An invisible holiday

Indigenous Peoples Day was first officially celebrated three years ago, and was commemorated to support awareness about the history, needs, contributions, and continuing challenges of indigenous communities. Yet, as the world stands by watching a genocide unfold targeting the indigenous peoples of Palestine, editors of U.S. news organizations found better things to cover, like opinions and predictions about the upcoming election shared by a former president whose legacy includes the corporate co-optation of the Democratic Party.

To their credit, outlets including USA Today and NPR covered Indigenous Peoples Day, while conveniently omitting any reference to how the day relates to other headlines about, for instance, Israel’s latest attack on civilian targets.

Gaza is not the only part of the world where indigenous people are under attack today. Across the Amazon, illegal loggers are encroaching on the territory of indigenous peoples in the service of industries including ranching and mining, often driving armed conflict. One of my next posts will review an important documentary film depicting indigenous resistance to this illegal logging in Brazil. 

Of course, the United States has an especially shameful history of indigenous genocide. It was so severe that the Nazis found it too brutal to emulate, yet it remains largely overlooked in discussions of contemporary genocides unfolding with support from Washington.

Would more Americans support a ceasefire in Gaza if they recognized how Washington’s support for Israel repeats and expands on the worst parts of our nation’s sordid history? If news media ever grow committed to public transparency, rather than propaganda supporting the bipartisan Washington war machine, we might have a chance to find out.