Erasure

The Choctaw children could weave baskets
Could skin and tan hides like their fathers
Could sing the songs of their people like larks

But the law forbade them from touching
Pen to paper in public schools
Especially not with white children

“Not my child!” white Louisiana cried from every parish
So the Choctaw children had no other choice
They were sent to schools that sought to remove them

The all-knowing institution taught the Choctaw children:
Do not weave baskets, use your hands to pray to God for forgiveness
Your fathers are wicked and sinful, their work is primal
Only sing the hymns of the Lord, forget your Indian tongue and chants

The Choctaw children, if returned alive from the institution of God
Abandoned their people’s traditions as they grew into Choctaw adults
The power of their Choctaw songs did not pass their lips again.