Native People, the Declaration of Independence, and America’s Founding Myth

Native People, the Declaration of Independence, and America’s Founding Myth

Support the work on Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/c/u40108333America is preparing to celebrate 250 years of independence. But for Native people, the founding story looks very different.In this episode, I discuss the contradictions at the heart of American independence: a nation speaking the language of freedom while enslaving Black people, invading Native homelands, and building a settler colonial empire. The Declaration of Independence famously says “all men are created equal,” but it also describes Native people as “merciless Indian Savages.” That phrase tells us a lot about how Native nations were positioned in the American imagination from the very beginning.We also look at how settler colonialism works, why Native people are so often erased from the founding of the United States, and how the American Revolution was deeply connected to land hunger, westward expansion, and resentment toward the British Proclamation Line of 1763. Many settlers did not just want freedom from the king. They wanted access to Native land.I also talk about the Boston Tea Party and the strange contradiction of white colonists dressing as Native people while actual Native nations were being dehumanized, attacked, and removed. America has always wanted Native identity as a symbol while rejecting Native sovereignty in reality.This episode also draws from the work of historian Ned Blackhawk, especially his article in The Atlantic, “How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution,” and his books:The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. HistoryViolence over the Land: Indians and Empires in the Early American WestIndigenous Visions: Rediscovering the World of Franz BoasNed Blackhawk’s work reminds us that Native nations were not side characters in American history. Native diplomacy, Native resistance, Native sovereignty, and Native land were central to the making of the United States.I also reflect on my own experience growing up in a settler colonial education system where Native people were either erased, romanticized, or treated like we belonged only to the past. As a kid, I could not see myself in the history I was being taught. That is what colonial education does. It teaches us to celebrate conquest and call it progress.America is 250 years old. Native history is thousands of years old.Native people are not mascots, costumes, savages, or ghosts of the past. We are nations. We are peoples. We are still here.For questions, speaking, collaborations, or media inquiries:Email: bernardnavarro1971@gmail.com Follow me:Instagram: @7thgenpodcastTikTok: @mercilesssavagezYouTube: Dr. B TeachesReferences:Ned Blackhawk, “How Native Nations Shaped the Revolution,” The AtlanticNed Blackhawk, The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. HistoryNed Blackhawk, Violence over the Land: Indians and Empires in the Early American WestNed Blackhawk, Indigenous Visions: Rediscovering the World of Franz Boas

The Truth About California: Missions, Gold Rush, and Native Genocide

Support my work on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/u40108333 [https://www.patreon.com/c/u40108333] In this episode, I begin a deeper conversation about one of the most painful and misunderstood histories in California: the California Missions, the Gold Rush, and the genocide of California Native peoples. For generations, California history has been taught as a story of missions, explorers, pioneers, gold, and progress. Many of us grew up learning about Father Serra, mission bells, gold miners, Sutter’s Mill, and the so-called “settling” of California. But that version of history often leaves out the people who were already here. It leaves out the Native nations whose lands were invaded, whose families were torn apart, whose children were taken, whose labor was exploited, and whose communities were targeted for destruction. In Part 1 of this podcast, I talk about the California mission system and ask whether the missions should be understood as genocidal institutions. I discuss how the missions were not simply churches or schools, but colonial systems built to control Native bodies, Native labor, Native land, Native religion, and Native identity. Native people were forced into mission life, punished for resisting or leaving, separated from their homelands, and pushed into a system that caused massive population loss, cultural destruction, and generational trauma. I also talk about the myth many Californians were taught in school. We were told to build mission projects, memorize mission names, and celebrate Spanish colonization without being taught the full truth of what happened to Native people inside those walls. That silence was not accidental. It shaped how generations of people understood California, Native people, and colonization itself. This episode also moves into the American invasion of California and the violence that surrounded the Gold Rush. I discuss John Sutter and the Native labor that helped build his empire. Sutter is often remembered as a pioneer or founder figure, but his wealth and power were tied to the exploitation, coercion, and abuse of Native people. I also discuss John C. Frémont and Kit Carson, including the Sacramento River Massacre, and why men connected to violence against Native communities are still remembered as heroes in American history. The Gold Rush is often described as a moment of opportunity, but for California Native people it was catastrophic. Miners, militias, settlers, and state officials helped create a world where Native land was stolen, villages were attacked, food systems were destroyed, children were kidnapped, women were violated, and entire communities were pushed toward death and disappearance. California was not peacefully settled. It was invaded. This is Part 1 of the conversation. In Part 2, I will continue with the questions I did not get to in this episode, including what happened after the mission period, the role of the State of California in genocide, the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians, Native child kidnapping, violence against Native women, major massacres, Native resistance, survival, and why this history still matters today. This history is hard, but it must be told. California was not empty. It was not discovered. It was not built without cost. Native people paid the price for California’s wealth, but Native people are still here. Telling this history is part of honoring the ancestors, challenging the myths, and refusing the erasure that California has depended on for far too long. Contact: bernardnavarro1971@gmail.com [bernardnavarro1971@gmail.com] Instagram: @7thgenpodcast TikTok: @mercilesssavagez

The Disturbing History California Schools Won't Teach

Here is the updated YouTube description with all em dashes removed and replaced with standard punctuation for clean formatting.The Pioneer Myth is a Lie: Unmasking the Monster of Sacramento.If you went to school in California, you were likely taught that John Sutter was a heroic pioneer, a benevolent empire builder, and the welcoming godfather of the 1849 Gold Rush.But history books lied to you. In this episode, we strip away a century of settler-colonial propaganda to expose the deeply disturbing reality of New Helvetia. Utilizing the primary source accounts of Sutter’s own white managers, business partners, and clerks, alongside the enduring oral histories of California tribes, we uncover a man who operated not as an entrepreneur, but as a sociopathic feudal warlord, human trafficker, and sexual predator.We break down the horrific daily realities for the Miwok, Maidu, and Nisenan peoples who were forced to labor for Sutter just to exist on their own ancestral lands. From feeding hundreds of workers out of wooden livestock troughs on their hands and knees to locking them in squalid adobe pens at night, Sutter systematically dehumanized Indigenous peoples to normalize the extreme violence that maintained his empire.Worse still, we confront the heavily censored history of his active slave-trading and sex-trafficking networks. This includes the private journals of his head clerk, Heinrich Lienhard, which document the revolving harem of kidnapped Indigenous girls kept directly adjacent to Sutter’s office.Finally, we connect the dots to show how the brutal systems pioneered at Sutter’s Fort didn't disappear with the Gold Rush. Instead, they became the literal structural blueprint for early California statehood and the state-sanctioned California Indian Genocide under the 1850 Act for the Government and Protection of Indians.The privilege of a monster is being remembered as a pioneer. It’s time to decolonize our history, unlearn the sanitized myths, and speak the truth.If this episode opened your eyes, please consider liking, subscribing, and sharing this video to help push the true history past the algorithm.

Be the Light: Choosing Positivity in a Negative World

In this short and reflective episode of the 7th Generation Podcast and Dr. B Teaches, Dr. B talks about something that has been on his mind more and more: the need to become a positive force in a world full of negativity, judgment, jealousy, hatefulness, and drama. From social media algorithms that reward outrage to everyday spaces where people tear each other down, it can feel like ugliness is everywhere. But this episode is about choosing something different. It is about choosing hope, choosing light, choosing encouragement, and choosing to bring good energy into the lives of the people around us. Dr. B reflects on the kind of person he wants to be at this stage of life: someone who uplifts, supports, teaches, coaches, and helps people believe in themselves. Being positive does not mean ignoring injustice or pretending life is easy. It means refusing to let bitterness, jealousy, and negativity control your spirit. This episode is a reminder that the world already has enough hate. We need more people willing to be medicine, more people willing to bring light, and more people willing to help others keep going. Be the opposite of the ugliness. Be a positive force.

Extractive Capitalism and the War on Indigenous Sacred Places

In this episode, I take a deeper look at the fight to protect Oak Flat and Chaco Canyon and what these struggles reveal about modern colonialism, extractive capitalism, and the continued assault on Indigenous sacred places. For Indigenous peoples, sacred places are not just historic sites or scenic landscapes. They are living places of ceremony, prayer, memory, identity, and connection. They are tied to ancestors, cultural survival, and spiritual responsibility. Yet again and again, Native communities are forced to defend these places from corporations and governments that see land only through the lens of extraction, profit, and control. I talk about why Oak Flat is sacred to Apache peoples, why Chaco Canyon remains deeply important to Pueblo peoples and other Indigenous communities, and why these struggles are part of a much larger fight over land, sovereignty, and the right of Native peoples to protect what is sacred. I also discuss the importance of Land Back, tribal sovereignty, and Indigenous stewardship. The truth is that Indigenous peoples are the original caretakers of these lands, and their ways of relating to the earth offer a very different vision from the greed-driven logic of western capitalism. This conversation is about more than two places. It is about what kind of world we want to live in. A world where everything is for sale, or a world where sacred places, Indigenous life, and the land itself are treated with respect. Support Apache Stronghold. Support the defense of Chaco Canyon. Stand with Indigenous peoples protecting sacred land across Turtle Island.