The damage that words can cause doesn't end, so when someone who is not of an indigenous nation of Turtle Island (e.g., Lakota, Diné, Tsalagi, etc.) tells me/us to forget and/or get over it, they do not realize that the damage continues every day from a multitude of sources. We are surrounded and attacked by words and the thoughts behind them that keep the past and current injuries and injustices alive and active in our hearts and spirits and often against our physical bodies.
An excellent article about this is The Invasive and Imposed Constructs of the European Mind, written by Steven Newcomb and published in Indian Country Today on July 22, 2017. He eloquently discusses his thesis: "Our original nations did not develop the words that are now being used to oppress our lives and our territories."
