I was ignorant about the settler-colonization of this land until about ten years ago, when I first met some Indigenous people. I quickly saw the terrible impact that the Indian boarding school policies had, and continue to have on Native people today. Trauma that is carried from generation to generation. Trauma from policies of forced assimilation, which Quakers were involved in. Making friends with Native people and learning about the involvement of Quaker ancestors in forced assimilation and land theft makes this personal for me.
Several points in that paragraph include:
- My belief is that most Quakers in this country were as ignorant as I was about the colonization of this land by European settlers, the ancestors of White Quakers today.
- The discovery of bodies on the sites of many Indian residential institutions of forced assimilation here and in Canada shocked the world and brought international, including Quaker, attention.
- Non Native people cannot understand the depths of the trauma in Indigenous nations and communities, and that this trauma continues today.
- I would not have learned the things I discuss here had it not been for the guidance of the Spirit and the depth of knowledge I gained from Native people.
- This guidance and learning took place over a decade, a lot of time.
- I have always tried to be careful about interactions with Native friends. I attend all the Indigenous events I can. These are educational opportunities for allies.
- I would urge you, though, to learn all you can from your own research.
- I strongly urge you to not make direct contact with Native people, who are still experiencing these traumas. Instead, find Indigenous led public ceremonies, and find allies and organizations near you to begin to make connections with.
It is disheartening, but tragically common, that the efforts by Quakers and others, which were intended to help, instead inflict harm. That’s what happens when those who are supposed to be helped are not involved in the planning and implementation of justice work. A key part of mutual aid, a decolonial concept, is to involve everyone in the work for justice and survival.
Settler-colonialism
But there has been little broader discussion in these conversations about other Quaker colonial projects. The very acts of acquiescing to settler-colonialism, by accepting colonial definitions of what property (land) is, and who has control, or ownership of it, are what wealth is based upon. And wealth determines one’s standard of living and access to services. Acquiring wealth is the primary goal of capitalism. Isn’t that sad? But capitalism’s consequences are devastating and deadly for those who are forced to live at lower socioeconomic levels. All of Mother Earth suffers from the outrageous consumption of fossil fuels by this country.
Learning more about my own ancestors’ settlement in the area where my Quaker meetinghouse sits today makes this personal. The concept of LANDBACK is about all of this, not just the return of the land.
Settler Futurity
Part of my education has included learning new terms, like settler futurity. Settler futurity is the idea that settler colonialism isn’t just about taking land in the present, but also about controlling the very idea of the future. It’s a way of thinking that presents the settler society as the only possible future—as a permanent and natural reality. (See: Decolonial Journey 18 – Settler Futurity). I had fallen into this trap. Learning about history and concepts such as settler futurity is a necessary first step in a person’s decolonial journey.
Prison Reform
Another Quaker colonial project was the intention of improving the awful conditions of prisons. When Quakerism began in mid-seventeenth-century England, nearly 15,000 Quakers were imprisoned, mainly with charges of not participating in the Church of England and for refusing to swear oaths. Many Quakers came to this land to flee such religious persecution. But the persecution followed them here.
The militarism of policing has exploded to the point of armies carrying out unauthorized arrests by unidentified, militarized enforcement agents on the streets. There is little respect for civil rights and liberties, and the system of checks and balances of the federal and other levels of government is not working. The number of incarcerated people was increasing dramatically even before the current ICE raids.
How can we believe in a historical testimony of for peace, against violence and war, and do nothing about soldiers and tanks on our streets?
U.S.-led wars and conflicts continue as part of this country’s global colonial efforts. The US military is one of the largest producers of global fossil fuel emissions.
US administrations have pressured allies to increase their military spending. And the US continues to massively supply weapons of war for the relentless atrocities of genocide in Gaza and the West Bank. Authoritarian rule has ascended rapidly. At the same time, social safety nets and services, environmental protections, and peacekeeping efforts are being slashed or eliminated.
Environmental chaos
The relentless growth of capitalism feeds the existential threat of environmental chaos. The data centers related to the growth of artificial intelligence consume vast quantities of energy and water.
Sensemaking
I often think of this quote by James Allen, especially these days. Does the world make sense to you? As economic and political systems collapse around us, isn’t this time for Quakers to speak out? Isn’t this the time to replace unjust systems with those that serve justice, i.e., LANDBACK, Mutual Aid, and the abolition of police and prisons?
Finally, there remains the most existential risk of them all: our diminishing capacity for collective sensemaking. Sensemaking is the ability to generate an understanding of world around us so that we may decide how to respond effectively to it. When this breaks down within the individual, it creates an ineffective human at best and a dangerous one at worst. At the collective level, a loss of sensemaking erodes shared cultural and value structures and renders us incapable of generating the collective wisdom necessary to solve complex societal problems like those described above. When that happens the centre cannot hold.
Pontoon Archipelago or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Collapse By James Allen, originally published by Medium, Resilience, June 18, 2019
