The inhumanity of man is nothing new; for those of Native
American heritage, it is easy to find atrocities with names
like Sand Creek and Wounded Knee. The destruction of homes,
families, and cultures is still going on, and it was my
awakening to these problems that first caused me to become
involved in Native American issues.
I felt outrage upon seeing the wrongs meted out against
the indigenous peoples of North America, and I honestly
believed that I understood their pain. My Native wife, I
thought, had given me an "inside" track to understanding
the feelings of indigenous people.
But I didn't understand. Not until this last week. I came
across an event from my own history, one that caused my
family to hide its roots in fear of it's ancestral legacy.
I learned of a terrible and ongoing injustice, carried out
against MY ancestors and relatives. And I must admit that,
until I learned about these events, I really didn't
understand how it feels to know that your ancestors were
murdered by greed.
As Maria, my wife, said, "You can hear the cries of babies
never born."
Perhaps, if more "white" people could hear those cries,
the world would be a better place.
Perhaps it is time for all the victims of greed to stand
together, Black, Red, Yellow, and White, to end this
charade known as "civilization." I would rather stand
with the "barbarians" than with the civilized men who
murder others for gold. - SRL
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THE CRIES OF THE NEVER BORN: THE SCOTTISH CLEARANCES
by Scott Robert Ladd
Permission granted for unaltered non-profit distribution.
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In the last 270 years, more than a quarter million indigenous
people were forced off their ancestral lands, burned out of
their homes, sold into slavery, and forcibly assimilated into
a foreign culture. But these were not Native Americans, or
black Africans, or Jews; these were the white residents of
the Scottish Highlands. Their crime: Occupying land that
others coveted.
Highland and Island Scots lived under a clan structure based
on an earlier tribal lifestyle. By pledging loyalty to a
familial laird, the Highlanders gained the right to plant
crops and raise cattle in the rugged hills and mountains of
Scotland. These people remained close to their Keltic roots,
and most spoke Gaidhlig instead of English. Culturally, the
Highlanders were strongly independent, and they resented
English dominion.
In the 17th Century, the Scots stood in the way of England's
conquest of Scotland. The Highland Scots opposed the annexation
of their homeland by the English. Fighting for their nation,
the Highlanders supported Charles Edward Stuart as the true
king of Scotland. Calling themselves "Jacobites" after their
former kings, the Highlanders rebelled. At Culloden Field,
on 16 April 1746, the English Army crushed the Scottish
rebellion; even the Highlander wounded were massacred. When
the battle was over, the Scottish lairds were dead, and the
English set out to destroy the clans once and for all.
In 1747, England passed "The Act of Proscription", which banned
(for the Scots) the wearing of tartan, the playing of bagpipes,
the right to own weapons, the gathering of clans, and the
teaching of the Gaidhlig language. Punishment for breaking this
law: Seven years slavery in an overseas English colony. Another
law that same year turned all clan lands over to the English
crown. In forty years, the clan culture was largely destroyed;
the young people did not know their language or culture.
As the 19th Century began, the price for wool and mutton went
up. To corner the market for these valuable commodities, the
English lords of the Highlands began a campaign now known as
"The Clearances". Trees were cut away, and their planting was
forbidden, to make room for sheep. And the tenants of the land,
of course, were in the way as well. The English began a
campaign of terror, using armed enforcers to destroy Highland
and Island homes, herding their inhabitants into urban ghettos
or packing them onto cargo ships for the "New World" colonies.
Where thousands of Scots had once lived, a few dozen shepherds
now tended flocks of sheep. People were often evicted from their
homes without warning, given only enough time to escape with
their lives before the fires began. In many cases, the old and
the young died as their houses burned; entire families froze to
death without shelter. Those forced onto slave ships died
enroute to America and Australia, packed like sardines. Tens
of thousands died; hundreds of thousands lost their freedom and
their identity.
The landlords had a name for this process: "The Improvement."
The list atrocities is almost endless - the destruction of
people's lives and property, the banning of traditional Scottish
activities, the mocking of Highland culture. Scots were only
allowed to wear their family tartan when enlisted in the Army,
in an English move to transfer clan loyalties to themselves. The
English lords created the Highland games, not to honor the Scots,
but to use them as entertainment. The story of the Scottish
Clearances is universal; it could be moved to the Great Plains,
or the Incan Empire, or the jungles of Brazil.
And, like the oppression of Native Americans, assaults on the
Highland Scots continue to this day. Only in 1976 did the English
pass a law allowing the remaining Highland tenants to buy their
lands - at highly-inflated prices. It was only in 1991 that the
law changed so that Highlanders were allowed to plants trees
again. A few dozen people still own most of the Scottish
Highlands; many of the Islands belong to corporations or
individuals. In 1993, two farm families on the Isle of Arran
were evicted and their houses bulldozed - to make room for more
deer. That same year, absentee landlord Sheik Maktoumm of Dubai
bulldozed a dozen family homes on his estate, even though there
were already 800 applicants in need of housing on his lands.
And so it goes...
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If you'd like to know more about The Clearances, contact:
The Highland Clearances Memorial Fund
Steve Blamires
P.O. Box 20927
Juneau, AK 99802 USA
Mr. Blamires is trying to increase awareness of The Clearances;
he hopes to build a memorial to the lives now lost.
--- Scott Robert LaddScottRobertLadd@juno.com 957 Empire Street voice: +1 970 387 0271 P.O. Box 617 fax: +1 970 387 0277 Silverton, CO 81433 USA
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Comments from NativeNet listowner, Gary Trujillo (gst@gnosys.svle.ma.us):
Following are a few references from a friend of a friend that may provide information on this subject:
"Scotland's Story" - Tim Steel "Lion in the North", "Culloden", "Glencoe" and "Highland Clearances" - all by John Prebble
For historical fiction, anything by Nigel Tranter