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Creation Date
Fall 2023
Description
“Kill the Indian, Save the Man” by Julie Schrock
My mother wept on the day I left
I looked back she faded into the distance
my eyes blurred by tears or the wind
the teachers told me this was a good thing
I was too young to not believe them
they gave me a new name
bathed me in kerosene
were they trying to wash out their red in me?
hey cut off my long hair
a dark circle formed around the chair
when I look in the glass I don't see myself
I cannot speak my own language here
I must use the words of the white man
someone shouts at me in English but I don't understand
the loudness does not make me understand
it is cold here at night
there's no fire to get worn by
the other children cry and I think of my mother
did she weep because she knew? when I get back I'll surely tell her
they make a stack bricks for their building
cold cracks my hands and thumbs them red
but at least I can't feel the sharp edges
my legs don't want to keep me standing
but if one of us stops we won't get fed
when we aren't outside
marching or hauling heavy pieces of tile
we watch films where the enemies are people who look like me
what am I supposed to think
an apple was on my bed one night
and the other children looked at me with sad eyes
the teachers came in and took my hand
I didn't understand that what they were taking
was my youth
but at least it was warm in that room
I lie in bed in a room filled with children
coughing and crying
there's an ache in the air when one goes silent
I wonder if my mother would know what became of me
when they lay me on the ground with the others in rows
“kill the Indian and save the man”
I know enough now to understand what that meant
but how much of me do they have to kill?
what if I die before the Indian is dead
“Kill the Indian save the man” was the quote from a speech by R.H. Pratt who believed that taking away Native Americans’ culture was the way to assimilate them into white society.
This is written for the thousands of Native American children who were forced to attend the Indian boarding schools where they were physically and sexually abused, beaten, and had their identities stripped away from them.
Many of these children died from sicknesses such as influenza and tuberculosis, and their families did not learn of their deaths until after they were buried.