Reflection paper about the annishnaabe people Research - 1

Reflection about the annishnaabe people - Research Paper Example Clearly, the residential schools system had a massive effect on the culture of the Anishinabe. While the white Christian faithful saw the system as a way of assimilating them and promoting peaceful coexistence, the school stream eroded the culture of the Anishinabe. The federal policy of residential schools made the engaged Anishinabe unacceptable in their society. They were detached from their system while the federal system did not fully accept them. The federal policy did more harm than good. It was wrong for people who claimed to follow the Christian guidelines to put Anishinabe children forcefully in residential schools and force them to disown their language and cultural practices. The white community of the time showed double standards as they advocated autonomy in their society. In God is Red, Vine Deloria condemns the hypocritical nature of the white people in the society and the government. More so, Deloria sees the religious imposition on the Anishinabe as hypocritical (43 ). These claims are very accurate. It is regrettable that the white people in the residential schools mistreated the Anishinabe children, degraded them and eventually made them lose their cultural identity. Basically, the white people used religion hypocritically to pursue their agenda of dominion over the native people in the region. The Anishinabe’s resistance to residential school was justified. After all, the residential schools only made them lose their identity, face physical and sexual abuse and become physiologically crippled. Though they were overwhelmed due to the superiority of the white Christian settlers, their cause was worthwhile. They could not have experienced relief later on such as the right to conduct their traditional rites if they did not rise against the residential schools. Benton-Banai writes, the clan system of the Anishinabe was instrumental in directing resistance. As a governing body, their actions were entirely