Song of my heart!

Today I heard Benjamin Naetanyahu address both houses of Congress.  Remarkable speech, remarkable man.  I was most touched by his comment toward Elie Wiesel.  He recognized him as not only a holocaust survivor, but also as a man who has devoted his life to letting us not forget the horrors of the holocaust, all while living his life in spite of his tragic past.  A standing ovation, rightly so.

My thoughts immediately turned to my people, and not just to the Ho-Chunks, though they are very resilient, but also to the Dakota, and all other tribes that have suffered genocide and assimilation.  I thought of the youth on the Pine Ridge Reservation.  We all are survivors!  We would not be here if it were not for the courage of Sitting Bull, Little Crow, Red Cloud, Tecumseh, Black Hawk, all of our veterans and so many others!  We are survivors because our holocaust continues here in the United States.  Just a month ago, white men from Rapid City threw beer and racial epitaphs at 57 of our young people.  They are now survivors, and they will live to tell their story of courage in the face of hatred to their children, further strengthening our resolve to survive and ultimately, live as Mauna intended.  He has not forsake us.   We can return to our ways, with full purpose of heart, in gratitude to our Creator for our life, our past, and with a commitment to live with hope until the He comes again!  Oh this is the prayer of my heart!

This is so needed now as the youth of so many tribes, especially at Pine Ridge, the last stand of the Oglala Sioux and Sitting Bull, home of the Wounded Knee Massacre.  How they need the courage of our ancestors! Yes, we suffered at the hands of greedy white men and still do, but we are strong, and we will not give up! We will tell the stories of our survival amidst such hate and evil, to our children, so that they will tell their children, even until the Creator comes again!  This is the song of my heart and I share it with you and my children, just as my Gram and Choka shared it with me, whose grandparents shared it with them, and so on, even as GOM's grandparents shared it with her.

We are survivors, not just of the early white man's greed and the deliberate and covert racism of today, but we are survivors, destined to live in this Earth, created just for us, to achieve our full potential just as the Creator intended.  Oh that we can see this is my prayer today.

Pinagigi and Mitakuye oyasin!