Kill the Indian, Save the Man

after getting it, realized I read it \years ago - white America is still out to lunch on this topic

great details and insight

I purchased this book for my college history class and I actually enjoyed it. It was very interesting to read and gave a lot of insight into the way Native Americans were treated by Americans. This could also be a good research material for anyone studying the assimilation of Native cultures to American lifestyles.

If Ward Churchill did not exist we'd have to invent him because his voice, albeit a strident one, is what gives credibility to our democracy. He makes valid points in this book and we should be outraged at the way Native American children were treated in the system of resident schools that were operated in North America for more than a century ostensibly for their "benefit." Readers will do well to review the Bibliography and the 546 footnotes that accompany this 82-page essay. There you'll find many books worth reading if you are interested in this subject. Beware though that Mr. Churchill quotes selectively from those passages that support his thesis that our treatment of Indians in North America is comparable to the Holocaust Nazi Germany unleashed on Europe. He relies heavily on Raphael Lemkin's definition of "holocaust" in this matter but not everyone would agree with Mr. Lemkin's definition as it applies to our Indian policies over the time the resident schools were in operation. Where Mr. Churchill really flies off the map is in his prescription of what should be done about this: " ...the extension of unfettered indigenous jurisdiction over the full extent of the territories explicitly reserved by native peoples for their own use and occupancy in their treaties...perhaps half the continent...[where] indigenous nations...will exercise complete control over everything..." Mr. Churchill prophesizes that if this is not done and Native Americans see their "long-prophesied extinction" looming they will seize upon a "moment of cumulative anguish and do the job themselves." One must wonder what Native American rights activists such as Zitkala-Sa or Sarah Winnemucca would make of rhetoric such as this? In Mr. Churchill's view these women were "brokers" in the betrayal of their people or in the parlance of communist insurgencies, "running dogs" of American imperialism.

Tells the true and real story behind Americas genocide of the native American's children which forcibly removed children far away from their parents and destroyed their beliefs and often their actual lives

I chose this rating because I was very satisfied with the product but I bought it so long ago that I don't remember how long it took to arrive

Very sad but accurate stories about life in boarding schools.

This subject of this book fascinates me, as the tragedy of this genocide permeates the psyche of all living indigenous people. The legacy of that genocide is even more evident today. This book about this subject didn't do it justice. Buy it (or check it out at the library) just 2 access the reference pages(an extensive section of the book, percentwise), & then read those books/sources listed instead. The author and his editor failed their audience, in that they created a book that seems both dated and boring, while relying too heavily on an odd WW2 genocide comparison...that clouds the pervasiveness of the very different form of genocide. Add a 2019 Millenial mindset 2 the REWRITE & you will expand audience interest/education by a longshot, while simultaneously mitigating the current vibe in the book...which seems offensive to native peoples and current activists in that community.

Ward Churchill stellt in diesem Buch einen Vergleich her von Völkermord und der Zwangseinschulung Nordamerikanischer Indigener in Schulinternate (USA: Boarding School; Kanada: Residential School). Dabei legt er die UN-Konvention gegen Völkermord zugrunde, die neben dem direkten Töten einer Volksgruppe auch weitere Kriterien anführt, die zum Völkermord führen wie z.B. "das Zufügen von schweren körperlichen oder seelischen Schäden bei Angehörigen der Gruppe".Anschließend schieldert er wie die Schulinternate diesen Völkermord umgesetzt haben: 1. durch Zwangseinschulung, 2. durch Zerstörung der Kultureigenen Attribute/Religion, 3. dem Aufzwingen der Attribute/Religion der Unterdrücker, 4. durch Schulstrukturen, die in sich das Überleben der Kinder erschweren wie Mangelernährung, 5. Krankheit und 6. Arbeit, 7. durch körperliche Züchtigung, 8. durch sexuellen Missbrauch.Anschließend widmet er sich den Folgen solcher "Erziehung" wie der Postraumatischen Belastungsstörung oder dem KZ-Syndrom.Im letzten Kapitel gibt er einen Appell an jeden Leser, was zu tun ist, um Gerechtigkeit zu schaffen.Immer wieder kommt der Autor auf die Verantwortung der Regierungen von USA und Kanada zu sprechen, ihre gewollten Strategien und ihre tolerierten Grausamkeiten. Am Rande werden auch die Kirchen ins Blickfeld genommen, die viele dieser Einrichtungen leiteten und sich somit an dem System beteiligten.Das Buch ist klar aus dem Blickwinkel der Betroffenen geschrieben. Es reflektiert nicht über anderes Denken um die Zeit der Jahrhundertwende 19./20. Jahd. Da die Schulen aber bis 1980 (!) existierten und die Folgen noch heute Bestandteil der indigenen Bevölkerung sind, passt dieser Brückenschlag wohl nicht zum Anliegen des Buches. Wie immer sollte man sich seine Meinung bilden, in dem man sich verschiedene Positionen anschaut! Dazu gibt es weitere Literatur.Wer sich mit diesem Thema befasst, sollte dieses Buch auf jeden Fall lesen!Siehe auch meine weiteren Rezessionen, die immer wieder erweitert werden. Da gibt es unüblichere, aber interessante Bücher/Filme zu Black Elk und Native Americans.

This book was poorly written in that it kept jumping from one topic to another without making the point in a professional manner. Great delivery as expected from an amazon supplier.

Well-written. Great details in the endnotes. Very eye-opening to what did go on in Indian Residential Schools in both Canada & the US.

This book really opens your eyes to all that happened in the residential schools. Knowlege is power. I would definitely recommend this read!