Discuss: Bone of Conciliation

Absolutely stunning, thank you for publishing this. It was extremely moving to read this story.

I carry with me sadness and compassion for Native cultures that were destroyed or brought to the brink of extermination. I also harbor anger and disgust for what my European ancestors did to “settle” the U.S. More than that I find it reprehensible that so many in America today continue to fail to acknowledge the genocide that took place on our soil.

I realize that I and others in present day America did not personally cause this, however, we are all directly benefitting from it while thousands of Indians around the country continue to suffer due to past autrocities. Reconcilliation such as this needs to be repeated throughout the U.S. We need to acknowledge this wound and take action to help it heal.

I am certainly no expert on Native American language or tradion but I have run across some very interesting learnings from Native Americans. One of which is the beleif in the interconnectedness between all life intertwined with a great spirit. Some refer to this as Mitaku Oyasin (pronounced Metaku Wayasin).
Reconcilliation is an important beginning to acknowledging and reclaiming our interconnectedness with each other and all life on earth…it’s great to see this activity taking place.

While this part of history is sad, it does not include any thank you to the people of Spain who brought horses to the new world to make life better. The indians of Minnesota have never said “I’m sorry” for driving the North Dakota indians out of Minnesota. Man has always taken advantage of each other, lets get over it and move on.

This gripping article ended with a beautiful, healing image that gives hope. It is important to focus on healing the earth. Our spirits of light will have ripple effects on living beings and the world’s energy.

While I want to learn the cause of the darkness, I choose to focus on the light. I know that the darkness exists, but I increase the light through my healing efforts. Discover, uncover, release, replace.

The artists in the article made very important ceremonies. We all can create our own ceremonies, with intention. Express our gratitude and honor the earth in our own individual ways, and the effect will be magical.

This is beautiful.  I’m so happy to see this healing happening.

Jen M.

It’s unfortunate that in an essay purporting to be about reconciliation, Mr. Chappell chooses to demonize Colonel Mackenzie and the other American soldiers faced with the realities of that conflict.

The Army was ordered to stop brutal raids being committed by the Comanche, not to commit “ethnic cleansing.” Mackenzie did not start this conflict. He was ordered to help put an end to it.

I should think Mackenzie would be praised for ending the war with a minimum loss of human life at Palo Duro. Mr. Chappell writes that the soldiers killed “only” three Indians rather than pursue the fleeing Comanche. He seems to think that Mackenzie was some kind of wimp for not pursuing and killing more Indians. Perhaps the Colonel should have been less pragmatic and more like Chivington at Sand Creek.

(By the way, given the Edenic life the Comanche enjoyed in Texas prior to the white encroachment, why did they raid all the way down into Mexico?)

Why is it considered “brutal” to kill the Indian’s horses, disable their ability to conduct raids and end the war? Would it be more humane to kill the Indians themselves – and suffer more casualties among the soldiers - or to let that cruel war drag on?

In a previous engagement, at the North Fork of the Red River, Mackenzie had also captured the Comanche horses but did not kill them. The Indians re-captured them. 

Mr. Chappell seems to be accusing Colonel Mackenzie of some kind of war crime. It’s disgusting that an American Army officer - wounded seven times in service to his country and meeting an early death because of that service - should be demonized this way. But that seems to be the fashion.

Jerry Blake is upset that the good Colonel Mackenzie is being “demonized” for his role in the European annexation of North America (Turtle Island) and the attempted genocide of the First Nations.

Neither good intentions nor thoughtful tactics redeems a soldier’s participation in an unholy war of conquest and decimation.

Just as there are many “good” soldiers involved in the subjugation of Iraq and Afghanistan who are never-the-less guilty of the highest of all war crimes - participation in a war of agression (according to Justice Jackson of the Nuremberg Tribunal) - Colonel Mackenzie and his ilk must not be romanticized as protectors of the innocent.

A “good soldier” in an immoral war of attrition against an entire race of people is culpable for its outcomes.

And, while ceremonies of reconciliation are important, they can be used to bring closure to a long-festering conflict in a way which assuages the guilt of the victors without bringing justice to the victims.

Justice will not be done until restitution and restoration is granted to those whose land, livelihood and culture was stolen in order to bring freedom and opportunity and wealth to others.

Ceremony is good, and reconciliation is good. It would have been even better if the native tribes that the Comanche had ruthlessly driven out of west Texas had also been there. The Comanche, a constantly warring tribe known and feared for vicious raids, did not live in Texas until after 1740. These were not their ancient tribal lands. What we had here were representatives of the last two conquerors of west Texas getting together. Chappell must be aware of all this, and his mushy and misleading writing does not serve our understanding of our history.

H.P.Lillebo, for some reason, chose to insert his culturally-distorted views into this discussion ten months after it concluded.

The Comanche were a break-away band of the western Shoshone who took on a culture distorted by the European colonization of America and the introdution of Spanish horses to the new world. Their entire way of life was a reaction to the take-over of native lands, but they were as cooperative as they were beligerent to both other native bands into whose territory they expanded and to white settlers.

Texas could have signed a peace treaty with the Comanche but the legislature refused to recognize their territory. They did, however, maintain a peace treaty with the Texas town of Fredericksburg for more than a century, demonstrating that they were an honorable people - a claim that the white Texans could not make for themselves.

To demonize an indigenous people for a culture distorted by invasion and colonization, is like the African missionary who blamed the tribesmen for their aggression after he introduced steel machetes and Christianity (as a package deal) into their culture.