"They Starve in Their Splendor..."

I have to both apologize to Ali of Sunflower Eyes-Moonbeam Mind, for stealing her posting subject "Blankets for Land" and thank her so much for bringing this to my attention. Being a Canadian herself, Ali writes about the protests against the 2010 Olympics in BC, because of the mass deforestation occurring to make way for the impressive ski resorts and traffic-ready highways required for such a global feat. Which I am ashamed to say, I hadn't even considered. I, who like to think I am somewhat environmentally savvy, must confess I was in complete oblivion to the obvious destruction such a contractual agreement bestows into the hands of land developers. She further writes "that people (many of whom are native) are being kicked out of low income houses as rent increases and condos are being built in their place." In other words, that the millions upon millions of $ going towards new construction and design could be going to help the poor and mishandled, the evicted and the lost, yet, as is par for the West, we merely sweep them under the rug. And we have been doing this since we came and stole this country. Which, like Ali, I believe that we did. With tricks and massacres, false treaties and "blankets for land."


(Buffy Sainte Marie singing: My Country Tis of Thy People, You're Dying)

Again, like Ali, being Caucasian, e.g. of mixed blood from the Old Atlantic World, there is a guilty tug that comes from inside the sinews... I often feel responsible in a way. I want so much to be able to walk among them, to learn from them, to help in any way they deemed me capable. But I'm white, and because of this, an issue arises and so does a bloody history. Sometimes I just wish I had dark hair, just for my blood to be not so blatantly visible.

I strongly believe that the indigenous peoples of this earth are the Heart of the planet, no matter to where it is that we have shoved, dragged, relegated, buried & forgotten them. They are the ones still tied to the old energies. Their understanding of life is so much more complex than most have ever given them credit for. Or continue to ignore... because of our own ignorance (aha).

And this post from Sunflower Eyes-Moonbeam Mind, comes upon the tail winds of some other news I was so enthused to hear: that the Republic of Lakotah, being "the predecessor sovereign of Dakota Territory as evidenced by the Treaties with the United States Government, including, but not limited to, the Treaty of 1851 and the Treaty of 1868 at Fort Laramie [...] formally and unilaterally withdraws from all agreements and treaties imposed by the United States Government on the Lakotah People." Meaning that, as of December 17, 2007, they are beginning their secession process from the United States of America. I think this absolutely wonderful and amazing. And I am sorry to see as much white backlash as there has been about the issue and how poorly educated many are about the state of the indigenous peoples and the racist, bigoted mentality that infests too many of us like a crippling plague, spiritually, intellectually or otherwise.

So what can I add to this? Being white, being European. Do I, like Ali asks, apologize? Say: I'm Sorry...? Yes. I do. I kneel at the knee of elders and ask for forgiveness, for all the wicked and the thiefs that run in my bloodline. Most Natives act with the awareness of 7 Generations. Meaning, I can apologize for 7 before mine, which makes that approximately 140 years. It's definitely not the beginning of violence on behalf of the colonizing, imperial Atlantic world but if I can heal anything, I can only do so now, with the knowledge that I have and with the small trickle of grace that may be garnered in being a part of right action and the desire to heal and create a better life and world heart and mind, together. Maybe the first step needs to be stepping back, not into the past but just enough to see the larger picture, to seek the higher perspective and to abolish selfishness as a course of action. To choose compassion, instead...and when I read:

"If you live on this land, and you have ancestors sleeping in this land, I believe that makes you a native to this land. It has nothing to do with the color of your skin. I was not raised to look at people racially. What I was taught is that we're flowers in the Great Spirit's garden. We share a common root, and the root is Mother Earth." Oh Shinnah

It brings peace, and it brings me hope.

Thus, in this light, I have every intention to support their secession. This means that 5 states will be affected by the founding or re-founding of a New Nation: Wyoming, Montana, North and South Dakota and a large swath of Nebraska. They have extended their hand to any living in these states to come and join them in creating a new government, a new way of being and a new way of relating to each other, in general. This, to me, feels so indicative of the coming Shift in Consciousness, which is both ordained and inevitable but has so many running scared, while others are learning there is no where to run, nowhere to go, but up... up to a higher efficiency, energetically or relationally, by coming face-to-face with their s#^@ and realizing that it must be dealt with. I hope that this occurs. I hope that this brings the US State Department into some kind of integrity (fat chance, I know) and relinquishes what we have stolen back to its rightful owners...

Russell Means, one of the leaders of the American Indian Movement speaks out on this topic explicitly at the Lakota Pine Ridge, South Dakota-Lakotah in Oglala, SD at the Porcupine School.



Mitaku Oyasin! <<We are all related.>> I choose to be free and to be responsible.