Project Update #1: "Firsting and Lasting"
(A Concept by Ojibwe Historian)Jean M O'brien)
The first of a series of updates on the current film project in Downers Grove. After beginning a film project in August of this year with the desire to investigate my own, my home community's, and larger society's process teaching and learning local history on stolen ground, I would like to give people an update as of what the project began as, what it has become, and where it may go. This is to better investigate the work I have done so I can better move forward but also I would like to receive any feedback people may have in regards to this project.
One paragraph is all you need, or more appropriately all you get, to learn about who was here before anybody was. What I mean by "anybody" is people whose presence, existence and so called contributions (read appropriation) counts in the eyes of European Society. Time seems to have started only when the first settler of Potawatomi Land, Pierce Downer, stumbled upon it traveling from the East Coast in search of land that was being sold to European settlers for cheap by the US Government, which was a part of the genocidal process known as Settler Colonialism. This stumbling and consequential displacement through various treaties including the second Treaty of Chicago in 1833, roughly marked the beginning of Downers Grove's history and what we are told was the end for the "friendly" Potawatomi people. After this displacement of the Potawatomi people from what is now called Downers Grove, the imagery, or lack of, in our collective conscious shows them disappearing into the sunset away from existence. To me, the stories of our textbooks and various publications described this process similarly to how I would describe a "friend" having to leave a sleepover early, which frames the settlers and the system of Settler Colonialism they were the fuel for to keep functioning, as completely innocent.
From - An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz:
"Settler Colonialism is inherently genocidal in terms of the genocide convention. In the case of the British North American colonies and the United States, not only extermination and removal were practiced but also the disappearing of the prior existence of Indigenous peoples--and this continues to be perpetuated in local histories. Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) historian Jean O'Brien names this practice of writing Indians out of existence "firstling and lasting." All over the continent, local histories, monuments, signage narrate the story of the first settlement: the founder(s), the first school, first dwelling, first everything, as if there had been no occupants who had thrived in those places before Euro-Americans. On the other hand, the national narrative tells the "last" Indians or last tribes, such as the "last of the Mohicans," "Ishi, the last Indian," and the End of the Trail, as a famous sculpture by James Earle Frasier is titled."
As I interviewed people in the streets of downtown Downers Grove about their knowledge of local history, I was not expecting much of an answer from my question "What do you know or were you taught about the Native Peoples of this land?" but I was honestly surprised by a reoccurring answer I got from interviewees. Most of them thought by "Native Peoples" that I meant the settlers. To them, they were the first peoples here. I believe they did not mis-understand me, but their understanding was guided by a logic system that supports its own existence, not the existence of those who stand in its way physically and mentally. They believe, most likely subconsciously, that time and history literally started at the point of settling, not the overwhelmingly longer period of time before colonization.
The "First and Lasting" perspective does not even allow us to acknowledge that we are sharing the same world as those who were living on this land we call Downers Grove because to us they never really existed in the eyes of European society…they are a myth to us. Only while working on this project have I found a space to realize and accept that the Potawatomi and others others who were existing nearby have continued to survive through attempts of genocide towards them.
Why is merely acknowledging the survival and current day existence of the indigenous peoples of this land earth shaking? What is the potential threat of acknowledging and acting upon that reality? What does solidarity look like with the peoples whom land we have benefited from and established ourselves on? What is the impact on the psyche of individuals, communities and societies educated inside and outside of a classroom by the logic of "First and Lasting?" This film project seeks to find answers these questions and looks to transform those findings into actions.
If you would like to contact me with questions, feedback or anything else please email me at [email protected]
