When I was at Eastern Michigan University back in the early 1990's I had a professor, Eastern Band Cherokee man named Ron Lewis, or Professor as I called him, He arrived in my second year at EMU and during this time I was the president of the Native American Student Association and I asked him to be our staff guide. We had a little old White woman as our guide but why the hell would we keep her when we could have an actual NDN be our representative? I really liked Professor Lewis, he was a real intellectual and he was traditional in his people's ways. He had a appreciation for Anishinaabe culture and as such he respected the fact that he was an outsider within Anishinaabe country. I wanted to introduce him to the other student groups at the Multi-Cultural center and so I set it up for him to give a little talk. A sort of Town Hall for the people of color on campus.
Professor Lewis delivered and then some. He said something during his talk that has stuck with me ever since then. He said, 'The more that we act like White people, the more that we embrace their way of thinking, the faster we will bring about our own demise." Strong and powerful words that I needed him to elaborate on further and that's what he did with the time constraints he had at the time.
What he was talking about was the mindset of the majority of Europeans. I'm talking about both the historical and the contemporary European. Thousands of books, papers, blogs, documentaries and all manner of information has been sent out into the ether about what happened when Europeans arrived here and invaded. The majority of the information focuses on the tangible, the physical hell that was wrought on us, the Original People, by the invaders. The theft of land, the diseases, the rape, the kidnapping, the genocidal policies, the assimilation and destruction of our language our culture and even our God. The thing I do not read very much about is the mindset of the European. Yeah there are volumes written about White Supremacy but I am talking about something deeper than that. I am talking about the insidious nature that makes up the thought process that has created audacity, greed, selfishness, arrogance, willful ignorance and even cognitive dissonance.
It would be stupid to write that none of that existed here on Turtle Island before Europeans got here but like the slavery that was unique to this nation, it was never on the level and the ferocity that was and is seen now. The brutality that accompanies White people wherever they go is unique to White people. Genghis Khan and any of the other Khans did not wreak quite the havoc that has been inflicted upon the First Nations people of Turtle Island and the Africans who were stolen from their homelands and brought here to build this stolen nation. Makes me think of Proverbs chapter 23, verse 7: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he" Yeah I quoted the bible,name an NDN that you know that has not had that book beaten into their head.....
I describe wannabes as White people who have a slight conscious about what has happened to First Nations people and they can empathise with our condition. Mind you it is the condition that their ancestors put us in and it is the same condition that they benefit from because we are in it. They hate our condition so much that they begin to claim our ancestory as their own. This is where it gets so frustrating for me. The claims are usually just family rumor and have no basis in reality. There are the claims of the records for the proof of relations to a certain tribe, the top three being Cherokee, Chippewa and Sioux, being lost to history or burned in a court house fire or, my personal favorite, it was dangerous to be a ndn back then and to claim it would bring trouble and so those who could pass for White would say they were. No doubt that has happened. It happens today in my own family however it was really not the pervasive as they would have you think. It's always the grandmother who didn't speak about it or the great-grandmother who hid it from the rest of the family because she wished for a better life for her kids. All bullshit.
Ever pause and ask why it is always the grandmother? Why is it always the female? Most prominent reason is that the very thought of a big brown savage putting his big brown pecker into a tiny, virtious, virginal, pure White woman is sickening. Secondly there is the assumption that the female is the fairer sex and therefore is the "good" part of the ndn bloodline. This is part of that White thinking that is nothing like our way of thinking.
There is a story, not told very often, among some Anisnabe people, about a certain group of people within the tribe that had begun to be selfish and greedy. They did not follow the ways of the people and were mean and without honor. They were thieves, they murdered, they were contrary with no reason or logic behind their actions. These people were then sent away, North, and they were banished from associating with the people because it was recognized that their ways, their thoughts were a danger to a society that depended on the ability to work with one another in order to survive. Being polite as most elders are it is not mentioned that these banished people became the White people that we know today. I can so see this as true.
So wannabes claim an First Nations ancestry and will begin to research and read about their supposed tribe and then want to help. They become activists and begin attending protests or even hold their own protests and they begin attending gatherings and soon they are making their own regalia and dancing at pow wow's. Some even go so far as to begin teaching about ndn people and go to schools in full blown regalia and talk about, "My people's ways". The damage done by this is immense because it comes from books that are written by other wannabes or it comes wholesale from their ass. If they don't know the answer they make it up. I cringe every time I see a newspaper article about a ndn coming to teach at a school and I see a White person playing dress up.
Besides bringing a sense of selfishness to our community these wannabes also bring their screwed up conservative politics.
Think on this: Before we were invaded by Whites, there were no locks on our doors, no private property, no beggars, no sense of private possessions, no jails, no police, no "elite" class, no homophobia, no racism, no class ism, no sexism, no self hate, no pollution and yet, they, the invaders, called us savages.
They come among us with their sexism, talking about women as if they really respect them but their actions are different. They speak of unity among the races but their actions are different. They are quick to speak ill of Backs and they also make a differentiation between North American First Nations people and South American First Nations people. They talk about the sinking of this nation and will mention immigration. Actually have the damn nerve to speak about "immigrants" without a shred of irony when they know full well they are the descendants of immigrants to this nation
Wannabes cannot fathom that within our ways there is no left right paradigm. There is no conservatives and there are no liberals. We look at the "Founding Fathers" as slave owning Indian killers BECAUSE THEY ARE, we look at the flag as a symbol of genocide and evil not just to us but to every Brown and Black people the world over.
The mindset has invaded us to such an extent that many of us do not even know we have been colonized. We know some of these people in a close manner and therefore think of them as harmless or as maybe misguided and unaware of what they are doing but that does not make the damage they are doing less just because they might be nice.
It's time we re-group among ourselves and heal what has been broken then we can get together and teach others OUR ways so that the planet can be saved. There must be a reckoning within our own people about what is really our way and what is a bastardized version of our ways.
Tuesday, October 18, 2016
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
To Protect (what) and Serve (who)?
In the past two weeks racial tensions have exploded in this nation. Alton Sterling was shot in the chest while two cops were holding him down. All of it caught on tape. Philandro Castile was shot while the passenger of his girlfriends car for reaching for his wallet, which the policeman asked him to show i.d., after telling the officer he had a weapon and a permit for it. The aftermath was caught on Facebook live stream. America and the world got to witness what has been going on since this nation was founded. Brown and Black people being cut down by the people we pay our taxes to so that they can "serve and protect". I pose this question: Who are you serving and WHAT are you protecting?
In America we have police who act on impulse and panic while we, the citizens, are to remain calm and follow directions while a gun is pointed in our face. Makes no sense.
In America we have police who act on impulse and panic while we, the citizens, are to remain calm and follow directions while a gun is pointed in our face. Makes no sense.
Monday, February 1, 2016
You can't drink money
There is the cold science behind water. Like the human body is 72% water, going without water causes dehydration which can lead to allergies, colitis, asthma, constipation, migraines, rheumatoid arthritis and many more diseases. Water protects your heart, boosts your brain, helps with weight management and loss and keeps you alert. Obviously very important. That's the law of science. We as Original people can and should respect the law of science. It is ever changing as our understanding and scientific advancements deepens, however we as Original people came here on this Earth with original instructions, The very first instruction is to take care of our Mother Earth. We refer to her as mother because she provides for all of our needs if we work in conjunction with her, Like our relationship with The Creator Of All Natural Things (TCOANT), we are provided for as long as we put in work also. We fear the Earth like one should fear the sun, it is a respectful fear. Respectful of it's power. We are in awe that if we plant a seed and nurture it, keep it sheltered and watered it will grow into food to nourish us. We are in awe of the remarkable miracle of how that life is created. It's not a worship it is a respect and that is how we view water because it is so life giving and sustaining to us. It just makes sense to protect and care for water.
This is one of the issues we have with Whites and those in government. They know and understand how important water is to life, they are fully cognizant of how much we need water to survive. They are the ones who came up with the hard data and science of water. However they are the chief poisoners of water. From fracking to nuclear waste, from toxic chemicals to directing water away from needed areas they have no respect for the sacred and the only thing that matters is money.
Two Anishinawbe (Ojibaw word meaning Original People) Grandmothers, and a group of Anishinawbe Women and Men have taken action regarding the water issue by walking the perimeter of the Great Lakes. In 2003 the first Women's Water Walk took place as the grandmothers and sisters of different clans came together to raise awareness of the clean air and clean water being polluted by chemicals from motor boats, vehicle emissions, sewage disposal, agricultural pollution, leaking landfills and residential usage and the toll it was taking on this vital resource. We are taught from an early age that water is sacred and one of the most basic elements for life to exist.
The walk is done in the spring because of the natural re-growth of our natural habitat and because spring is a time for renewal, re-birth and re-growth.
Water is life giving and so are women, therefore women have traditionally held the position of keeper of the water and water carriers. Symbolically showing the symbiotic relationship they hold in importance of life to continue and exists on this planet.
Both are under attack.
Josephine Mandamin, a Grandmother and Water Walker has said, "Water is amazing, it flows where it wants to, it can go through any crack, crook or cranny. It can sing the most beautiful songs, if you listen well. She can sound like a male voice, especially during huge waves. It ebbs and flows leaving us messages in her journey throughout life. We are connected and united to life with water, and as we are all united by water; it seems we must be conscious of all things united.This connections or linkage helps us understand life and what it gives to humans, nature and animals. We are all so connected, so united with/by water. It is all life.
To see how water can mold itself to any situation, we can see it in any shape we put it in: jars, small containers, huge gallons - it flows to any shape or form. We are all connected by water and as we are all of water: 70 or 80% of our body mass, why can't we flow like the water? to unite ourselves with each other, to sing like the water, to think like the water, to be of one conscious entity? Why can't we? IF we could be, we will be one big ocean of love, kindness, respect, united and jelled together as one, we will be the generation to save our Mother.
Science is slowly catching up to our anishinabe thinking about our natural laws as governed to us by Creation/Creator. Our duty and responsibility is to our Mother's care and well being. The common denominator of life is Water. In our Mide Lodge we know all this from the teachings and oral inscriptions left by our ancestors, but we have not been vocal enough to tell the world and science that we know what they are collecting as new science. It is not new knowledge, or new understanding. it's been around as long as our Mide ancestors have been on this Mother earth. Our ancestors knew where water comes from, whence it flows, and how it flows. This is all understood in our waters songs and Lodge creation story."
Both are under attack. In Canada there are over 1200 murdered and missing Original women, in America the acounts of murdered and missing Native women is on the rise, the number of Native women being sold into sexual slavery is on the rise, the number of Black women is 64, 000. Sixty Four THOUSAND. Our women and our water are under attack and believe me when I tell you that it is not an accident. Keepers of the people and a vital element to sustain our people are being poisoned and are disappearing.
40 % of Navajo people in Navajo land live without running water. 60% of the homes on Pine are severely substandard without water, electricity, adequate insulation and sewage systems.
Chicago is over 30% Black and since the great influx of Blacks in the 1940's and forward the majority have moved into housing units often referred to as "projects". A good example of enviromental racism is the Altgeld Gardens a housing community on the south side of Chicago that was built in 1945 on an abandoned landfill to accommodate returning Blacks from World War 2. It is surrounded by 53 toxic facilities and 90% of the city's landfills. 90% of it;s population is Black and 65% live below the poverty level. The known toxins are mercury, amonia gas, lead, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's), heavy metals and xylene all known to be poison to life.A study by teh Illinois Public Health Sector revealed excessive rates of prostate, bladder, and lung cancer. Other medical records show high rates of children born with brain tumors, fetuses that had to be aborted when tests revealed children developing with their brains outside of the skull and higher rates of asthma, ringworm and other ailments.
Chester, Pennsylvania, provides an example of "social, political, and economic forces that shape the disproportionate distribution of environmental hazards in poor communities of color". Chester is located in Delaware County, an area with a population of 500,000 that, excluding Chester, is 91% white. Chester, however, is 65% Black, with the highest minority population and poverty rate in Delaware County, and recipient of a disproportionate amount of environmental risks and hazards.
Chester has five large waste facilities including a trash incinerator, a medical waste incinerator, and a sewage treatment plant. These waste sites in Chester have a total permitted capacity of 2 million tons of waste per year while the rest of Delaware County has a capacity of merely 1,400 tons per year. One of the waste sites located in Chester is the Westinghouse incinerator, which burns all of the municipal waste from the entire county and surrounding states. These numerous waste facilities have posed negative health risks to the citizens of Chester, as the cancer rate in this area is 2.5 times higher than it is anywhere else in Pennsylvania. Also, the mortality rate is 40% higher than the rest of Delaware county and the child mortality rate is the highest. The clustering of all of these polluting facilities in Chester points to environmental racism. (Cole, Luke and Foster, Sheila. 2001. From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of Environmental Justice Movement. New York: New York University Press.)
New Orleans, Louisiana, has been cited as an example of past environmental racism. At the time of Hurricane Katrina, 60.5% of New Orleans residents were African American—nearly 50% higher than the rest of the United States. Pre-existing racial disparities in wealth within New Orleans worsened the outcome of Hurricane Katrina for minority populations. Institutionalized racial segregation of neighborhoods left minority members more likely to live in low-lying areas that were more vulnerable to the devastating effects of the Hurricane. Additionally, hurricane evacuation plans relied heavily on the use of cars and personal vehicles. However, because minority populations are less likely to own cars, some people had no choice but to stay behind, while white majority communities were able to escape. A report commissioned by the U.S. House of Representatives found that political leaders failed to consider the fact that "100,000 city residents had no cars and relied on public transit", and the city's failure to complete its mandatory evacuation led to hundreds of deaths. How could anyone deny that race was not a factor in the slow response and lack of accountability?
In 2007, NPR featured a class action lawsuit filed by Sheila Holt-Orsted of Dickson, Tennessee, against local waste treatment agencies. The well where the Holt family got their drinking water was only 500 feet away from a toxic landfill. They continued to use this well, unaware of any problems, for nine years. Although some of Holt-Orsted's neighbors were notified within 48 hours of the discovery, officials continued to tell the Holt family that there was no problem. The neighbors who were notified were White, the Holt family is Black. This is just one small exaple of the disparities in treatment by race. By the time the Holt family was informed that the water they had been drinking, showering in, and cooking with for years was contaminated with cancer-causing agents, they had already incurred a great amount of personal damage. Sheila Holt-Orsted suffered from stage 2 breast cancer, and she also lost her father Harry Holt to cancer in 2007. Four additional Holt family members suffered from various other illnesses. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Sheila Holt-Orsted and Beatrice Holt settled a lawsuit brought against the City and County of Dickson and three private companies to re mediate the public health and environmental risks posed by the contamination. Under the settlement, $5 million will be set aside to investigate and re mediate risks associated with the contamination, including by providing public water to local residents in the risk area. Under a separate settlement, the Holt family will receive $1.9 million in compensation for their injuries. Ask yourself, what is 1.9 million dollars to these corporations that knowingly poison people of color when they themselves are worth untold billions? How much is your life worth? or the life of your child or parent or spouse or sibling? Is 1.9 million dollars going to cover the relationship you have with your family? Of course not.
The International Tribunal of Indigenous People and Oppressed Nations, convened in 1992, established to examine the history of criminal activity against indigenous groups in the United States, published a Significant Bill of Particulars outlining grievances indigenous peoples had with the U.S., including allegations that the United States “deliberately and systematically permitted, aided, and abetted, solicited and conspired to commit the dumping, transportation, and location of nuclear, toxic, medical, and otherwise hazardous waste materials on Native American territories in North America and has thus created a clear and present danger to the health, safety, and physical and mental well-being of Native American People” "Indictment of the Federal Government of the U.S. for the commission of international crimes and petition for orders mandating its proscription and dissolution as an international criminal conspiracy and criminal organization.")
All of this is going on and we move on to Flint Michigan. Beginning in April 2014. After Flint, on order from Republican Governor Rick Snyder and his team of Republican administrators, changed its water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water (which was sourced from Lake Huron as well as the Detroit River) to the Flint River, its drinking water had a series of problems that culminated with lead contamination, creating a public health danger. The corrosive Flint River water caused lead from aging pipes to leach into the water supply, causing extremely elevated levels of lead. In Flint, between 6,000 and 12,000 children have severely high levels of lead in the blood and experienced a range of serious health problems.The water change is also a possible cause of an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the county that has killed 10 people and affected another 77. You read that right, ten people are dead and another 77 are infected with Legionaires disease.
That was in April of 2014 flash forward to November of 2015. That was when four families filed a class action suit against Governor Snyder and other state officials, then two months later three separate people also filed suit followed by four more law suits later, The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and the Michigan Attorney General office opened investigations. Snyder knew what was coming, Snyder knew what was happening and being done to the population of Flint the entire time and so on January 5th 2016 he declared Flint to be in a state of emergency. President Obama declared teh crisis a federal state of emergency and authorized additional help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
Four government officials—one from the City of Flint, two from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and one from the Environmental Protection Agency—resigned over the mishandling of the crisis. Snyder issued an apology to citizens and promised to fix the problem, and later sent $28 million to Flint for supplies, medical care and infrastructure upgrades.
Starting in 2010, Genesee County had spearheaded the development of the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA) to supply it and Lapeer and Sanilac counties—plus the cities of Lapeer and Flint—with water. On March 25, 2013, Flint City Council voted 7-1 to approve the purchase of 16 million gallons per day from the KWA rather than go with Flint River water as a permanent supply.Flint emergency manager (EM) Ed Kurtz and Mayor Dayne Walling approved that on March 29 and forwarded the action for the State Treasurer for approval.
The DWSD, on April 1, sent out a press release demanding the state should block Flint's request as it would hurt Detroit Water and start a water war and in the press release said that "any claim that it would save the cash-strapped city money is specious". The release also put out several options for Flint, including sale of raw untreated water. Genesee County Drain commissioner Wright, after accusing the DWSD of negotiating through the media, replied, "It would be unprecedented for the state to force one community to enter into an agreement with another, simply to artificially help one community at the other's expense. This is exactly what the (Detroit Water and Sewerage Department) is arguing should be done."
Regardless on April 15, State Treasurer Andy Dillon gave approval to Kurtz to enter into a water purchase contract with the KWA. EM Kurtz signed the KWA water purchase agreement on April 16. On April 17, the Detroit Water and Sewer Department gave its one-year termination notice to the city just days after the County and City rejected the DWSD's last offer. The DWSD also expected that Flint pay them for past investments in the water system that benefited regional customers; Flint and Genesee County rejected such responsibility, although they indicated willingness to purchase some of the pipeline. Governor Snyder called a meeting of the three parties for April 19 to discuss those and other issues related to the KWA project.
In late April 2014, in an effort to save about $5 million over less than two years, the city switched from purchasing treated Lake Huron water from Detroit, like they have done for 50 years, to treating water from the Flint River. The plan was to attach to the Karegnondi system, which was under construction, and would be completed three years later. The Flint River had been the designated backup water source for years. In December 2014, the city had invested $4 million into its water plant.
In January 2015, a public meeting was held, where citizens complained about the "bad water." Residents complained about the taste, smell and appearance of the water for 18 months before a Flint physician found highly elevated blood lead levels in the children of Flint while the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality boldly lied and insisted the water was safe to drink. It was determined that the river water, which, due to higher chloride concentration, is more corrosive than the lake water, was leaching lead from aging pipes.
While the local outcry about Flint water quality was building in early 2015, Flint water officials filed papers with state regulators purporting to show that "tests at Flint's water treatment plant had detected no lead and testing in homes had registered lead at acceptable levels.This was ALL lies.
"The documents falsely claim that the city had tested tap water from homes with lead service lines, and therefore the highest lead-poisoning risks; in reality; the city does not know the locations of lead service lines, which city officials acknowledged in November 2015 after the Flint Journal/MLive published an article revealing the practice after obtaining documents through the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.The Journal/MLive reported that the city had "disregarded federal rules requiring it to seek out homes with lead plumbing for testing, potentially leading the city and state to underestimate for months the extent of toxic lead leaching into Flint's tap water." (Robin Erb, Flint doctor makes state see light about lead in water, Detroit Free Press (October 12, 2015).
I need to make something clear here. When I say 'Detroit water" and how Flint was using "Detroit water" It is only filtered and treated at the Detroit Water Plant. The water itself comes from Lake Huron, the third largest body of fresh water in the world. It is a glacial lake formed over 10,000 years ago during the last Ice Age and it is still fed by pure underground springs. Flint is geographically the last place on Earth where one should be drinking poisoned water.
The people are suffering with rashes, hair loss, diarrhea and numerous other problems. When you go get water you must have I.D., which disenfranchises many Black and Brown families, and you only get ONE case of water. With this one case you are to bathe, cook and clean. The Red Cross and the United Way ask for I.D. What happens when you don't have an I.D.? You get no water. You get no relief.
On Saturday the 30th of January Student Minister Abel Muhammad and other brothers from Chicago's Mosque Maryam came to Flint for the second time in as many weeks with two van loads of water. Myself a sister named Lisa and Detroit Rap Artist Soufy joined them and we went into the neighborhoods, knocked on doors and passed out cases of water. We all are men of God and faith without works is dead. Our mission is among our people and that is where we went. We served Brown, Black and White people. There were spontaneous eruptions of prayers, tears of joy, disbelief and wonder. One woman was taking care of a seven month old baby and was telling me the baby had broken out in the rash. I asked how much water she needed and she told me, "I could use a lot. Maybe two cases?" I made the executive decision, ha ha!, and she got eight and three packages of baby wipes. Another brother who did not speak English took the water with tears burning his eyes and he kept repeating 'gracias' over and over. One house had 8 people living in it and so what little groceries we had we gave him those and eight cases of water. He asked, "Who are you guys? Are you all Muslims?" I told him, "We are your brothers"
This is the government that has a pipeline from kindergarten to prison, this is the government, filthy with devils, that enact laws to further oppress us, this is the government that employs killer cops, this is the government that gives aid to a nation that knowingly kills with precision strikes little Brown children in Palestine, this is the government that will not give you a proper education. This is the government that poisoned us in the first place are we supposed to expect them to take care of us? Minister Farrakhan asked for 10,000 to step up and take care of OUR neighborhoods. It put the fear of God into White's when he said that but when it was put into action we were the one's passing out water to our people.
Flint is not the only place to face a crisis like this. St. Joseph in Louisiana faces the same issues.
It's not enough. See the devil is real and the devil is tricky and the devil is selfish, arrogant, greedy and a killer. Switching the pipeline was a money saving measure. I will never be convinced that Snyder and his administrators were not warned beforehand of the danger of Flint's water. They knew, they noticed that Flint is 60% Black and they calculated the health risks to mostly Original people and decided to go with the money. With these devils it is always about the money.
This is one of the issues we have with Whites and those in government. They know and understand how important water is to life, they are fully cognizant of how much we need water to survive. They are the ones who came up with the hard data and science of water. However they are the chief poisoners of water. From fracking to nuclear waste, from toxic chemicals to directing water away from needed areas they have no respect for the sacred and the only thing that matters is money.
Two Anishinawbe (Ojibaw word meaning Original People) Grandmothers, and a group of Anishinawbe Women and Men have taken action regarding the water issue by walking the perimeter of the Great Lakes. In 2003 the first Women's Water Walk took place as the grandmothers and sisters of different clans came together to raise awareness of the clean air and clean water being polluted by chemicals from motor boats, vehicle emissions, sewage disposal, agricultural pollution, leaking landfills and residential usage and the toll it was taking on this vital resource. We are taught from an early age that water is sacred and one of the most basic elements for life to exist.
The walk is done in the spring because of the natural re-growth of our natural habitat and because spring is a time for renewal, re-birth and re-growth.
Water is life giving and so are women, therefore women have traditionally held the position of keeper of the water and water carriers. Symbolically showing the symbiotic relationship they hold in importance of life to continue and exists on this planet.
Both are under attack.
Josephine Mandamin, a Grandmother and Water Walker has said, "Water is amazing, it flows where it wants to, it can go through any crack, crook or cranny. It can sing the most beautiful songs, if you listen well. She can sound like a male voice, especially during huge waves. It ebbs and flows leaving us messages in her journey throughout life. We are connected and united to life with water, and as we are all united by water; it seems we must be conscious of all things united.This connections or linkage helps us understand life and what it gives to humans, nature and animals. We are all so connected, so united with/by water. It is all life.
To see how water can mold itself to any situation, we can see it in any shape we put it in: jars, small containers, huge gallons - it flows to any shape or form. We are all connected by water and as we are all of water: 70 or 80% of our body mass, why can't we flow like the water? to unite ourselves with each other, to sing like the water, to think like the water, to be of one conscious entity? Why can't we? IF we could be, we will be one big ocean of love, kindness, respect, united and jelled together as one, we will be the generation to save our Mother.
Science is slowly catching up to our anishinabe thinking about our natural laws as governed to us by Creation/Creator. Our duty and responsibility is to our Mother's care and well being. The common denominator of life is Water. In our Mide Lodge we know all this from the teachings and oral inscriptions left by our ancestors, but we have not been vocal enough to tell the world and science that we know what they are collecting as new science. It is not new knowledge, or new understanding. it's been around as long as our Mide ancestors have been on this Mother earth. Our ancestors knew where water comes from, whence it flows, and how it flows. This is all understood in our waters songs and Lodge creation story."
Both are under attack. In Canada there are over 1200 murdered and missing Original women, in America the acounts of murdered and missing Native women is on the rise, the number of Native women being sold into sexual slavery is on the rise, the number of Black women is 64, 000. Sixty Four THOUSAND. Our women and our water are under attack and believe me when I tell you that it is not an accident. Keepers of the people and a vital element to sustain our people are being poisoned and are disappearing.
40 % of Navajo people in Navajo land live without running water. 60% of the homes on Pine are severely substandard without water, electricity, adequate insulation and sewage systems.
Chicago is over 30% Black and since the great influx of Blacks in the 1940's and forward the majority have moved into housing units often referred to as "projects". A good example of enviromental racism is the Altgeld Gardens a housing community on the south side of Chicago that was built in 1945 on an abandoned landfill to accommodate returning Blacks from World War 2. It is surrounded by 53 toxic facilities and 90% of the city's landfills. 90% of it;s population is Black and 65% live below the poverty level. The known toxins are mercury, amonia gas, lead, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH's), heavy metals and xylene all known to be poison to life.A study by teh Illinois Public Health Sector revealed excessive rates of prostate, bladder, and lung cancer. Other medical records show high rates of children born with brain tumors, fetuses that had to be aborted when tests revealed children developing with their brains outside of the skull and higher rates of asthma, ringworm and other ailments.
Chester, Pennsylvania, provides an example of "social, political, and economic forces that shape the disproportionate distribution of environmental hazards in poor communities of color". Chester is located in Delaware County, an area with a population of 500,000 that, excluding Chester, is 91% white. Chester, however, is 65% Black, with the highest minority population and poverty rate in Delaware County, and recipient of a disproportionate amount of environmental risks and hazards.
Chester has five large waste facilities including a trash incinerator, a medical waste incinerator, and a sewage treatment plant. These waste sites in Chester have a total permitted capacity of 2 million tons of waste per year while the rest of Delaware County has a capacity of merely 1,400 tons per year. One of the waste sites located in Chester is the Westinghouse incinerator, which burns all of the municipal waste from the entire county and surrounding states. These numerous waste facilities have posed negative health risks to the citizens of Chester, as the cancer rate in this area is 2.5 times higher than it is anywhere else in Pennsylvania. Also, the mortality rate is 40% higher than the rest of Delaware county and the child mortality rate is the highest. The clustering of all of these polluting facilities in Chester points to environmental racism. (Cole, Luke and Foster, Sheila. 2001. From the Ground Up: Environmental Racism and the Rise of Environmental Justice Movement. New York: New York University Press.)
New Orleans, Louisiana, has been cited as an example of past environmental racism. At the time of Hurricane Katrina, 60.5% of New Orleans residents were African American—nearly 50% higher than the rest of the United States. Pre-existing racial disparities in wealth within New Orleans worsened the outcome of Hurricane Katrina for minority populations. Institutionalized racial segregation of neighborhoods left minority members more likely to live in low-lying areas that were more vulnerable to the devastating effects of the Hurricane. Additionally, hurricane evacuation plans relied heavily on the use of cars and personal vehicles. However, because minority populations are less likely to own cars, some people had no choice but to stay behind, while white majority communities were able to escape. A report commissioned by the U.S. House of Representatives found that political leaders failed to consider the fact that "100,000 city residents had no cars and relied on public transit", and the city's failure to complete its mandatory evacuation led to hundreds of deaths. How could anyone deny that race was not a factor in the slow response and lack of accountability?
In 2007, NPR featured a class action lawsuit filed by Sheila Holt-Orsted of Dickson, Tennessee, against local waste treatment agencies. The well where the Holt family got their drinking water was only 500 feet away from a toxic landfill. They continued to use this well, unaware of any problems, for nine years. Although some of Holt-Orsted's neighbors were notified within 48 hours of the discovery, officials continued to tell the Holt family that there was no problem. The neighbors who were notified were White, the Holt family is Black. This is just one small exaple of the disparities in treatment by race. By the time the Holt family was informed that the water they had been drinking, showering in, and cooking with for years was contaminated with cancer-causing agents, they had already incurred a great amount of personal damage. Sheila Holt-Orsted suffered from stage 2 breast cancer, and she also lost her father Harry Holt to cancer in 2007. Four additional Holt family members suffered from various other illnesses. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Sheila Holt-Orsted and Beatrice Holt settled a lawsuit brought against the City and County of Dickson and three private companies to re mediate the public health and environmental risks posed by the contamination. Under the settlement, $5 million will be set aside to investigate and re mediate risks associated with the contamination, including by providing public water to local residents in the risk area. Under a separate settlement, the Holt family will receive $1.9 million in compensation for their injuries. Ask yourself, what is 1.9 million dollars to these corporations that knowingly poison people of color when they themselves are worth untold billions? How much is your life worth? or the life of your child or parent or spouse or sibling? Is 1.9 million dollars going to cover the relationship you have with your family? Of course not.
The International Tribunal of Indigenous People and Oppressed Nations, convened in 1992, established to examine the history of criminal activity against indigenous groups in the United States, published a Significant Bill of Particulars outlining grievances indigenous peoples had with the U.S., including allegations that the United States “deliberately and systematically permitted, aided, and abetted, solicited and conspired to commit the dumping, transportation, and location of nuclear, toxic, medical, and otherwise hazardous waste materials on Native American territories in North America and has thus created a clear and present danger to the health, safety, and physical and mental well-being of Native American People” "Indictment of the Federal Government of the U.S. for the commission of international crimes and petition for orders mandating its proscription and dissolution as an international criminal conspiracy and criminal organization.")
All of this is going on and we move on to Flint Michigan. Beginning in April 2014. After Flint, on order from Republican Governor Rick Snyder and his team of Republican administrators, changed its water source from treated Detroit Water and Sewerage Department water (which was sourced from Lake Huron as well as the Detroit River) to the Flint River, its drinking water had a series of problems that culminated with lead contamination, creating a public health danger. The corrosive Flint River water caused lead from aging pipes to leach into the water supply, causing extremely elevated levels of lead. In Flint, between 6,000 and 12,000 children have severely high levels of lead in the blood and experienced a range of serious health problems.The water change is also a possible cause of an outbreak of Legionnaires' disease in the county that has killed 10 people and affected another 77. You read that right, ten people are dead and another 77 are infected with Legionaires disease.
That was in April of 2014 flash forward to November of 2015. That was when four families filed a class action suit against Governor Snyder and other state officials, then two months later three separate people also filed suit followed by four more law suits later, The U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and the Michigan Attorney General office opened investigations. Snyder knew what was coming, Snyder knew what was happening and being done to the population of Flint the entire time and so on January 5th 2016 he declared Flint to be in a state of emergency. President Obama declared teh crisis a federal state of emergency and authorized additional help from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security.
Four government officials—one from the City of Flint, two from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, and one from the Environmental Protection Agency—resigned over the mishandling of the crisis. Snyder issued an apology to citizens and promised to fix the problem, and later sent $28 million to Flint for supplies, medical care and infrastructure upgrades.
Starting in 2010, Genesee County had spearheaded the development of the Karegnondi Water Authority (KWA) to supply it and Lapeer and Sanilac counties—plus the cities of Lapeer and Flint—with water. On March 25, 2013, Flint City Council voted 7-1 to approve the purchase of 16 million gallons per day from the KWA rather than go with Flint River water as a permanent supply.Flint emergency manager (EM) Ed Kurtz and Mayor Dayne Walling approved that on March 29 and forwarded the action for the State Treasurer for approval.
The DWSD, on April 1, sent out a press release demanding the state should block Flint's request as it would hurt Detroit Water and start a water war and in the press release said that "any claim that it would save the cash-strapped city money is specious". The release also put out several options for Flint, including sale of raw untreated water. Genesee County Drain commissioner Wright, after accusing the DWSD of negotiating through the media, replied, "It would be unprecedented for the state to force one community to enter into an agreement with another, simply to artificially help one community at the other's expense. This is exactly what the (Detroit Water and Sewerage Department) is arguing should be done."
Regardless on April 15, State Treasurer Andy Dillon gave approval to Kurtz to enter into a water purchase contract with the KWA. EM Kurtz signed the KWA water purchase agreement on April 16. On April 17, the Detroit Water and Sewer Department gave its one-year termination notice to the city just days after the County and City rejected the DWSD's last offer. The DWSD also expected that Flint pay them for past investments in the water system that benefited regional customers; Flint and Genesee County rejected such responsibility, although they indicated willingness to purchase some of the pipeline. Governor Snyder called a meeting of the three parties for April 19 to discuss those and other issues related to the KWA project.
In late April 2014, in an effort to save about $5 million over less than two years, the city switched from purchasing treated Lake Huron water from Detroit, like they have done for 50 years, to treating water from the Flint River. The plan was to attach to the Karegnondi system, which was under construction, and would be completed three years later. The Flint River had been the designated backup water source for years. In December 2014, the city had invested $4 million into its water plant.
In January 2015, a public meeting was held, where citizens complained about the "bad water." Residents complained about the taste, smell and appearance of the water for 18 months before a Flint physician found highly elevated blood lead levels in the children of Flint while the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality boldly lied and insisted the water was safe to drink. It was determined that the river water, which, due to higher chloride concentration, is more corrosive than the lake water, was leaching lead from aging pipes.
While the local outcry about Flint water quality was building in early 2015, Flint water officials filed papers with state regulators purporting to show that "tests at Flint's water treatment plant had detected no lead and testing in homes had registered lead at acceptable levels.This was ALL lies.
"The documents falsely claim that the city had tested tap water from homes with lead service lines, and therefore the highest lead-poisoning risks; in reality; the city does not know the locations of lead service lines, which city officials acknowledged in November 2015 after the Flint Journal/MLive published an article revealing the practice after obtaining documents through the Michigan Freedom of Information Act.The Journal/MLive reported that the city had "disregarded federal rules requiring it to seek out homes with lead plumbing for testing, potentially leading the city and state to underestimate for months the extent of toxic lead leaching into Flint's tap water." (Robin Erb, Flint doctor makes state see light about lead in water, Detroit Free Press (October 12, 2015).
I need to make something clear here. When I say 'Detroit water" and how Flint was using "Detroit water" It is only filtered and treated at the Detroit Water Plant. The water itself comes from Lake Huron, the third largest body of fresh water in the world. It is a glacial lake formed over 10,000 years ago during the last Ice Age and it is still fed by pure underground springs. Flint is geographically the last place on Earth where one should be drinking poisoned water.
The people are suffering with rashes, hair loss, diarrhea and numerous other problems. When you go get water you must have I.D., which disenfranchises many Black and Brown families, and you only get ONE case of water. With this one case you are to bathe, cook and clean. The Red Cross and the United Way ask for I.D. What happens when you don't have an I.D.? You get no water. You get no relief.
On Saturday the 30th of January Student Minister Abel Muhammad and other brothers from Chicago's Mosque Maryam came to Flint for the second time in as many weeks with two van loads of water. Myself a sister named Lisa and Detroit Rap Artist Soufy joined them and we went into the neighborhoods, knocked on doors and passed out cases of water. We all are men of God and faith without works is dead. Our mission is among our people and that is where we went. We served Brown, Black and White people. There were spontaneous eruptions of prayers, tears of joy, disbelief and wonder. One woman was taking care of a seven month old baby and was telling me the baby had broken out in the rash. I asked how much water she needed and she told me, "I could use a lot. Maybe two cases?" I made the executive decision, ha ha!, and she got eight and three packages of baby wipes. Another brother who did not speak English took the water with tears burning his eyes and he kept repeating 'gracias' over and over. One house had 8 people living in it and so what little groceries we had we gave him those and eight cases of water. He asked, "Who are you guys? Are you all Muslims?" I told him, "We are your brothers"
This is the government that has a pipeline from kindergarten to prison, this is the government, filthy with devils, that enact laws to further oppress us, this is the government that employs killer cops, this is the government that gives aid to a nation that knowingly kills with precision strikes little Brown children in Palestine, this is the government that will not give you a proper education. This is the government that poisoned us in the first place are we supposed to expect them to take care of us? Minister Farrakhan asked for 10,000 to step up and take care of OUR neighborhoods. It put the fear of God into White's when he said that but when it was put into action we were the one's passing out water to our people.
Flint is not the only place to face a crisis like this. St. Joseph in Louisiana faces the same issues.
It's not enough. See the devil is real and the devil is tricky and the devil is selfish, arrogant, greedy and a killer. Switching the pipeline was a money saving measure. I will never be convinced that Snyder and his administrators were not warned beforehand of the danger of Flint's water. They knew, they noticed that Flint is 60% Black and they calculated the health risks to mostly Original people and decided to go with the money. With these devils it is always about the money.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Holding out for a hero
Audacity. That is a word that I often use when speaking about White people. Honestly it fits like a glove. Liberals and conservatives have that attitude in abundance in all matters, no I am not exaggerating just read The Drudge Report of Huffington Post if you don't believe me. When it come to Native people they have that attitude in spades. I've got a couple of examples jut off the top of my head.
Couple of years back I went to a garage sale. This tall, lanky shaggy White dude was walking around talking to everyone. He was showing off all these guns he was selling and telling me every little detail about them. I didn't care but I let him talk and I kept looking. I then came across a dreamcatcher, a foot long totem pole, a painting of a buffalo and a carved pipe. All of it looked like shit, it looked like a 6 year old was fucking around with some of his fathers woodworking tools. He was very impressed with his work, told me he knew I was Indian and that I could have the whole lot for only $30.00. I smiled at that. I asked him if he was Indian and sure enough, his great grandmother was a Cherokee. He said that he couldn't prove it of course but he has a "great respect for our people's ways". So I will review. Here is a White guy, hick as all get out, making Indian "crafts" from no less than four different nations, and he is passing them off as authentic for the low low price of $30.00 To me that takes a ton of nuts to do something like that and then to talk to an actual Indian and attempt to pass off this shit as real. He had no shame but he had plenty of audacity. No other culture experiences this. White's don't make dashiki's or Kinte cloth and pass them off as authentic. " My great gramma was Black and I've been researching our lineage and making these authentic carvings." (Asians do!) They don't copy Latino culture in that way. I have never seen White's make Guatemalan shirts or blankets and other little knick knacks and say, 'Look I made these! My great grandma was from Buenos Aries ya know."
Last year I went over to a friends house for a graduation party for his kid. When I got there my friend came up to me followed by this very somber scruffy looking White dude in a Lynryd Skynrd T-Shirt, I am not making that up, and the guy says, "Mitakye Oyasin". In Lakota that means, "All my relations" and it is a statement and not a greeting. I looked around like I was on some hidden camera show because it was just too weird. I didn't respond and then for the next half hour this dude followed me around and was trying to get me to talk about Indian spirituality and my tribe and if I go to ceremonies and where and all of that. I was vague about everything and then he told me that he is a medicine man with the "United Cherokee Nation of North America" and because I am stupid I asked him, "What the hell is that?" He explained it is a group of Cherokee people who do not recognize the government of the U.S.A. and it's way of identifying Indian people. He then proceeded to tell me that the UCNNA is actually more traditional than the Cherokee of North Carolina and Oklahoma. I was just stunned, then he told me that as a medicine man he could read people's minds, communicate with spirits and animals, see into the future and even tell you what your clan was. Of course he charged for all of this but for members of the UCNNA he gave a discount. When asked how does one become a member of the UCNNA he said you had to apply then the grand governing council would review your application and then you get a tribal number and a I.D. card and for an extra $25.00 you would get a name that you would be called whenever you were at the meetings or amongst other members of the UCNNA. He was very pleased with himself until I told him to leave me alone, never speak to me again, that he was a lunatic and a racist and I wanted nothing more to do with him. He was PISSED because like I have said over and over, when it comes to identifying as Indian the one thing that will set a White person off like no one's business is calling them out as fake and telling them NO. They lose their shit so fast! He then of course went on a triad about "full bloods" of which I have never said I was one, and other stuff but I walked away did not pay him any mind. My friend was not happy with me and I told him to go fuck himself. In my life outside of social media I have my own dislike/block button. I tell people how I feel and it works the same way.
Just this past Sa-turday I learned a very very valuable lesson about social media. I must do my own due diligence when accepting friendship requests from people. I friended a guy who lives in Coldwater, not more than 45 minutes from Jackson, and he said he was Cherokee also. Feeling generous I gave him the benefit of the doubt. That was my second mistake. My third mistake was engaging this ass clown in a conversation. He texted me and wanted to know more about the Justice Or Else movement that I am involved in and why Minister Farrakhan was reaching out to Native Americans. I forwarded the video of the speech that Minister Farrakhan gave to the Unity Conference and then the interview he did with Jay Winter Nighthawk. Few hours later this guy got a hold of me again. Suffering a bad case of the "I can't sleeps" I responded. The conversation started out odd, this guy was telling me that Farrakhan had a house in Union City Michigan and he would often see his bodyguards around. Then he asked if I could forward his information to 'Brother Farrakhan" and have him contact him. I asked what he wanted to talk to the Minister about. He replied that he wanted to speak to him about the upcoming danger that is happening in September, (RED FLAG!) and about he and his group coming and speaking at the march. That made me smile because my first thought was, "Wow this dude thinks he is that important that he wants to come to the march and speak to the entire nation." Being curious/knuckle headed I asked him if he had a website to which he responded, "Do you follow the ways of your forefathers?" at this point I re-checked his page. It had a lot of shit about Jade Helm, Waco, 9-11 and other government stuff. I just figured he was a slight conspiracy theorist and while I have pretty strong opinions, I know isn't THAT a surprise?, about these conspiracy I am more inclined to rage against the things right in front of us.
Following due diligence protocol I told him to pause on the conversation so I could read thru his website. During this entire time he was messaging me about where Guaraini come from, where is my reservation, when did I begin following "The ways of our ancestors" and that he too was "Cherokee and Blackfoot but raised White." Now I have heard this whole "raised White" thing from every single wannabe I have ever met. I am not exaggerating that. Every Single ONE.
Here is the website: http://www.theancientcherokeechurchoftheonegodyohewaah.org/
Back to the word Audacity. Liberals, Conservatives and almost every White person I know who is in any position of authority has a smidgen of this attitude. Politicians, when it comes to Indians, have audacity AND a paternal outlook on us. Within Indian country we have been just infected with wannabes who come around and want to "help". When they say this what they really mean is they want to save us. In effect they want to save us from us. That is tantamount to a fly beseeching the help of the spider to get out of the web.
There are people out there, mostly White but I have seen a few Blacks in there, who so desperately do not want to be White that they imitate as much about what they think Indian people are and do, that they are a hindrance to our progression. For instance, there is the pervasive idea that we are somehow "Extra" or "Uberspiritual", more spiritual than any other race on Earth. It is an unfair and outright stupid assumption. Here is a part of our conversation, this is the point I decided that being cordial was only influencing him to speak to me like I am a noob at being Indian. (FULL DISCLOSURE - I have been an Indian, of both North and South variety, since October 26th 1969, or 9 months porior if you want to be technical. I have always known I was an Indian, it is NOT a family rumor, I have ties to the Indian community, I know my clan, I know my family names, I know the soverginty issues that effect my nation in particular and I don't have anything to prove).
Aaron F____ : The spirit has guided me to be on the Red Road. I have been told prophecies about the Rainbow Warriors coming to help.
Me: That "prophecy" is horseshit, It was made up by the guy who created Greenpeace. The Hopi have never had a prophecy looking for Whites to come and save us. What reservation are you from?
Aaron F_____: Eastern Band Cherokee. Grandpa was metis and Grandma was Blackfoot. I was raised White but I come to the Red Road guided by spirit.
Me: Sure. So were you like adopted or something?
Aaron F___: No Grandpa had to run off because he killed a man in self defense and feared retribution.
Doesn't that just sound ignorant? Thing is I have head everything from burned down courthouses with the birth records lost, everyone from a deputy to a Governor having a issue with a great great grandparent and some nefarious plot to keep the "Indian side" of the family suppressed. Then of course there is the grandmother who was Indian and never spoke about it because to do so would mean danger from the Whites. All of that is bullhockey and they know it and so do we. They always use a Grandmother because to use a man they have to admit that a Indian man laid with a precious White woman and because mixed marriages were also illegal. So not only do they dishonor us as a people but they dishonor their own ancestors by denying them as having any place in their own lives. If they knew anything about being an Indian they would know that what they are doing is a disgrace.
The kid really pissed me off when he became condescending to me about spirituality. I wrote it off to pure White audacity and arrognace but it was more than that. It was because according to the church he belongs to he and his fellow members are the TRUE PRIESTS AND PROPHETS. They are the lost tribe of Israel and their job is to unite all of US, the Indians of America, with themselves in order to user in a kingdom that will rule in a righteous manner. They are our great White hope! This biblical prophecy is really just a way for Whites to define us and come up with an idea of where we come from because when Columbus stumbled upon us he could not say where or what we are because, unlike Blacks, Whites and Asians, we are not biblical. In order to fit the narrative of White Supremacy they must be able to identify us and put us in a position that is less than them.
After he had seen the video of Minister Farakhan addressing Native youth he responded :
Aaron F___: Good video, but he seems a bit short sighted for not only are Blacks, and Reds suppressed, but whites, and yellows are too. Do you know why the white elitists, ariens, and Nazis that now control this country think they are the master race? Also no man no matter what color own any of this land or another.
Me: The Brown and the Black of this continent have been catching a level of hell from Whites that before now has never been seen in the world. The decimation of over 90% of us here in North America, the Middle Passage that has untold millions of bones of African people, the propaganda, the bounty, the lies, the theft of land and slavery. This entire nation actually stands only because Whites murdered us and made Blacks work for free. Now when you say "aliens" are you talking about like lizzard people? Like the Queen and George Bush are supposed to be lizard people from another planet? I gotta tell ya man, that is another load of garbage that I just can't buy into. Those people, the Queen, The Bush's, everyone from Prescott to W. are evil to the core. They don't have to be cold blooded creatures from another galaxy to inflict pain and suffering on the darker people of the Earth, they just have to be greedy, Republican devils and that is enough.
Aaron F___: Them: Are you Christian?
Me: No
Them: Are you Muslim?
Me: No
Them: Are you a Jew?
Me: No
Them: Are you Atheist?
Me: No
Them: So what are you?
Me: I am Cherokee. I am the True Israel. I am that I am. YHWH None above. None below. For ALL are Sacred, for ALL are of the One True Creator, and his voice is the Spirit of all Creation.
jesuit beast FREE ALL MY PEOPLE!
Here is what you will find on that website:
I DID NOT make that up. He is WHITE CHIEF has to approve you. He is White, A White guy approves you to be a member of the Israeli Cherokee Nation. You can also buy a certificate, a Shirt, a coffee mug and artwork by Spirithawk and Waterhawk.
I get really angry when I know that these people give themselves names without going thru or following any traditional protocols. The only reason they can do it is because they don't respect us. They don't see us as legitimate and human. They are the worst type of White Supremacist. They are stuck in this false sense of self that they, and ONLY they, are the future of mankind. Only they can save us. For that mindset to be present you have to be delusional and have an over inflated sense of self. Without The Creator of All Natural Things I could never, ever, do anything for anyone.
Like people who approve of using us as mascots, or stealing our sacred lands, or abusing our children or women (80% of assaults on Native women are perpetrated by non-Indian people), stealing our names and our ceremonies. They make "Indian" jewelry and pass it off as authentic, they go to protests and speak for us, they write articles or wear shirts or invade our organizations with the mindset of not helping but of showing us how it is done. These same people. this cancer to our society, they are the cause and not the cure for what is wrong in our communities.
They are sick. They are a disease and instead of looking for "teachable moments" They should be exposed and ridiculed out from among us. They can not assist us in finding our authentic self. The warrior inside of us that is a warrior that loves because they don't accept themselves as what they are so how in the hell can they teach us anything about authenticity?
So after I chewed on him a bit he wrote this:
Aaron F____: White supremacy i come to you remembering the faces of my fathers of the forgotten Cherokee Owl Clan. Spitting in the face of the One True Creator. It is you Brother that has allowed yourself to be dividend from your Brothers n Sisters of All colors by the jesuit beast. I will not judge fir you allow hate the teachings of the jesuit beast to blind you. I Spirit willing you will not be the last avenue of contact for this most high honor. May you find the Trye Red path so that you too may reach the path of all colors.
Me: IS that how you think that spiritual people speak? Is that your idea of how a elder or a medicine man or woman speaks? See that zen Indian bullshit is a Hollywood stereotype. That is a made up nonsensical thing that was made by some White guys in a room trying to romanticize us for the amusement of others. Unlike you, I have been to ceremony AND have participated. I have been gifted Eagle feathers AND a sacred pipe by real live actual holy men and women. I have sat in sweat lodges without any Whites AND I have never paid for any of it. This 'Face of my Ancestors or Fathers" or whatever the hell you called it. I know who our enemy is and I even know how our enemy got here and yes, this part kills people like you, I know your tricknology! I am not separated by color, that's absurd and if you knew me you would know that I don't play that shit. You would know that I look for ways tobe a servant to my Creator and my people on a daily basis. Here is something that you never considered. I know White people who would laugh at you in your face for the shit you are spewing. First words out of a couple of my bros from my wrestling days out of their mouths would be, "Dude WHAT THA FUCK?" and they would laugh their ass off!
It ended when he told me he would pray for me to no longer be blinded by the Jesuit beast and the lies they have fed me. Remember the big deal that was made of that White woman who protrayed herself as Black and even was leader of a NAACP chapter? Remember when everyone made a big big deal about it? Yeah, we got THOUSANDS of her in our community and I pity each one of them. I can't stand them but I do know that as part of creation they are part of me also. That's because I take my path in a serious manner. I am a servant to my people and the grind is EVERYONE is my people.
Couple of years back I went to a garage sale. This tall, lanky shaggy White dude was walking around talking to everyone. He was showing off all these guns he was selling and telling me every little detail about them. I didn't care but I let him talk and I kept looking. I then came across a dreamcatcher, a foot long totem pole, a painting of a buffalo and a carved pipe. All of it looked like shit, it looked like a 6 year old was fucking around with some of his fathers woodworking tools. He was very impressed with his work, told me he knew I was Indian and that I could have the whole lot for only $30.00. I smiled at that. I asked him if he was Indian and sure enough, his great grandmother was a Cherokee. He said that he couldn't prove it of course but he has a "great respect for our people's ways". So I will review. Here is a White guy, hick as all get out, making Indian "crafts" from no less than four different nations, and he is passing them off as authentic for the low low price of $30.00 To me that takes a ton of nuts to do something like that and then to talk to an actual Indian and attempt to pass off this shit as real. He had no shame but he had plenty of audacity. No other culture experiences this. White's don't make dashiki's or Kinte cloth and pass them off as authentic. " My great gramma was Black and I've been researching our lineage and making these authentic carvings." (Asians do!) They don't copy Latino culture in that way. I have never seen White's make Guatemalan shirts or blankets and other little knick knacks and say, 'Look I made these! My great grandma was from Buenos Aries ya know."
Last year I went over to a friends house for a graduation party for his kid. When I got there my friend came up to me followed by this very somber scruffy looking White dude in a Lynryd Skynrd T-Shirt, I am not making that up, and the guy says, "Mitakye Oyasin". In Lakota that means, "All my relations" and it is a statement and not a greeting. I looked around like I was on some hidden camera show because it was just too weird. I didn't respond and then for the next half hour this dude followed me around and was trying to get me to talk about Indian spirituality and my tribe and if I go to ceremonies and where and all of that. I was vague about everything and then he told me that he is a medicine man with the "United Cherokee Nation of North America" and because I am stupid I asked him, "What the hell is that?" He explained it is a group of Cherokee people who do not recognize the government of the U.S.A. and it's way of identifying Indian people. He then proceeded to tell me that the UCNNA is actually more traditional than the Cherokee of North Carolina and Oklahoma. I was just stunned, then he told me that as a medicine man he could read people's minds, communicate with spirits and animals, see into the future and even tell you what your clan was. Of course he charged for all of this but for members of the UCNNA he gave a discount. When asked how does one become a member of the UCNNA he said you had to apply then the grand governing council would review your application and then you get a tribal number and a I.D. card and for an extra $25.00 you would get a name that you would be called whenever you were at the meetings or amongst other members of the UCNNA. He was very pleased with himself until I told him to leave me alone, never speak to me again, that he was a lunatic and a racist and I wanted nothing more to do with him. He was PISSED because like I have said over and over, when it comes to identifying as Indian the one thing that will set a White person off like no one's business is calling them out as fake and telling them NO. They lose their shit so fast! He then of course went on a triad about "full bloods" of which I have never said I was one, and other stuff but I walked away did not pay him any mind. My friend was not happy with me and I told him to go fuck himself. In my life outside of social media I have my own dislike/block button. I tell people how I feel and it works the same way.
Just this past Sa-turday I learned a very very valuable lesson about social media. I must do my own due diligence when accepting friendship requests from people. I friended a guy who lives in Coldwater, not more than 45 minutes from Jackson, and he said he was Cherokee also. Feeling generous I gave him the benefit of the doubt. That was my second mistake. My third mistake was engaging this ass clown in a conversation. He texted me and wanted to know more about the Justice Or Else movement that I am involved in and why Minister Farrakhan was reaching out to Native Americans. I forwarded the video of the speech that Minister Farrakhan gave to the Unity Conference and then the interview he did with Jay Winter Nighthawk. Few hours later this guy got a hold of me again. Suffering a bad case of the "I can't sleeps" I responded. The conversation started out odd, this guy was telling me that Farrakhan had a house in Union City Michigan and he would often see his bodyguards around. Then he asked if I could forward his information to 'Brother Farrakhan" and have him contact him. I asked what he wanted to talk to the Minister about. He replied that he wanted to speak to him about the upcoming danger that is happening in September, (RED FLAG!) and about he and his group coming and speaking at the march. That made me smile because my first thought was, "Wow this dude thinks he is that important that he wants to come to the march and speak to the entire nation." Being curious/knuckle headed I asked him if he had a website to which he responded, "Do you follow the ways of your forefathers?" at this point I re-checked his page. It had a lot of shit about Jade Helm, Waco, 9-11 and other government stuff. I just figured he was a slight conspiracy theorist and while I have pretty strong opinions, I know isn't THAT a surprise?, about these conspiracy I am more inclined to rage against the things right in front of us.
Following due diligence protocol I told him to pause on the conversation so I could read thru his website. During this entire time he was messaging me about where Guaraini come from, where is my reservation, when did I begin following "The ways of our ancestors" and that he too was "Cherokee and Blackfoot but raised White." Now I have heard this whole "raised White" thing from every single wannabe I have ever met. I am not exaggerating that. Every Single ONE.
Here is the website: http://www.theancientcherokeechurchoftheonegodyohewaah.org/
Back to the word Audacity. Liberals, Conservatives and almost every White person I know who is in any position of authority has a smidgen of this attitude. Politicians, when it comes to Indians, have audacity AND a paternal outlook on us. Within Indian country we have been just infected with wannabes who come around and want to "help". When they say this what they really mean is they want to save us. In effect they want to save us from us. That is tantamount to a fly beseeching the help of the spider to get out of the web.
There are people out there, mostly White but I have seen a few Blacks in there, who so desperately do not want to be White that they imitate as much about what they think Indian people are and do, that they are a hindrance to our progression. For instance, there is the pervasive idea that we are somehow "Extra" or "Uberspiritual", more spiritual than any other race on Earth. It is an unfair and outright stupid assumption. Here is a part of our conversation, this is the point I decided that being cordial was only influencing him to speak to me like I am a noob at being Indian. (FULL DISCLOSURE - I have been an Indian, of both North and South variety, since October 26th 1969, or 9 months porior if you want to be technical. I have always known I was an Indian, it is NOT a family rumor, I have ties to the Indian community, I know my clan, I know my family names, I know the soverginty issues that effect my nation in particular and I don't have anything to prove).
Aaron F____ : The spirit has guided me to be on the Red Road. I have been told prophecies about the Rainbow Warriors coming to help.
Me: That "prophecy" is horseshit, It was made up by the guy who created Greenpeace. The Hopi have never had a prophecy looking for Whites to come and save us. What reservation are you from?
Aaron F_____: Eastern Band Cherokee. Grandpa was metis and Grandma was Blackfoot. I was raised White but I come to the Red Road guided by spirit.
Me: Sure. So were you like adopted or something?
Aaron F___: No Grandpa had to run off because he killed a man in self defense and feared retribution.
Doesn't that just sound ignorant? Thing is I have head everything from burned down courthouses with the birth records lost, everyone from a deputy to a Governor having a issue with a great great grandparent and some nefarious plot to keep the "Indian side" of the family suppressed. Then of course there is the grandmother who was Indian and never spoke about it because to do so would mean danger from the Whites. All of that is bullhockey and they know it and so do we. They always use a Grandmother because to use a man they have to admit that a Indian man laid with a precious White woman and because mixed marriages were also illegal. So not only do they dishonor us as a people but they dishonor their own ancestors by denying them as having any place in their own lives. If they knew anything about being an Indian they would know that what they are doing is a disgrace.
The kid really pissed me off when he became condescending to me about spirituality. I wrote it off to pure White audacity and arrognace but it was more than that. It was because according to the church he belongs to he and his fellow members are the TRUE PRIESTS AND PROPHETS. They are the lost tribe of Israel and their job is to unite all of US, the Indians of America, with themselves in order to user in a kingdom that will rule in a righteous manner. They are our great White hope! This biblical prophecy is really just a way for Whites to define us and come up with an idea of where we come from because when Columbus stumbled upon us he could not say where or what we are because, unlike Blacks, Whites and Asians, we are not biblical. In order to fit the narrative of White Supremacy they must be able to identify us and put us in a position that is less than them.
After he had seen the video of Minister Farakhan addressing Native youth he responded :
Aaron F___: Good video, but he seems a bit short sighted for not only are Blacks, and Reds suppressed, but whites, and yellows are too. Do you know why the white elitists, ariens, and Nazis that now control this country think they are the master race? Also no man no matter what color own any of this land or another.
Me: The Brown and the Black of this continent have been catching a level of hell from Whites that before now has never been seen in the world. The decimation of over 90% of us here in North America, the Middle Passage that has untold millions of bones of African people, the propaganda, the bounty, the lies, the theft of land and slavery. This entire nation actually stands only because Whites murdered us and made Blacks work for free. Now when you say "aliens" are you talking about like lizzard people? Like the Queen and George Bush are supposed to be lizard people from another planet? I gotta tell ya man, that is another load of garbage that I just can't buy into. Those people, the Queen, The Bush's, everyone from Prescott to W. are evil to the core. They don't have to be cold blooded creatures from another galaxy to inflict pain and suffering on the darker people of the Earth, they just have to be greedy, Republican devils and that is enough.
Aaron F___: Them: Are you Christian?
Me: No
Them: Are you Muslim?
Me: No
Them: Are you a Jew?
Me: No
Them: Are you Atheist?
Me: No
Them: So what are you?
Me: I am Cherokee. I am the True Israel. I am that I am. YHWH None above. None below. For ALL are Sacred, for ALL are of the One True Creator, and his voice is the Spirit of all Creation.
jesuit beast FREE ALL MY PEOPLE!
Me: Jesuit beast? Dude, I think you may need to speak to someone. Are you saying the Jesuits are to blame for all the ills of the world? And you are not Cherokee. You have nothing but family rumor. You don't attend any of our gatherings, you come to no ceremonies and it takes a lot more than saying something until YOU believe it to make it so. Believe me when I tell you being an Indian in America is really really over rated. It's not an easy thing to be/do at all.
Where a lot of liberals have an advantage over conservatives is that they see this system, this capitalistic system, as detrimental to people. It is founded on White Supremacy and greed, The mantra of the wealthy in the 80's was "Greed is good" which is antithetical to Indian way of thought, To blame it on the Jews, the Jesuits, the Catholics or any religion is folly and juvenile. This guy had the whole paternal thing in abundance by thinking he was the TRUE anything and then to put the paranoia that only Alex Jones listners can come up with into one package makes for someone that I am not spiritually equipped to be around without verbally de-pantsing them. I'm not spiritually fit enough to ignore stupidity at this level. I always say something.
He then write that the 'Jesuit Beast" has everyone fooled and has kept his kind of Cherokee away from the other Cherokee on purpose and has suppressed hidden knowledge about Sequoya and his dealings with the government. He goes on to send me a picture of a White Owl and says that is his clan. I told him we don't have an Owl Clan, White, Blue or Purple. He says I am part of the "Governments Cherokee" and am lost. Then he wants me to pass on a message to 'Our brother Farrakhan" My curiosity got the best of me and I asked what the message was and of course it was "Tell him it is time to come home"
I didn't bother to ask what that meant.
Here is what you will find on that website:
The Ancient Cherokee Church of One God Yo Hee Waah
They have been recognized as legitimate by the Cherokee Nation of MEXICO (WTF?) by the Republic of Mexico.
Senator James Inhofe gave them honors on the congressional record.
An Article in Cowboys and Indians magazine
They have gotten "Kudos" from the Dallas American Indian Chamber of Commerce.
And last but not least.............tribal rolls are OPEN NOW!
Contradiction much? He tells me I am lost because I am part of a group of Indians recognized by the government of the U.S.A. and the way that the government recognizes us? Enrollment cards. How do they recognize each other? Enrollment cards. They hate the government because it is evil and corrupted by "Jesuit Beasts" yet they use the same tools as the government. By the way, enrollment into this happy band of wackadoos cost only $25.00 The hitch is that you MUST be approved by the Chief.
Available for members only: White Chief must have approved application on file
Not a Member?
I DID NOT make that up. He is WHITE CHIEF has to approve you. He is White, A White guy approves you to be a member of the Israeli Cherokee Nation. You can also buy a certificate, a Shirt, a coffee mug and artwork by Spirithawk and Waterhawk.
I get really angry when I know that these people give themselves names without going thru or following any traditional protocols. The only reason they can do it is because they don't respect us. They don't see us as legitimate and human. They are the worst type of White Supremacist. They are stuck in this false sense of self that they, and ONLY they, are the future of mankind. Only they can save us. For that mindset to be present you have to be delusional and have an over inflated sense of self. Without The Creator of All Natural Things I could never, ever, do anything for anyone.
Like people who approve of using us as mascots, or stealing our sacred lands, or abusing our children or women (80% of assaults on Native women are perpetrated by non-Indian people), stealing our names and our ceremonies. They make "Indian" jewelry and pass it off as authentic, they go to protests and speak for us, they write articles or wear shirts or invade our organizations with the mindset of not helping but of showing us how it is done. These same people. this cancer to our society, they are the cause and not the cure for what is wrong in our communities.
They are sick. They are a disease and instead of looking for "teachable moments" They should be exposed and ridiculed out from among us. They can not assist us in finding our authentic self. The warrior inside of us that is a warrior that loves because they don't accept themselves as what they are so how in the hell can they teach us anything about authenticity?
So after I chewed on him a bit he wrote this:
Aaron F____: White supremacy i come to you remembering the faces of my fathers of the forgotten Cherokee Owl Clan. Spitting in the face of the One True Creator. It is you Brother that has allowed yourself to be dividend from your Brothers n Sisters of All colors by the jesuit beast. I will not judge fir you allow hate the teachings of the jesuit beast to blind you. I Spirit willing you will not be the last avenue of contact for this most high honor. May you find the Trye Red path so that you too may reach the path of all colors.
Me: IS that how you think that spiritual people speak? Is that your idea of how a elder or a medicine man or woman speaks? See that zen Indian bullshit is a Hollywood stereotype. That is a made up nonsensical thing that was made by some White guys in a room trying to romanticize us for the amusement of others. Unlike you, I have been to ceremony AND have participated. I have been gifted Eagle feathers AND a sacred pipe by real live actual holy men and women. I have sat in sweat lodges without any Whites AND I have never paid for any of it. This 'Face of my Ancestors or Fathers" or whatever the hell you called it. I know who our enemy is and I even know how our enemy got here and yes, this part kills people like you, I know your tricknology! I am not separated by color, that's absurd and if you knew me you would know that I don't play that shit. You would know that I look for ways tobe a servant to my Creator and my people on a daily basis. Here is something that you never considered. I know White people who would laugh at you in your face for the shit you are spewing. First words out of a couple of my bros from my wrestling days out of their mouths would be, "Dude WHAT THA FUCK?" and they would laugh their ass off!
It ended when he told me he would pray for me to no longer be blinded by the Jesuit beast and the lies they have fed me. Remember the big deal that was made of that White woman who protrayed herself as Black and even was leader of a NAACP chapter? Remember when everyone made a big big deal about it? Yeah, we got THOUSANDS of her in our community and I pity each one of them. I can't stand them but I do know that as part of creation they are part of me also. That's because I take my path in a serious manner. I am a servant to my people and the grind is EVERYONE is my people.
Wednesday, August 5, 2015
Everybody wants unity until it's time to unify.
Anyone that knows me knows that I am a reader. Vociferously a reader. Two books a week is about what I average. It's my solace, it is my way of learning about worlds that I am not willing to explore myself out of laziness or apprehension. I've read some astounding things that has changed my way of looking at the world. Some have changed me in ways that I can't even begin to explain and or imagine. I have honed my critical thinking skills because of my want to know more. I don't take anything I read as gospel even if I admire the author and or the subject. I will study the hell out of a subject before I take a position on anything.
That's how I am about Louis Farrakhan. The teachings of the Nation Of Islam as handed down by The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, T.H.E.M., are the first teachings from any Black man that have included The Original people of Turtle Island, (You know it as North and South America) and here is what I find just fascinating. Back in the early 1930's there came a man from Mecca in Saudi Arabia who came to Detroit. This guy had straight black hair and white skin. He wasn't White though. His name was Fard Muhammad and he went door to door selling silk. While he was selling this silk he would talk to the customers, he was going door to door in "Black Bottom" Detroit, and telling his potential customers about their ancestors in Africa. So one day he comes across a small, very light skin, Black man from Georgia who had a third grade education. A third grade education of a Black person in the South in the 1900's which equates to no education really. So Fard and this guy, Elijah Poole, begin talking and Fard begins to teach him. They spend hours and hours pouring over books discussing Theology and the state of Black people here in America. The most interesting thing is that they discussed unity between Blacks and Red. These two men, in Black Bottom Detroit, in the early 1930's were actually discussing Indians. The only people outside of Indians who were discussing Indians at that time was the government and they were looking for ways to further annihilate us. At the time there were 17 million Blacks and 2 million Indians in North America. Fard, now known as Master Fard Muhammad, taught that the 17 million WITH the 2 million Indians made for 19 million of God's people here in "The Hells of North America". Am I the only one who finds that absolutely amazing that at this time in history, these two men speak about Natives in this way?
Before anyone wants to bring up the "Hopi prophecy" of the "rainbow warriors" coming to save us with their light skin and a return to our ways you need to know that entire thing is made up and false from beginning to end and so it is hereby nullified as having anything to do with our unification.
With is defined as accompanied by. The word was chosen carefully because it means that the Black and Red are equals as in the same. No one was talking like this. Let's be honest, no one or hardly anyone talks like this now. Sure within teachings of Native Americans are the important and vital lessons of unity with all of mankind but to be honest, like the majority of society, the focus is on unity with Whites. Making friends with White folks is heavily emphasized within the Indian community. You can speak about unity with Black people but there is no action with it. Plenty of us will gladly go to any school and dress in regalia and teach young White kids about "our ways" and or go to a Boy Scout troop meeting and sing a song, explain our regalia and or do whatever dance is necessary to get them to understand/and like us. Go to the pow wow and you will see plenty of White people dressed in regalia knowing full and damn well that whatever Indian ancestry they had is gone from their bloodline but we excuse that and allow them and their ick twisted mindset to invade our gatherings. We turn a blind eye to culture vultures because confronting a phony is "not the Indian way" or whatever sad excuse we can come up with. Yet when a Black man, one who can actually command the attention and a stage the size that Farrakhan can, comes and asks us to unite what happens? We make excuses of what kind of man he is. We talk about the tings we read and or seen about him. He's "anti-semetic" he is "anti-White" he is a swindler, a con artist and a fraud. You won't say that shit about the church on your reservation or about Joel Osteen or Joyce Myer or even T.D. Jakes but so many of us are quick to point out that crazy Muslim.
October 10th is the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March and this time Minister Farrakhan wants Native Americans to come and have a voice. He wants us to stand AS ONE, in the belly of the beast and show America that we are no longer buying into the bullshit. The first march was about atonement, this march is about unity under The Creator to show this government that the injustice against us MUST come to a stop. The murders and missing women of ours, the poverty, the alcoholism, the sickness, the abuse all of it MUST come to a stop and we need justice in order to get the healing to begin.
The enviromental racism that is unique to Native people, the theft of land that continues, the removal of our children from Native homes all of these issues that are unique to our people can be addressed on 10-10-15 if, and ONLY IF, we make a decision to be a part of the mobilization. Look at line 5 here in Michigan. The danger is poses is well known but it is ignored because there is so few of us making enough noise. Now imagine if we get our Black and Brown family to join with us to make our voices heard and our demand for justice met. What kind of power do we really have when real and true unity, with the Black and Brown, confronts the power that be? Sure we have Whites joining us, I have no problem with them as allies, but the circle is not complete until we do the proper reach out to our entire human family.
I had a guy who I respect a lot say to me, "It would be an easier sell if it was anybody but Farrakhan" and my response is, "Then why didn't YOU or any other 'leader' in our community call for something like this?" Tons of reasons but to be honest I will say it's because too many of us have bought into the propaganda about Black people that White supremacy has taught to us. Don't get me wrong, too many Blacks and 'Latinos" have also bought into the lies about us. This divisive tactic is on purpose in order to keep us seperate and therefore not use the power that we have. Our power is derived from a divine source and when we get together under the banner of a beneficent Creator we are unstoppable, I have said it a million times that once we get praying there is absolutely nothing that can stop us. Nothing stands a chance against our prayers,
If I wanted to learn about Jesus how foolish would I be to go to Pontius Pilate and ask him? Wouldn't I be an idiot if I asked Judas to tell me the good things about Jesus? If I asked the pharisees or the Sadducee do you think I would get a good answer? Of course not. If I went to a disciple or even better, if I went to Jesus himself I would learn about him truly. Doesn't that make sense? So if I want to know the truth about Farrakhan, and
I am not comparing him to Jesus, wouldn't it make sense to go to one of his assistants or followers or even him himself? That's what I did. Back in 1992 i went to Mosque number 1 in Detroit with my kola Tony Goulet, author of The Four and God Help Me Tie My Shoes, and asked and saw for myself. Uninvited but welcomed beyond belief I met Rasul Muhammad who is the son of T.H.E.M and Dawud Muhammad and we became brothers. Real brothers. Pow Wow buddies and activist and sweat lodge brothers. I asked for myself. I listened to speeches and checked up on the things that they all said to see if they were valid. They were and are.
On October 9th Minister Farrakhan has requested that on the mall in Washington DC we, the Indigenous people of the world, gather for a day of prayer for healing and unity. We gather in the name of our Creator and come together and seek out the power and healing that can only come when we, as Original people, come together and join forces for a better tomorrow. When we put aside all of our preconceived notions of what Black and Brown and White people are and do and take our grievances together so that we make America into the promise that it holds. We seek out real Justice, Freedom and Equality. The REAL stuff not this illusion that we live under but our Creator given rights as Original people.
The young are catching on with a fire! It is people my age who want to kiss ass of White folks and not rock the boat, not disturb the pitiful things that we have now. Check out the response Minister Farrakhan gets from our youth in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhxmjHYwVKQ
justiceorelse.com
Be a part of history. Our children and WE deserve it.
That's how I am about Louis Farrakhan. The teachings of the Nation Of Islam as handed down by The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, T.H.E.M., are the first teachings from any Black man that have included The Original people of Turtle Island, (You know it as North and South America) and here is what I find just fascinating. Back in the early 1930's there came a man from Mecca in Saudi Arabia who came to Detroit. This guy had straight black hair and white skin. He wasn't White though. His name was Fard Muhammad and he went door to door selling silk. While he was selling this silk he would talk to the customers, he was going door to door in "Black Bottom" Detroit, and telling his potential customers about their ancestors in Africa. So one day he comes across a small, very light skin, Black man from Georgia who had a third grade education. A third grade education of a Black person in the South in the 1900's which equates to no education really. So Fard and this guy, Elijah Poole, begin talking and Fard begins to teach him. They spend hours and hours pouring over books discussing Theology and the state of Black people here in America. The most interesting thing is that they discussed unity between Blacks and Red. These two men, in Black Bottom Detroit, in the early 1930's were actually discussing Indians. The only people outside of Indians who were discussing Indians at that time was the government and they were looking for ways to further annihilate us. At the time there were 17 million Blacks and 2 million Indians in North America. Fard, now known as Master Fard Muhammad, taught that the 17 million WITH the 2 million Indians made for 19 million of God's people here in "The Hells of North America". Am I the only one who finds that absolutely amazing that at this time in history, these two men speak about Natives in this way?
Before anyone wants to bring up the "Hopi prophecy" of the "rainbow warriors" coming to save us with their light skin and a return to our ways you need to know that entire thing is made up and false from beginning to end and so it is hereby nullified as having anything to do with our unification.
With is defined as accompanied by. The word was chosen carefully because it means that the Black and Red are equals as in the same. No one was talking like this. Let's be honest, no one or hardly anyone talks like this now. Sure within teachings of Native Americans are the important and vital lessons of unity with all of mankind but to be honest, like the majority of society, the focus is on unity with Whites. Making friends with White folks is heavily emphasized within the Indian community. You can speak about unity with Black people but there is no action with it. Plenty of us will gladly go to any school and dress in regalia and teach young White kids about "our ways" and or go to a Boy Scout troop meeting and sing a song, explain our regalia and or do whatever dance is necessary to get them to understand/and like us. Go to the pow wow and you will see plenty of White people dressed in regalia knowing full and damn well that whatever Indian ancestry they had is gone from their bloodline but we excuse that and allow them and their ick twisted mindset to invade our gatherings. We turn a blind eye to culture vultures because confronting a phony is "not the Indian way" or whatever sad excuse we can come up with. Yet when a Black man, one who can actually command the attention and a stage the size that Farrakhan can, comes and asks us to unite what happens? We make excuses of what kind of man he is. We talk about the tings we read and or seen about him. He's "anti-semetic" he is "anti-White" he is a swindler, a con artist and a fraud. You won't say that shit about the church on your reservation or about Joel Osteen or Joyce Myer or even T.D. Jakes but so many of us are quick to point out that crazy Muslim.
October 10th is the 20th anniversary of the Million Man March and this time Minister Farrakhan wants Native Americans to come and have a voice. He wants us to stand AS ONE, in the belly of the beast and show America that we are no longer buying into the bullshit. The first march was about atonement, this march is about unity under The Creator to show this government that the injustice against us MUST come to a stop. The murders and missing women of ours, the poverty, the alcoholism, the sickness, the abuse all of it MUST come to a stop and we need justice in order to get the healing to begin.
The enviromental racism that is unique to Native people, the theft of land that continues, the removal of our children from Native homes all of these issues that are unique to our people can be addressed on 10-10-15 if, and ONLY IF, we make a decision to be a part of the mobilization. Look at line 5 here in Michigan. The danger is poses is well known but it is ignored because there is so few of us making enough noise. Now imagine if we get our Black and Brown family to join with us to make our voices heard and our demand for justice met. What kind of power do we really have when real and true unity, with the Black and Brown, confronts the power that be? Sure we have Whites joining us, I have no problem with them as allies, but the circle is not complete until we do the proper reach out to our entire human family.
I had a guy who I respect a lot say to me, "It would be an easier sell if it was anybody but Farrakhan" and my response is, "Then why didn't YOU or any other 'leader' in our community call for something like this?" Tons of reasons but to be honest I will say it's because too many of us have bought into the propaganda about Black people that White supremacy has taught to us. Don't get me wrong, too many Blacks and 'Latinos" have also bought into the lies about us. This divisive tactic is on purpose in order to keep us seperate and therefore not use the power that we have. Our power is derived from a divine source and when we get together under the banner of a beneficent Creator we are unstoppable, I have said it a million times that once we get praying there is absolutely nothing that can stop us. Nothing stands a chance against our prayers,
If I wanted to learn about Jesus how foolish would I be to go to Pontius Pilate and ask him? Wouldn't I be an idiot if I asked Judas to tell me the good things about Jesus? If I asked the pharisees or the Sadducee do you think I would get a good answer? Of course not. If I went to a disciple or even better, if I went to Jesus himself I would learn about him truly. Doesn't that make sense? So if I want to know the truth about Farrakhan, and
I am not comparing him to Jesus, wouldn't it make sense to go to one of his assistants or followers or even him himself? That's what I did. Back in 1992 i went to Mosque number 1 in Detroit with my kola Tony Goulet, author of The Four and God Help Me Tie My Shoes, and asked and saw for myself. Uninvited but welcomed beyond belief I met Rasul Muhammad who is the son of T.H.E.M and Dawud Muhammad and we became brothers. Real brothers. Pow Wow buddies and activist and sweat lodge brothers. I asked for myself. I listened to speeches and checked up on the things that they all said to see if they were valid. They were and are.
On October 9th Minister Farrakhan has requested that on the mall in Washington DC we, the Indigenous people of the world, gather for a day of prayer for healing and unity. We gather in the name of our Creator and come together and seek out the power and healing that can only come when we, as Original people, come together and join forces for a better tomorrow. When we put aside all of our preconceived notions of what Black and Brown and White people are and do and take our grievances together so that we make America into the promise that it holds. We seek out real Justice, Freedom and Equality. The REAL stuff not this illusion that we live under but our Creator given rights as Original people.
The young are catching on with a fire! It is people my age who want to kiss ass of White folks and not rock the boat, not disturb the pitiful things that we have now. Check out the response Minister Farrakhan gets from our youth in this video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhxmjHYwVKQ
justiceorelse.com
Be a part of history. Our children and WE deserve it.
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Everybody wants to be an Indian but nobody wants to live like an Indian
Allen Locke was a resident of Lakota Community Homes in Rapid City South Dakota. Allen attended a #NativeLivesMatter anti-police brutality march on a Friday in December, The next day, Saturday, he was shot five times and murdered in front of bystanders. Did you hear about this? Probably not. Native Americans are killed by police at nearly identical rates of Blacks but we don't hear about it on the news.
There are 45 million Black Americans (as of 2013) and 5.1 million American Indians but indigenous people are killed by law enforcement at rates that far outstrip our share of the population. #Blacklivesmatter has garnered plenty of attention from the main stream media and has become a rallying cry for justice but outside of the twitteverse and the indigenous blogosphere , which have all the horror stories one person can take, #nativelivesmatter has gotten no attention. Last year in November and December there were six Native men and women killed by police and yet we don't hear anything about it.
I can't say what is more frustrating, not hearing about it or hearing about it and not having a damn thing done to bring justice to those in uniform that murder us. The officers just walk after a short time of paid time off. There is not justice there.
We are not sovereign in our territories. There is no true sovereignty on our lands not with the government intruding into our affairs at the rate that they do. The long history of American government meddling into our affairs, the disproportionate rates of suicide substance abuse, disease, poverty, low education, employment and health care resources and the inability of the governmental agencies entrusted with indigenous care, the BIA and such, only make the already dismal circumstances worse. The systematic criminalization of indigenous people when combined with the systematic forces of substance abuse, mental health issues and unemployment paint a picture of utter deconstruction and genocide by design.
Take the story of Mah-hi-vist Goodblanket who at 18 years old was shot several times in Custer County Oklahoma or 34 year old Benjamin Whiteshield who was shot in the mouth in Clinton Oklahoma by police after both were experiencing episodes of mental illness.
Then what about Christina Tahhahwah who was bipolar and arrested during an episode and died after she went into cardiac arrest in Lawton Oklahoma inside of prison cell. Native News Online reports that she was handcuffed to her cell door for "unknown reasons" and the the 37 year olds parents were not notified of her transfer to the hospital where she was pronounced dead until many many hours after the fact. Inmates claim she was "tased repeatedly" for refusing to sing Comanche hymns.
Where is the justice there? We have been asking about justice for Trayvon while his killer walks free and has been arrested 6 times for violent offenses, we have been asking if it was just to murder Michael Brown and leave his body on display for four hours in the sun or kill Eric Garner or the list goes on and on. Brown and Black dying at the hands of police who are out of contril with no accountability.
Poverty, disease, suicide rates that are double that of the nation at large, enviromental racism that effects not only sacred sites but the miserable conditions on the reservations as it is,
The official poverty rate on reservations is 28.4 percent, compared with 15.3 nationally. Thirty-six percent of families with children are below the poverty line on reservations, compared with 9.2 percent of native famalies. Five of the lowest per capita incomes in the country are found on reservations. Allen, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, has the lowest per capita income in the country, at $1,539 per year. Overall, the per capita income of American Indians on Reservations is half that of all Americans. The median income on reservations is $29,097, compared to $41,994 nationally. According to the US census bureau some reservations have a 60 percent rate of poverty.
Where is there justice in THAT? For the Original People of this continent to be living in those conditions? At over 14 percent, the rate of homes without any electricity on reservations is ten times the national average. On the Navajo Reservation, nearly 40 percent of homes are without electricity. Furthermore, reservations are often the last to receive updated electrical infrastructure, and are the last places to which service is restored following an outage.
One fifth of reservation households lack running water, compared with one percent of households nationwide. Nearly one half of Navajo and Hopi Reservation residents lack plumbing. Nearly 20 percent of reservation homes lack basic kitchen facilities, including piped water, a range or cookstove, and a refrigerator. On the Navajo Reservation, nearly half of all households lack these necessities. This is compared to three percent of American Indians nationwide and only one percent of all households in the country.
Modern telecommunications are also extremely lacking. More than half of households on reservations do not have phone service, compared with five percent nationally, and nine percent among nonmetropolitan area. Fewer than 10 percent of reservation residents have internet access. Furthermore, many larger, rural reservations are without cell phone reception. The lack of telecommunications infrastructure severely limits the potential for economic exchange.
This is by design and there needs to be a way to address these grievances. Please continue to check back as I will further go into the creation of reservations and the plight of the Original People today and what we ARE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT on 10-10-15.
There are 45 million Black Americans (as of 2013) and 5.1 million American Indians but indigenous people are killed by law enforcement at rates that far outstrip our share of the population. #Blacklivesmatter has garnered plenty of attention from the main stream media and has become a rallying cry for justice but outside of the twitteverse and the indigenous blogosphere , which have all the horror stories one person can take, #nativelivesmatter has gotten no attention. Last year in November and December there were six Native men and women killed by police and yet we don't hear anything about it.
I can't say what is more frustrating, not hearing about it or hearing about it and not having a damn thing done to bring justice to those in uniform that murder us. The officers just walk after a short time of paid time off. There is not justice there.
We are not sovereign in our territories. There is no true sovereignty on our lands not with the government intruding into our affairs at the rate that they do. The long history of American government meddling into our affairs, the disproportionate rates of suicide substance abuse, disease, poverty, low education, employment and health care resources and the inability of the governmental agencies entrusted with indigenous care, the BIA and such, only make the already dismal circumstances worse. The systematic criminalization of indigenous people when combined with the systematic forces of substance abuse, mental health issues and unemployment paint a picture of utter deconstruction and genocide by design.
Take the story of Mah-hi-vist Goodblanket who at 18 years old was shot several times in Custer County Oklahoma or 34 year old Benjamin Whiteshield who was shot in the mouth in Clinton Oklahoma by police after both were experiencing episodes of mental illness.
Then what about Christina Tahhahwah who was bipolar and arrested during an episode and died after she went into cardiac arrest in Lawton Oklahoma inside of prison cell. Native News Online reports that she was handcuffed to her cell door for "unknown reasons" and the the 37 year olds parents were not notified of her transfer to the hospital where she was pronounced dead until many many hours after the fact. Inmates claim she was "tased repeatedly" for refusing to sing Comanche hymns.
Where is the justice there? We have been asking about justice for Trayvon while his killer walks free and has been arrested 6 times for violent offenses, we have been asking if it was just to murder Michael Brown and leave his body on display for four hours in the sun or kill Eric Garner or the list goes on and on. Brown and Black dying at the hands of police who are out of contril with no accountability.
Poverty, disease, suicide rates that are double that of the nation at large, enviromental racism that effects not only sacred sites but the miserable conditions on the reservations as it is,
The official poverty rate on reservations is 28.4 percent, compared with 15.3 nationally. Thirty-six percent of families with children are below the poverty line on reservations, compared with 9.2 percent of native famalies. Five of the lowest per capita incomes in the country are found on reservations. Allen, South Dakota, on the Pine Ridge Reservation, has the lowest per capita income in the country, at $1,539 per year. Overall, the per capita income of American Indians on Reservations is half that of all Americans. The median income on reservations is $29,097, compared to $41,994 nationally. According to the US census bureau some reservations have a 60 percent rate of poverty.
Where is there justice in THAT? For the Original People of this continent to be living in those conditions? At over 14 percent, the rate of homes without any electricity on reservations is ten times the national average. On the Navajo Reservation, nearly 40 percent of homes are without electricity. Furthermore, reservations are often the last to receive updated electrical infrastructure, and are the last places to which service is restored following an outage.
One fifth of reservation households lack running water, compared with one percent of households nationwide. Nearly one half of Navajo and Hopi Reservation residents lack plumbing. Nearly 20 percent of reservation homes lack basic kitchen facilities, including piped water, a range or cookstove, and a refrigerator. On the Navajo Reservation, nearly half of all households lack these necessities. This is compared to three percent of American Indians nationwide and only one percent of all households in the country.
Modern telecommunications are also extremely lacking. More than half of households on reservations do not have phone service, compared with five percent nationally, and nine percent among nonmetropolitan area. Fewer than 10 percent of reservation residents have internet access. Furthermore, many larger, rural reservations are without cell phone reception. The lack of telecommunications infrastructure severely limits the potential for economic exchange.
This is by design and there needs to be a way to address these grievances. Please continue to check back as I will further go into the creation of reservations and the plight of the Original People today and what we ARE GOING TO DO ABOUT IT on 10-10-15.
Saturday, June 13, 2015
We talk. You Listen
We as The Original People of this planet have been stigmatized, terrorized and traumatized for well over 500 years. Everything that our open enemy has thought of has been tossed our way. If you don't recognize who our open enemy is then stop reading and finish watching Duck Dynasty or the Kardashians or those God awful duck hunters.
Vine DeLoria Jr wrote a book in 1970 titled 'We Talk You Listen" and what this preeminent scholar and philosopher of NDN people understood then is that when we have something to say, and we always do, especially when it concerns us, White people do not listen. Their arrogance, the over inflated sense of self, the ingrained bigotry and supremacy makes it damn near impossible for them to seek out our people when it concerns us. Liberals are masters of taking a parental approach to the Indian problem. Whites, already knowing best, know exactly how to handle us without ever having to consult us in the first place. When decisions are made on our behalf without consulting us it is a slap in the face, it si disrespectful and paternalistic.
In 1990 four Original Women from Eastern Michigan University approached the president at that time, President Shelton, about removing the offensive severed head logo of the Huron, which had been the logo of EMU for 62 years at that point. These four sisters were joined by a Navajo man in this endeavor and they put in a massive amount of work speaking to various regent members, faculty and staff and student leaders. The president of the Student body, Jeff Rose, threw his influence behind the change wholeheartedly. Jeff was one of the first Caucasian student leaders to do so, I mention that because any type of assistance from Whites would come few and far and not much at all.
The Huron Restoration League is a typical conservative right wing republican voting "Murica love it or leave it" reactionary group. They are identical to the Tea Party in that the stated goal is one thing while the truth of it's goal is another. The Tea Party's goal is to usurp the authority of the truly elected American citizen president Barack Obama. He's Black and well............he just should not be in the position that he is. (Taxes are actually LOWER under Barack than they were under the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Supreme Court appointed president George Bush. As Ronnie Reagan said ," Facts are stupid things")
After all of the hard work, the time, energy and effort that these brave and brilliant sisters put in the Huron logo was removed. A vote was sent out to the students to choose a new logo and the EMU was actually close in the running but the Eagle won out. I'd like to point out that if you ask a Native person what it would be like to be compared to an Eagle they will automatically tell you it is an honor and humbling. There is part of the rub, if we were ever bothered to be asked in what manner we would like to be honored we could answer but that is not the case. Whites just know better so they tell us that naming a assault vehicle or a sports team where the violence is inherent, after us is an honor we should shut p[ and take their word for it.
The two sisters who spearheaded the movement graduated and commenced to build a life for themselves outside of the university. Barb Gentry was the faculty person who was in charge of the Multi-Cultural center and Connee Sagataw who was acquiring her degree in human resources were left with a few other Native people and they were busy planning the first traditional pow wow for EMU. That was the year I arrived. Both of these sisters had commissioned an artist to render a painting of a Eagle to present to President Shelton as thanks at the first Board Of Regents meeting and they had asked if I would present it to him on behalf of the Native American Student Association (NASO). They both told me to be careful because at previous meetings there were members of the students and alumni who wanted the logo back and they would verbally harass and physically intimidate Native students because of the logo. Both Connee and Barb told me they had been kicked, pushed and followed by these people. Over a logo......think about that a second. The fact that these sisters made a stand on behalf of Native people and the way that we are presented to the world AND had the audacity to win caused them such psychological difficulty that they resorted to acts of violence, That is a special type of sick.
At the meeting while I was speaking the logo people were making hissing noises and actually booed me when I was finished. I was then asked for a quote for the Eastern Echo and the Ypsi Press. Certain student groups asked me to come and speak about the logo to new students. Professors and other teachers asked me to come to explain. This made me a target and I began to get harassed on campus while working in the kitchen, walking to class, while eating at the dining hall, having notes left on my dorm door and eventually I began getting phone calls. I was told I was a "dead red nigger", that "I should shut up if I knew what was best for me" and on and on. I made friends with a guy who was a member of the Nation Of Islam and he and I would hang out often. This made me a racist. I made an alliance with the Black Student Association and the Latino Student Association and this caused them issues. Numerous times when I would come to Board of Regents meetings there would be yelling at "Squaws" and "Here comes Davi and his niggers". Of course the Huron Restoration could deny this as being from them and not condoning it and saying it was "a few bad apples" yet the escalation of the Huron Restoration to get the logo reinstated directly corresponded to escalation of verbal and physical attacks against us. It was not a coincidence.
Flash forward to 2012. President Martin made the decision without consulting the Native students to put the logo back onto the band uniforms. The committee to make the new uniform had a member of the Huron Restoration Committee on it. NOT a coincidence. SHe has since apologized but her apology is lame, weak, tired, insincere and late. She made the conscious decision to spit in the face of those of us who put in work to remove that logo and then make sure it stayed gone. The logo is on the inside flap of the jacket. They try to be slick by hiding it but it is nothing more than them saying, "we can give you the illusion that you get what you want". That's how they treat us because they don't give a damn about us. They don't care about us as humans let alone as Original people.
The student group has offered to purchase the tools AND donate the time to remove the logo but President Martin is a liar and says that doing so will damage the uniform. I have asked Andrea Pierce, a good sister who I refer to as " The Odawa Martha Stewart" because of all the amazing things she does with material, and she said the tool is specifically deigned to NOT damage the material. SO, not only is President Martin flippant and unconcerned with a specific membership of EMU but she perpetuates a lie. I specifically asked her this question because I wanted her to lie to me and she did.
On April 11th Nate Phillips an Omaha Native was walking down Normal street in Ypsilanti near the EMU campus when he came across members of the swim and wrestling teams dressed in head dresses and face paint. They referred to themselves as "Huron's". He told them they were disrespectful and this courageous group of young White men began verbally abusing him telling him to , 'go back to the reservation" and threw a full can of beer amongst other things at him. He is pressing charges. Then on campus the hostility to Native people is increasing. All of this is in direct correlation to the powers that be in EMU being real life "Indian givers". NASO held a press conference and Amber and Michelle and Christopher all from NASO did a fantastic job of laying out concisely and succinctly the problems arising from the return of the logo. I was then given the honor to address the attendees, unsurprisingly when I got up to talk the Ann Arbor news people shut down. They remember me and my radical militant nature and the fact that I unabashedly remained close to members of "Farrakhans group" which as I stated earlier I still do to this day. They are my family, there are members of the Nation who's parents I refer to as "mom" and they do the same to me. During my speech I warned everyone in attendance, "If you choose to ignore these young sisters and brothers who are being so nice, so kind and are deeply concerned not only for themselves but others you do so at your own peril. The days of Native people going away quietly are over. The day of justice has arrived and if you ignore the nice then you get to meet me and those like me. The "not so nice" and we are not in the mood to beg or play." We are going to make some noise and our concerns will be addressed. We are not coming in the spirit of compromise, we are coming in the spirit of Crazy Horse, Running Canoe and the warriors of our people looking to create a better tomorrow for the seventh generation. You all have no idea how infuriating it is to know that these beautiful, genius nephews and nieces of mine on this campus are fighting the exact same fight that we fought almost 25 damn years ago.
We come peacefully to be heard. We will be heard. We will talk and you WILL listen.
On June 16th we are having a rally and I am asking that you please come and hear from some students and community members about what we plan to do to get our repect, what we will do to protect ourselves and what we demand in terms of justice. 2:00 pm in front of Welch hall on th campus of EMU. Let's gather as a family, present the best of us, dress clean, bring our hand drums, our spirit, our love and our loyalty to each other as Original people. Hear the truth being spoken to power as only WE can do it. Read this closely. When WE, The Original People, begin to pray there is nothing, absolutely NOTHING that can stop what is in motion.
Vine DeLoria Jr wrote a book in 1970 titled 'We Talk You Listen" and what this preeminent scholar and philosopher of NDN people understood then is that when we have something to say, and we always do, especially when it concerns us, White people do not listen. Their arrogance, the over inflated sense of self, the ingrained bigotry and supremacy makes it damn near impossible for them to seek out our people when it concerns us. Liberals are masters of taking a parental approach to the Indian problem. Whites, already knowing best, know exactly how to handle us without ever having to consult us in the first place. When decisions are made on our behalf without consulting us it is a slap in the face, it si disrespectful and paternalistic.
In 1990 four Original Women from Eastern Michigan University approached the president at that time, President Shelton, about removing the offensive severed head logo of the Huron, which had been the logo of EMU for 62 years at that point. These four sisters were joined by a Navajo man in this endeavor and they put in a massive amount of work speaking to various regent members, faculty and staff and student leaders. The president of the Student body, Jeff Rose, threw his influence behind the change wholeheartedly. Jeff was one of the first Caucasian student leaders to do so, I mention that because any type of assistance from Whites would come few and far and not much at all.
The Huron Restoration League is a typical conservative right wing republican voting "Murica love it or leave it" reactionary group. They are identical to the Tea Party in that the stated goal is one thing while the truth of it's goal is another. The Tea Party's goal is to usurp the authority of the truly elected American citizen president Barack Obama. He's Black and well............he just should not be in the position that he is. (Taxes are actually LOWER under Barack than they were under the Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Supreme Court appointed president George Bush. As Ronnie Reagan said ," Facts are stupid things")
After all of the hard work, the time, energy and effort that these brave and brilliant sisters put in the Huron logo was removed. A vote was sent out to the students to choose a new logo and the EMU was actually close in the running but the Eagle won out. I'd like to point out that if you ask a Native person what it would be like to be compared to an Eagle they will automatically tell you it is an honor and humbling. There is part of the rub, if we were ever bothered to be asked in what manner we would like to be honored we could answer but that is not the case. Whites just know better so they tell us that naming a assault vehicle or a sports team where the violence is inherent, after us is an honor we should shut p[ and take their word for it.
The two sisters who spearheaded the movement graduated and commenced to build a life for themselves outside of the university. Barb Gentry was the faculty person who was in charge of the Multi-Cultural center and Connee Sagataw who was acquiring her degree in human resources were left with a few other Native people and they were busy planning the first traditional pow wow for EMU. That was the year I arrived. Both of these sisters had commissioned an artist to render a painting of a Eagle to present to President Shelton as thanks at the first Board Of Regents meeting and they had asked if I would present it to him on behalf of the Native American Student Association (NASO). They both told me to be careful because at previous meetings there were members of the students and alumni who wanted the logo back and they would verbally harass and physically intimidate Native students because of the logo. Both Connee and Barb told me they had been kicked, pushed and followed by these people. Over a logo......think about that a second. The fact that these sisters made a stand on behalf of Native people and the way that we are presented to the world AND had the audacity to win caused them such psychological difficulty that they resorted to acts of violence, That is a special type of sick.
At the meeting while I was speaking the logo people were making hissing noises and actually booed me when I was finished. I was then asked for a quote for the Eastern Echo and the Ypsi Press. Certain student groups asked me to come and speak about the logo to new students. Professors and other teachers asked me to come to explain. This made me a target and I began to get harassed on campus while working in the kitchen, walking to class, while eating at the dining hall, having notes left on my dorm door and eventually I began getting phone calls. I was told I was a "dead red nigger", that "I should shut up if I knew what was best for me" and on and on. I made friends with a guy who was a member of the Nation Of Islam and he and I would hang out often. This made me a racist. I made an alliance with the Black Student Association and the Latino Student Association and this caused them issues. Numerous times when I would come to Board of Regents meetings there would be yelling at "Squaws" and "Here comes Davi and his niggers". Of course the Huron Restoration could deny this as being from them and not condoning it and saying it was "a few bad apples" yet the escalation of the Huron Restoration to get the logo reinstated directly corresponded to escalation of verbal and physical attacks against us. It was not a coincidence.
Flash forward to 2012. President Martin made the decision without consulting the Native students to put the logo back onto the band uniforms. The committee to make the new uniform had a member of the Huron Restoration Committee on it. NOT a coincidence. SHe has since apologized but her apology is lame, weak, tired, insincere and late. She made the conscious decision to spit in the face of those of us who put in work to remove that logo and then make sure it stayed gone. The logo is on the inside flap of the jacket. They try to be slick by hiding it but it is nothing more than them saying, "we can give you the illusion that you get what you want". That's how they treat us because they don't give a damn about us. They don't care about us as humans let alone as Original people.
The student group has offered to purchase the tools AND donate the time to remove the logo but President Martin is a liar and says that doing so will damage the uniform. I have asked Andrea Pierce, a good sister who I refer to as " The Odawa Martha Stewart" because of all the amazing things she does with material, and she said the tool is specifically deigned to NOT damage the material. SO, not only is President Martin flippant and unconcerned with a specific membership of EMU but she perpetuates a lie. I specifically asked her this question because I wanted her to lie to me and she did.
On April 11th Nate Phillips an Omaha Native was walking down Normal street in Ypsilanti near the EMU campus when he came across members of the swim and wrestling teams dressed in head dresses and face paint. They referred to themselves as "Huron's". He told them they were disrespectful and this courageous group of young White men began verbally abusing him telling him to , 'go back to the reservation" and threw a full can of beer amongst other things at him. He is pressing charges. Then on campus the hostility to Native people is increasing. All of this is in direct correlation to the powers that be in EMU being real life "Indian givers". NASO held a press conference and Amber and Michelle and Christopher all from NASO did a fantastic job of laying out concisely and succinctly the problems arising from the return of the logo. I was then given the honor to address the attendees, unsurprisingly when I got up to talk the Ann Arbor news people shut down. They remember me and my radical militant nature and the fact that I unabashedly remained close to members of "Farrakhans group" which as I stated earlier I still do to this day. They are my family, there are members of the Nation who's parents I refer to as "mom" and they do the same to me. During my speech I warned everyone in attendance, "If you choose to ignore these young sisters and brothers who are being so nice, so kind and are deeply concerned not only for themselves but others you do so at your own peril. The days of Native people going away quietly are over. The day of justice has arrived and if you ignore the nice then you get to meet me and those like me. The "not so nice" and we are not in the mood to beg or play." We are going to make some noise and our concerns will be addressed. We are not coming in the spirit of compromise, we are coming in the spirit of Crazy Horse, Running Canoe and the warriors of our people looking to create a better tomorrow for the seventh generation. You all have no idea how infuriating it is to know that these beautiful, genius nephews and nieces of mine on this campus are fighting the exact same fight that we fought almost 25 damn years ago.
We come peacefully to be heard. We will be heard. We will talk and you WILL listen.
On June 16th we are having a rally and I am asking that you please come and hear from some students and community members about what we plan to do to get our repect, what we will do to protect ourselves and what we demand in terms of justice. 2:00 pm in front of Welch hall on th campus of EMU. Let's gather as a family, present the best of us, dress clean, bring our hand drums, our spirit, our love and our loyalty to each other as Original people. Hear the truth being spoken to power as only WE can do it. Read this closely. When WE, The Original People, begin to pray there is nothing, absolutely NOTHING that can stop what is in motion.
Monday, December 22, 2014
Something Sacred this way comes
I'm going to get hated on for this, but that's ok with me. There is plenty about me to hate so one more thing doesn't matter much. This has been something that has been weighing pretty heavy on my mind for a long time.
Nothing, not a place or an object is more sacred than life. That does not sound necessarily radical but I am saying that there is absolutely nothing more sacred than life. Life of a human, life of an animal and the life of our planet.
No Mosque, Synagogue, Church, Temple, rock, mountain, body of water or anthing that a person has made is more sacred than life. No one is more sacred than the other, The pope is no more sacred than the Dali Lama or you. I and you are no more sacred than the squirrel in the tree or the eagle in the air.
I can grant there are things that should be venerated and respected because of the importance that we place upon them. In our religion the pipe is considered sacred as is the drum and certain ceremonies. As a person who participates in ceremonies and can personally attest to the power of the drum and the pipe and their healing ability I do consider these objects to be imbued with divine purpose. That's the rub, they are divine to me and those of us who practice this way because we place the importance to our spiritual life into them. I will say that as someone who has a drum, both personal and group, and a personal pipe. I see these as what they are. They are tools that were expressly given to us to use in order to RE-LINK to the spirit, to the Creator of all natural things. The thing that brought me back into the fold, so to say, was the drum. I met some Indians at school and they insisted that I come to a pow wow and it was when I heard the drum, I mean I sat and listened to it, the rhythm and the vocables that I felt a tug. Considering myself spiritual much more than any religion, I recognized this tug as a spiritual thing. This was a pull to come back that I only felt once before and that was when I first prayed after a number of years of not paying any attention to God. The drum has been used to bring so many of us back to our ways that it's profound impact on my family and friends and people can not be measured by any manner known to man.
I have told my wife that I would absolutely love to go on a trip that is offered that is a "biblical tour". I would love to but I know there would be a lot of evangelical Christians and I have no tolerance for them, I would love to see the sacred Mosque! That would be awesome, I would lvoe to see these areas that are sacred to so many Billions of people. Just like I would like to got to Dharamasala and see where the Dali Lama lives. I am not a practitioner of these religions I can still appreciate what others find sacred. I think that the Bible is an outdated book filled with contradictions, violence and Hebrew fairy tales but I would never physically harm or desecrate a Bible, Torah or Quran. As a matter of fact I have copies of all the holy books in my home and i have read each of them. What I don't find sacred does not give me any cache to discredit it as useless. These books, like our drum and sacred bundles and ceremonies are still nothing but guides and tools meant for us to use in order to connect with The Creator.
They are still just things. They are still just places. I stay confused as to why some think that some areas are more "sacred" than others. What makes the earth from 8 mile and Jefferson LESS sacred than the earth on the Temple Mound? Earth herself is sacred, all of her. Just like my head is not more me than my torso. The Creator is not into real estate ventures and so to designate a place as more sacred than another is contradictory. The Universe is anything but contradictory. The pope is not more anything than you or me. Your leaders, minister, preacher, deacon or whatever designation you put on people can not be more than you and me. Doesn't the bible say that God loves all of us equally? If that is the case and I believe it is, then there are no 'chosen' people. There are people. End of sentence.
When we take our eyes away from this truth, That people are just that, then it opens room for us to damage one another, it leaves it easy for people to be labeled as less. As "savage with no soul" as we were called or as 3/5th human as they used as an excuse to treat us as chattel slaves. How many millions of Black people were murdered by King Leopold because he convinced his army that they were not as human or as important as the land they lived on? Hell that is our story here. 90 plus million of us were wiped out between 1492 and 1927. How and why? Land and the people were convinced that we were not as human as them. Something was more important than life.
I am talking about life, animal life included. You can tell a lot about a people in how they treat animals. Since I have adopted rabbits my outlook on treating animals and even eating animals has changed. I still eat meat, I'm an Indian for God's sake there is no changing that, but I find myself more aware of the spirit within animals. It is as important as mine, It has a purpose as much as mine. It is as sacred as mine.
Am I sacrilegious when I say that life is more important than any Mosque, Synagogue, Pipe, Drum, temple or area? I can't be. We can say that God has designated these places and things as sacred but the fact remains they are called such because we call them that. Our life is the testament that we are sacred. The emotions and "tug" that so many are familiar with are evidence that we are sacred. If a person didn't know that the Lakota considered the Black Hills sacred would that make them wrong? bad? evil?
Maybe if we recognized ourselves as sacred these murders and abuses would not be at the levels they are at. Maybe if we recognized that each life is as important as the next then we just might have a chance of survival.
Nothing, not a place or an object is more sacred than life. That does not sound necessarily radical but I am saying that there is absolutely nothing more sacred than life. Life of a human, life of an animal and the life of our planet.
No Mosque, Synagogue, Church, Temple, rock, mountain, body of water or anthing that a person has made is more sacred than life. No one is more sacred than the other, The pope is no more sacred than the Dali Lama or you. I and you are no more sacred than the squirrel in the tree or the eagle in the air.
I can grant there are things that should be venerated and respected because of the importance that we place upon them. In our religion the pipe is considered sacred as is the drum and certain ceremonies. As a person who participates in ceremonies and can personally attest to the power of the drum and the pipe and their healing ability I do consider these objects to be imbued with divine purpose. That's the rub, they are divine to me and those of us who practice this way because we place the importance to our spiritual life into them. I will say that as someone who has a drum, both personal and group, and a personal pipe. I see these as what they are. They are tools that were expressly given to us to use in order to RE-LINK to the spirit, to the Creator of all natural things. The thing that brought me back into the fold, so to say, was the drum. I met some Indians at school and they insisted that I come to a pow wow and it was when I heard the drum, I mean I sat and listened to it, the rhythm and the vocables that I felt a tug. Considering myself spiritual much more than any religion, I recognized this tug as a spiritual thing. This was a pull to come back that I only felt once before and that was when I first prayed after a number of years of not paying any attention to God. The drum has been used to bring so many of us back to our ways that it's profound impact on my family and friends and people can not be measured by any manner known to man.
I have told my wife that I would absolutely love to go on a trip that is offered that is a "biblical tour". I would love to but I know there would be a lot of evangelical Christians and I have no tolerance for them, I would love to see the sacred Mosque! That would be awesome, I would lvoe to see these areas that are sacred to so many Billions of people. Just like I would like to got to Dharamasala and see where the Dali Lama lives. I am not a practitioner of these religions I can still appreciate what others find sacred. I think that the Bible is an outdated book filled with contradictions, violence and Hebrew fairy tales but I would never physically harm or desecrate a Bible, Torah or Quran. As a matter of fact I have copies of all the holy books in my home and i have read each of them. What I don't find sacred does not give me any cache to discredit it as useless. These books, like our drum and sacred bundles and ceremonies are still nothing but guides and tools meant for us to use in order to connect with The Creator.
They are still just things. They are still just places. I stay confused as to why some think that some areas are more "sacred" than others. What makes the earth from 8 mile and Jefferson LESS sacred than the earth on the Temple Mound? Earth herself is sacred, all of her. Just like my head is not more me than my torso. The Creator is not into real estate ventures and so to designate a place as more sacred than another is contradictory. The Universe is anything but contradictory. The pope is not more anything than you or me. Your leaders, minister, preacher, deacon or whatever designation you put on people can not be more than you and me. Doesn't the bible say that God loves all of us equally? If that is the case and I believe it is, then there are no 'chosen' people. There are people. End of sentence.
When we take our eyes away from this truth, That people are just that, then it opens room for us to damage one another, it leaves it easy for people to be labeled as less. As "savage with no soul" as we were called or as 3/5th human as they used as an excuse to treat us as chattel slaves. How many millions of Black people were murdered by King Leopold because he convinced his army that they were not as human or as important as the land they lived on? Hell that is our story here. 90 plus million of us were wiped out between 1492 and 1927. How and why? Land and the people were convinced that we were not as human as them. Something was more important than life.
I am talking about life, animal life included. You can tell a lot about a people in how they treat animals. Since I have adopted rabbits my outlook on treating animals and even eating animals has changed. I still eat meat, I'm an Indian for God's sake there is no changing that, but I find myself more aware of the spirit within animals. It is as important as mine, It has a purpose as much as mine. It is as sacred as mine.
Am I sacrilegious when I say that life is more important than any Mosque, Synagogue, Pipe, Drum, temple or area? I can't be. We can say that God has designated these places and things as sacred but the fact remains they are called such because we call them that. Our life is the testament that we are sacred. The emotions and "tug" that so many are familiar with are evidence that we are sacred. If a person didn't know that the Lakota considered the Black Hills sacred would that make them wrong? bad? evil?
Maybe if we recognized ourselves as sacred these murders and abuses would not be at the levels they are at. Maybe if we recognized that each life is as important as the next then we just might have a chance of survival.
From Elijah Muhammad
"If you look at the emblems which represent these two religions and understand their meanings, you will say, "How could I have ever been a Christian? Or ever to have believed in such a religion which will display such a gruesome sign — a murdered prophet to beckon me on a path to murder?"
The whole history of the White race is written in the shedding of innocent blood. They kill the righteous. Do you not hear how openly they speak of killing me and my followers? Do you not see how they go in gangs, armed to the teeth, to kill me and my followers? They try to provoke us to strike back at them — innocent people upon whom they prey.
They attack our meeting places like wild jungle creatures; actually shoot up the walls of our temples to show their hatred of the righteous and the right-doer — without any cause whatsoever, as you see and know. We carry no weapons, but this is no defense or excuse to the White race, which is, by nature, made to attack and kill the innocent without an excuse.
They go in carloads and truckloads, raiding the poor innocent Black sections to take our lives without any cause or provocation whatsoever — wrecking our property — knowing that we have no arms. They cowardly, evilly come in great numbers as though they expect a great army to rise up against them. Cowards!
They have no respect for good. They bomb our Black Christian brothers’ churches in the South. They shoot them down on highways, in their homes and on the job — anywhere he can satisfy his lust for blood; a blood-thirsty wicked human beast.
They go out on the streets and run down the poor Black man to take his life, with no excuse except their hatred of him and to bear witness to the truth of himself that he is the devil.
They have the nerve to tell the poor innocent victim (Black man) that the teacher of the truth is teaching hatred of him! Who could love him? There should be no need to teach hatred of you to a people who were born and brought up under your feet and who daily experience the cruel blows from your heavy boots, because that person already knows that you are the heartless enemy — who will not let him go free in a separate place here in this wide territory.
But you would rather hold them here under your eyes so that you can do evil things to them — beat and kill them while they are helpless. Your enemies would gladly arm every one of them, but Allah (God) does not want us to bear arms.
He wants to show you that he is God. He wants to fight you with His weapons, the forces of nature — rain, hail, snow and earthquakes; the sun, moon and the star. As little as we respect that little dried up piece of our planet called moon, which looks harmless, it has such power of magnetic pull on our planet that it could affect our lives.
Now comes the Christians’ big holiday which they call Christmas. With all the fantastic foolishness of jungle savages, they pretend to love worshipping the prophet on the 25th day of December. They stagger drunkenly all over the streets, campuses and most of the homes and churches, with card games, dice and other games of chance and all kinds of whisky and beer — to celebrate that great prophet; with fighting and killing and eating swine flesh. Such is the day which they call the birthday of Jesus.
They have nothing of good in their behavior. It is like Isaiah said, "This people worship me with their mouth, but their hearts are far from me." This is true.
It is all false that Jesus was born on the 25th day of December. But the poor Black slave, who used to rejoice that his master gave him one day of rest from the hard labor which he was made to serve, until any day his master said was a holiday was all right with him, as long as he did not have to work.
Until this day, they do not stop to ask what is the meaning of his holiday and where it sprang from. There is no holiday of the White people which the so-called Negro should worship as his day. He never seeks to find a day of his own on which he can worship.
He seeks to worship what the White man worships — and feels rejected if not permitted to go to war with his master regardless of whom his master is fighting, even though it be his own brother or family. He thinks he is disgraced if he is not involved in whatsoever his master is involved in, and he believes he has a share in it because he wants the love and respect of his master so much.
In fact, he does not believe in what he teaches you of Christianity. Even the very basic principle of Christianity is wrong and false (three Gods in one). And that one of them had to die, He being the Son of the Father, to save the wicked world of the Caucasian race is the most damnable teaching against your peace and happiness. It takes you right out of life.
Another false practice on the 25th day of December: the children between the ages of 3 and 12 think a Santa Claus is visiting them, making them believe they are getting presents from some foreign or strange person other than themselves (the parents).
Some of the parents go so far as to scratch the chimney and tell the children "Santa came down here last night." This is outright false and telling other than the truth. They even have pictures made and commercialize on it.
How could one come from way around the North Pole driving a small sled-like cart? And where did he buy all of those toys? How does Santa drive his sled in the South where there is no snow or ice for him to drive on? They rob themselves of the honor of the child at his receiving their gifts.
Jesus is garbed up and commercialized on by a world of evil and sin and you like this, my people — you love this now. You defy anyone, even God Himself, to try and remove your love of what is false.
You cannot prove that the 25th day of December is the birthday of Jesus and you are preaching out of a Bible which does not carry any such history. It gives you an idea that he could not have been born on December 25 by these words "While the shepherd watched their flocks by night."
If it had been in December, could they have been sitting out at night watching the flock eat good green grass? December is wintertime! Winter starts on the 21st day of December — you are four days into winter there.
Of course, there are some parts of the earth where winter does not come and there is pasture for the sheep all year round. But it is not like that in Palestine — in the winter, especially at night.
According to the Christian saying and representation, the Son of God is worshipped. His birth is mocked and disgraced with drunkenness, murdering, gambling and every type of evil committed on such a day by the Christians, while the Muslims walk through the midst, soberly, peacefully fasting through the month and not thinking or drinking alcoholic beverages — not eating the flesh of anything — eating once a day, and that only at night.
At the same time, the evil Christian would disgrace the name of one of the most perfect prophets of the past, Jesus. Should not God take revenge on them for such mockery of Jesus? They lie when they say Jesus was born without the agency of man. Then they lie of his death and say that he rose again physically.
And yet, the Black preacher today, in this modern, advanced spiritually scientific world which represents such falsehood, scorn the truth of Islam (entire submission to the Will of God). Should not the preacher be divinely chastised as it is written that he will be?
The Pope of Rome knows that his followers here in the West are making a mockery of Jesus and his teachings, but he will not try to change it, for he is the father of it (church).
The Sign of Christianity is death. The sign of Islam is life. Teach your children the truth. Make them practice truth. Make them practice truth, and do so yourself, as their guides."
The Most Honorable ELIJAH MUHAMMAD
(Reprinted from "Our Saviour Has Arrived," 1974.)
The whole history of the White race is written in the shedding of innocent blood. They kill the righteous. Do you not hear how openly they speak of killing me and my followers? Do you not see how they go in gangs, armed to the teeth, to kill me and my followers? They try to provoke us to strike back at them — innocent people upon whom they prey.
They attack our meeting places like wild jungle creatures; actually shoot up the walls of our temples to show their hatred of the righteous and the right-doer — without any cause whatsoever, as you see and know. We carry no weapons, but this is no defense or excuse to the White race, which is, by nature, made to attack and kill the innocent without an excuse.
They go in carloads and truckloads, raiding the poor innocent Black sections to take our lives without any cause or provocation whatsoever — wrecking our property — knowing that we have no arms. They cowardly, evilly come in great numbers as though they expect a great army to rise up against them. Cowards!
They have no respect for good. They bomb our Black Christian brothers’ churches in the South. They shoot them down on highways, in their homes and on the job — anywhere he can satisfy his lust for blood; a blood-thirsty wicked human beast.
They go out on the streets and run down the poor Black man to take his life, with no excuse except their hatred of him and to bear witness to the truth of himself that he is the devil.
They have the nerve to tell the poor innocent victim (Black man) that the teacher of the truth is teaching hatred of him! Who could love him? There should be no need to teach hatred of you to a people who were born and brought up under your feet and who daily experience the cruel blows from your heavy boots, because that person already knows that you are the heartless enemy — who will not let him go free in a separate place here in this wide territory.
But you would rather hold them here under your eyes so that you can do evil things to them — beat and kill them while they are helpless. Your enemies would gladly arm every one of them, but Allah (God) does not want us to bear arms.
He wants to show you that he is God. He wants to fight you with His weapons, the forces of nature — rain, hail, snow and earthquakes; the sun, moon and the star. As little as we respect that little dried up piece of our planet called moon, which looks harmless, it has such power of magnetic pull on our planet that it could affect our lives.
Now comes the Christians’ big holiday which they call Christmas. With all the fantastic foolishness of jungle savages, they pretend to love worshipping the prophet on the 25th day of December. They stagger drunkenly all over the streets, campuses and most of the homes and churches, with card games, dice and other games of chance and all kinds of whisky and beer — to celebrate that great prophet; with fighting and killing and eating swine flesh. Such is the day which they call the birthday of Jesus.
They have nothing of good in their behavior. It is like Isaiah said, "This people worship me with their mouth, but their hearts are far from me." This is true.
It is all false that Jesus was born on the 25th day of December. But the poor Black slave, who used to rejoice that his master gave him one day of rest from the hard labor which he was made to serve, until any day his master said was a holiday was all right with him, as long as he did not have to work.
Until this day, they do not stop to ask what is the meaning of his holiday and where it sprang from. There is no holiday of the White people which the so-called Negro should worship as his day. He never seeks to find a day of his own on which he can worship.
He seeks to worship what the White man worships — and feels rejected if not permitted to go to war with his master regardless of whom his master is fighting, even though it be his own brother or family. He thinks he is disgraced if he is not involved in whatsoever his master is involved in, and he believes he has a share in it because he wants the love and respect of his master so much.
In fact, he does not believe in what he teaches you of Christianity. Even the very basic principle of Christianity is wrong and false (three Gods in one). And that one of them had to die, He being the Son of the Father, to save the wicked world of the Caucasian race is the most damnable teaching against your peace and happiness. It takes you right out of life.
Another false practice on the 25th day of December: the children between the ages of 3 and 12 think a Santa Claus is visiting them, making them believe they are getting presents from some foreign or strange person other than themselves (the parents).
Some of the parents go so far as to scratch the chimney and tell the children "Santa came down here last night." This is outright false and telling other than the truth. They even have pictures made and commercialize on it.
How could one come from way around the North Pole driving a small sled-like cart? And where did he buy all of those toys? How does Santa drive his sled in the South where there is no snow or ice for him to drive on? They rob themselves of the honor of the child at his receiving their gifts.
Jesus is garbed up and commercialized on by a world of evil and sin and you like this, my people — you love this now. You defy anyone, even God Himself, to try and remove your love of what is false.
You cannot prove that the 25th day of December is the birthday of Jesus and you are preaching out of a Bible which does not carry any such history. It gives you an idea that he could not have been born on December 25 by these words "While the shepherd watched their flocks by night."
If it had been in December, could they have been sitting out at night watching the flock eat good green grass? December is wintertime! Winter starts on the 21st day of December — you are four days into winter there.
Of course, there are some parts of the earth where winter does not come and there is pasture for the sheep all year round. But it is not like that in Palestine — in the winter, especially at night.
According to the Christian saying and representation, the Son of God is worshipped. His birth is mocked and disgraced with drunkenness, murdering, gambling and every type of evil committed on such a day by the Christians, while the Muslims walk through the midst, soberly, peacefully fasting through the month and not thinking or drinking alcoholic beverages — not eating the flesh of anything — eating once a day, and that only at night.
At the same time, the evil Christian would disgrace the name of one of the most perfect prophets of the past, Jesus. Should not God take revenge on them for such mockery of Jesus? They lie when they say Jesus was born without the agency of man. Then they lie of his death and say that he rose again physically.
And yet, the Black preacher today, in this modern, advanced spiritually scientific world which represents such falsehood, scorn the truth of Islam (entire submission to the Will of God). Should not the preacher be divinely chastised as it is written that he will be?
The Pope of Rome knows that his followers here in the West are making a mockery of Jesus and his teachings, but he will not try to change it, for he is the father of it (church).
The Sign of Christianity is death. The sign of Islam is life. Teach your children the truth. Make them practice truth. Make them practice truth, and do so yourself, as their guides."
The Most Honorable ELIJAH MUHAMMAD
(Reprinted from "Our Saviour Has Arrived," 1974.)
Friday, November 21, 2014
The Earth you don't know.
There is a line of thinking that if you want to understand, if you want to "master" a thing then you must come to a understanding of the form and FUNCTION of the thing. You have so many taking stands on behalf of Mother Earth, which has become a term that's been abused and so silly it pains me to say it. They do not even know the most basic things about this living breathing and sentient being that comforts and covers us because it is beyond spirit and follows it's Original Instructions and submits to The Creator. I, being an Original Man am a environmentalist much like Jesus is a Christian. Get it? Make sense? Am I calling myself Christ? If you think I am then stop reading this and go find out what Kayne and Kim are doing.
Anyone who knows me personally knows that I have men and women who I consider my spiritual family, actual family, that are members of The Nation of Islam. The N.O.I. It was before I got to college that I first heard Minister Farrakhan in Detroit Mi in the summer of 1989 when he spoke at Bethel A.M.E. church and his subject was Malcom X. I appreciated his honesty and I really did appreciate the way that the brothers and sisters were so kind to me. I met some stellar individuals that day that up until today are my family as I have stated.
I gave that background because I want you to understand how this particular group of Men and women are the only people with basic knowledge of Earth that rivals even most Indians. (Original people also).
According to their teachings a man came to Elijah Muhammad in 1930 in what was known as "Black Botom Detroit" and spoke to Elijah about many things and amongst them he spoke of Indians and the Earth. Who else finds that odd? Two Black men, in the worst and poorest part of Detroit Michigan in 1930 sit at a table and speak about basic knowledge of the Earth AND the condition of American Indians. This man speaking and teaching Elijah is named Farad Muhammad. Or Master Farad Muhammad which when you get what it takes to "master" a thing you understand why he was called that. I digress. I first learned some of this knowledge of the Earth after hearing my brother Rasul Muhammad speak on it on Sunday and after driving my brother Dawaud Muhammad from Detroit to Kalamazoo for a pow wow one evening. I call them basic facts but in the N.O.I. they are known as ACTUAL FACTS. So to me I interchange actual and basic facts. To me the following should be basics that we, as Original people, know as just part of our being.
I've spoken with a pipe carrier friend of mine the other day and he said, "Leadership within Indian Country is a rumor." Not a single sentence I have heard in a ver long time hit me sa so true as that one. We often talk about building our community. We speak about putting power into the hands of our people. It's well known that you can't move the people or build anything until you know the very basics. If we set out to save our Earth from the damage done by evil and being done by evil then we have to know what we are looking to save. The issue we have of course is that the knowledge we have so far is knowledge from the enemy. They operate from a space of utter greed and thus they can damage and destroy the Earth at will as long as there is a profit to be made, or they use the Christian thought that since Jesus is coming back they can, in the words of Ann Coutler - leader, author and spokesperson for conservatives-“God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, ‘Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It’s yours.’”—Hannity & Colmes, 6/20/01
This mindset is so diametrically opposed to ours I sit back with my mouth open wondering how these evil devils are here.............yet I digress...........
As so many of us are awakening and getting sick and tired of being fed bullshit from the Maniacal European Devils In America or MEDIA we start to look for turth ourselves we beign to actaully un-learn and we question EVERYTHING. We recognize that the knowledge we have and the knowledge the enemy has is not the same. How could it be? If we are to be kept in a state of servituide we can't have the same knowledge and education. If e had the same education why do we graduate and then the first thing we do is go to him seeking employment? Seems to be he knows something we don't and it is like that on purpose.
So Earth wise let's begin with some ACTUAL FACTS:
The total Area of the Land and Water of the planet Earth is 196,940,000 square miles.
The Circumference of the planet Earth is 24,896 miles.
The Diameter of the Earth is 7,926 miles.
The area of the Land is 57,255,000 square miles.
The area of the Water is 139,685,000 square miles.
The Pacific Ocean covers 68,634,000 square miles,
The Atlantic Ocean covers 41,321,000 square miles.
The Indian Ocean covers 29,430,000 square miles.
The Lakes and Rivers cover 1,000,000 square miles.
The Hills and Mountains cover 14,000,000 square miles.
The Islands are 1,910,000 square miles.
The Deserts are 4,861,000 square miles.
Mount Everest is 29,141 feet high.
The Producing Land is 29,000,000 square miles.
The Earth weighs six sextillion tons - (a unit followed by 21 ciphers). In pounds, that’s actually … 0. Nothing. Mass is a measure of how much stuff an object contains, but weight is how hard gravity pulls on that mass. The Earth is in space, orbiting the Sun, so it’s in free fall. It has mass but no weight (CHECK IT YOURSELF HERE: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2007/12/02/attending_mass.html)
The Earth is 93,000,000 miles from the Sun.
The Earth travels at the rate of 1,037 1/3 miles per hour.
Light travels at the rate of 186,000 miles per second.
Sound ravels at the rate of 1,120 feet per second.
The diameter of the Sun is 853,000 Miles.
The Earth has a volume of about one trillion cubic kilometers. Can you picture a cube 1,000 meters high, 1,000 meters deep, 1,000 meters across? Now picture a trillion of them. That’s the Earth.
This is direct from the teachings in the Nation. I've heard Minister Farrakhan, Rasul, Dawaud, Jamil and a lot more brothers that I can remember rattle off these facts like it's on a crib not tattooed on their hands. I'm just impressed.
These basic facts should be known to all of us who claim to care for our Mother. We have to study this, this should be part of our knowledge because as Original people we evolve all of the time and our knowledge must evolve with it. Mathematics were/are such a part of our societies before the invaders we knew, just knew as we know The Creator is real, that numbers are spiritual and of course are the make up of the universe. The Mayans in Central America created the zero for their own uses to make things easier for their people to discern certain inequities. Again another one hundred years later, the zero would be “invented” again, and for the final time, in India, where it would finally catch on worldwide as a legitimate number endorsed by most civilizations at the time across the world. By time it reached Europe in the 12th century, most if not, all mathematicians utilized the zero. SO don't tell me we were not complete societies with scientists, scholars, medical people and pure genius in our ancestry. We, right here and right now, are the 7th generation of warriors and scholars that helped create civilization.
A beautiful thing I think of is that the Earth travels at sucha speed and yet it is just the smoothest ride ever. Think on this, Mars is 141,500,000 miles from the sun and travels at a rate of 1,037 1/3 m.p.h. it's diameter is 4,200 miles, Mercury travels also at 1,037 1/3 m.p.h. and no matter how close to the Sun any of these planets are from the Sun or each other they all travel at the same speed. Now seriously how cool is that? Humans can last approximately two minutes in space. There are not 24 hours in a day there are 23 hours, 36 minutes and 4 seconds it takes the Earth to rotate on it's axis and it is called a sidereal day. China's air pollution is visible from space. 1/5000th of the Earth's circumference is made of mountains and deep ocean trenches so Earth is actually smooth. Very smooth. There are 8.6 million lightning strikes a day on Earth. 97% of Earths water is salted leaving only 3% fresh. The ex-president of Nestle said that water is NOT a human right. The ex-president of Nestle is a real life living breathing devil. 99% of the living space on Earth is represented by oceans. There are up to 1 Million species in the oceans and 2/3 are yet to be described. Speaking of that only 14% of species on this planet have been identified. There is no physical place where Earth’s atmosphere stops and space begins; the air just gets thinner and thinner and eventually fades away. But we love definitions, so the official height above the Earth’s surface considered to be where space begins—called the Kármán line—is at an altitude of 100 km. Anyone who gets higher than that is considered an astronaut.
If you took all the water on Earth and collected it into a single drop, it would be just less than 1,400 kilometers (860 miles) across.
This knowledge, this is about YOU and I. This is the stuff we are made from. Every one of our creation stories begin with us being created from the Earth. We know the Earth with these cool facts then we can know ourselves and how wondrous we MUST be if we are made of this wonderful, unique, strong and powerful creation.
The scripture say that The Creator hung everything in the universe in perfect submission to his will. Everything works just fine when we place the will of our Creator, which is to serve others, ahead of any and all selfish needs. When we allow The Creator to use us as servants we discover that we attract others that think and seek like us. We attract that which is like. This is simple mathematics I have numeric dyslexia and even I understand this and know this to be true.
When we take empirical evidence for ourselves that has been researched by those we trust and or ourselves, preferably, then we see even more evidence and proof that we have more than a simple responsibility to take care of this planet for ourselves. We take care of Earth because 1.) She is on loan to us from our children up to and past the 7th generation. 2.) Taking care of our own, our Mother, our caretaker is part of our Original Instructions.
To me learning while un-learning makes me grateful for what has been given to me. It allows me to look at other sentient beings and see our connection to each other as Original people. See how we really are all related to one another. make that whole "All My Relations" thing very tangible.
Anyone who knows me personally knows that I have men and women who I consider my spiritual family, actual family, that are members of The Nation of Islam. The N.O.I. It was before I got to college that I first heard Minister Farrakhan in Detroit Mi in the summer of 1989 when he spoke at Bethel A.M.E. church and his subject was Malcom X. I appreciated his honesty and I really did appreciate the way that the brothers and sisters were so kind to me. I met some stellar individuals that day that up until today are my family as I have stated.
I gave that background because I want you to understand how this particular group of Men and women are the only people with basic knowledge of Earth that rivals even most Indians. (Original people also).
According to their teachings a man came to Elijah Muhammad in 1930 in what was known as "Black Botom Detroit" and spoke to Elijah about many things and amongst them he spoke of Indians and the Earth. Who else finds that odd? Two Black men, in the worst and poorest part of Detroit Michigan in 1930 sit at a table and speak about basic knowledge of the Earth AND the condition of American Indians. This man speaking and teaching Elijah is named Farad Muhammad. Or Master Farad Muhammad which when you get what it takes to "master" a thing you understand why he was called that. I digress. I first learned some of this knowledge of the Earth after hearing my brother Rasul Muhammad speak on it on Sunday and after driving my brother Dawaud Muhammad from Detroit to Kalamazoo for a pow wow one evening. I call them basic facts but in the N.O.I. they are known as ACTUAL FACTS. So to me I interchange actual and basic facts. To me the following should be basics that we, as Original people, know as just part of our being.
I've spoken with a pipe carrier friend of mine the other day and he said, "Leadership within Indian Country is a rumor." Not a single sentence I have heard in a ver long time hit me sa so true as that one. We often talk about building our community. We speak about putting power into the hands of our people. It's well known that you can't move the people or build anything until you know the very basics. If we set out to save our Earth from the damage done by evil and being done by evil then we have to know what we are looking to save. The issue we have of course is that the knowledge we have so far is knowledge from the enemy. They operate from a space of utter greed and thus they can damage and destroy the Earth at will as long as there is a profit to be made, or they use the Christian thought that since Jesus is coming back they can, in the words of Ann Coutler - leader, author and spokesperson for conservatives-“God gave us the earth. We have dominion over the plants, the animals, the trees. God said, ‘Earth is yours. Take it. Rape it. It’s yours.’”—Hannity & Colmes, 6/20/01
This mindset is so diametrically opposed to ours I sit back with my mouth open wondering how these evil devils are here.............yet I digress...........
As so many of us are awakening and getting sick and tired of being fed bullshit from the Maniacal European Devils In America or MEDIA we start to look for turth ourselves we beign to actaully un-learn and we question EVERYTHING. We recognize that the knowledge we have and the knowledge the enemy has is not the same. How could it be? If we are to be kept in a state of servituide we can't have the same knowledge and education. If e had the same education why do we graduate and then the first thing we do is go to him seeking employment? Seems to be he knows something we don't and it is like that on purpose.
So Earth wise let's begin with some ACTUAL FACTS:
The total Area of the Land and Water of the planet Earth is 196,940,000 square miles.
The Circumference of the planet Earth is 24,896 miles.
The Diameter of the Earth is 7,926 miles.
The area of the Land is 57,255,000 square miles.
The area of the Water is 139,685,000 square miles.
The Pacific Ocean covers 68,634,000 square miles,
The Atlantic Ocean covers 41,321,000 square miles.
The Indian Ocean covers 29,430,000 square miles.
The Lakes and Rivers cover 1,000,000 square miles.
The Hills and Mountains cover 14,000,000 square miles.
The Islands are 1,910,000 square miles.
The Deserts are 4,861,000 square miles.
Mount Everest is 29,141 feet high.
The Producing Land is 29,000,000 square miles.
The Earth weighs six sextillion tons - (a unit followed by 21 ciphers). In pounds, that’s actually … 0. Nothing. Mass is a measure of how much stuff an object contains, but weight is how hard gravity pulls on that mass. The Earth is in space, orbiting the Sun, so it’s in free fall. It has mass but no weight (CHECK IT YOURSELF HERE: http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2007/12/02/attending_mass.html)
The Earth is 93,000,000 miles from the Sun.
The Earth travels at the rate of 1,037 1/3 miles per hour.
Light travels at the rate of 186,000 miles per second.
Sound ravels at the rate of 1,120 feet per second.
The diameter of the Sun is 853,000 Miles.
The Earth has a volume of about one trillion cubic kilometers. Can you picture a cube 1,000 meters high, 1,000 meters deep, 1,000 meters across? Now picture a trillion of them. That’s the Earth.
This is direct from the teachings in the Nation. I've heard Minister Farrakhan, Rasul, Dawaud, Jamil and a lot more brothers that I can remember rattle off these facts like it's on a crib not tattooed on their hands. I'm just impressed.
These basic facts should be known to all of us who claim to care for our Mother. We have to study this, this should be part of our knowledge because as Original people we evolve all of the time and our knowledge must evolve with it. Mathematics were/are such a part of our societies before the invaders we knew, just knew as we know The Creator is real, that numbers are spiritual and of course are the make up of the universe. The Mayans in Central America created the zero for their own uses to make things easier for their people to discern certain inequities. Again another one hundred years later, the zero would be “invented” again, and for the final time, in India, where it would finally catch on worldwide as a legitimate number endorsed by most civilizations at the time across the world. By time it reached Europe in the 12th century, most if not, all mathematicians utilized the zero. SO don't tell me we were not complete societies with scientists, scholars, medical people and pure genius in our ancestry. We, right here and right now, are the 7th generation of warriors and scholars that helped create civilization.
A beautiful thing I think of is that the Earth travels at sucha speed and yet it is just the smoothest ride ever. Think on this, Mars is 141,500,000 miles from the sun and travels at a rate of 1,037 1/3 m.p.h. it's diameter is 4,200 miles, Mercury travels also at 1,037 1/3 m.p.h. and no matter how close to the Sun any of these planets are from the Sun or each other they all travel at the same speed. Now seriously how cool is that? Humans can last approximately two minutes in space. There are not 24 hours in a day there are 23 hours, 36 minutes and 4 seconds it takes the Earth to rotate on it's axis and it is called a sidereal day. China's air pollution is visible from space. 1/5000th of the Earth's circumference is made of mountains and deep ocean trenches so Earth is actually smooth. Very smooth. There are 8.6 million lightning strikes a day on Earth. 97% of Earths water is salted leaving only 3% fresh. The ex-president of Nestle said that water is NOT a human right. The ex-president of Nestle is a real life living breathing devil. 99% of the living space on Earth is represented by oceans. There are up to 1 Million species in the oceans and 2/3 are yet to be described. Speaking of that only 14% of species on this planet have been identified. There is no physical place where Earth’s atmosphere stops and space begins; the air just gets thinner and thinner and eventually fades away. But we love definitions, so the official height above the Earth’s surface considered to be where space begins—called the Kármán line—is at an altitude of 100 km. Anyone who gets higher than that is considered an astronaut.
If you took all the water on Earth and collected it into a single drop, it would be just less than 1,400 kilometers (860 miles) across.
This knowledge, this is about YOU and I. This is the stuff we are made from. Every one of our creation stories begin with us being created from the Earth. We know the Earth with these cool facts then we can know ourselves and how wondrous we MUST be if we are made of this wonderful, unique, strong and powerful creation.
The scripture say that The Creator hung everything in the universe in perfect submission to his will. Everything works just fine when we place the will of our Creator, which is to serve others, ahead of any and all selfish needs. When we allow The Creator to use us as servants we discover that we attract others that think and seek like us. We attract that which is like. This is simple mathematics I have numeric dyslexia and even I understand this and know this to be true.
When we take empirical evidence for ourselves that has been researched by those we trust and or ourselves, preferably, then we see even more evidence and proof that we have more than a simple responsibility to take care of this planet for ourselves. We take care of Earth because 1.) She is on loan to us from our children up to and past the 7th generation. 2.) Taking care of our own, our Mother, our caretaker is part of our Original Instructions.
To me learning while un-learning makes me grateful for what has been given to me. It allows me to look at other sentient beings and see our connection to each other as Original people. See how we really are all related to one another. make that whole "All My Relations" thing very tangible.
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