Living In the Past?

"Just let go of the past"

How many of us have heard that when we were having a rough time with a bad break up, a bad fight, or whatever it may be.  Just let go of the past, leave it behind, simple right?

That's not what this guy thought as he writes about his encounters with non-Indian people who always ask him "Why do you live in the past?" and debate about American Indian events via his Facebook.

Not only is this a, for lack of better words, dumb question, but it's inconsiderate and Mike Taylor shoots back some pretty good comments: "Why don't you forget 9/11? Or the Holocaust?"

History creates you, it shapes you, every action has molded you to be who you are today.  For these people to say "Forget about the past" is a very high demand.  How are Native Americans, forced onto reservations, highest chronic diseases in the nation, highest teen pregnancies rates, crime rates, etc suppose to forget what has brought them here to their current state?  The past history is a reason that all these problems are occurring.

For Mike Taylor's reasoning for "They probably feel guilty and don't want to be reminded of the past", I'm not sure.  This may or may not be true, but it doesn't seem like the obvious answer.

Read more of his opinion piece, it's a good read.