#anyways. hes my special historical guy and he makes me soooooooooooo. aaughhh. | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

muirneach · 5 months ago

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cdn historian’s continued assertion that riel was insane (and therefore his actions were wrong) is… insane. because if u were 24 and actively seeing the horrors of colonialism unfold upon your homeland and you were doing everything to protect your people but there were threats being made on you literally every day from everyone from your neighbour to the fucking prime minister and ultimately you are unable to effectively stand in the way of the ceaseless march of imperialism you would probably be insane too. and anyways it’s not really any doubt that riel was mentally ill but that doesn’t mean his actions were lesser for it. i don’t care if he thought he was a prophet that god spoke through he was literally right about everything he did. sorry i am doing my weekly reading of my métis history book

#i mean obviously i know why (racism and perpetuating of the colonial agenda)#and. also. demonization of mental illness #but still when you think about his life. like jesus christ dude…..#and thats only 1869-1870!! ignoring the next 15 years of batshit events #then he got elected to parliament MULTIPLE TIMES after successfully founding an entire province #but was unable to actually take his seat in ottawa because you guessed it; warrant for his arrest #and then he got exiled like for realsies and then got secretly admitted into an asylum for a while #because again; the horror of it all takes a toll #and then he was chilling in montana with his wife and children #and then bam. was made to go do Another resistance #because the westward expansion Just Kept Going. except this time it was worse #and then he got murdered! and then his entire family died within a few years of him!#and also when he was a kid his father was a leader or held uprisings and then he was sent to seminary school at age 13 in quebec #and never saw his father again because riel only came home when he died #and also he tried to marry the love of his life in america during this time but her parents found out he was indigenous and refused it #anyways. hes my special historical guy and he makes me soooooooooooo. aaughhh.#history

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