Indigenous Resistance

                Marker’s piece on the Costal Salish people of the Pacific Northwest demonstrates what happened to the native people of the Americas when Europeans arrived. When the Europeans arrived, they started to take over the land and the people. When all was conquered and the people were broken, they demanded assimilation. They did everything in their power to make this happen. Schools and churches were the best way that they found to teach the natives their culture. Through the schools many natives of the Americas were converted to the European religions and taught the languages of their conquerors. There were many cases of entire peoples broken without much resistance. This was not the case for the Costal Salish people of the Pacific Northwest.

                The Costal Salish people took home in the area that is now covered by Washington State and Canada above it. Because the lands were divided, the people were as well. Both sides, however, tried to assimilate the native people. They used private schools and public schools to try to get the younger generation of the Costal Salish to become assimilated in the culture of their surroundings. The people resisted. They did not assimilate as planned and fought against their captures culture. The children in both situations had difficult times resisting the constant barrage of culture, but kept strong with their families. They did get reaffirmations of their culture through the winter spirit dancing revivals which healed “the psychological trauma from attending both residential and public schools” (Marker 769). The Costal Salish people are strong willed and have strong spiritual and cultural bonds.