The North Carolina Synod office is located on the original and ancestral homelands of the Keyauwee people, and we give thanks for their presence here since time immemorial. We also wish to recognize and honor all our indigenous siblings who have called and continue to call this land their home. |
|
We are following the list of topics suggested by native leaders in the ELCA to continue our learning together. In May we explore the UN Definition of Genocide and wrestle with the question: Is what happened in the Boarding School movement Genocide?
|
|
May 2022: United Nations Definition of Genocide |
|
Before reading the definition, we invite you first to consider what comes to mind when you hear the word "genocide."
Background
- The word "genocide" was coined in 1944 using the Greek prefix genos, meaning race or tribe, and the Latin suffix cide, meaning killing.
- "Genocide was first recognized as a crime under international law in 1946 by the United Nations General Assembly. It was codified as an independent crime in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the Genocide Convention) and was the first human rights treaty to be adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
Definition
- According to the Convention, genocide is a crime that can take place both in time of war as well as in time of peace. The definition contained in Article II of the Convention describes genocide as a crime "committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such:
- (a) Killing members of the group;
- (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;
- (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;
- (d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;
- (e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
- "The definition of Genocide is made up of two elements, the physical element—the acts committed; and the mental element—the intent. Intent is the most difficult element to determine. To constitute genocide, there must be a proven intent on the part of perpetrators to physically destroy a national, ethnical, racial or religious group."
- In addition to "genocide" the United Nations also defines "crimes against humanity," "war crimes," and "ethnic cleansing." Many indigenous peoples are careful and intentional about the way they use these words to describe the treatment of their peoples.
|
|
Theological Reflections on the U.N. Definition of Genocide |
|
As you read and reflect on the U.N. Definition of Genocide, we invite you to wrestle with these theological questions:
- Mother Teresa says, "Where there is no peace, we have forgotten that we belong together." We are prone in our humanness to dehumanize others making way for acts of genocide. What does it mean to be human? How do we cultivate our ability to see the humanity of others?
- Martin Luther says we are called to "call a thing what it is"; so do you think that U.S. treatment of indigenous peoples would qualify as acts of genocide based on the legal definition decided by the U.N.? How does this change your understanding of what happened during the boarding school movement?
|
|
Call your representatives to ask them to support and pass “The Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies in the U.S. Act (H.R.5444 AND S.2907)" |
The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition has identified 367 historically assimilative Indian boarding schools that operated in the U.S. between approximately 1870 until 1970. However, NABS has only been able to locate records from 38% of the boarding schools that we know of. Because the records have never been fully examined, it is still unknown how many Native American children attended, died, or went missing from Indian boarding schools. We believe that the time is now for truth and healing. We have a right to know what happened to the children who never returned home from Indian boarding schools. |
|
Additional Learning Resources |
|
United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect
This Office supports two Special Advisers who report directly to the United Nations Secretary-General. As far as possible, the two Advisers share a common methodology for early warning, assessment, convening, learning, and advocacy, as well as a common office and staff based in New York. They work together to advance national and international efforts to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity (atrocity crimes), as well as their incitement.
|
|
Questions?
If you have questions about any of these resources, contact staff liaison for our Learning Team, Pastor Danielle DeNise.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
