Last night my mom Genevieve Seely was honored by the City of Shasta Lake, Ca. She is a 93 year old Wiyot woman born on the Table Bluff Rancheria in California. Some of her Native students requested it as she was a public school teacher for 50 plus years.
It was a great night for our family to see mom recognized for her many achievements. A Native spiritual leader of the Wintu said a prayer in his Native language to open the event.
There was a slide show of some of her life and some personal words mom wrote that were read by one of her former students. One thing that stood out to me was her thoughts and experience with Christianity.
She said her mom sent her to sunday school one time. She felt so out of place by the way people were dressed and did not understand why “Indians” were thought of as inferior with pagan beliefs. My mom has been personally hurt by the Christian doctrines of
“DISCOVERY”, “MANEFESTDESTINY “, and
“COLONIALISM “.
My mom’s mother was murdered by a white man who beat her to death. Her mom’s sister had 4 murders in her family with no one brought to justice.
It is hard to spread the gosple of the love of Jesus Christ in your family when your dealing with deep hurt and resentment. I myself am discriminated against because I love Jesus.
Are all you believers good with all that? Are you good with the way Jesus has been portrayed to Native People? Are you all right with how Indigenous People have been treated in America? Let me just say this…..i love Jesus Christ and I still remain hopeful for his people to represent him in a good way.
"THE place for you to grow in grace."