After settlers arrived with new and more rules.
Native children were required to go to school.
They weren’t allowed to speak Ojibway.
They were pulled from families and traditional ways.
The goal was to have cultural blending,
But English was demanded for societal rendering.
Natives were seized and told how to act.
The result was emotional damage—a fact.
The English boogeyman seemed horrible.
Fear and depression for natives was normal.
White people were monster aliens then.
What if you were forced to be Muslim?
What if you were forced to speak Arabic?
Yes, we know who’d get mad real quick.
Now we have two national languages.
Guess who got lost in this equation?
So please understand when Natives get mad.
Feeling can fester. Wounds re-open. It’s sad.
There’s a fear that history repeats itself.
Hmm… Power is bullish. Can humility be wealth?
This rhyme is written as commentary about the Native Experience Event held at Algoma U. on November 5 and 6.
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