Kumeyaay Orthodontia And The Canadian Residential Schools

The Kumeyaay are an Indian tribe local to the San Diego area. There are still a few of them around, probably maintaining their timeless culture and heritage by running a casino.

At the time of the arrival of the Spaniards, who undoubtedly brought with them some delicious flan, the Kumeyaay were paleolithic savages, just like all the other Indians who lived in North America. That would include the Indians who lived in Canada. They didn't have writing, the wheel, domesticated pack animals or even Bic ball point pens. As I said in a post from long ago, "I'll bet dentistry with rocks as surgical implements was a big hit with the locals here in San Diego, circa 1490 AD."

In Canada, circa 1890 or so, they had to figure out just what they were going to do with the Indians who had survived the various European viruses and bacilli the settlers unwittingly brought with them. The problem of cultural integration was front and center.

In modern times, we think the people of 1890s were bigots and genocidal imperialists. We don't ponder what life would be like if the Kumeyaay and their ilk were still around, doing their Kumeyaay thing today. I asked AI to give me a few scenarios. Being utterly woke, it began with a description of Kumeyaay living in harmony with nature like it was some kind of NPR fantasy world, where they taught modern people how to be in tune with Gaia's grooves.

After jabbing the thing with a cattle prod by asking it to ponder what it would be like to encounter medicine-free Kumeyaay living in Mission Trails Park, it snapped out of it's weed-inspired haze and gave me these. 

• A high-tech biotech worker in Sorrento Valley might go hiking on the weekend and pass by a Kumeyaay family where half the children have lost their teeth to malnutrition and the adults are crippled by arthritis by age 40.
• College students from UCSD might drive into the mountains for a camping trip and accidentally wander into a Kumeyaay camp, where they are met with suspicious stares from people who have never held a book, used a smartphone, or even conceived of the idea of modern medicine.
• Residents of Santee or La Mesa might occasionally report screams echoing from the canyons at night, as a Kumeyaay elder dies in agony from an infected wound—something that a simple antiseptic and stitches could have prevented.

The Canadians of 1890 confronted this for real. They weren't dummies, they could see the relentless advances of technology and what that would mean for the Indians. They knew that in order to preserve the Indians as people, they were going to have to drag them kicking and screaming into the 20th Century.

To do this, they set up residential schools. They took the Indian children and forced them to live in these schools, most of which were run by the Catholic Church. There may be have been better ways to do this, but given their limited resources and the need to help the Indians make a clean, generational break from their Stone Age past, this wasn't such a bad idea.

Blood Libel

Enter modern leftists. Somehow, modern progressives got data from a ground search radar that scoped out the area around a few of these schools. The data seemed to show the existence of mass graves. The progressives pounced. This was proof positive of what they already knew - the Catholic priests and nuns running these schools were bigoted, genocidal monsters.

That indefatigable pinhead of a prime minister, Justin Trudeau, didn't need to see any more. Canadian flags flew at half mast for the slaughtered indigenous people, thunderous denunciations were orated, the credulous news media sprang into action and even Pope Francis got into the act by groveling and apologizing. Catholic churches were burned by the dozens across Canada as the righteous fury of the progressives found an incendiary outlet.

Millions of Canadian dollars, which are a lot like American dollars only they are sticky because they are dotted with tiny maple syrup smears, were poured into efforts to dig up these graves. The only problem was the excavations revealed ... nothing. Not even a fingernail.

It was all nonsense. Pope Francis, utterly incapable of embarrassment or self-reflection, did not seek to restore the reputations of the slandered priests and nuns. There were no apologies made by anyone. Not one. The burned-out churches had to be rebuilt through insurance settlements and donations by the faithful, if they were rebuilt at all.

The Missing Question

All of this is an expression of temporal bigotry. Putting yourself in the shoes of the Canadians of 1890, just what were they supposed to do? 

What would you do today if the Kumeyaay had been allowed to maintain their way of life and, while hiking in our local canyons, you came across a Kumeyaay family where half the children have lost their teeth to malnutrition and the adults are crippled by arthritis by age 40?

Say what you will about his teeth, at least he's living as the Kumeyaay have lived for centuries.

As an aside, I had to use Grok to generate that image. ChatGPT wouldn't create a Native American boy with any blemishes at all. I didn't even bother to try the ultra-woke Gemini.