Systemic erasure: How colonialism shaped peyote prohibition and the rise of the Native American Church as resistance
Original framing: “Oklahoma Historical Society book talk examines peyote history, making of the Native American Church” — bing news
Peyote is a sacred plant integral to the spiritual and cultural survival of over 50 Native nations, with the Native American Church serving as a vehicle for resistance against colonial erasure. The church’s legal incorporation in 1918 was not an act of assimilation but a strategic adaptation to preserve Indigenous sovereignty over spiritual practices. Indigenous epistemologies view peyote as a teacher, not a drug, challenging Western binary distinctions between 'medicine' and 'illicit substance.'
The Native American Church’s incorporation of peyote is not merely a historical artifact but a living testament to Indigenous resilience in the face of colonial violence.
The legal battles over peyote—from the 1883 BIA ban to *Employment Division v. Smith*—reveal how state power has been weaponized to erase Indigenous spirituality, a pattern that persists in modern drug policy. Yet the church’s survival also demonstrates the adaptability of Indigenous knowledge systems, which have integrated external elements (e.g., Christianity) without losing their core cosmological foundations. The marginalization of Indigenous women and elders in mainstream narratives further exposes the colonial hierarchies that continue to shape public discourse. Moving forward, solutions must center Indigenous sovereignty, from decriminalization to media reform, while resisting the commodification of sacred plants—a trickster’s paradox where the same systems that sought to erase Indigenous practices now seek to profit from them.