Hanh mitakuyapil Hello my realtives. Today should properly be called "Civil Rights Workers Day", for all of the civil rights workers who died to get to the Civil Rights Act, not just one man.
You should know that after the Civil Rights Act was passed, representatives of our Indigenous Nations went to the leaders of the black people & said, "We helped you get this Act. Now it's time for you to help ensure that our Rights are covered, too." They refused us - on the same grounds that whites have since Europeans first came here. The black "leaders" said, "You have no money, so you have no power. Get your Rights insured to you, yourselves."
That's strike 2 as far as we're concerned.. Strike one in black - ITI relations was after the War Between the States. Before that war, we ITI helped blacks escape slavery via the underground railroad. We took blacks into our homes, married & had children with them, taught them our ways & our secret places, gave them pride, respect & dignity. How did they thank us?
After the war, the U.S. government bullied them, saying, "If you don't help us find & exterminate Indians, we'll take your citizenship & freedom away & make you slaves again." So the blacks turned us over. Those were mainly the Buffalo Soldiers - we named them that because they curly hair reminded us of the buffalo's hair, & they were in the bluecoat army.
Martin Luther King Jr. was by no means the only person who "made a difference" in the battle for civil rights for everyone who lives under the U.S. Constitution. And I believe he would not have been at all comfortable with having a federal holiday in his name, for the same reason I believe it's wrong to call this holiday after him.
So while there's tons of fuss & furor being made over "Martin Luther King Jr" day, we should all be focussing instead on the many others who died to get the Civil Rights Act passed, and enforced. That battle continues for us Indns. Hechetu ye.
Showing posts with label Constitution. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Constitution. Show all posts
Monday, January 19, 2009
Friday, October 24, 2008
On Average Intelligence
Hanh mitakuyapi. Hello my relatives.
The scary thing about being of average intelligence is, it's so low. Neither you nor I is likely to be of average intelligence. We fly somewhat higher than that. Unfortunately, people of average intelligence are in the majority if you believe in bell curves. And we are coming up on a Presidential election in less than 2 weeks. That's where the 'really scary' part comes in.
This morning, I was eating in a local cafe' & there was a group of a dozen or so elderly people sitting not too far from me - discussing, of course, politics. The remarks I heard were enough to make my Indn hair stand. on. end.
Predictably, there were many remarks about Sarah the Bimbo & whether she could 'take over & run the country if McCain dropped dead'. As if the President runs the country. Last I heard, this is still a Constitutional democratic republic, ongoing efforts to gut the Constitution to the contrary. The reality is, a variety of governmental entities run the country, from village boards to county boards to city councils to Congress. But in no way does the President run this country, and (s)he never has.
When FDRoosevelt was felled by a stroke, his wife Eleanor did much of his decision-making, not the then Vice-President.. but Congress & the various municipal entities ran the country. And that has not changed.
But the best/worst of the incredibly stupid remarks I heard this morning from that group of retirees was, "Obama isn't ready to run the Presidency because he's black & you know they can't run things.. They all live in ghettos & wear funny clothes & talk funny." And the rest of this group nodded & said, "yep. yep."
I nearly threw up. Instead, I fixed one of them with my best beady-eyed stare until she blushed & looked away. Whereupon, she whispered to the rest of the group that "there's an Indian sitting over there, listening in & staring at us in an unfriendly way". (Yep.yep.) And like a school of fish, they changed the subject of their talk as if they were one entity, & got off on.... the weather. I just thought you might like to know about these things. Let's pray there's some sanity after this election, & we aren't subjected to another 4 years of Bush-n-Karl-Rove-ism. I don't think we can take it. Hm.. Maybe they're black after all. Sure as hell they can't run things worth spit, unless you count "into the ground".
The scary thing about being of average intelligence is, it's so low. Neither you nor I is likely to be of average intelligence. We fly somewhat higher than that. Unfortunately, people of average intelligence are in the majority if you believe in bell curves. And we are coming up on a Presidential election in less than 2 weeks. That's where the 'really scary' part comes in.
This morning, I was eating in a local cafe' & there was a group of a dozen or so elderly people sitting not too far from me - discussing, of course, politics. The remarks I heard were enough to make my Indn hair stand. on. end.
Predictably, there were many remarks about Sarah the Bimbo & whether she could 'take over & run the country if McCain dropped dead'. As if the President runs the country. Last I heard, this is still a Constitutional democratic republic, ongoing efforts to gut the Constitution to the contrary. The reality is, a variety of governmental entities run the country, from village boards to county boards to city councils to Congress. But in no way does the President run this country, and (s)he never has.
When FDRoosevelt was felled by a stroke, his wife Eleanor did much of his decision-making, not the then Vice-President.. but Congress & the various municipal entities ran the country. And that has not changed.
But the best/worst of the incredibly stupid remarks I heard this morning from that group of retirees was, "Obama isn't ready to run the Presidency because he's black & you know they can't run things.. They all live in ghettos & wear funny clothes & talk funny." And the rest of this group nodded & said, "yep. yep."
I nearly threw up. Instead, I fixed one of them with my best beady-eyed stare until she blushed & looked away. Whereupon, she whispered to the rest of the group that "there's an Indian sitting over there, listening in & staring at us in an unfriendly way". (Yep.yep.) And like a school of fish, they changed the subject of their talk as if they were one entity, & got off on.... the weather. I just thought you might like to know about these things. Let's pray there's some sanity after this election, & we aren't subjected to another 4 years of Bush-n-Karl-Rove-ism. I don't think we can take it. Hm.. Maybe they're black after all. Sure as hell they can't run things worth spit, unless you count "into the ground".
Thursday, July 3, 2008
About Custer and Independence
On June 25, 1876, a thug commissioned in the U.S. Army and 200-some goons under his command attacked yet another peaceful Indn camp - but this time, instead of slaughtering The People, these hired goons got what they deserved. Today, we ITI commemorate this as the Battle of the Greasy Grass. White people commemorate this as the Battle of the Little Bighorn or Custer's Last Stand. We won the battle, but because our ITI cultures were not oriented to annihilation and the Euro-'American' culture was, we didn't win the war.
The war isn't over, however. It's still going on.
There is a myth promoted in the majority culture that we ITI are "conquered". There used to be a myth-conception that we ITI were going to become extinct. We've pretty well gotten rid of that one. Not entirely - but almost. We're working on it.
But so long as we ITI - Indigenous Turtle Islanders - refuse to be 'acculturated' and/or 'assimilated' - which would be a giant step down and backward from our Traditional Ways - the war will continue.
So long as we ITI have to continue to sue to get our Treatys both recognized and adhered to by the U.S. government - which never intended to adhere to them initially, according to the official historic record - the war will continue.
Supreme Court Justices have written of their distress at the raw deal we have gotten from the U.S. government. It has made a dent in the wall of abuse handed out to us by officialdumb. In a few spots, we have made pinholes.
But so long as we ITI have to 'justify' our desire for such things as eagle feathers, which are central to our spiritual practices, to officials of the U.S. government while no other group has to justify anything to any officials of the U.S. government, we are not "full" citizens of the U.S. despite the words of the Snyder Act of 1924. So long as we have to guard our sweat lodges against destruction by racists, particularly when we have them off of our Reservations, which are 'countries', and so on a par with the U.S., the war continues.
So long as we are forced to welfare-as-lifestyle, particularly in those states with a large Indn population, the "Custer Effect" is still in effect, and the war continues.
So long as officials in any part of government - at any level, not just federal - try to keep us from accessing our full Constitutional Rights, the war continues.
And eventually, we will win it. It does strike this Indn as sad, though, that in the Age of Enlightenment, with so much accurate information available at the touch of a button, some humans - supposedly the only animals that think - continue to resist the fact that we are human beings with equal rights throughout this land - which is technically still ours, since the Treatys were broken first in every one of the 389 cases we know as Treatys by the U.S. government.
Tomorrow the whites of this country will celebrate "Independence" Day. The reality is, however, that so long as any part of the majority culture tries to subjugate another, so long as the U.S. government tries to restrict Indigenous Peoples' religious / spirituality - Freedoms guaranteed to us all by the Constitution and Bill of Rights (not of priviledges) - people here are not independent of anything except a form of government.
Bigots are prisoners of their dedication to ignorance and all that attends it. And that continues the Indian Wars. To me and many other Traditionals - it's just a day with pretty fireworks displays at night. We had independence; the majority culture which so busily celebrates its illusions is the one that doesn't really believe in them, yet, and so doesn't have them or want anyone else to have them, either.
I shall continue to pray for their enlightenment, and ask you to do so, too.
The war isn't over, however. It's still going on.
There is a myth promoted in the majority culture that we ITI are "conquered". There used to be a myth-conception that we ITI were going to become extinct. We've pretty well gotten rid of that one. Not entirely - but almost. We're working on it.
But so long as we ITI - Indigenous Turtle Islanders - refuse to be 'acculturated' and/or 'assimilated' - which would be a giant step down and backward from our Traditional Ways - the war will continue.
So long as we ITI have to continue to sue to get our Treatys both recognized and adhered to by the U.S. government - which never intended to adhere to them initially, according to the official historic record - the war will continue.
Supreme Court Justices have written of their distress at the raw deal we have gotten from the U.S. government. It has made a dent in the wall of abuse handed out to us by officialdumb. In a few spots, we have made pinholes.
But so long as we ITI have to 'justify' our desire for such things as eagle feathers, which are central to our spiritual practices, to officials of the U.S. government while no other group has to justify anything to any officials of the U.S. government, we are not "full" citizens of the U.S. despite the words of the Snyder Act of 1924. So long as we have to guard our sweat lodges against destruction by racists, particularly when we have them off of our Reservations, which are 'countries', and so on a par with the U.S., the war continues.
So long as we are forced to welfare-as-lifestyle, particularly in those states with a large Indn population, the "Custer Effect" is still in effect, and the war continues.
So long as officials in any part of government - at any level, not just federal - try to keep us from accessing our full Constitutional Rights, the war continues.
And eventually, we will win it. It does strike this Indn as sad, though, that in the Age of Enlightenment, with so much accurate information available at the touch of a button, some humans - supposedly the only animals that think - continue to resist the fact that we are human beings with equal rights throughout this land - which is technically still ours, since the Treatys were broken first in every one of the 389 cases we know as Treatys by the U.S. government.
Tomorrow the whites of this country will celebrate "Independence" Day. The reality is, however, that so long as any part of the majority culture tries to subjugate another, so long as the U.S. government tries to restrict Indigenous Peoples' religious / spirituality - Freedoms guaranteed to us all by the Constitution and Bill of Rights (not of priviledges) - people here are not independent of anything except a form of government.
Bigots are prisoners of their dedication to ignorance and all that attends it. And that continues the Indian Wars. To me and many other Traditionals - it's just a day with pretty fireworks displays at night. We had independence; the majority culture which so busily celebrates its illusions is the one that doesn't really believe in them, yet, and so doesn't have them or want anyone else to have them, either.
I shall continue to pray for their enlightenment, and ask you to do so, too.
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