Reflections: Throw Away Babies
- Maria Campbell | November 11, 2013
When I was a little girl I overheard my great grandmother talking to a young woman who had come to visit her. "Minikwe ooma noosim. Moya ooma awasisak aki me ikosiyak kah waypin iy ahkok." Drink this, grandchild. We were not given children to throw away." Both my grandmother and great grandmother were midwives. My great grand-mother no longer practiced when I was growing up as she was to old but people often came to her for help or advise and although I rarely paid attention to these discussions I remember this one because when I was older she had the same discussion with me. She said children were a sacred gift and that we should never have more than we could "carry in battle." I never forgot that partly because it sounded so odd, "not more than I could carry in battle," but I was translating what she said literally. I realized when I got older that battle does not necessarily mean war. Non- native and some native people called her an "old witch" and maybe she was, but it was a good witch for sure, because she, unlike the witches in the books I read, loved children and for her that is what "pimatisowin," life, was all about. She would be appalled if she were alive to see the complete dis-regard, dis-respect and lack of love for children that has become our norm.
The medicine she offered the young woman was birth control something many people say was not practiced in our communities but it was, according to the old women and midwives I have interviewed over the years. It was not practiced by everybody but by some until the 1950's which is about the time that everything completely fell apart for our families, displacing and dispossessing our children forever.
Children being abandoned, battered, sexually abused, tortured, confined, starved, murdered and humiliated is so prevalent not only in our community, but throughout our "civilized society" that it hardly causes a ripple of interest. Abandoned dogs and cats get more attention than a child. And although we pay lip service when the abuse is in our face and we can't avoid it, we do nothing of any consequence to change it.
At some point we are going to have to finish this "healing journey" we have been on for all these many years and start making a better life for our kids. Yes I know colonization is to blame I have blamed it often over the years. I often wonder what we would do if some white guy hadn’t coined that word a few years back. A word that allows, no rather, encourages us to whine, cry and be sick instead of making us angry enough to kick ass and change the world that is so dehumanizing us.
Kicking ass can mean something as simple as getting up in the morning and cooking a pot of porridge for our kids. Sitting down and eating it with them, letting them know we love them and that we will protect and be there for them forever. That's all they need, just us being there for them. If we can’t do that then we need to seriously ask ourselves why we are having babies.
Part of kicking ass should also mean not just pressuring, but forcing governments by armed revolution if necessary to make serious changes in all areas that effect children. From poverty, housing, education and health, to being serious about punishing abusers and by abusers I also mean all the people who are suppose to protect them. Cut off the abusers hand, a whole arm and if that doesn’t work castrate them or put them away forever. If people are incapable of looking after their children sterilize them. If government workers or anyone else whose job it is to protect children don’t do their work then boil them in Alberta oil. And for goodness sakes forget about their Human Rights! Think about Baby Rights, Children's Rights instead. Forget about being good Christians, good Socialists, good Liberals, good Conservatives and just plain good people because to date those things have offered children little protection or love. And now that I have totally outraged you and have your attention, know that I don't mean any of those things but we do have to do something really drastic and we have to do it yesterday, last week, and last year because if we don't we will deserve everything that happens to us and the law of reciprocity tells us it will. Our babies need us to be okay. They need us to be courageous and noble.