The Destruction Of Identity: Cultural Genocide

This essay argues that North American governments passed laws in an attempt to strip Indigenous peoples of their culture in what can be considered Cultural Genocide by forced relocation, the outlawing of traditional ceremonies and the use of re-education in the form of residential schools. Genocide is defined as the deliberate and systematic act of destruction to whole or part of a racial, religious or ethical group1. In 1933 Raphael Lemkin spoke at an International conference for Unification of Criminal law in Madrid where he proposed that genocide consisted of the destruction of a cultural group in two ways the first being the annihilation of members of the group and the second being the undermining of their way of life what is now considered cultural genocide2. The Canadian and United States of America have both enforced laws that can be considered acts of Cultural genocide to the indigenous peoples of North America. The United States government forced the Native Americans to relocate west of the Mississippi in what is now Oklahoma, know now as the Trail of Tears resulted in thousands of death, they set up residential schools in an attempt to destroy Native American culture and they also were at war with different tribes from about 1644 till Wounded Knee in 1890. In Canada the government outlawed native ceremonies and traditions like the …show more content…
She talks about the violence they have suffered, how they were stripped of their culture purposely by the government and unintentionally in the case of Christian missionaries who never attempted to destroy their culture but through their teachings did. Then she proceeds to give two examples of two groups of Indigenous people who have suffered the Winnemen Witu and the Inuit of