Alvina Bear Chief- We Were Scared of Him
This happened in grade 6, at the Old Sun Residential School. We had a teacher by the name of Miss King. She was really mean and if we don’t listen to her, she would just come over and twist our ears and they really hurt. How scared we were of her we don’t, and we can’t, tell our parents. We can’t because they couldn’t get mad about us.
And that same place, a teacher named Mr. Brown, we were in class, and a friend of mine, her name was Linda and another friend of ours named Elizabeth. She was telling her; how do we write your name in Blackfoot because her name is Niitaksskstaki. And that teacher was just staring at us for a long time and we, Elizabeth and I, we didn’t want to see him. We were scared of him because he would hit us with his ruler. And that girl came over and she was laughing really hard. She showed me that paper. She said, “this is how we write it in Blackfoot.” She wrote Niitasiktaki, she was laughing really hard and I was just looking at him. He was just staring at her. And he just jumped up and started hitting her with his ruler. We pitied her. She was crying. (Silence – Alvina very emotional).
We couldn’t help her. Rulers hurt very much.
– Underground Woman, Alvina Bear Chief
Notes:
Oral interview with Alvina Bear Chief. Conducted, translated, and transcribed by Gwendora Bear Chief. Old Sun Community College, March 30, 2022.
