How to Disarm a Colonizer's Arguments

We've heard it all - Natives far more often than allies - the Colonizer arsenal of "well, actually" arguments. Let's unpack a couple of their favorites and the facts we can come back with to disarm them.

- So, are you telling me and all non-indigenous people that we should just LEAVE?

This argument/rebuttal comes from a place of extreme white fragility and insecurity. It's also an unconscious confession of stolen land and colonization. The best way to disarm a colonizer looking for a fight with this argument is to answer opposite of the way they want and expect.

No, no one is asking you to leave. We are asking you to listen to indigenous voices, and to recognize their historical trauma, loss of culture, loss of language, genocide, rape, sterilization, broken treaties, MMIW, stolen and murdered residential school children, mocking of their culture, and the disadvantages they face in modern society because of stigma, racial stereotypes, and systemic racism.

- Well, Native American people fought and colonized each other. They enslaved and murdered each other.

This is one of their favorite arguments. It is a tactic to deflect from the atrocities that white colonizers have committed in the name of cultural advancement and religion. It is also an attempt to justify invasive and destructive white culture. Colonizers do not see the world as we do, and while you'll most likely hit a brick wall with them in disarming this argument, just remember that you're the one armed with facts and don't become frustrated.

Explain the difference between conflict between autonomous tribal societies and colonization. Conflict between humans is a normal, natural (if unfortunate) reality. It has been this way since humans walked on two legs. Petty drama, disputes over land or resources or food/hunting grounds is part of tribal society. Native tribes has their own cultures, communities, societal structures, rules/laws, morality, religion, ceremony, everything. They were autonomous communities living their lives as they had for thousands and thousands of years. The inter-workings and tribal conflicts between the societies have no bearing on white colonization. These are two entirely different subjects. It is a history before colonization, therefore, not part of the discussion. One aspect of colonizer mindset is the dismissal of the fact that indigenous cultures have the right and ability to their own cultures that have histories, however peaceful, bloody, or combination thereof that can combine with the histories of other, neighboring tribes without justifying the white agenda. This is the difficult point to make them see, acknowledge, and understand.

- Natives are not "NATIVE" to this land. They came from somewhere else.

This argument is an attempt to justify the theft of land by whites. Of course Native forebearers came from elsewhere - but we all did - we all came from Africa if we go far enough back. However, human migration and white colonization could not be further ends of the spectrum. One is natural human behavior and the other is an aggressive human tactic to erase culture and steal land and resources.

The Native American people are the first people of this land. They began arriving over 15,000 years ago across the Bering Land Bridge, and over thousands of years, spread out over two continents. They learned the land, respected it, cultivated it, created languages and entire cultures/societies/governments, built architecture that still endures to this day (mesoamerican and south american, as well as pueblo and others). They knew the animals, the weather, the seasons. They protected and cultivated the land in non-invasive and respectful ways that would persist today if not for white colonization. White people were usurpers and invaders in an established, beautiful, bountiful, and thriving culture.

In today's technological society, true history is at everyone's fingertips. We have all the information we need available to us to tackle these arguments. Unfortunately, colonizers also have the same resources that they refuse to use to educate themselves. Just remember, if you have 1,000 confrontations with these people and you can make just ONE reconsider their viewpoint, then you've done an amazing job. It is an uphill battle, and we must all continue to fight it.