My Country ‘tis of Thy People You’re Dying
A song history of the Indigenous nations of North America
Hi all,
Thank you for joining me for this week’s song, My Country ‘tis of Thy People You’re Dying, was written by Buffy St. Marie in 1966. Buffy St. Marie is an Indigenous Canadian-American musician and activist. She has written many well-known songs. In this song, she talks about the many broken promises and unfair treatment that the original people of North America have had to experience.
Ms. St. Marie says it best in her own words at https://creeliteracy.org/2021/02/07/my-country-tis-of-thy-people-youre-dying-buffy-sainte-marie/ . If you have a high level of English, I encourage you to read her comments about the song. Below, I offer a summary in a more accessible version for learners of English.
As with most everything, there are many ways to interpret things, especially with something as controversial as today’s topic. Comments and questions are welcome. Please be respectful of others’ opinions if they should differ from yours.
✳️ Note: The level of this article is for students with a TOEIC of 550+, Eiken Pre-1, CEFR B2. For Japanese students, vocabulary words in bold are provided in Japanese below the article.
A video of the song can be found at the end of the post.
The song
(936 words)
For years, Native Americans were shown as violent people in the movies that were produced in Hollywood. These were the stereotypes that many Americans grew up with and believed to be true (them that you’ve chased across America’s movie screens). In school textbooks, American children were taught that Indigenous people were colorful, noble and proud. This is why it was difficult for white people to understand that these people were actually starving in many places (they starve in their splendor). The meaning of the title of the song is that there are “people who might be able to help, but choose not to. As the horror continues, they look the other way” (St. Marie, see Ogg, 2021).
In American history, white people did not trust Native nations (Now that the long houses[1] breed superstition). They wanted to erase the culture, history, and most importantly – languages, from these people. If you cannot communicate with your children or grandchildren, how can you pass on your history, your culture, and the values of your people?
In order to do this, there were government programs that took the children away from their parents and sent them to military or Catholic boarding schools, often very far from their families. At the schools, the children were only allowed to speak English and were severely punished for using their own languages. This is called forced assimilation, to make the children forget their heritage.
You force us to send our toddlers (babies) away
To your schools where they’re taught
To despise (hate) their traditions
You forbid (do not allow) them their languages
American history books also claim That American history really began When Columbus came from Europe, and that the people who came to North America were big and brave and good people. However, in those history books, there is nothing written about how millions of people who already lived on the continent were killed (And yet where in your history books is the tale Of the genocide basic to this country’s birth). One of the reasons that millions of Indigenous people died was the smallpox disease that was brought from Europe. The government allowed the military and settlers to trade blankets that were infected with the disease.
White settlers, ministers, and government officials continually made promises to the Indigenous peoples and continually broke those promises. Before the Atlantic slave trade began, indigenous people were sent to slave markets in various parts of the world.
…Tell of the Liberty Bell As it rang with a thud o’er Kinzua mud refers to a dam that was built on the land of the Seneca Nation in Pennsylvania in 1965. The dam flooded 10,000 acres (approximately 40 square kilometers), and the Seneca lost nine communities. The Army Corps of Engineers, the government group that designed and built the dam, used force to move the Seneca people off of their land and then burned their homes. All of this was against a treaty signed in 1794 (Abrams, 2010).
And of brave Uncle Sam in Alaska this year. The Voting Rights Act (U.S.) was passed in 1965. This law said that people could not be prevented from voting because of their race, color, or native language. However, in 1965, Indigenous people in the U.S. were still being denied this right through a variety of methods (Kaplan).
Many Indigenous people survived the stealing of their land and the broken promises. They spread across North America. In the U.S. today, most live in cities, not on reservations, but the reservations themselves have often been under attack. Throughout American history, the whites who took over Indigenous land reaped the benefits of the resources such as trees for lumber, mines filled with minerals, and rivers that power electric turbines. In more recent times, oil pipelines, railroads, and highways have been built against the wishes of the people living on the land. Toxic waste is dumped near rivers that people use downstream.
And surprise in your eyes that we’re lacking in thanks
For the blessings of civilization you’ve brought us
The lessons you’ve taught us, the ruin you’ve wrought us
Oh, see what our trust in America’s brought us
In spite of this, many non-native people are shocked that Indigenous people are not grateful that they have been given so many benefits of living in America.
Indigenous culture has been incorporated into American culture as part of its own heritage. This is hypocritical because people in power, from presidents to soldiers to businesses, have done what they could to take from these people whatever they could benefit from, including robbing the graves of Native peoples to find cultural items to sell.
One of the symbols of the United States is the American flag, with its colors of red, white, and blue. Many Americans believe that the country stands for freedom and equality for all. Here, the songwriter says that this is hypocritical because the Indigenous nations were cheated out of their lands and their resources, to the point where their culture was almost destroyed.
Another symbol is the eagle. The songwriter says metaphorically that it was not an eagle but a kind of vulture that moved the people from their lands by force (Pushed the wrens from their nest), stole the eggs (children), and forced assimilation on the people (changed their story).
To the people who say, “It’s sad, but what can I do?”, she asks that they educate themselves as to what happened. “We are not shy in pointing it out, only you might not be hearing us because you prefer your comfortable silence. This is part of traditional colonial racism” (Ogg, 2021).
NOTES:
[1] Many tribal nations had traditional “long houses” in which their people lived.
Read about the image above at https://www.flickr.com/photos/41284017@N08/49240395323
VOCABULARY
violent 暴力的
indigenous 先住民
starve 飢える
splendor 素晴らしさ
superstition 迷信
erase 削除する
forced assimilation 強制同化
heritage 世襲
genocide 屠殺
smallpox 天然痘
settler 入植者
infect 感染する
reservation 居住区
toxic waste 放射性廃棄物
dump 投げ捨てる
downstream下流
hypocritical 偽善的
graves 墳墓
vulture ハゲタカ
Sources
Abrams, Caleb G. 2010. Remembering the Removal [Kinzua Dam & Forced Seneca Relocation]. Found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4f3L2NScX0 . Accessed 3 April 2023.
Diaz-Gonzalez, Maria. 2020. The complicated history of the Kinzua Dam and how it changed life for the Seneca people. Stories of the Ohio. Found at https://www.ohiowatershed.org/kinzua-dam-changed-life-for-seneca-people.html . Accessed 3 April 2023.
Kaplan, Zachary R. Unlocking The Ballot: The Past, Present, And Future Of Alaska Native Voting Rights. Found at https://scholarship.law.duke.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1582&context=alr . Accessed 3 April 2023.
Ogg, Arden. My Country ’tis of Thy People You’re Dying: Buffy Sainte-Marie. Cree Literacy Network. https://creeliteracy.org/2021/02/07/my-country-tis-of-thy-people-youre-dying-buffy-sainte-marie/ . Accessed 3 April 2023.
The CC (Closed Captions) are accurate
Almost too late, but only now (after lilsteng to and studying this song) do I understand the meaning of studying history.
Thank you.
Mitsuru Hiki
Thanks to performers like Buffy St. Marie and many activists, movements to redress these wrongs have come about, though there's still a long way to go. There's a wonderful new documentary about Buffy on PBS here. Hope you can access it.