The Impact of Omitting Our Histories in History Class
Does anyone else think it's fucked that we were taught "those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it"
...In the very classrooms where our curriculums erased Canada's inhumane treatment of Indigenous, Black and other marginalized communities?
The completely inhumane and unjustifiable decision to colonize someone else's land, enslave people, and commit crimes against humanity to ensure the accumulation of (white) wealth and power at the expense of our motherlands and ancestors around the globe was conveniently omitted from our history classes.
In school, we learned about how "European settlers" (read: colonizers) came to North America looking for resources and to trade, but what they left out from class was that because Indigenous peoples were not Christians, they were not considered human, and therefore the land Indigenous peoples were on were considered unoccupied.
And whatever was mentioned in class was approached with "neutrality," "pros and cons," and "good people on both sides" – what the hell was that all about?
This included any conversation about global colonization or crimes against humanity by Europeans/nepo-countries in Asia, Africa, Oceania, North America and South America.
Many of us from the global majority can't (by design) access our culture, customs, language, homes, lands, community, history, religions and more - a direct result of European colonization and Western Imperialism.
But here's the thing: omitting (read: erasing) our histories from classrooms didn't stop us from feeling a disconnect (though it would often take time and healing to name it properly).
Because you do not need to know your history to feel your history.
So many of us felt, rather than knew, that something was wrong with our class.
How could we not when our very lives today are the result of our families and ancestors finding ways to survive orchestrated famines, violations of human rights, enslavement, and loss of our home and identity?
The intentionally excluded parts of our history classes make sense, right?
By erasing our histories, they erase our claim to what they stole from us - our resources, wealth, lives, and land.
Which allows them to retain their power and wealth.
This is why it makes sense that we continue to be taught about colonization like it is over when it's not - how can it be when we haven't stopped to learn from it?
After all, by their own rules, those who don't learn history are doomed to perpetuate and repeat it, right?
