous saying in America was, “Kill The Indian, Save The Man.” How barbaric is such an idea? Who gives anyone such a right against another culture or people? As Americans we were taught about democracy and the rights for all men and yet we did to the Native People what Hitler did to the Jews and worse. Hitler, a man most despised for his brutality against the Jews and Gypsies by most people in the world has forgotten that this very thing Hitler had done, has been done to indigenous peoples throughout the world by our governments and the Christian church. Hitler got the idea of concentration camps from America – reading about the Indian Reservations. In fairly recent times, multi-national corporations have contributed to the brutality of indigenous peoples. Even when we are aware of it now through the information on the internet or from human rights groups who want to protect the rights of these peoples, we still choose to cover our ears, to ignore their voices. We call ourselves civilized and yet we continue to commit these atrocities against innocent people. Our governments cry to its people that we must fight terrorism, when in reality, we are the terrorist.

What will it take for us to wake up and treat all peoples equally? What will it take to realize human lives are more important than progress or materialism? These Silent Voices are important  for our very survival as a peoples because we can learn valuable teachings from these people and cultures. We, the modern day societies have become so disconnected from the very things that give us life – our true connection with all life.

Today, indigenous peoples all around the world have come together to sow an alliance to protect Mother Earth, sacred lands and to protect their cultures and traditions for their children. Some are beginning to listen to them, but most are still blind to the crimes against these peoples and to their ways of life. I do not understand this.