Colorado Voices
A New Chapter
10/20/2022 | 27m 20sVideo has Closed Captions
A book in possession at the Iliff School of Theology was at the center of a meeting.
Centuries after its unjust and disturbing creation, a book in possession and one time on display at the Iliff School of Theology was at the center of a meeting this year with the Lenape Nation. The two groups talked about how the school can amend a shaded past of a book’s cover - made from the skin of a murdered Native man.
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Colorado Voices is a local public television program presented by RMPBS
Colorado Voices
A New Chapter
10/20/2022 | 27m 20sVideo has Closed Captions
Centuries after its unjust and disturbing creation, a book in possession and one time on display at the Iliff School of Theology was at the center of a meeting this year with the Lenape Nation. The two groups talked about how the school can amend a shaded past of a book’s cover - made from the skin of a murdered Native man.
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Learn Moreabout PBS online sponsorship♪ [MUSIC PLAYING] >> OF COURSE IT'S DEEPLY IRONIC THEY WOULD COVER THAT BOOK OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY WITH HUMAN SKIN TAKEN FROM A MURDER VICTIM.
>> GENOCIDE WAS WHAT HAPPENED TO MY ANCESTORS AND ESPECIALLY THE MAN THAT WAS MURDERED FOR THIS BOOK.
>> IT WAS TIME FOR US TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THIS BOOK.
[CHANTING] >> THE LENAPE WAY OF LIFE WAS ONE OF UNDERSTANDING THAT NOT ONLY DO WE AS THE HUMANS HAVE A LIVING SPIRIT, BUT THAT ALL OF CREATION HAS A LIVING SPIRIT.
THE ANIMALS, THE FISH IN THE SEA, THE MOUNTAINS, THE ROCKS, THE WATER.
THE COSMOS.
ALL OF THAT HAS A SPIRIT.
THE SPIRIT ENDURES BEYOND JUST THE PHYSICAL LIFE.
WHEN YOUR PHYSICAL BODY IS OVER WITH, YOU DIE IN THAT WAY.
BUT YOUR SPIRIT CONTINUES ON IN A JOURNEY.
THE MURDERED LENAPE MAN IN THE 18TH CENTURY, WHOSE SKIN WAS FLAYED FROM HIS BODY, AND TURNED INTO A COVER OF A BOOK THEN THAT WAS PUT ON DISPLAY AT THIS VERY INSTITUTION.
ALL THE WHILE, THAT SKIN STILL HAD THE SPIRITUAL REMAINS.
>> I THINK THAT MAN'S SPIRIT GOT CAUGHT BETWEEN THE PHYSICAL WORLD AND SPIRITUAL WORLD, HE COULD NOT GET TO THE SPIRITUAL WORLD BECAUSE PART OF HIM WAS PUT ON THAT BOOK, PART OF HIS SPIRIT STAYED THERE AND IT WAS STUCK THERE.
>> OF COURSE IT IS DEEPLY IRONIC THAT THEY WOULD COVER THAT BOOK OF CHRISTIAN HISTORY WITH HUMAN SKIN TAKEN FROM A MURDER VICTIM, THAT THEY HAD MURDERED, AN INDIAN.
BUT THEY DID NOT SEE IT THAT WAY.
I AM TINK TINKER I AM A CITIZEN OF THE WAZHAZHE OSAGE NATION, I CAME HERE 37 YEARS AGO TO TEACH AT THE ILIFF SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY AND I AM AN EMERITUS PROFESSOR FROM ILIFF AND IN ABOUT 1986.
SHORTLY AFTER I ARRIVED, I CAME IN 85, ONE OF MY COLLEAGUES PULLED ME ASIDE AND SAID NOBODY WILL TALK TO YOU ABOUT THIS, BUT YOU NEED TO KNOW, THAT THIS HAPPENED AT ILIFF AND HE TOLD ME THE STORY AS HE KNEW IT.
AND I ALMOST LEFT.
BECAUSE IT IS SO DISTURBING TO AN AMERICAN INDIAN, INSTEAD OF LEAVING, I WAITED UNTIL EVERYBODY WAS IN CHURCH ON SUNDAY BECAUSE THEY ARE CHRISTIANS RIGHT?
AND THEN I WENT BACK IN THE BUILDING AND I SMUDGED EVERY NOOK AND CRANNY I COULD.
THE BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN 1759, THE BOOK IS A HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY.
WRITTEN IN LATIN, BUT IT WAS GIVEN THIS HORRENDOUS NEW COVER AFTER A MURDER IN 1779.
>> WHAT I UNDERSTAND OF THE HISTORY OF THE BOOK IS THAT A SQUATTER NAMED DAVID MORGAN, MANY MANY GENERATIONS AGO, IN THE 1700S, WAS TAKING OVER LAND THAT WAS ACTUALLY LENAPE LAND.
>> IT WAS DAVID MORGAN, A SQUATTER FARMER IN WESTERN VIRGINIA, NOW WEST VIRGINIA, DECIDED TO FOR WHATEVER REASON TO KILL AN INDIAN.
THAT WAS WALKING ACROSS WHAT HE THOUGHT WAS HIS FARM, HIS PROPERTY.
[GUNSHOTS] >> HE HAD HIS SKIN FLAYED, SO THAT IT COULD BE SOME SORT OF A TROPHY OR TREASURE, AND THEN SOMEHOW THIS BOOK ON THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY CAME ALONG AND THERE WERE SOME DECISION MADE THAT IT WAS A GREAT IDEA TO BIND THE BOOK IN THE SKIN OF THIS LENAPE VICTIM.
THE BOOK WAS HELD BY THE MORGAN FAMILY AND EVIDENTLY WAS ENOUGH OF A TREASURE THAT IT WAS KIND OF SHOWED AROUND AND BRAGGED ABOUT AND SO THE BOOK WAS PASSED FROM DAVID MORGAN AS I UNDERSTAND, THE HISTORY TO A FRIEND OF HIS DR. WILLIAM BARNES.
>> THIS BOOK WAS SO IMPORTANT AS A TROPHY, AS A SACRED RELIC OF TRIUMPH OVER INDIANS, NEVER MIND THAT IT WAS MURDER.
BARNES KEPT IT WITH HIM THROUGH 40 YEARS OF MINISTRY IN THE OHIO VALLEY UNTIL 1890.
WHEN HE DECIDED TO MOVE TO COLORADO.
BARNES DECIDED TO GIVE THIS TREASURE TO THE NEW SCHOOL AND THEY KEPT IT UNDER DISPLAY FOR 81 YEARS.
ILIFF KEPT THIS TREASURE AS A HOLY RELIC, A TRIUMPHANT TROPHY OF CHRISTIAN TRIUMPH OVER INDIAN PEOPLE AND INDIAN LANDS.
THAT'S HOW IT GOT THERE.
>> IN THE 19TH CENTURY, IN THE LATE 1800S, EVEN BEFORE THAT, WE DID NOT HAVE THE INTERNET, AND WE DID NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO BE PRECISE IN OUR HISTORY AND BEING ABLE TO NAIL DOWN EVERY FACT OF A STORY.
WHAT WE DO KNOW IS THAT THE BOOK MOVED ACROSS THE COUNTRY IN SOME WAY AND WE DO KNOW THAT IT ENDED UP AT ILIFF SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY, AND WE DO KNOW THAT IT WAS A HUMAN SKIN FROM A LENAPE MAN THAT COVERED THE BOOK.
THOSE ARE THE THINGS THAT WE KNOW.
AND WE CAN TRACE THE FACTS EVEN MORE PRECISELY AFTER THE BOOK ARRIVES AT ILIFF.
♪ [MUSIC PLAYING] >> THE SCHOOL WAS FOUNDED IN 1892, THE ILIFF SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY IS A PROGRESSIVE THEOLOGICAL SCHOOL, IT IS AFFILIATED WITH THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH, AND WE ARE EXPECTED TO BE VERY INCLUSIVE, OUR STUDENT BODY REFLECTS MANY DIFFERENT FAITH TRADITIONS, SOME THIRTY DIFFERENT TRADITIONS.
I AM THOMAS WOLFE AND I'M THE PRESIDENT AND CEO OF THE ILIFF SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY.
I LEARNED ABOUT THE BOOK LONG BEFORE I CAME TO ILIFF.
I LEARNED ABOUT THE BOOK IN 1996.
THE GENERAL CONFERENCE OF THE UNITED METHODIST CHURCH HAPPENED TO BE HELD IN DENVER.
A WORD WAS SPREADING ACROSS THE FLOOR OF THE GENERAL CONFERENCE BECAUSE THERE WAS KNOWLEDGE THAT THERE WAS SOME BOOK AT ILIFF WITH SKIN OF A NATIVE AMERICAN PERSON AS ITS COVER.
JUST THE IDEA OF A BOOK COVERED WITH THE SKIN OF A NATIVE AMERICAN PERSON, WAS PROFOUNDLY DISTURBING AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO BE AFFILIATED WITH THE SCHOOL TO FEEL THAT.
IT'S PART OF A LONG HISTORY OF VIOLATION OF NATIVE PEOPLES IN THIS COUNTRY.
WHEN I FIRST WAS NAMED THE PRESIDENT, I WAS PRESENTED WITH A FILE MARKED CONFIDENTIAL.
AND I LOOKED THROUGH THAT FILE AND IT WAS A COLLECTION OF NEWSPAPER ARTICLES AND A LITTLE CARD WHICH EVEN DESCRIBED WHAT THE COVER WAS ABOUT.
>> THIS INSCRIPTION WAS WRITTEN IN 1893.
SINCE THE EVENT HAPPENED IN 1779, IT'S 114 YEARS AFTER THE EVENT.
>> SO THE BOOK WAS CONTINUED TO BE ON DISPLAY, AND THAT IS HOW IT BECAME KNOWN AND INTO THE AWARENESS OF STUDENTS WHO WERE PASSING BY THE DISPLAY CASE AND OF COURSE WE START HAVING THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT.
>> I WOULD BE REMISS IF I DID NOT CLEARLY STATE THAT IT WAS STUDENTS AT ILIFF WHO RAISED THE ISSUE.
I GUESS THE STUDENTS CALLED THE AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT WHO DID NOT KNOW ABOUT THIS BOOK AT ALL.
SO THEY WENT THROUGH THE PROCESS OF TRYING TO CONVINCE THE PRESIDENT BACK THEN TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT RETURNING THAT COVER TO INDIAN PEOPLE.
♪ [MUSIC PLAYING] THE AMERICAN INDIAN MOVEMENT CAME AND GOT THE COVER OF THE BOOK IN 1974, BUT ILIFF IN ITS INFINITE CHRISTIAN LOVING WISDOM, SWORE AIM TO A NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT.
A WRITTEN NDA.
THAT THEY COULD NOT TALK ABOUT IT.
AND JAMESON JONES THE PRESIDENT OF ILIFF INSISTED ON A NONDISCLOSURE AGREEMENT IN ORDER TO PROTECT ILIFF IN TERMS OF ITS FUNDRAISING POTENTIAL.
THAT'S IMMORAL AND UNETHICAL.
BUT HE DID IT.
CHRISTIANS HAVE TWO WORDS FOR IT.
BUT WE DON'T HAVE ANY IN INDIAN LANGUAGE, IT WAS EVIL AND IT WAS SINFUL.
>> THE BOOK COVER WAS TAKEN AND THEN THE BOOK WAS LOCKED UP IN A SAFE, AND NOTHING MORE WAS SAID ABOUT IT.
>> SO THE SECRET THAT WAS ESTABLISHED IN 1974, THAT WAS MY FIRST OUTWARD FACING RESPONSIBILITY WHEN I BECAME PRESIDENT OF ILIFF, IT WAS TIME FOR US TO TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT THIS BOOK.
>> CUTTING THE COVER OFF THE BOOK DOES NOT REMOVE ENTIRELY THE SPIRIT OF THAT LENAPE MURDER VICTIM FROM THE BOOK ITSELF.
AND SOMETHING NEEDS TO HAPPEN TO THAT BOOK.
BUT ILIFF SHOULD NOT DO ANYTHING WITHOUT TALKING TO THE LENAPE PEOPLE.
SO WE HAD A LONG RANGE PLAN, TO BRING IN A DELEGATION OF LENAPE ELDERS, TO COUNSEL ILIFF.
TO FULLY RELEASE THE SPIRIT OF THAT MURDER VICTIM, LENAPE MAN, WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE BOOK.
BUT I COULD NOT JUST LET THEM OFF THE HOOK THINKING THAT THIS WAS AN OOPS MOMENT AND WE MADE IT RIGHT BY GETTING RID OF THE BOOK.
I REALLY WANTED TO CHANGE THE BEHAVIOR OF MY WHITE RELATIVES.
CHANGE THE UNDERSTANDING OF MY WHITE RELATIVES.
>> TO TRY TO CHANGE INSTITUTIONS, IT DOES NOT HAPPEN OVERNIGHT.
BUT IT IS A START AND WE START WITH ILIFF AND WE JUST KEEP TRYING TO DO THAT EVERYWHERE WE GO, WHATEVER THE INSTITUTION MIGHT BE.
[CHANTING] MY NAME IS CURTIS ZUNIGHA IN THE LANGUAGE OF THE LENAPE.
I AM CALLED [INDISCERNIBLE] WHICH MEANS HE IS LIKE A FOX.
AND AMONG MY PEOPLE, I AM A CHIEF IN THE LENAPE NATION, I WAS CONTACTED BY DR. GEORGE TINKER, TINK, TO IDENTIFY SOME LENAPE ELDERS.
WHO COULD SPEAK WITH KNOWLEDGE OF HAVING BEEN PART OF OUR RESPECTIVE COMMUNITIES.
>> HONESTLY, I HAD NOT HEARD ABOUT THE BOOK UNTIL CURTIS ZUNIGHA SENT ME THE ARTICLES ON IT, MY REACTION TO IT, YES IT WAS DISGUST, AND SADNESS AND HEARTACHE AND ALL OF THAT KIND OF EMOTIONALITY.
AND THEN IT WAS LIKE OKAY, I HAVE MORE PURPOSE NOW BECAUSE I HAVE TO WORK WITH WHOEVER IS INVOLVED IN THIS TO BRING THE TRUTH OUT TO OUR LENAPE COMMUNITIES AND THE WORLD.
>> OUR BIG QUESTION IS WHAT DO WE DO WITH THE BOOK AND THE UNDERSTANDING THAT WE ARE PREPARING OURSELVES TO BE GUIDED.
WE HAD SEVERAL MEETINGS TO PREPARE FOR THIS, INVOLVING STAFF HERE AND CURTIS REPRESENTING THE OTHER LENAPE DELEGATES.
AND THE DELEGATES CAME FROM A WIDE ARRAY OF PLACES BECAUSE THE ORIGINAL LENAPE LAND IS THE HUDSON VALLEY, NORTH FROM NEW YORK CITY UP INTO CANADA.
IT'S IMPORTANT THAT ILIFF SCHOOL AT LEAST LISTEN TO US AND TRY TO TAKE STEPS IN A NEW AND BETTER DIRECTION.
BECAUSE THEY BEAR THE RESPONSIBILITY OF NOT ONLY ACCEPTING THIS BOOK IN THE YEAR 1893, KNOWING THAT THE TANNED SKIN OF A MURDERED LENAPE INDIAN MAN WAS A PART OF IT.
WHICH TO ME IS STILL ANTITHETICAL TO SOME CHRISTIAN TEACHINGS IN THE BIBLE, AND IT'S IMPORTANT THAT ILIFF RECOGNIZES THAT THEY BECAME COMPLICIT AND THE COLONIAL DOMINATION AND RACISM AGAINST WHAT THOMAS JEFFERSON CALLED IN THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE THEY CALLED US, HE CALLED US MERCILESS SAVAGES.
>> THE BOOK REPRESENTS CHRISTIANITY AND THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY BUT IT REPRESENTS THE DOMINATION AND CONQUEST OF PEOPLE, THE DOMINATION AND CONQUEST OF LAND, GRANDMOTHER.
THE DOMINATION AND CONQUEST OF GRANDFATHER, THE WATER, AND EVENTUALLY DOMINATION AND CONQUEST OF AIR ITSELF.
>> TINK SUGGESTED WHY DON'T WE MEET PRIVATELY AND TALK AMONGST OURSELVES, SO WE MET AT THE FOUR WINDS AMERICAN INDIAN CENTER IN DENVER, THEY WERE WONDERFUL HOSTS AND ALLOWED US TO MEET PRIVATELY AND HAD THIS DISCUSSION THAT FRAMED OUR INTENTION AND PURPOSE AND GAVE US AN OPPORTUNITY TO PUT TOGETHER THE STATEMENT CALLED THE STATEMENT OF GUIDANCE AND DIRECTION TO ILIFF.
>> WE KNOW THE STORY ABOUT THIS BOOK AND THE SCHOOL WANTS TO HEAR FROM US WHAT WE SHOULD DO WITH IT.
TO BE ABLE TO SAY THEY HAVE COUNSELED WITH ELDERS WHO ARE DESCENDANTS OF THE INDIVIDUAL WHO HAD BEEN MURDERED.
AND WHOSE SKIN WAS PART OF THAT BOOK.
BUT WHAT I'M GOING TO DO, IN ALL OF MY CONVERSATIONS FOR THE REMAINDER OF TODAY AND TOMORROW, AND SATURDAY.
IS TO RECOGNIZE THIS AS A TEACHABLE MOMENT.
>> WE DECIDED A LIST OF INSISTENCIES, DEMANDS AND CONDITIONS, HOWEVER YOU WANT TO DESCRIBE IT, OF WHAT WE WANT ILIFF TO BRING SOME DRAMATIC CHANGE AS TO HOW THIS BOOK WAS HIDDEN AS A SECRET, AND AT ONE POINT WAS SEEN AS A TROPHY OF THE UNIVERSITY, AND ITS CONTRADICTION TO CHRISTIANITY AND LENAPE PEOPLE.
♪ [MUSIC PLAYING] >> WE SET UP THE ROOM AS THEY REQUESTED IN CONCENTRIC CIRCLES AND IN THE INNER CIRCLE IT WOULD BE THE PEOPLE WHO WERE PREDOMINANTLY BE INVITED TO SPEAK AND REPRESENT THE SCHOOL ONE WAY OR ANOTHER.
AND THIS IS WHAT WE HAVE BEEN BUILDING TOWARDS, IT'S THE RELATIONSHIP THAT'S GOING TO BE IN THE FUTURE OF ILIFF'S HISTORY AND FUTURE.
>> FIRST OF ALL WITH THE CIRCLE, THERE'S NO HEAD PERSON, WE ARE ALL EQUALS HERE AND WE ARE GOING TO TAKE TIME AND EVERY ONE IN THIS CIRCLE IS GONNA HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY.
>> FRIDAY, THE DELEGATION COMES AND I ASKED THE QUESTION, DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE BOOK?
AND THEY ALL DECIDED THEY WANTED TO SEE IT.
AND SO INTO MY OFFICE WE WENT.
>> THERE ARE A FEW PAGES IN THE MARGINS THERE IS SOME FREEHAND GREEK WRITING.
>> THEY LOOKED AT THE BOOK AND THEY SAW IT FOR THE REPRESENTATION OF DOMINATION OF EMPIRE BUILDING THAT IT WAS MEANT TO BE, AND THEN THEY TALKED AMONGST EACH OTHER AND LIT SOMETHING THAT COULD BE SMOKED AND SMOKED THE BOOK.
I THINK DURING THE COURSE OF THIS AFTERNOON'S DISCUSSION, WE'RE GOING TO REALLY EXAMINE MORE OF THE CONTENTS OF THE BOOK AS A MICROCOSM OF THE LARGER STORY OF THE EUROPEANS WHO BROUGHT AN ATTITUDE OF COLONIALISM AND DOMINATION TO WHAT WE CALL TURTLE ISLAND OUR HOMELAND.
>> ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I FELT WAS REALLY IMPORTANT FOR US TO DO WAS TO TALK ABOUT HOW WE ARE BUILDING THIS INTO THE INSTITUTION SO THAT IT WILL NOT BE DEPENDENT ON ANY ONE PERSONALITY OR ANY ONE PERSON'S PARTICULAR BELIEF THAT THIS IS A GOOD THING TO DO AND RATHER THIS IS GOING TO BE A COMMITMENT THAT THIS GENERATION IS MAKING FOR THE INSTITUTION GOING FORWARD IN TIME, 100 YEARS FROM NOW, WHAT IS ILIFF GOING TO BE DOING AND HOW IS THAT GOING TO BE UNDERSTANDING THE SITUATION?
WHAT IS IT GOING TO BE TEACHING ABOUT CHRISTIAN DOMINANCE?
AGAINST NATIVE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
>> I AM GOING TO READ A STATEMENT OF GUIDANCE AND DIRECTION.
AS THE DELEGATION OF LENAPE ELDERS, WE ARE CALLING ON ILIFF SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY TO DEVELOP FUNDS AND RESOURCES TO ACCOMPLISH THE FOLLOWING.
>> COMMIT TO A PERMANENT RELATIONSHIP WITH LENAPE ELDERS.
>> ESTABLISH AN ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIP WITH JOB DESCRIPTIONS WRITTEN BY LENAPE ELDERS.
>> ADD A REQUIRED CURRICULUM COURSE TO EDUCATE ALL THEOLOGY STUDENTS IN A CLEAR UNDERSTANDING OF THE PAPAL BULLS AND THE DOCTRINE OF DISCOVERY AND DOMINATION.
>> TO CREATE A MEMORIAL AND OR TRAVELING DISPLAY ALSO AVAILABLE ON THE INTERNET, FEATURING PASSAGES FROM THE BOOK WITH AUDIO RECORDINGS READ BY ILIFF THEOLOGY STUDENTS.
>> AN INTERPRETATIVE CENTER TO EDUCATE INDIANS AND NON-INDIANS ON THE TRUTH OF AMERICAN HISTORY AS IT PERTAINS TO THE INDIGENOUS NATIONS AND PEOPLE OF TURTLE ISLAND.
>> AND FINALLY, AT SUCH TIME AS IT IS REQUESTED, THE LENAPE ELDERS WILL THEN TAKE POSSESSION OF THIS BOOK.
BUT THE SENSE OF RESPONSE AND COMMITMENT FROM ILIFF WILL THEN INFORM AND FRAME OUR ATTITUDE ABOUT TAKING POSSESSION OF THIS BOOK AND MAKING THINGS RIGHT BY THAT ANCESTOR BACK IN THE 18TH CENTURY.
>> WE CANNOT USE THE WORD RECONCILIATION BECAUSE THERE HAS BEEN NO CONCILIATION, I WOULD AFFIRM THAT WE START NEW, BUT NOT WITHOUT ALSO REMEMBERING AND HOLDING INTENTION THE HISTORY THAT LED TO THIS BOOK.
>> THEY ARE TRUSTING US AND WE WANT TO BE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH THEM AND THAT MEANS WE SHARE INFORMATION ABOUT WHAT IS GOING ON WITH THESE RECOMMENDATIONS.
AND THE GUIDELINES THEY HAVE PRESENTED TO US AND WE HAVE ACCEPTED FORMALLY, AND WHAT THE RHYTHM OF THAT IS GOING TO BE WE LOOK FORWARD TO DISCOVERING AS WELL.
>> GENOCIDE WAS WHAT HAPPENED TO MY ANCESTORS, AND ESPECIALLY THE MAN THAT WAS MURDERED FOR THIS BOOK.
SO THE HISTORY OF CHRISTIANITY AND ALL OF ITS AWFUL ATROCITIES, THAT WERE THE DOMINATION OF A CULTURE AND MANY CULTURES AROUND THE WORLD NEEDS TO BE TOLD AS THE TRUTH, THE HONEST AND SINCERE DISGUSTING TRUTH.
>> HOW COULD THEY NOT SEE THAT IT'S INAPPROPRIATE THAT THE KILLING OF AN INDIAN IS NOT AN ACT OF BROTHERLY LOVE.
BUT FOR CHRISTIANS IT SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN BECAUSE THEY COVETED THE LAND.
NEVER MIND THE 10 COMMANDMENTS THEY COVETED THE INDIAN LAND AND NEEDED TO GET RID OF INDIANS AS EFFICIENTLY AS POSSIBLE.
YOU CAN PUSH THEM WEST OR YOU CAN SIMPLY MURDER THEM.
>> THE BOOK REPRESENTS TO ME, NOT JUST ONE INSTITUTION'S LACK OF UNDERSTANDING, BUT IT REPRESENTS TO ME THE WHOLE NATURE OF CHRISTIAN DOMINATION THAT DISPLACED AND MURDERED MILLIONS OF NATIVE PEOPLE, WE CANNOT ENGAGE THE WHOLE OF THAT HISTORY BUT IT IS IN THIS STORY COMPLETELY.
AND SO IF YOU CAN CHANGE THE PEOPLE AROUND YOU, THAT WILL GO INTO THE WORLD WITH A NEW MINDSET, AND AWARENESS ABOUT THIS, THAT'S WHAT WE ARE DOING.
>> I THINK THE BIGGER STORY IS ABOUT POWER, AND IT IS ABOUT MIGHT I SAY, WHITE POWER.
EURO CHRISTIAN POWER, THE POWER OF HAVING A COMMITMENT THAT YOUR PARTICULAR WORLDVIEW AND YOUR PARTICULAR INSISTENCE THAT THE WORLD WORKS ONE WAY, THAT IT IS ALL KIND OF EMBODIED IN THAT BOOK.
WHEN I TAUGHT CLASSES ON WORLDVIEW, I WOULD TEACH ABOUT THE EURO CHRISTIAN WORLDVIEW AS BEING A HIERARCHICAL TRIANGLE, ANTHROPOSCENTRIC, THE HUMANS AT THE TOP AND ALL OF CREATION IS GIVEN TO US FOR OUR FLOURISHING AND THERE IS ANOTHER WORLDVIEW IN WHICH WE ARE ALL RELATED.
THIS IS - EVERYTHING IS MY RELATIVE.
I THINK THE BOOK REPRESENTS THE CLASH OF THOSE WORLDVIEWS BUT ALSO THE VERY VIOLENT AND VICIOUS AND VERY DISORDERED IMPOSITION OF ONE WORLDVIEW OVER ANOTHER LIKE YOUR SKIN IS SOMETHING I CAN EXTRACT AND I CAN USE IT FOR THIS THING, THIS COMMODITY AND OBJECT.
[MUSIC PLAYING] >> ON THE SIDE OF THE GARDEN AREA THERE IS A MAPLE TREE.
WHEN I GO OUTSIDE, I SOMETIMES WALK OVER TO THAT TREE AND GREET THE TREE AND TOUCH IT.
BECAUSE THAT'S MY RELATIVE.
YOU KNOW, THE LILAC BUSH OUT HERE IS MY RELATIVE.
THE BUNNIES DROPPING THEIR POOP ALL OVER THE SIDEWALK, THOSE ARE MY RELATIVES THEY ARE NOT BELOW ME IN SOME HIERARCHY OF HUMANS AT THE TOP AND ANIMALS, AND LESSER AND LESSER THINGS.
TO THE DIRT AND ROCKS THEMSELVES, ROCKS ARE OUR OLDEST ANCESTORS.
EVEN FIRE IS A RELATIVE.
THAT'S WHAT I REALLY WANT IS FOR PEOPLE TO BEGIN TO THINK ABOUT THE WORLD IN TERMS OF DIFFERENT WORLDVIEWS.
I WANT TO ENCOURAGE THAT.
CHANGING A WORLDVIEW HAS TO HAPPEN FOR A WHOLE SOCIAL UNIT, AND IT HAPPENS OVER A LIFETIME.
BUT IT DOESN'T HAPPEN UNTIL PEOPLE START THINKING IN A DIFFERENT WAY.
THAT'S WHAT I WANT.
FOR ILIFF AND FOR ALL OF MY EURO CHRISTIAN RELATIVES.
♪ [MUSIC PLAYING]
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Colorado Voices is a local public television program presented by RMPBS