SHOULD NATIVE STUDENTS BE CALLED “SAVAGES?
MNN. Jan. 29, 2007. The following declaration was made by a 16-year old female Mohawk student of the Kahnawake Survival School. We would like to know if this is happening to our kids elsewhere. Please write in your story. Do you think she should have been suspended? Do you think the non-native teacher should have been defended by the staff?
I, Goldie, of Kahnawake swear that the following information is true:
On Monday, January 22nd, 2007, at the Kahnwake Survival School, in the morning, I was in a class conducted by a teacher by the name of “Gino???. He is a non-native first generation Italian-Canadian from Montreal who teaches language arts.
We were sitting in class. “Just relax, chill out and we’ll talk???, Gino told the class of approximately 20 students. To me, he would rather talk than teach. I have already complained to Ed, the Vice Principal, about his lack of interest in providing proper instruction. We were all talking when he was speaking to one small group. Tiny, Curt, Code and myself started talking amongst ourselves.
Shorty suddenly turned from Gino’s group, freaked out and punched the wall. I asked, “Shorty, what’s wrong?
Shorty said that Gino had called us “savages???! I asked Gino why? He explained that it was to “identify color???!! I couldn’t believe that he would be so racist.
Shorty said, “Don’t lie. You did say we were savages???. Shorty then walked out of the class room by breaking the door.
Then Gino said, “You guys are acting childish. You took it the wrong way by saying I called you savages. It is to identify colors???. It didn’t make sense to me. Racism is illegal in Canada. I couldn’t understand why this guy would insist on this racist approach.
I said, “Then put it this way. You want to identify color. You don’t hear me calling Black people “niggers???. I would be punished if I did.
Gino got the dictionary and started reading it. I remember hearing him say “red neck??? and then I started to ignore him.
There was about one hour left of class. Gino said he was giving detentions to everybody except 5 people. Tiny asked him, “Why are we all getting detentions, Gino? Code didn’t do anything???.
Gino accused us, “You guys were just swearing???.
Curt said, “Gino, you told us not to do anything. So why should we get a detention?
We kept asking him why we were getting detentions.
Gino told us, “I don’t like giving these ‘shitty’ detentions out???.
Then I asked to Gino, “Why is okay for you to swear. When we say “shit???, we get in trouble for it. You always give us two chances. The next time you swear, I’m going to Tewa… (the principle) and tell him you swore???.
That’s when I told him I was going to tell Tewa… at the office what just happened. Gino said, “Go ahead???.
Then he said, “Let’s drop the thing about the savages and get to work???.
I said, “Gino, we haven’t been working???. He continued to say we were being childish.
I said, “Is it because we’re savages?
Gino told us, “You will have to leave???. I asked again, “Is it because we’re savages?
Then we walked out and reported this to Tewa…
When I was out of the building, I said, “This isn’t right. This is bullshit. He shouldn’t call us savages. This pisses me off.
I think he heard me say it outside. He must have followed us out and listened to us because he knew he did something wrong.
I went to the office and told Tewa… who just stood there shaking his head. “Go back to class and I’ll be there???. We returned and waited outside Gino’s class.
Tewa... said he was going to talk to him. We stood outside talking while waiting for him. He said he was going to be here in 15 minutes. It was 10:20 am. Then we finally saw Tewa… coming toward us, “I told you to go to class???.
I said, “You told us to wait for you here.
Tewa… said, “I am going to talk to Gino and find out what happened???.
In the end Tewa… sided with Gino.
On Thursday, my foster parent, Kahentinetha, received a message on her phone that I had been suspended for two days. We were at the longhouse attending the Midwinter Festival. She called Tewa… back. He said, “I made a decision to suspend Goldie for two days based on what Gino and some other students told me???. Kahentinetha asked him if he had spoken to me about it and he said “no???. He said the policy is no swearing at all. Tewa… told her that I had called Gino “a fucking asshole???. I swear that this is not true. If you ask the four guys directly involved, they will support me.
I do not think it is right for a teacher to be racist, to swear at us and make racist comments. I had already complained that this teacher was not giving us proper instruction. This teacher likes to waste time instead of teaching us. Now to add insult to injury, he is calling us racist names. I don’t understand why prejudiced teachers should be allowed to teach at our school. We want a good education and we deserve respect.
Signed on this 29th of January 2007,
PG /s/ ____________________________
NOTE: The Jan. 29th 2007 meeting was attended by T…, May [a social worker], Bev [teacher], Ed [Vice-Principal}, Kahentinetha, Goldie and Gino. Tewa… would not allow the 4 witnesses who could vouch for goldie to be inside the meeting room.
Gino admitted that Goldie did not insult him directly. He said he overheard her calling him a “Fucking asshole??? when she was outside. It’s not an insult to his face. She did not ask him to personally accept her feelings about him. Whereas he asked the students to adopt his assessment that they were “savages???.
The fact that people do not like to be called by disrespectful slang terms was well illustrated by the fact that when Kahentinetha mentioned to Gino that we don’t’ talk about??? when the Wops came here???, he got angry. He wasn’t going to listen to this anymore, which is a violation of the Kaianerehkowa (our Great Law) that requires everyone to listen to everyone’s opinion.
This suspension of Goldie is improper. She should not be suspended from all her classes just because one teacher wants to call Onkwehonwe by disrespectful terms.
May we suggest that he read Barbara Mann’s book, “Iroquois Women, the Gantowisas??? so that he can get a better understanding of the Mohawk young women who are in his class.
Gino took exception to the “others??? in Canada being referred to as “colonists???. Canada was officially a British colony until it claimed independent statehood. As far as we know it is still a colony on our land. They arrived here through a process of colonization.
We don’t understand how Gino can say that “savage??? identifies any kind of color. What color is he referring to? The definitions of savage in the dictionary are (1) “uncivilized, in a primitive state???, (2)???fierce, cruel, furious???, (3)
uncultivated, wild???, (4) “naked??? and (5)
brutally cruel or barbarous person???. If these are not insults to our youth, can someone explain why?
Is it acceptable for the teachers to insult the students and to promote false information about our culture? Instead of getting angry or punching the wall, the school should develop a complaint procedure that the students can use where their complaints will be taken seriously. There is no reason why they should have someone who is abusive to the students teach here. There are plenty of people around who could teach the students this course and others in a respectful manner.
We should not allow this to happen. Eventually more non-natives will come and take over. It always happens because the colonists are more aggressive and organized. It’s about office politics which we don’t know about. The colonists know how to undermine us and eventually take over and destroy our institutions. Is this the tip of the ice berg?
Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News
Kahentinetha2@yahoo.com katenies20@yahoo.com
For updates, workshops, speakers and to sign on go to
www.mohawknationnews.comPlease sign the Women Title Holders Petition. Nia:wen
