How not to write an article about Native Americans 101:

Today's example, an article about the white residents of Wellesley trying to track down Wellesley's Native past. They accomplish this by talking to exactly zero (0) Native ppl about our history. https://wellesleywestonmagazine.com/past-issues/winter-2010-2011-table-of-contents/if-stones-could-speak/

Firstly, calling it "If Stones Could Speak" implies that we're SUCH an ancient people that there's no one around to ask except the stones. Except, we are still here?? You could just ask us?? Natives in New England are often erased and this is a great example of that erasure.

There's no attempt to interrogate the fact that our "epoch" ended because the Puritans committed genocide. I also love the white dude calling words from our languages "fascinating," and the article implying our only contribution was town names. Gross and incorrect.

To be clear: we never sold our land off. Most of us didn't have the European concept of land ownership & typically it was one Native acting in bad faith by selling off the land without consulting with the rest of the tribe. In some cases there would also be no translator present.

John Eliot committed cultural genocide, so this is an insultingly nice portrait of him and his "Indian Praying Towns." My ancestors were forced into praying towns and let me tell you, they were akin to concentration camps. No surprise that this article doesn't include that.

This says that "Native Americans worshipped Manitou." Which Native Americans? Non-Native people, I am begging you to use specific tribe names. Also, John Eliot wasn't "contending" with Manitou. He was starving Manitou's followers to death in death camps. Weird detail to leave out

Oh look, a Native person has finally shown up at the end of this article about us. Pro tip: don't relegate us to a single paragraph in an article about us. We're not an afterthought. Also, don't write an entire article that speaks about Natives only in the past. I'm sick of it.

The reason this article makes me so mad is because we have faced SUCH extreme racism/anti-Indigenous rhetoric in the town of Wellesley and this article really puts the ignorance (and arrogance) of some settlers on full display. This is a bad, genocide erasing article. Do better.