You will be Assimilated…

This famous line from the Borg, the darkest villains from TV’s “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, rings true with us not only because it touches on one of our darkest fears (being overtaken by the very machines and technologies we are so proud of) but also because it has been so much of our past. Nowhere can you see that better than in the conquering of Native American lands and the subjugation of their cultures by European settlers, first the Spanish and then the Americans. While Americans would and will deny that our culture and the Borg hold nothing in common, our attitudes, our actions, and our history say otherwise. It’s one reason why Native American cultures today continue to struggle against the odds…against the assimilation.

Unlike the Borg, we can do something to help stop the assimilation. Public schools in Lost City, Oklahoma are teaching kids the Cherokee language. Oklahoma is the headquarters for the western band of the Cherokee tribe. Have public schools in Cherokee, NC, Albuquerque,NM, Gallup, NM, or anywhere else where there are a large number of Native American children considered doing the same? The Native American heritage is a rich one. We all lose if we allow it to die out.

(See this article: http://www.cnn.com/2003/EDUCATION/09/24/cherokee.kindergarten.ap/index.html)