{"id":13814,"date":"2021-07-09T10:19:00","date_gmt":"2021-07-09T14:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.indianz.com\/News\/?p=13814"},"modified":"2021-07-09T10:43:47","modified_gmt":"2021-07-09T14:43:47","slug":"ivan-star-comes-out-america-has-never-provided-freedom-and-equality-for-all","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/indianz.com\/News\/2021\/07\/09\/ivan-star-comes-out-america-has-never-provided-freedom-and-equality-for-all\/","title":{"rendered":"Ivan Star Comes Out: America has never provided freedom and equality for all"},"content":{"rendered":" \"Land<\/a>
Climbers atop Dakota Mills Grain in Rapid City, South Dakota, were arrested on July 4, 2021, as part of a “LANDBACK” protest calling for return of treaty territory to the Sioux Nation. Photo courtesy of NDN Collective<\/a><\/figcaption>\r\n
\u201c\u2026 With liberty and justice for all\u2026\u201d<\/div>\r\n
Friday, July 9, 2021<\/div>\r\n
By Ivan Star Comes Out<\/DIV>\r\n
Native Sun News Today Columnist<\/DIV>\r\n
nativesunnews.today<\/A> <\/DIV>\r\n

<\/p>\r\nAmerica has never provided freedom and equality for all. Most of us has to pledge our allegiance to the flag of the United States daily in school. The aim of those government \u201cIndian\u201d schools was to erase Native cultures under the banner of \u201ceducation\u201d and to \u201ccivilize\u201d the Natives. They did so, with some success, in ways that bordered on barbarous.

<\/p>\r\nThis coerced \u201cpledging\u201d proves there are huge inequities. It means this nation has not embraced the fact that it has not done enough to advance inclusion and diversity. It has fallen short of the traditions, institutions, and ideals of the U. S. Constitution. We had to either conform and forget our ancestral ways or endure exclusion, omission, and erasure of our culture.

<\/p>\r\nAs Natives, we have been led to believe we were pledging our alliance and support to the idea of loyalty and pride in the United States. At the same time, as Native people, we bore the unpleasantness of racial superiority. This pledging had often been defined as patriotism by the far-right nationalists. In other words, what may have been a customary American trait has now turned to coercing people to stand for the flag, which is fascism.

<\/p>\r\n

\r\n
<\/IMG> <\/DIV>\r\n
Ivan F. \r\nStar Comes Out. Photo courtesy Native Sun News \r\nToday<\/A><\/FIGCAPTION> <\/DIV><\/DIV>

<\/p>\r\nRealistically, we were forced to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every weekday morning during our time in school. I am one of those former students and I always felt uncomfortable about doing it. My pledge of loyalty to the flag never took root in my heart because the actual life or existence I and my Lakota relatives endured was mostly in the absence of \u201cliberty and justice.\u201d

<\/p>\r\nFor the majority of Natives in America, life has been on the outskirts of the mainstream. We have struggled with poverty, homelessness, joblessness, racism, and an anonymity like no other on earth. We have been badly stereotyped and hated as a result. Following are some examples of the mindset of not only U. S. citizens but of its political leaders.

<\/p>\r\nGeneral William Tecumseh Sherman, a Union Army general during the Civil War (1861-1865) was outspoken in his belief that Indian policy should be set by the army and that the aim of Indian policy should be to place the various tribes on reservations and force them to stay there. His tactics, although bordering on the barbaric, were implemented.

<\/p>

<\/ins>