Indians ?
It is Sunday morning. The state of Michigan is considered to be traditionally religious with many houses of worship. Grand Rapids is the location of Calvin College, a Christian Reformed liberal arts school founded in 1876. Zondervan publishing, one of the largest and well-respected Christian publishing houses is also in Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids has a deeply rooted Christian heritage.
This morning the historical significance of time and place come forefront of my mind as I think about my presence here. I am at the crest of a wave of humanity, of my family, –and at a two hundred year remove of those who came before me to settle this country.
I am reading a coffee table book that has page by page photos and commentary on the settlement of the San Francisco area. California was first settled by the Spanish, and then by the North European immigrants who crossed the continent in search of a commodious place to live. Christianity played a prominent role in the early engagement with the Indian communities who had settled the area for generations. The book is called LandMarks, San Francisco Bay Area Reflections of Four Centuries by Charles Kennard.
I read this poem in the book. The poem speaks for itself.
I am very old
My people were once around me like the sands of the shore.
Many…….many.
They have all passed away. They have all died like the grass.
They have gone to the mountains.
I do not complain,
The antelope falls with the arrow.I had a son, I loved him.
When the palefaces came
He went away,
I do not know where he is.I am a Christian Indian.
I am all that is left of my people.I am alone.
–Indian of Mission Delores 1850
