Mennonites must give land back
by Annie Wenger-Nabigon, Sudbury, Ontario
I read the article about the Oct. 9, 2010, apology ceremony in Lancaster, Pa. ("Mennonites Apologize to Native Americans," November 2010) and wept the whole way through. I read all the other articles in the issue and saw words and terms like "missional," exoticism, PTSD, "at peace with war"— and found my head swimming. I keep coming back to some of the stories I have heard from my Anishnaabe family-by-marriage, and it gets harder and harder to find anything relevant in the current Mennonite discourse to the real issues facing the original peoples of Turtle Island.
Maybe all this talk, talk, talk comes down to nothing more than racism, simple and raw. My husband is right when he says the key to a right relationship is to do one’s own work.
What that means for Mennonites is that all the “work” for peace and mission and antiracism needs to go on “pause” while the issues of lateral violence and historical trauma transmission in Mennonite life are addressed.
Who is talking about that? Is everyone so busy talking about what the rest of the world needs to do that we can't get to the heart of what wounds us all?
Mennonites really have nothing to say to anyone anywhere about anything until stolen land is given back, treaties are recognized, recompense is made. It was all about genocide from the beginning, and Mennonite settlers were used by the colonial powers to see that genocide was carried forward.
We are all complicit because we all benefit from the results of that genocide. We have to look at that if we ever expect to be in right relationship. We have to name it for what it is and find a way together to heal the past. Our ancestors need us to do that.
Associated Issue: The beat of mission - November 2010
Associated Article: Mennonites apologize to Native Americans
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