"We are no longer citizens of the United States of
America and all those who live in the five-state area that encompasses our
country are free to join us," long-time Indian rights activist Russell Means
told a handful of reporters and a delegation from the Bolivian embassy,
gathered in a church in a run-down neighborhood of Washington for a news
conference.
A delegation of Lakota leaders delivered a
message to the State Department on Monday, announcing they were unilaterally
withdrawing from treaties they signed with the federal government of the
United States, some of them more than 150 years old.
They also visited the Bolivian, Chilean, South
African and Venezuelan embassies, and will continue on their diplomatic
mission and take it overseas in the coming weeks and months, they told the
news conference...
The new country would issue its own passports and
driving licenses, and living there would be tax-free -- provided residents
renounce their US citizenship, Means said.
The treaties signed with the United States are
merely "worthless words on worthless paper," the Lakota freedom activists
say on their website.
The treaties have been "repeatedly violated in
order to steal our culture, our land and our ability to maintain our way of
life," the reborn freedom movement says.
If in fact they succeed in this (and the UN's recent decision
makes it greatly possible, as well as their reaching out for the recognition
from other national embassies) then they could easily end up beginning one hell
of a revolution... and possibly a civil war. But if it ends up a peaceful
transition (yeah right, but here's hoping) then the United States could be in
for one hell of a wake up call, and I'm seriously hoping this ends up coming
true. I'm quite curious about how many of my SerpentStone family would want to
support this as well as my friends.
But since nobody's really talking about it in the US, we in
the Blogosphere have a responsibility to make sure they're heard. That means
you. Get busy. Get behind them. Make this a reality. This is your chance to make
a stand. Pass this one on. Imagine not just giving them their country back, but
joining them on it. Would you give up your US citizenship for this?
The
ship was sinking---and sinking fast. The captain told the passengers
and crew, "We've got to get the lifeboats in the water right away."
But the crew said, "First we have to end capitalist oppression of the working class. Then we'll take care of the lifeboats."
Then the women said, "First we want equal pay for equal work. The lifeboats can wait."
The racial minorities said, "First we need to end racial discrimination. Then seating in the lifeboats will be allotted fairly."
The
captain said, "These are all important issues, but they won't matter a
damn if we don't survive. We've got to lower the lifeboats right away!"
But the religionists said, "First we need to bring prayer back into the classroom. This is more important than lifeboats."
Then
the pro-life contingent said, "First we must outlaw abortion. Fetuses
have just as much right to be in those lifeboats as anyone else."
The right-to-choose contingent said, "First acknowledge our right to abortion, then we'll help with the lifeboats."
The
socialists said, "First we must redistribute the wealth. Once that's
done everyone will work equally hard at lowering the lifeboats."
The
animal-rights activists said, "First we must end the use of animals in
medical experiments. We can't let this be subordinated to lowering the
lifeboats."
Finally the ship sank, and because none of the lifeboats had been lowered, everyone drowned.
The
last thought of more than one of them was, "I never dreamed that
solving humanity's problems would take so long---or that the ship would
sink so SUDDENLY."
Blessed
are those who refrain from exalting themselves above their neighbors in
the community of life, for their children shall have a world to live in.
Blessed are those who listen to their neighbors in the community of life, for they shall escape extinction.
Blessed
are those who refrain from imposing on others their "one right way to
live," for cultural diversity shall be restored among them.
Blessed
are those who hunger and thirst for the survival of Leaver cultures,
for they shall preserve a legacy of wisdom accumulated from the
beginning of time.
Blessed are those who do not fancy themselves
rulers or managers or stewards of the earth, for the earth managed to
thrive for three billion years without any of us.
Blessed are those who do whatever they can wherever they are, for no one is devoid of resources or opportunities.
Blessed are those who awaken others as they have been awakened. For they are B.
...but the words get stuck in my throat. I think we're all walking on land stolen from massacred people, raped daily with little to no reverence, and we've just come to accept it. We don't care. Even now, the first line or two of this post, most of you turned away and figured you don't want to hear about it. I've heard white people even dismiss the topic by saying, We stole this land fair and square.
I can't. Yes, today we are understanding more truth about Columbus, pilgrims, etc., than those many decades where we were taught how Columbus and pilgrims and Indians all celebrated together in peace and harmony with grins and smiles and good happy fuzzy feelings. We know better now. Yet our culture's not changed a single iota in its paradigm or its parameter.
I have this book on my altar... A Cherokee Feast of Days, by Joyce Sequichie Hifler. It's 365 daily meditations, and each day I try to remind myself to take a moment of reverence and read the day's meditation, burn a little sage, smell the rich scent of it, soak in some wisdom, and remember to let myself feel the connection of Wakan Tanka, the creator and the creation, and all my relations, Mitakuye Oyasin. Tonight I read the 22nd meditation early. I feel nothing but pain and heart-wrenching truth in this reading:
We fight feverishly for equality and freedom to do something that in the long run serves little purpose. In other times, we bargain with everything precious without the slightest knowledge about what it is costing. We feel like birds in a cage with only inches of space to fly. It is exciting to look out at the wild birds on wing and think how much we would love to spread our wings. And yet, a bird on the wing has no protection, no loving care, no regular feeding. And then we stand on the edge and look in a window and wish someone cared for us. If only there were someone like that for us to lean on. We are out in the cold--but free. The very things that pin our wings also help us to grow, a dv hi, and with wisdom we learn how to fly, ga no hi li.
It is for this reason I felt the connection even deeper right now. I can't usually take a step outside without imagining what it'd look like without all the pavement and buildings, and if the people who no doubt lived in that area were to still be there, instead of massacred and cleansed from the area, so that civilized people could move in and use what the savages were wasting. Where you are now, chances are some tribe was destroyed entirely. You probably have no knowledge. It's probably never crossed your mind.
In The Culture of Make Believe, Derrick Jensen suggests what I think is a stroke of pure genius. The awareness and the paradigm of our people would change drastically if we did truly know. If we searched the truth and learned of the peoples who used to live here, learn when they were killed, hold vigils for them on that date each year in the places that they happened. If we stopped thanking God for a dead turkey that probably never ran free a day in its life, and for the privilege to live in a mass-produced lifestyle in a spoiled-rotten culture... if we instead learned to give sorrow for what had to die, what had to be destroyed, so that we may sit here being as miserable a people as we are.
Paradigms might radically change. Find out in your area. I have lots to give thanks for. But today, I choose to give my sorrow and condolences, because there's so much more that's been lost, and so little gained from it, that it drastically outweighs the thanks I have to strain myself to remember.
The TEN Native
American Commandments
Remain close to the Great Spirit.
Show great respect for your fellow beings.
Give assistance and kindness wherever needed.
Be truthful and honest at all times.
Do what you know to be right.
Look after the well being of mind and body.
Treat the Earth and all that dwell thereon with respect.
Take full responsibility for your actions.
Dedicate a share of your efforts to the greater good.
Work together for the benefit of all mankind.
In the realm of the dead one needn’t press their robes. Wrinkles do not exist. Chores do not burden him now. I see in his spectral eyes that he does not miss them. I know what a burden such details were to his child-like soul so that as full of love as he was his usual contact with loved ones was instead full of conflict and arguing. These things were barriers which kept many from tasting the beauty of the world as he saw it. As he taught me to see it. He sits in the chair, which does not feel his weight. From his realm I see much laughter, much dancing and much joy, as the other spirits who’ve passed away meow much as we used to, hoping he’ll play the song about cats having sex. How we once laughed at that song. How I laugh now, at this dumb supper and how I can see him now realizing what I’m laughing at and he mouths meeee-owwww to me for that is all ghostly lips can do. He cannot eat the meal in front of him. He misses the flavors of such treats. I miss the flavor of his voice. I am the hungrier of the two.
If we stopped thanking God for a dead turkey that probably never ran free a day in its life, and for the privilege to live in a mass-produced lifestyle in a spoiled-rotten culture... if we instead learned to give sorrow for what had to die, what had to be destroyed, so that we may sit here being as miserable a people as we are.
Paradigms might radically change. Find out in your area. I have lots to give thanks for. But today, I choose to give my sorrow and condolences, because there's so much more that's been lost, and so little gained from it, that it drastically outweighs the thanks I have to strain myself to remember.