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The resonating sounds of indigenous people's struggles, their pain, resilience, and the complexities of their experiences penetrated deeply into me. My position as a non-Native in their resistance forced me to grapple with the recurrent refrain, "We are on stolen land." I had come to associate issues of colonialism with land sovereignty, disregarding that Black communities' problems were intertwined.

It suddenly struck me that theft, exploitation, and destruction of African indigenous culture had paralleled the colonization of North American lands. The erasure of black zombified bodies paralleled the possession and exploitation of indigenous bodies. I questioned the bifurcation between stolen land and slavery issues, recognizing that there were overlapping experiences between blacks and indigenous peoples.

To really understand where black people fit into indigeneity, we must remember that being "indigenous" is relational to land, not a uniform race. Our diasporic African identities are distinct but important for calling out narratives that seek to erase us.

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My educational experiences was definitely structured by settler colonialism. I attended Catholic School from 1st to 12th grade. Being in Catholic School they are very strict and rules have to be followed. When I think of the "banking" system, it reminds me of the way I was taught. With my experience, there was no tolerance with challenge the teacher but only listening to what you are told. Information was deposited to me and I had to accept that information without question. Not being able to express myself in the classroom carried with me throughout my life because after graduating high school, I refused to just accept what was being told or taught to me. In my life now I ask question when needed and look forward to open dialogue with other individuals.

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I have a vivid memory of being in third grade and learning about the "discovery" of America and how Colombus was welcomed by the "Indians". I remember wondering how it was possible that other people can be on a land that was being "discovered". Surely, the "Indians" discovered it first?

I was not brave enough to ask my question. I sat at my desk and listened to the teacher. I learned about the Trail of Tears in fifth grade, and small pieces started coming together. Unfortunately, it wasn't until college that I came to fully understand the true effects of colonialism in society.

Examples I have seen of colonialism in schools are the lack of education about Native American people. We are taught about Columbus "discovering" America but not about the truths surrounding the discovery or anything regarding Native American culture or customs. The implications of this on education leave Americans believing lies about where we live. We walk away from school with misconceptions of Native American people that were conceived hundreds of years ago by the people who stole this land.

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My personal educational experiences have been based on standardized learning. It could be perceived as a colonialism control or practice. We were taught to kind of follow commands. Your ideal student had to sit right in our seats and faced forward. An Aim or do now was always present on the board. All student work should have been similar or equivalent to one another. You had to raise your hand to speak, produce a pass to go to the bathroom. Christopher Columbus was taught to us as if he discovered America. He was considered indigenous. The real indigenous people like the native American was not consider indigenous. African American studies was not really taught they taught us about black history but the bare minimum. Mostly about Martin Luther king jr. and Malcom x.

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When I think back about my educational experience from when I was a child, we were definitely  structured by settler colonialism. The rules that were placed in the classroom and the entire school as a whole proved that. Being told that students aren't allowed to walk out of the classroom to use the bathroom without raising a quiet hand. When asked to use the bathroom, we were immediately corrected if we asked "can i go to the bathroom" and the teacher would respond "I don't know, can you? The correct term is may I?".  We didn't talk too much about Indigenous people in school, past or present. What they contributed was erased and not discussed. It has an impact on education today because in some states, certain parts of history, fact based to be exact, isn't allowed to be taught. This kind of teaching is stifling critical thinking and limiting students exposure to different perspectives.

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For me the level of colonial schooling has been mixed with unbalance teachings. And just the fight to get to a seat and learn was a hard road and process towards what is considered an allowed education. Over the years I have questioned the process for sure when I have gotten my education from an colonial structured from failure schooling into education the colonial way from prison; and I must say was hard. There needs to be a more comprehensive way that that Latin immigrants, African American underprivileged and others can see a structured educational format that is inclusive towards all historical truths. However that seems to be the thought in order to equal off such an dispariting way of receiving educational studies in this country. I have benefited some from such a unbalance entrance but I do hope to be able to be shinning in a new light of educational change that confronts the old colonial system of structured educational studies. Arts are going away, gym gone and after school programs cut from the way the old sees things we need change.

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Coming from a family of Filipino origin, I'm often reminded that my ethnic origin has a great deal of settler colonialism. Throughout my educational pursuit it is often been decided that most of my experience in education has had inclination of settler colonialism. This can be seen with classes been instilled within educational institutions. Starting with classes, certain subjects have been designed to be taught in a certain way. Questions of history would always arise when pertaining to this subject. When I often asked the teachers of what happened to the people that the U.S. liberated or brought over their teachings, they would say, "We saved them or made their lives better." When doing the research, myself, it is shown that history is not at all as it seems. Racial identity, culture, and traditions would often be steam-rolled over in order to meet the norms of U.S. society. Certain travesties would not be mentioned, in order to make the U.S. look more favorable, which is shown in most history textbooks. U.S. history education would often either dilute or disregard many of experiences of their so-called saved. In my perspective, it is up to the individual learner to do further research when it comes to finding out the facts. As things are not as it seems.

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Education and Colonialism my experience. Estefania Rodriguez

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Education and Colonialism my experience. Estefania Rodriguez

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From my experience, I call my education as a controlled system. The reason why I say this is because we are thought to say and follow the way our teachers/leaders were thought to educate for generations. I was raised in Washington Heights. Predominately Latino neighborhood. Attended the Beacon School graduate of the high school 2007. In the early 2000's that high school this was a complete cultural shock as the school was only about 10 percent hispanic while the rest were all white. This kids came from households with economic advantages. One thing I did learn as a Latina was to work my hardest within the system as others had it the "easier" way.

Columbus? What can I tell you.. he discovered America right? and all the Native Americans and Settlers worked together...this is the image that was put into our heads as I was in elementary school. It was not until I was in High School that a new world and meaning to colonialism came to me. This took away my identity because there is not much to say about Tainos other than they were habitants before the settlers.

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From my knowledge, Columbus Day was unbelievable day. we were taught that Christopher Columbus discovered America which was false all these years. settler colonialism plays a role in America which was un-handled, i just found out that Columbus Day was renamed "Indigenous Peoples Day." due to the fact, people have discovered the truth about Columbus Day, as a new york city kid, education was a big thing within the school district. Christopher columbus made native american indians erased their history and also taught them a different way of life. Another way settler colonialism affected the way how education is brought up is by taken advantange of people of have less knowledge upon the hisory that was before them.

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My educational experiences was structured by settler colonialism by different ways, for example by dictating the school schedule and eating schedule as well as depending on what I was able to learn. I feel like k-garden up until the end of middle school, we were I was told what I had to study and follow rules. Then later on in high school I had a little bit of more space to choice my classes, but I still have to follow a school schedule and choice from the options that the school provided. The context that we learn, for example the history of the land we are in. We don’t learn the “truth” like the lands the USA stole from Mexico and claims them as ours, or the telling the history correct, like when Christopher Columbus found American, not exampling that Indigenous people has already live in American. Then creating a whole holiday around a person who not only stole land but also rapped and tormented innocent people; mentally and physically. When I was young I didn’t know any of this information, I was taught to see the world and the history the way the educational system wanted us to see it. This caused me to seek more answers on my own and not trust everything a teacher talks about. It impacted students to start speaking up and even myself to start contradicting what I am learning and confirm information once I receive it. It also took away native heritage background history from the people and land we live in. We aren’t taught about other history from other countries, for example we rarely learn about Mexican culture, or other cultures to make everyone feel inclusive.

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Growing up I would say that I had multiple educational experiences that were structured by settler colonialism. I grew up in the Dominican Republic and went to school there until the 3rd grade. In my school teachers were very strict and if you did follow these rules they would hit/whip you with a skinny tree branch. I saw this as a way to keep control and authority in the classroom but hitting kids wasn't the way. I think this is a very common practice of keeping children in educational settlings in "control" to keep a certain behavior in class.

Coming to the united states and seeing that teachers didn't use physical punishments was something that I didn't expect to see. To me schools having those types of punishments was normal. Here schools do use detentions and suspensions as their own way of punishing certain behaviors. While in middle school and high school many of my after school detentions and Saturday detentions were mostly because of a few minutes of lateness. I never saw a point of having a 3 hour Saturday detention. I do believe that for school administrators the point was to keep on authority towards us and make us think of our "behavior".

Overall, Settler colonialism back then and now still has its place in the educational system. Even with things like the school to prison pipeline, settler colonialism keeps on making its way into how schools function. This is still affecting how administrators keep authority and how teachers teach in the classroom. Settler colonialism does have a lingering impact on how we receive colonized education. In many states now, certain historical topics can't be discuss unless they switch how some of the events went. Even targeting things like historical books or books about some public figures can't be in these school libraries to be shown to the students.

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Settler colonialism plays a role in everyday life in America.  I believe that I was lucky enough to go to schools that leadership and majority of the teachers were people of color so that helped but there is not way around the ever-lasting effects of colonialism.  For starters, I grew up in elementary school and a bit of middle school believing that Christopher Columbus “discovered America”.  It wasn’t until a teacher I had in seventh grade by the name of Mr. Lawrence, who explained to us that this is what we had been taught according to the history books because they must, but he later told us more of the reality of the situation and the massacre the Christopher Columbus caused.  Settler colonialism erases the true teachings of our culture and just follow history through the lens of the white man.  This is why I commend the Palestinian kids from our reading for standing up to the teachers and demanding to be taught lessons that were pertinent to their current life.

Another way settler colonialism has affected education is the access we have to proper education.  Minority communities get the short end of the stick when it comes to access and opportunity.  The people who settled and colonized America came in and helped foster the unequal educational system we have.  When I was growing up the schools I went to were limited to supplies and textbooks.  I work in a district 2 school which is one of the richest districts of public schools in NYC and the supplies are of abundance and all of that just because who lives in that area versus who lived in the neighborhood, I grew up in.  Settler colonialism has left us with this false sense of needing to assimilate because we are disconnected from who we truly are.

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Settler colonialism influenced the way I experienced education because it involved establishing authority and rules in the school system. One example of these rules is the practice of raising your hand to speak to the teacher or change seats. Another aspect of this system is the use of exams in different grades to determine whether students can progress to the next grade level. I never had a different way of learning in a school setting. Maybe if the school system changes the way it runs, we may have lots of more people thrive in life.

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As a Bronx-born child of an immigrant family, my experiences in education solidify the concealed colonialism within the educational system. I’ve been alienated from my Afro-latina roots for many years. Rather than learning  about indigenous peoples throughout Latin America and why Christopher Columbus shouldn’t be celebrated, I was lectured about a white washed American society. Everything learned in school indirectly served as an agent to designing an ideal American. From reciting the pledge of allegiance from as early as Kindergarten to English being the primary language at School. My parents who only speak Spanish were repeatedly advised by teachers to speak English at home to me as it would “make me stronger in literacy.” Was this true? Absolutely not. If my parents listened to this suggestion, I would’ve lost a sense of identity.

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My educational experience was structured by settler colonialism.  I grew up during the time when kids did as they were told, were meant to be seen not heard era. This also extended into the classroom. We were not encouraged to think outside the box or to be innovative. As mentioned by another person you raise your hand in order to be called by the teacher. You needed to raise your hand to use the restroom and also wait for a hall pass. Thiongo's, famous Kenyan writer that wrote the book "Weep not Child" (1964), believes that colonial education instills inferiority. When I was in school in the late 60's and 70's, looking back on it, it appears that colonialism way of education gave an authoritative way of teaching, this might have started the "banking" way of doing things. A positive thing about the colonial way of education was when a teacher would come to your home to engage with your parent(s), to inform them of your progress in school or where you were lacking. Today, that does not exist.  Books being banned today here it is in Florida the banning of "The Kite Runner". The lingering effects for me having received a colonized education was that I dropped out of school at an early age, here it today at age 60 I am back in the classroom.  Another effect of it is that many parents, in low economic communities, believe in school to then the prison pipeline.

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Settler Colonialism Ana Maria Morel Diallo

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Settler Colonialism Ana Maria Morel Diallo

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My educational experiences were structured by settler colonialism because it implemented control of others by setting rules and regulations within the school system. One set of rules within the school system is to raise your hand before speaking to the teacher or moving from your seat. One set of regulations within the school system is the exams that are place with in certain grades to pass to move on to the next grade.

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For this week, consider how your own educational experiences were structured by settler colonialism. Provide specific examples of where and how settler colonialism made an indelible imprint on what your schooling experiences looked and felt like. Additionally, consider what, if any, are the lingering impacts of receiving a colonized education.