Texas is an Indian Word

“Did you know the name ‘Texas’ comes from a Caddoan Indian word?” asks the Native Languages website. “It is a Spanish corruption of the Caddo word Taysha, which means ‘friend’.”

“Friend” is what Caddoans called the early Europeans in a typical sign of indigenous hospitality.

With this heritage in mind, we are taking some interest in events in South Dakota, where the Republic of Lakotah last month repudiated all its broken treaties with the USA.

Weighing heavily on the side of bad faith is a 1903 Lone Wolf ruling by the US Supreme Court which placed all tribal affairs under Congressional sovereignty.

As Kevin Gover recounted on the occasion of the 175th anniversary of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, failure is the appropriate term to use when it comes to the history of official dealings with Indigenous Indian peoples.

Gover himself was one of several federal officials held in contempt by a US Court for “destroying documents in a landmark suit filed by American Indians.” The Cobbell case alleges that the US government has for the past century mismanaged funds held in behalf of a half million indigenous people. And so far, the courts seem to agree.

The plain truth is that European peoples have not been “friends” to the indigenous populations, even if we call ourselves Texans today.

So the developments in South Dakota bear serious reflection.

We like the feisty statement of solidarity issued by the Mohawk Nation News.

And we recommend serious consideration of the recent UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

These materials remind us that whenever we hear calls to “restore the US Constitution” we are hearing from a very particular center of historical recollection. If the US Constitution is one’s vehicle for progress, then the Republic of Lakotah reminds us that there are traditions of justice that still need starting.

–gm

See also: Ron Garmon’s report in LA City Beat.