I’ve been a visitor in these various occupied Coast Salish territories for the past 5 years, for which I am very grateful. This is where I’ve learned the most about local history and of colonialism, which admittedly, is not much yet.
Most of my knowledge of local history comes from books and papers written by white anthropologists and historians, though I have gleaned a bit of information from local and visiting indigenous people about our shared history.
I don’t want to attempt to describe any of these cultures, their history or their issues. That’s not my place. I speak as someone of the dominant settler culture, of the history and reality of my culture’s occupation of this territory and of a desire for myself and other settlers to acknowledge what has been happening.
Read the rest of this entry
