We all know that religious and education centers have been the basis of colonization for centuries. We even believe the lies we were taught about them despite the proof being available to us. The Spanish used their missions to teach the word of God. That is the lie we were taught in school. We learned that the Indigenous "helped" them and they had such a happy way of life "sharing" their cultures together. And today we celebrate that shared history by naming all of our schools, streets and buildings after the Spanish. Yet, right there in many of the books and online we have the real story accessible to us.
The Spanish Encomiendo System was not that at all. Instead, it was a hard-core communal slavery system where they employed divide and conquer tactics as well as straight-up slavery and rape. In the Encomiendo, the Spanish crown issued permission for the Spanish conquistadors to round up a particular number of indigenous people in the name of God. In order to work with that number of people, the Spanish conquistadors made peace with Indigenous leaders and offered them a "culture share". If the Indigenous leaders could provide a certain number of people to help the Spanish with their mission, they in return would receive protection, religious and language classes.
But this is not what happened. Instead, the indigenous endured atrocities that are not suitable to retelling- especially to children in schools. For they are summarized by the Spanish colonist Bartolome de las Casas as follows:
"The pattern established at the outset has remained to this day, and the Spaniards still do nothing save tear the natives to shreds, murder them and inflict upon them untold misery, suffering and distress, tormenting, harrying and persecuting them mercilessly."
Las Casas attempted to end the Encomiendo and even attempted to get royal declaration from the King. Las Casas was named "Protector of the Indians" and paid a yearly salary to go back to the Americas and do this on his own. It carried on for 50 more years without official intervention. During the time of the "Encomiendos" anyone with Spanish blood was saved from slavery and the horror that was inflicted on the indigenous people. In the name of survival, the indigenous gave up their culture, their rights and all they knew about life to adapt as Spaniards. We see this today. We see this in our schools. It is the system based on conformity.
This sameness is taught in our schools today. One language. One uniform. One classroom. One rule at a time. We all know that standardization is the mark of a dictator. We all know that sameness is not where we flourish as people. Yet, everyday we repeat these lies to our children and tell them how important it is to go to school and get through college. Everyday we attempt to buy into the lies for our own survival. For my family homeschooling and unschooling is more than rejecting the system of colonization that continues. It's my way of ensuring my children get to be themselves. And that one day, they will change the world further so that everyone can see just how valuable our differences truly are.
Want more history? Click HERE to read about the Hopi Nation and how their children were taken from them and put into schools by the US government. If you're ever in San Francisco, you can take a tour organized by Takeo Kishi & Eric Van Fleet called "Dangerous Ideas Tour".