tw // genocide

today my grandma and aunties, basically the women of my family sat me down had a long talk about what the US government has done to them and to native women across this country. until today, i have heard nothing about this, so i feel as i if i should shed light.

tw // genocide
my grandma told me stories about when she had her first child (my dad) when she was 18, though she was young, she knew what she was doing. she told me the stories of her aunties, mom, friends and family were forcibly taken away to be sterilized without consent.

she had my dad out of fear because she was scared that she too, would be forcefully sterilized. luckily, she never was sterilized. my auntie on the other hand was so lucky. i honestly couldn’t believe what i heard so i did further research and what i found was horrifying.

during the 1960s and 70s the US government tried to wipe us out once again, by sterilizing women without their consent, some being only 9 years old. back then the native population was around 1 million people, leaving only a handful of those who could have children.

studies found that when this happened 1/4 native women were sterilized. which had devastating effects on native communities such as cultural genocide and the loss of many native languages.

i, myself have struggled to keep my culture alive, i never grew up speaking navajo or lakota so i’ve always had to teach myself. i’ve been grasping for every bit of culture i could find since i’ve been born

and i know for a fact this isn’t the end of it. i don’t know if it’s still happening here, but i know this is still occurring in canada and i know native women aren’t the only ones who were affected by this.

i feel like this video sums it up pretty well

i know this is a lot to take in so i encourage you to do your own research and form your own opinion.

this fcked me up so bad so i’m gonna be taking a break for a lol bit, ily