I am with you still – I do not sleep.”

Thus goes a traditional Native American poem worth knowing as Uncle Sam tips his stovepipe hat to its Native American population during November, Native American History month.

It’s time to celebrate and honor Native heritage and their elders’ wisdom. And nudge those in political power to make a decent effort to include Native American History in their educational programs For too long they have closed their eyes (similar to Black slavery studies) when it comes to learning about this land’s first Americans, too many of them disappeared due the three “Gs” – greed, gold and genocide.

Genocide, by another name, is still the deliberate and systematic extermination of a national, racial, political, or cultural group.

In the case of the unfortunate California Native Americans, it was labeled “ethic cleansing” by crazed gold seekers on a mission to become rich by any means necessary.

Between 1848 and 1855 as many as 100,000 Natives perished due to murder, malnutrition, disease or enslavement.
Yes, the Gold Rush brought prosperity to many of the estimated 300,000 prospectors who flocked to California but for its natives, the Gold Rush turned lethal.

Scholars have stated that the articles published in California newspapers of the time and other sources, made it clear that the horror Native Americans experienced during the Gold Rush coincide with the United Nations official definition of genocide.

The state’s southern and central coastal tribes encountered Spanish and British explorers in the mid-16th century, but in remote interior regions, some tribes did not meet non-Natives until the mid-19th century.

Other tribes, such as the Quechuan and Yuman Indians in present-day southeast California and southwest Arizona, were the first to encounter Spanish explorers in the 1760s and 1770s while others on the coasts of northwest California, such as the Miwok,Yurok and Yokut, came across Russian explorers and seafarers coming from Alaska in the late18th century.

Much has been written about the Spanish and their long-term occupation in California, beginning in 1769 with the founding of Mission San Diego de Alcalá in San Diego. They utilized Native labor to construct 20 additional missions along coast. Their introduction of European invasive plant species and non-native diseases, however, resulted in widespread havoc and high fatalities for the Native populations, adding to the Native woes.

Today, it’s still amazing that the people who have given the world more than 60 percent of its favorite foods, are marginally recognized as great contributors to humanity in general. Hollywood and Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Shows perpetuated many of the Native misconceptions that most people hold to be true. Add the fact that almost nothing positive is taught in public schools with respect to early Native life and you have additional ignorance thoughts of them.

November may be the best time to recall a simple, but meaningful quote from Chief Joseph, Nez Perce.

“It does not require many words to speak the truth.”