Sunday, March 8, 2015
Glory of the Morning: Our Selma is yet to come: Rise up from the dust an...
Glory of the Morning: Our Selma is yet to come: Rise up from the dust an...: A part of Obama's speech on Selma and our country: "Of course, a more common mistake is to suggest that Ferguson is an isolated inc...
Our Selma is yet to come: Rise up from the dust and be who God intended us to be
A part of Obama's speech on Selma and our country: "Of course, a more common mistake is to suggest that Ferguson is an isolated incident; that racism is banished; that the work that drew men and women to Selma is now complete, and that whatever racial tensions remain are a consequence of those seeking to play the “race card” for their own purposes. We don’t need the Ferguson report to know that’s not true. We just need to open our eyes, and our ears, and our hearts to know that this nation’s racial history still casts its long shadow upon us."
This touched me because when I attended a church meeting, I brought up that some people of color, like my sons, don't quite feel welcomed in our church. Before the discussion could ensue someone, a youth leader, said I was playing the "race card." Boy I dislike that phrase and now I know why.
Some people think racism is a thing of the past because we a more diverse country or live in a diverse community, because we have a partially black president, and so on. Yet for those of us who are people of color the struggle goes on because the doctrine of discovery is rooted deeply in our schools, justice system, churches, work places, and so forth, particularly for American Indians. Why? Quite simply, we were here first. This is why we have treaties. (I want to add a 'duh' right here, but I won't).
Some people think that because we have had the right to vote, that our religious freedoms were restored; because the treaties were honored, in part; because we have been given food; health care; education; and self-determination, that we, American Indians, should be able to care for ourselves. All should be well now or by now. Not to mention all those casinos "you" have.
When I spoke about the devastating news in Pine Ridge, about the 5 suicides in less than a month, a woman, from my church said, "We used to live 20 minutes from Pine Ridge." She added that it was a rough place then with all the alcoholism and homicides, and now, "you think they would want to help themselves." What?
When you have been treated as though you are invisible; when you have been discriminated against because you are in a town that is surrounded by THREE reservations; when you people are covered under the Department of Interior and the BIA; when all of your freedoms were restored in the 70s'; when it took an act of Congress to restore the bodies of your people tucked away in museums and the Mayo Medical Center; there is still a very long shadow of racial inequality cast upon the American Indian people across the United States.
Many Americans, even black people think the sun is high and clouds cover the sun sporadically here and there in places like Ferguson, New York and now Madison. Yet for many American Indians the sun rarely shines in places like Red Lake, Pine Ridge, Crow Creek and in Rapid City. We are kept from the sun unless we challenge the laws of the land and break free. I think I know of what I speak having filed the first complaint of human rights violation in northwester MN and won. It was a victory though I had to leave my job and eventually move. See, American Indians need the sun to thrive.
We have sun rays though. People like Billy Mills, David Baines, Vine Deloria, Wilma Mankiller, Ada Deer, and a host of others manage to shed light on us while we bask in their presence and think, "I can do this, in spite of ________." Please fill in the blank and choose from the following: Alcoholism; Domestic Violence; Lost traditional ways; Sexual abuse; My grandparents were forced to attend boarding school and now I don't know the ways; I live in the cities and I am not a real Indian; I don't have any religion or spiritual beliefs because until 1978, and I couldn't pray the way my grandparents taught me; I was raised in a foster home because my parents were unable to care for me; or write in a reason of your own choice.
For me, our Selma has yet to come. We need to return to being the People of the Sacred Voice, Stewards of the Land, the First Nation, the Spontaneous Ones, the Spirits of the Water, the Born of the Waters, the Sacred Fire Keepers, the People of the Seven Council Fires, or the Sacred Ones. Ours was a people given the law from God Himself and it is time for us to rise up from the dust and become who God intended us to be. We have not been forsaken.
This touched me because when I attended a church meeting, I brought up that some people of color, like my sons, don't quite feel welcomed in our church. Before the discussion could ensue someone, a youth leader, said I was playing the "race card." Boy I dislike that phrase and now I know why.
Some people think racism is a thing of the past because we a more diverse country or live in a diverse community, because we have a partially black president, and so on. Yet for those of us who are people of color the struggle goes on because the doctrine of discovery is rooted deeply in our schools, justice system, churches, work places, and so forth, particularly for American Indians. Why? Quite simply, we were here first. This is why we have treaties. (I want to add a 'duh' right here, but I won't).
Some people think that because we have had the right to vote, that our religious freedoms were restored; because the treaties were honored, in part; because we have been given food; health care; education; and self-determination, that we, American Indians, should be able to care for ourselves. All should be well now or by now. Not to mention all those casinos "you" have.
When I spoke about the devastating news in Pine Ridge, about the 5 suicides in less than a month, a woman, from my church said, "We used to live 20 minutes from Pine Ridge." She added that it was a rough place then with all the alcoholism and homicides, and now, "you think they would want to help themselves." What?
When you have been treated as though you are invisible; when you have been discriminated against because you are in a town that is surrounded by THREE reservations; when you people are covered under the Department of Interior and the BIA; when all of your freedoms were restored in the 70s'; when it took an act of Congress to restore the bodies of your people tucked away in museums and the Mayo Medical Center; there is still a very long shadow of racial inequality cast upon the American Indian people across the United States.
Many Americans, even black people think the sun is high and clouds cover the sun sporadically here and there in places like Ferguson, New York and now Madison. Yet for many American Indians the sun rarely shines in places like Red Lake, Pine Ridge, Crow Creek and in Rapid City. We are kept from the sun unless we challenge the laws of the land and break free. I think I know of what I speak having filed the first complaint of human rights violation in northwester MN and won. It was a victory though I had to leave my job and eventually move. See, American Indians need the sun to thrive.
We have sun rays though. People like Billy Mills, David Baines, Vine Deloria, Wilma Mankiller, Ada Deer, and a host of others manage to shed light on us while we bask in their presence and think, "I can do this, in spite of ________." Please fill in the blank and choose from the following: Alcoholism; Domestic Violence; Lost traditional ways; Sexual abuse; My grandparents were forced to attend boarding school and now I don't know the ways; I live in the cities and I am not a real Indian; I don't have any religion or spiritual beliefs because until 1978, and I couldn't pray the way my grandparents taught me; I was raised in a foster home because my parents were unable to care for me; or write in a reason of your own choice.
For me, our Selma has yet to come. We need to return to being the People of the Sacred Voice, Stewards of the Land, the First Nation, the Spontaneous Ones, the Spirits of the Water, the Born of the Waters, the Sacred Fire Keepers, the People of the Seven Council Fires, or the Sacred Ones. Ours was a people given the law from God Himself and it is time for us to rise up from the dust and become who God intended us to be. We have not been forsaken.
Friday, March 6, 2015
Glory of the Morning: Racial tensions are high. What would GOM do?
Glory of the Morning: Racial tensions are high. What would GOM do?: Today I listened to CNN talk about race relations in the US. Apparently since Obama took office, racial tensions are higher than before he ...
Racial tensions are high. What would GOM do?
Today I listened to CNN talk about race relations in the US. Apparently since Obama took office, racial tensions are higher than before he took office. This on the anniversary of the March to Selma, 50 years.
My brother called me today. He had pregame jitters and wanted to talk to me. Red Lake was to play Win-E-Mac tonight for the chance to go to state, section finals, 8A. He asked me if I remembered the last time they played Win-E-Mac, and I said yes, very well.
I went into memory mode. I was the Chair of the Bemidji Area Race Relations Council at the time. Win-E had a pep rally the afternoon before they would play Red Lake, it was a Friday. The teachers and players (all white) came our dressed as Indians. There were Indian kids at Win-E and they video recorded the whole rally. The whole demeanor of the pep rally was deliberately racist, derogatory, and utterly deplorable. At the end of the pep rally a teacher asked one of the players where he got his Air Jordan's and yes, he said it, "he got them off a dead _ _ _ _ _ _ ."
I remember the mother of the student who video taped the rally, calling me and asking for help. She was getting death threats and her children were being harassed at school. The teachers and students knew the student taped the event. Vince Beyl and I went to work and filed a complaint of discrimination. Too soft a word for me now, looking back.
We were meeting in Paul Welle's bank conference room when I broke the news to the Bemidji Area Race Relations Council (BARRC). Paul wanted to know if there was a way to resolve it without filing a formal complaint. The then President of BSU said he wanted to keep it quiet too. He said that the towns, Winger, Erskine and MacIntosh, were divided over where to build the school, Win-E-Mac Apparently there was a lot of angst over the construction of this school and the President of BSU hated to see the communities suffer, again.
What?
I said no (while biting my tongue), the case was bigger than all of us. Trying to add some humor, I added that the incident was bigger than the room we were meeting in. The case went forward. I spoke to the mother a few more times. She was forced out of her home and her children had to change schools. People actually tried to steal the tape from her, but she let it be known that it was under lock and key. It was.
A few days after the complaint was made public I got a call from MPR, who wanted to know my opinion about the matter as the Chair of the BARRC. My oldest son was just a toddler then. I was fairly soft spoken as he toddled around me as I talked on the phone. I said that I urged the mother to file a formal complaint. BARRC assisted her. The reporter pressed me something fierce and asked what I thought about the complaint. I said that if the allegations were true, which I believed had merit, otherwise we wouldn't have filed the complaint, the teachers at Win-E were in violation of the Indian children's human rights. In sum, they discriminated against the Indian children at Win-E-Mac. The OCR's investigation would certainly bear this out given the video of the pep rally. Then she asked me a tough question. Would I be marching at the rally at Win-E? My heart sank. No, I would not. It ripped my heart out to say that. I wanted to, but as the Chair of the BARRC (and as the Stake RS President of the Fargo Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), I decided that it would be best not to attend the rally.
This event was many years ago. I agree with CNN that racial tensions are heightened at this time.
They are here in Rochester, at Century High School, when certain schools play one another in sports, even at simple board meetings, and they were high when my son shut down Lake City soccer team's offense.
Another report came out today as well. It seems the Ferguson Police Department was guilty of racial profiling and discriminatory practices. The police were biased in who the stopped for jay walking, traffic violations, and so forth. They ticketed primarily black people and it was through this means that the police department made much of its money. Sic. Yet, Office Wilson was not guilty of a crime. The young man he chose to stop for jay walking, that ended up in the young man's death, was within the law. I don't see how these two situations, the report and the stop for jay walking, are not related. Clearly if Office Wilson had not targeted the young man, the young man would be alive today. It seems that the people of Ferguson had enough and knew that they were being targeted. So sad for all involved.
This kind of news is not pleasant to people. My post on the tensions in Rapid City, SD (our Ferguson) received no likes. The incident also received no national attention and barely got local attention. 57 Dakota kids were harassed by several white people in a VIP suite at a Rush Hockey Game. They had beer thrown at them. Racial slurs were thrown at them too. The chaperones removed the kids from the game, while white men chased the kids out of the arena. These kids were rewarded for their academic progress and were invited to attend the game. What did these kids learn? There was one lone white man charged with disorderly conduct after the investigation was completed. There was a march in Rapid City to demand justice for the children. I so wanted to be there.
An answer to my earlier question, I think the kids learned that racial tensions are high in Rapid City, SD.
I recently posted about the serious events in Pine Ridge too, and it received only 2 likes. The events in Rapid City resonated throughout the reservation. This too received no national attention and very little local attention, while it reverberated throughout Indian Country. I think people do not like unpleasant news about racial tensions and their effect on people of color. Last week someone at church actually said, "You know I saw your post and I...you know, Pine Ridge was a bad place years ago. We just lived twenty minutes away from there. There were homicides, alcoholism, and all that. I just think they would want to help themselves." I bit my tongue, hard, because I was in church.
I am going to title this blog: Racial tensions are high. What would GOM do? This way only those who care about racial matters will read it and those who don't won't.
My brother texted me a few minutes ago, Red Lake beat Win-E-Mac, 81-75. Red Lake is Section 8A Chanps! Feels good.
My brother called me today. He had pregame jitters and wanted to talk to me. Red Lake was to play Win-E-Mac tonight for the chance to go to state, section finals, 8A. He asked me if I remembered the last time they played Win-E-Mac, and I said yes, very well.
I went into memory mode. I was the Chair of the Bemidji Area Race Relations Council at the time. Win-E had a pep rally the afternoon before they would play Red Lake, it was a Friday. The teachers and players (all white) came our dressed as Indians. There were Indian kids at Win-E and they video recorded the whole rally. The whole demeanor of the pep rally was deliberately racist, derogatory, and utterly deplorable. At the end of the pep rally a teacher asked one of the players where he got his Air Jordan's and yes, he said it, "he got them off a dead _ _ _ _ _ _ ."
I remember the mother of the student who video taped the rally, calling me and asking for help. She was getting death threats and her children were being harassed at school. The teachers and students knew the student taped the event. Vince Beyl and I went to work and filed a complaint of discrimination. Too soft a word for me now, looking back.
We were meeting in Paul Welle's bank conference room when I broke the news to the Bemidji Area Race Relations Council (BARRC). Paul wanted to know if there was a way to resolve it without filing a formal complaint. The then President of BSU said he wanted to keep it quiet too. He said that the towns, Winger, Erskine and MacIntosh, were divided over where to build the school, Win-E-Mac Apparently there was a lot of angst over the construction of this school and the President of BSU hated to see the communities suffer, again.
What?
I said no (while biting my tongue), the case was bigger than all of us. Trying to add some humor, I added that the incident was bigger than the room we were meeting in. The case went forward. I spoke to the mother a few more times. She was forced out of her home and her children had to change schools. People actually tried to steal the tape from her, but she let it be known that it was under lock and key. It was.
A few days after the complaint was made public I got a call from MPR, who wanted to know my opinion about the matter as the Chair of the BARRC. My oldest son was just a toddler then. I was fairly soft spoken as he toddled around me as I talked on the phone. I said that I urged the mother to file a formal complaint. BARRC assisted her. The reporter pressed me something fierce and asked what I thought about the complaint. I said that if the allegations were true, which I believed had merit, otherwise we wouldn't have filed the complaint, the teachers at Win-E were in violation of the Indian children's human rights. In sum, they discriminated against the Indian children at Win-E-Mac. The OCR's investigation would certainly bear this out given the video of the pep rally. Then she asked me a tough question. Would I be marching at the rally at Win-E? My heart sank. No, I would not. It ripped my heart out to say that. I wanted to, but as the Chair of the BARRC (and as the Stake RS President of the Fargo Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints), I decided that it would be best not to attend the rally.
This event was many years ago. I agree with CNN that racial tensions are heightened at this time.
They are here in Rochester, at Century High School, when certain schools play one another in sports, even at simple board meetings, and they were high when my son shut down Lake City soccer team's offense.
Another report came out today as well. It seems the Ferguson Police Department was guilty of racial profiling and discriminatory practices. The police were biased in who the stopped for jay walking, traffic violations, and so forth. They ticketed primarily black people and it was through this means that the police department made much of its money. Sic. Yet, Office Wilson was not guilty of a crime. The young man he chose to stop for jay walking, that ended up in the young man's death, was within the law. I don't see how these two situations, the report and the stop for jay walking, are not related. Clearly if Office Wilson had not targeted the young man, the young man would be alive today. It seems that the people of Ferguson had enough and knew that they were being targeted. So sad for all involved.
This kind of news is not pleasant to people. My post on the tensions in Rapid City, SD (our Ferguson) received no likes. The incident also received no national attention and barely got local attention. 57 Dakota kids were harassed by several white people in a VIP suite at a Rush Hockey Game. They had beer thrown at them. Racial slurs were thrown at them too. The chaperones removed the kids from the game, while white men chased the kids out of the arena. These kids were rewarded for their academic progress and were invited to attend the game. What did these kids learn? There was one lone white man charged with disorderly conduct after the investigation was completed. There was a march in Rapid City to demand justice for the children. I so wanted to be there.
An answer to my earlier question, I think the kids learned that racial tensions are high in Rapid City, SD.
I recently posted about the serious events in Pine Ridge too, and it received only 2 likes. The events in Rapid City resonated throughout the reservation. This too received no national attention and very little local attention, while it reverberated throughout Indian Country. I think people do not like unpleasant news about racial tensions and their effect on people of color. Last week someone at church actually said, "You know I saw your post and I...you know, Pine Ridge was a bad place years ago. We just lived twenty minutes away from there. There were homicides, alcoholism, and all that. I just think they would want to help themselves." I bit my tongue, hard, because I was in church.
I am going to title this blog: Racial tensions are high. What would GOM do? This way only those who care about racial matters will read it and those who don't won't.
My brother texted me a few minutes ago, Red Lake beat Win-E-Mac, 81-75. Red Lake is Section 8A Chanps! Feels good.
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Glory of the Morning: Song of my heart!
Glory of the Morning: 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 ...
Song of my heart!
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!
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