Multi-Continuations

Just a little shy of 33 years ago, I wrote my first piece since moving to the west coast. The title was, if memory serves, “A Successful Genocide,” inspired by an obituary in the LA Times about the last full-blooded Kwaaymii Indian (native to the San Diego, CA area). Of course I drew parallels to our Armenian situation.

A few weeks ago, I saw a similar obituary. Even his tribal belonging was unknown, although one report referred to him as a Tanaru, but this name is just the designation of an indigenous territory in Brazil. “The Man of the Hole” as he was known (because he dug deep holes) was the last survivor of what was already a very small tribe, one report placing their number at only six! His cohort along with others were victims of bloodthirsty, money-grubbing, ranchers and farmers who killed natives to grab land in the 1980s. And there you have it, another successful genocide.