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People really don't realize how much pain their ignorance can cause. Kyrie is my cousin, which also means he's Lakota. Specifically Hunkpapa on Great Grandad Moses's side and Oglala on Great Grandma Edith's side. (Hence him being named at Standing Rock) (1/7) https://twitter.com/barstoolsports/status/1340062939391397894
Our family has been through at a lot of garbage at the expense of being Lakota. Not even getting into the ramifications of colonization on our distant family, our great grandparents straight up met each other at an Indian Boarding School. (2/7)
If you're unfamiliar with Indian Boarding Schools, their motto was "Kill the Indian, Save the man". Meaning they intended to take Native children & kill everything about them that was Native, so that they can save the real human being left. Now that they aren't so "S*vage". (3/7)
They were forced to change their names to good Christian names, and speaking their language or practicing their culture was punishable. Depending on which one you went to, you were subjected to living conditions where you couldn't bathe for over 2 weeks. (4/7)
Not exaggerating, not making things up. Look up what happened to American Horses' daughter when she was sent to one. We are directly related to her through Great G-Ma Edith's side, who was Oglala. Just like American Horse. Again, fact check me, google it. It all lines up. (5/7)
Can you imagine what going through that does to a kid? How life from there on might be challenging? Again this was all at the expense of being Lakota. So when you shame Kyrie for smudging, that can bring up a lot of stuff you don't even know about. Anymore empathy now? (6/7)
TLDR: Fear of things you don't understand has caused great pain towards the human race, and it's a bad habit we need to kick. Generational Trauma really sucks. The ramifications of colonization on generations past still cause real pain at the expense of being Lakota today. (7/7)
