What is Generational Trauma?

Before we dig into what generational trauma is…

I want to touch on the topic of Generational Wealth.

According to CNBC – Generational wealth refers to any kind of asset that families pass down to their children or grandchildren, whether in the form of cash, investment funds, stocks and bonds, properties or even entire companies.

There are a lot of families and new adults coming who live in North America who start off their life inheriting a great deal of wealth and it is very easy for them to navigate into this world.

But Native Americans have to inherit something else. Many have to inherit Generational Trauma.

When Colonizers started to arrive on this land we call USA and Canada, much of the land was claimed and/or given to them, or sold at a low low price.

Part of this reason was due to the Agricultural revolution and forestry.

The only thing was there was Native American people on these lands and they needed them to relocate so they could use the land for resources and settlements.

The problem was Native Americans used the land and lived off the land. That was their way of living.

Removing The Peoples and Disrupting Culture

The way colonizers got Native American people off the land they wanted was horrific.

People with a whole different worldview, systems, beliefs, and culture started to attempt to give Native American people their way of doing things.

Through this process a lot of trauma was given to the Native American People.

Here are some of those traumas:

• Loss of language
• Loss of identity
• Cruel physical punishment
• broken families
• Alcoholism
• The loss of being a child
• Indigenous systems disrupted
• Way of life
• Way of believing

These are just to name a few.

As a young Indigenous man myself, I did’t have a real reference on what a healthy family looked like or what being a dad is suppose to be like.

I felt embarrassed that I couldn’t understand my Elder’s when they spoke the Cree language and wondered why I felt so lost in today’s world.

It wasn’t until I learned about Generational Trauma that I started to understand why I was lost.

There was reasons why so many things in my life were broken and why I couldn’t have what a lot of my non-Indigenous friends had … which was a healthy upbringing.

What is Generational Trauma

It’s a tough time and journey to find out just who you are and heal from the past.

Part of this journey is to decolonize.

A simple explanation to Decolonize is to give ourselves and kids more opportunity to be Native American than our parents had.

With residential schools and boarding schools, their whole mandate was to kill the Indian inside and have them be more like the colonizers.

We are finally getting into a stage where we are ending some of the traumas.

Right now I have my family all together. My wife and I have 4 kids and we are a unit that is together.

My kids have what they need and they have their parents and they are loved.

I know not a lot of this generation is experiencing that but it’s heading that way.

Is Education the Key?

Residential schools and boarding schools had the power to take our people’s to the edge of losing their identities and taking the culture away.

Schools also have the power to bring us the opposite end and helping bring it back.

Although it’s been a slow race to get it done…

Many school divisions are starting to bring stories to life and true histories of Native American people.

Some schools are implementing Native American languages, teachings, knowledge, and more.

Some schools are moving slow and others are moving faster than others.

It depends on the leadership and area.

Why We Do What We do With Powwow Times

Here at Powwow Times our whole goal is to be at least a door towards helping someone find their healing through culture and teachings.

Even if we just reach at least one person each day…

We know we are doing what we need to do…

We hope this reached you in a good way and today we light up some smudge for you …