THE ROAD

I can’t speak to the road women travel from being girls to becoming

women, but I can about the road boys take to becoming men.

 

It is a road that begins at birth, and not always an easy one.

Some will make it and some will fall by the wayside.

 

Their journey will be influenced by such variables as the quality

of parenting, the examples they are provided, education, and the

physical elements of their environment- if they’re born with a silver

spoon in their  mouth or a bottle of watered down powdered milk.

 

Some things can be compensated for to a degree- things like the powdered 

milk or poverty-but an abusive home cannot.

 

Children are at once the least among us due to their dependency, but

also the most valuable, as they are the future that change will come

through.

 

Not a one of them asked to be here, nor did they have option to

pick and choose where and what they would be born into. 

 

That to me speaks to a tremendous responsibility on the parents

behalf-too often we hear that a child was an “accident”, not planned,

or maybe even conceived as a a result of rape.

 

As to accidents, in this day and age removing rape from the equation

it’s a little difficult for me to understand how a child could be conceived

“accidentally”, but I suppose it happens.

 

Yet the fact remains the nations have always referred to children as

a gift, as sacred-something too many among us seem to be forgetting.

WE’VE BEEN LIVING IT 2

 I had a discussion today with a person who is fully supportive of the blog.

A conversation that was meant to encourage and to address another aspect-that people tell me on occasion that I often blog  about issues some may not want to hear about or confront, and in fact may make them angry-that We’ve Been Living It is one such blog.

They may be right but things don’t go away if they are ignored, and there’s certainly a wealth of sites doing just that.Or if they do address such issues they almost always do so in a patronizing manner.

That being the once proud and independent nations we were comes with some sort of exemption-that all we have to do is say we’ve been victims and then everything makes sense.

Well, maybe it does to some, or maybe it’s just a convenient excuse to latch on to, but it doesn’t to me.

As a people we sacrificed and bleed for our children,our women,  elders, and our communities in the past when we we’re outgunned,  out manned, and out resourced-yet somehow today it’s a different story?

Now it’s about complaining and making excuses rather than taking control of our lives and communities?

There’s a significant amount to complain about- and we generate our share of it.

Compounding a bad situation can hardly be referred to as a solution-it’s pouring fuel on the fire, self immolation.

Every time we tolerate another rape in our midst, another abused or neglected child, suffer so much as single gang banger in our communities we strike another match to the fire that is consuming  us-that is making a mockery and lie of everything we have been, and every sacrifice our ancestors made.

If we don’t like being victims then we should stop victimizing ourselves and our own.

As to whether someone doesn’t like what I say it doesn’t alter the reality, because these are truths everyone should be speaking and seeking to correct….and if any believe it can be shown to be otherwise then they need to step up and offer a rebuttal.

EPIPHANY OR CATCH UP ?

As any who have visited this blog are probably aware of I don’t have much of anything good to say about the Catholic church-their history, or their present.

But I do like the fact that this new Pope washed the feet of women and broke with tradition in doing so-of course the die hard fundamentalist are clucking and tut tutting just as they did when the church transitioned to speaking the liturgy in something other than Latin.

The church, long on patriarchy and male dominance may actually be undergoing an epiphany, or least an understanding that they have increasingly alienated the faithful and attempting to play catch up.

Long on talk of forgiveness when related to their history that includes decades if not centuries of the rape and abuse of children, they need to ask in addition to be forgiven for the manner in which they have oppressed women and attempted to inflict their “moral” standards upon them.

Standards that too often included the threat of excommunication and an eternity in “hell”.

Where is the voice of women in the church to be found-what position of real authority and input have they enjoyed?

No one should ever bow down to another, no one should ever kiss a ring on anyones hand-and yet this has been the expectation of the church from priests to Popes, to bow and kiss their ass.

And for women it has gone so far as a doctrine and practice to surrender the control of their reproductive cycles.

Inspite of all this some within the church hierarchy have an issue that a man washed and kissed the feet of two women?

THE SHADOWS THAT FOLLOW

SAND CREEK

Wounds-everyone has been wounded in some way either physically or emotionally during the course of their life -an inevitable part of the human experience.

What wounds one may heal in time and be overcome-while the same wound inflicted upon another may fester as a life long burden, a part of the shadow they cast that follows them everywhere they go.

In addition to individual wounds there are communal, tribal, national, and even global wounds that few if any can escape from.

As nations we inflicted wounds upon others long before they were in turn inflicted upon us with the arrival of the first foreign invaders and the age of steel set foot upon this hemispheres shores.

If theses wounds we inflicted can be remediated in any way all that can be said is that they were localized-they weren’t continental in nature, driven by a desire to own the width and the breadth of the land, or characterized “with the cross of Jesus going on before”.

As a people we were truly viewed in the context of the below refrain as being evil, demonic savages-something upright and bipedal perhaps but of a lesser humanity, much the same as blacks and other ethnicities have been portrayed.

At the sign of triumph Satan’s host doth flee;
on then, Christian soldiers, on to victory!
Hell’s foundations quiver at the shout of praise;
brothers, lift your voices, loud your anthems raise.

This song Onward Christian Soldiers I am quoting from goes on to say that the same path trod by “saints” is being trod, a united effort characterized by “charity”, and implores others to press “Onward then, ye people, join our happy throng”.

Charity and happiness-precious little of that to be found in the history that unfolded nor of circumstance that continues to this day.

Still, as a people we have a measure of our own happiness, practice charity in what remains of the tradition of tending to the needs of one another.

There is no greater gift than to help another in need, it is an effort to bind wounds, to soothe and heal.

If it is a physical wound, even an emotional one, the process can involve enduring a pain, brief in comparison to the time involved if left untreated, but necessary.

Some say it is better to ignore, to let that go, regardless of how deep a wound may run-that time heals all things -yet we have seen it does not, and is the reason we seek remediation in the courts to address them.

It is something of a military axiom to say never leave an enemy behind you- I say it applies to wounds as well, never leave them behind without first addressing them-if not they never heal. They become a part of the shadow that follows us through the course of our lives.

As a people we are inflicting wounds upon ourselves-the wounds of alcoholism, drug addiction, of spousal abuse, rape, commercializing ceremonies, and sadly, too often,  a dereliction of responsibilities to our children and communities.

We allow others to organize into gangs and so called movements to inflict their own brand of wounds upon us-some of them driven to prominence by a fawning media that is exempt from the bleeding, misery, and the enhanced spiritual decay and corruption of tradition suffering that ensues.

We can no more escape our shadow than we can the history and the present that is a part of ours, no matter how fast we run, unless we choose to live in darkness-a pallor that has been cast upon us for centuries.

We are children of the land who walk upright with the sun in our face and on our shoulders-the darkness that divides the day from night is essential, it is a time of rest, something natural not meant to contend with.

But there is another darkness that has haunted us these last few decades, an unnatural one-a darkness that inflicts wounds and comes in the night of lies like the proverbial thief-we can either leave that wound untended or seek to heal ourselves.

We have our own Manifest Destiny- and that is to be a free and sovereign people secure in our communities- free from oppression originating either internally or externally.

The treaties have been a lie- AIM and it’s leadership have been shown to be a lie- it’s time to heal those wounds and move on-time to rid ourselves of their shadow and feel the Sun on our face and the face of our children again.

QUALITY TIME

I value being a man-the responsibilities that come with it, responsibilities every man should be aware of and do his best to execute faithfully.

If he has a family or children those responsibilities are multiplied-if not those same responsibilities exist to some degree on a different level-especially if he is given to go around saying we are all related.

In the truest sense of the word every child, their welfare, and what opportunities can be provided for them encompass more than the parents duty-it is something all should engage in in some way.

Now the question may arise how does one go about that if they aren’t the  father or mother, if they aren’t part of the extended family?

I’d say the most obvious are community related issues. Issues such as drugs and crime,the impact they have on the communal environment, and the examples community members provide.

The expenditure required to address such things isn’t a monetary one, the currency is pride, concern, and actually giving a damn.

Turning ones back on community problems accomplishes nothing more than their perpetuation-pimping them for profit and personal gain as AIM and others have done can hardly be deemed a solution.

Every person is in some way a role model, whether it is positive or negative depends on them, and I cannot think of a single excuse to disregard the welfare of children or the community they grow up in it.

Children are the future-if we struggle as a people now the future will reflect that to a greater degree if we are dysfunctional as parents or allow our communities to be-in essence we will rob children of what is rightfully their’s.

“Quality time” is just that-it is constructive, positive, caring, giving, and above all when it comes to children, loving and protective-I suggest any among us consider that the next time they chose to spend their time drinking or getting high and ignore the fate of their children and the children of the nations.

They would do well to forgo talking about native pride and start living it.

Spending quality time has an application beyond children, family, and communities-it also applies to the time spent in individual pursuits, those things we support and advocate for-and I would ask one question-if the choice is to pursue justice for innocent victims or freedom for criminals which can best be described as time well spent?

DIVIDED NATIONS

The nations have divided themselves in the past due to the observance of traditional values, power struggles, and differing opinions,  and though it is a sad thing when it comes to  that if it is what is required to maintain a distinct  cultural identity then I am in favor of it.

A current example can be seen among the Hopi-lines have been drawn between the so called “progressives” and those known as traditionalists.

Each village has it’s own leadership and values, values that may or may not be reflected in other villages.

In the 1930′s a Hopi Tribal Council was created composed of representatives from the various villages, and which as a matter  of course has ignored traditional leaders and spiritual cultural values. Whether the council is in fact representative and inclusive is arguable as several villages are without representation.

Does that sound familiar? It should as that has also been the hallmark of AIM, who formed what they refer to as a “Grand Governing Council”…with the same results.

Such a division center on concerns directly related to  traditional cultural identity-but more than than that the welfare and  balance that would exist as a result, at the  center of it is a communal desire to live and raise  families in an hospitable tradition oriented environment.

I don’t tolerate drugs or alcohol around me in any manner, neither do I, or would I tolerate liars, thieves, abusers, murderers, or rapists, and I can see no reason why any person, any community should.

Since tribes have split into various bands throughout the nations history for a variety of reasons, I believe ample reasons  exist presently to draw lines and create separate communities in this day and age, doing so could solve a lot of problems and result in cultural strongholds where REAL last Indians could remain exactly that.

Not a bogus faux republic nor a head count for bogus organizations,  just a community of people who know, respect, and understand who they are-who have a working tradition based value system.

Some may initially take issue with this idea but I would say to  those who do to consider some of the benefits-to begin with corruption  and nepotism in tribal government would not exist, neither would organizations like AIM.

There would be no gangs, no drugs, no alcohol, no rape or abuse of women and children. What would eventuate would be strong productive communities that could serve as role models and become havens.

Divisions exist as it is-a result of the wedge AIM has driven within communities, the stake they have plunged into the heart of tradition.That being the case they should be acted upon.

The fabric of the nations is becoming a tattered remnant of what once was, it is assaulted on a daily basis and there are only so many threads binding it together-threads that have been stripped away to fashion the AIM banner, and the banners of gangs, alcohol,drugs, and abuse.

The dream for the nations has been unity, but increasingly that  doesn’t seem possible…too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

Maybe what is left and should be pursued is unity among traditionalists, at least as a starting point.

EXTINCTION

Dear Warriors, your women are dying. Men are beating them, kicking them, shoving guns in their mouths, killing them and dumping their bodies on the side of the road.

Dear Warriors, your children are dying. Watching their mothers get beaten and killed and suffering the same abuse themselves is hopeless and they are killing themselves with alcohol and drugs.

 Dear Warriors, you are dying, each and every time you ignore this travesty and numb yourself with lies, blaming others and superficial causes.

 Dear Warriors, your ancestors died knowing you hold the ability to bring about change.

Dear Warriors, wake up! The women soon will no longer need you and can become their own warriors.

The above from the Justice for Annie Mae Pictou Aquash Warrior Woman fb page as posted by Emma Rosenthal
https://www.facebook.com/AnnieMaePictouAquash

Species extinction occurs as an independent natural process, but it can also be influenced by a number of circumstances.

It is estimated that 27,000 to 30,000 species go extinct annually, and that by the year 2022  an estimated 22% to of 30% all species will be extinct if something isn’t done to reverse the trend.

When speaking of extinction we tend to think of animals, birds, fish, and insects, but there is another extinction that looms over the nations-that of the loss of tradition and cultural identity.

In the natural non human world extinction is fueled primarily by such things as loss of habitat, predation, and pollution, each in their own  way can even lead to genetic mutations. And it’s beginning to appear as though the same could be happening in the nations.

Alcohol, drugs, stress, poverty, and diet can produce not only deformities but over time genetic and behavioral variances.

Assimilation can also rightfully be said to be an engine of extinction, as it too changes habitat on a cultural level and produces a unique pollution of it own, such as those mentioned above.

This loss of cultural resources among the nations in my opinion can be directly linked to the influences cited above, but also to AIM as it exists today as a result of the direction leadership chose to take it.

One of the tools of the reservation system was an attempt to introduce the concept that every man was a chief and to instill the principles of a patriarchal system of male dominance- and as we see chiefs and patriarchy abound.

Despite all the for the net consumption not all the nations have a history of matriarchy, and of those that did many abandoned it.

What we see now in being promoted as tradition is an aberration-an aberration where those who are unqualified proclaim themselves to be chiefs, leaders, and even warriors. And they are a vehicle that are leading us to  cultural extinction.

A fellow blogger, once made a statement that a great sadness exists in children thinking the grocery store is the farm, it is where food is produced-but a greater sadness is that even so much as a single child of ours would think what AIM and it’s leadership produce is the wellspring of our culture- or that men who drink and abuse, who father children and leave them and their mothers to fend for themselves, that gangs, rape, and male dominance are the characteristics of warriors.

It may be too late to reverse the global trends of resource and habitat destruction but it isn’t too late to reverse those of a looming cultural extinction the nations face-but it will require something more than talk of native pride, more than talk of loving the land the people compose, of going to ceremony and pow wow, of talk of being a warrior-it will take men and women embracing a standard and adhering to it.

There isn’t a rez or a city near one where you will not find drunken men staggering around, and drunken women offering themselves up-neither can claim any high ground, nor can they make a meaningful claim of cultural identity, each needs to take personal responsibility for their actions.

Government policy, the invasion, Manifest Destiny, the wars, and the reservation system were all predicated on a core principle that sought extinction for warriors- what is happening today is the continuation of that process from within.

I had come to believe that in the passing of the AIM leadership a window of opportunity would open for the nations to reclaim their heritage, and to a degree I still think such an opportunity will present itself.

But with a growing awareness of those grooming themselves to fill the void, and the mutations they have adopted, I think the task will be made more difficult.

KEYS TO SURVIVAL

                                                                                               (photo by Ansel Adams)

“take away the winged and nothing will survive, take away all the bugs and things that crawl and nothing will survive, take away all the green in the world and nothing will survive, take away the four legged and nothing will survive. But take away the Human Being and EVERYTHING will flourish” -Russell Means

Russell, like all politicians, was a great one for taking something and adding a dash or two attempting to make it original wisdom.
Following in that vein I will say:

Take away murder and Annie Mae Aquash and Ray Robinson would have survived, take away the rape and abuse of our women and children and they will emotionally survive, take away all the green in the AIM world, as in ill gotten gain, and AIM would not survive, take away the lies and deceit of AIM leadership and it will not survive. But take away Means, Banks, Bellecourt, Crow Dog, and their wannabe replacements standing in the wings, and the NATIONS will flourish.

Ansel Adams whose photographs have achieved legendary status once said:

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment.”

For the nations it has been equally horrifying that we have to fight our own to save our traditions and culture, a proof as E.O. Wilson once said that “People would rather believe than know.”
For without this misplaced belief in the frauds and criminals who have walked, and still walk among us, these customs would not be the battered and bruised remnants they are today.

Wanting to believe rather than to know isn’t much of an excuse.

FLAGS OF SHAME

 

“THERE IS NO FLAG LARGE ENOUGH TO COVER THE SHAME OF KILLING INNOCENT PEOPLE”.
 HOWARD ZINN

I’ve come to like Howard Zinn, the historian and social commentator, he neither minces words or is beguiled by politicians.

He has said “There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people.” And yet the reality is untold numbers of innocents have been killed across the width and breadth of this planet we call Earth. Something we as a people know well.

It is always “patriotism” that unfurls the flags of war, at times it may be unavoidable and could rightfully be called patriotic when done so in defense of the homeland.

More often than not though I think wars are waged for mercenary geopolitical reasons and cloaked under a flag of patriotism- but it is as Zinn has said, no flag covers the shame, or the sin, or killing innocents.

AIM made the same claim of a patriotic war when they invaded Wound Knee under their flag of shame, but there as elsewhere innocents were slain, willfully slain, and their blood and the shame of it rests solely upon the hands of AIM.

Solely upon the hands of a leadership composed of Russell Means, Dennis Banks, Clyde Bellecourt, and Leonard Crow Dog.

AIM cannot even assert that as an army the collateral damage was to be expected and therefore “acceptable”, for they were anything but an army. I have no doubt a few among them actually believed their’s was a just cause, but the reality of the murders and pillaging that ensued cannot be justified then or now.

There is a natural law often ignored that speaks in protest and defiance of such things-a natural law that once was a core element of our beliefs, a part of the balance the nations strove to live in and maintain.

Our failing to observe this natural law has come with a heavy price, a price that has yet to be extracted in full measure.

Show me a man who observes this balance, who follows this natural order of things and I will show you a man worthy of listening to and following- a trait sorely and visibly lacking in the AIM leadership whose greatest love isn’t their people, but the sound of their own voice, with money running a close second.

No recompense has been forthcoming for the blood of these innocents,or the damage done, no admission, no apology-only denials and self aggrandizing tales of would be warriors.

I would say the colors on this AIM flag of shame are appropriate, red for the blood spilled, white for the innocence of those slain, yellow for the cowardice of leadership, and black for the color of their hearts and intentions.

Colors they took from something noble and soiled with their own hands, much the same as they have done with everything else they’ve touched.

BETRAYAL

All of humankind is being betrayed on some level-betrayed by corporations who seek only profit regardless of the cost to people and the environment.

Betrayed by governments and politicians who are career minded rather than  service minded and will do the bidding of corporations and the rich and powerful.

Betrayed by the media who no longer adhere to the principle of even handed reporting, opting instead to pursue advertising revenue and an audience based on what resonates and what does not.

Betrayed by banks with their manipulations and hidden fees.

Betrayed by the insurance and health industry where proper healthcare is predicated on what is covered, what isn’t, the amount of a deductible, whether you have insurance and  what the associated cost will be.

Betrayed by charitable organizations with inflated CEO’s, “operating” expenses, and salaries.

Betrayed by an educational system with declining standards and effectiveness, by failing to set a performance standard for teachers to adhere to as a qualification.

Betrayed by law enforcement which will lie or suppress evidence for the sole purpose of gaining a conviction and seemingly becoming infatuated with tasing people-man, woman, or child-pregnant or handicapped.

A standard of betrayal has been set and permeates every aspect of society-from massive multi national conglomerates to individuals-from such diverse organizations  as churches,to the Boy Scouts where sexual abuse has taken place.

Parents betray their children with a lack of good parenting, in abuses and molestations directed upon them.

Men betray women with rape, physical abuse, a wandering eye, and preferring to remain idle on the dole rather than working when they are capable of it.

And women in their own ways betray men.

Adults betray their parents in the form of elder abuse and turning  to them as a personal bank account, which is a form of elder abuse in it’s own right.

Communities betray themselves in allowing the presence of gangs and drug activities, failing to repair the “broken window” that leads to such things.

Inevitable then one might say that an organization like AIM would in turn adopt betrayal as a standard-that it’s leadership would place their welfare above that of others.

That they would lie, cheat, steal, betray, and even murder to protect their interests, and in turn  depend on the betrayal of others to support them or remain silent.

Betrayed in the attempts by some to rewrite history in their passing, casting them as anything other than what they were.

Perhaps it is inevitable as well then that the nations betray themselves in corrupting  traditions and ceremonies, or in allowing others to. I for one would like to think it isn’t so.