One Dream

03-20-08

ONE DREAM

Should I live for another ten years I will feel very fortunate, but it was not long ago, at the time of European intrusion into this hemisphere, that indigenous upon this entire continent lived a balanced life for 300 snows or more. I was born on the northern half of this western hemisphere. At that time the Elders among us were few and scattered. The diaspora and genocide of indigenous that began at first contact with evil assault tactics birthed upon the European continent and transported here, continues in the year 2008 and there is no solution upon the political horizon that will allow this thought to recede, fade, or vanish: Divide and Conquer. This tactic promoted the invasion and assault of the world, by various Kingdoms demanding gold. In the instance of the initial invaders assaulting this hemisphere, gold in sufficient amounts that would allow the Spanish Crown to purchase an army. That activity of “finding” this hemisphere was first an accident, then grew to become a discovery and land-claim, then was fed to Historians by the crowns to manipulate history to continue the justification of The Doctrine of Discovery.

When I was in grade one, beginning my academic journey, I explained to my Elders how Columbus “found” us. A Grandmother looked long at me then asked. “Did this person find the sun, too? This land was never ‘lost’ any more than the sun was lost.”

Should one explore “discovery” and “doctrine” in a worthy dictionary and with a clear mind, s/he will find that the Doctrine of Discovery means that two people can happen upon anything and the first who claims to see it first is the discoverer. In the instance of the western hemisphere, the “discovery was a vast land-area inhabited by 100-million beings. For the “doctrine” to bear legitimate fruit, one must assume that the 100- millions of indigenous inhabitants upon this western continent were blind! One “civilized” way to fortify this societal myopia is to change the languages of the indigenous and distort their habits and world-views through the process of assimilation/acculturation. An alteration that damages indigenous much is the political strategy of changing our languages and encouraging us to identify a language other than the one we were colonized with as “foreign.” \

The history of the penetration of pirates from the European continent, written by the assaulting forces, is accepted by too many history scholars, both foreign and indigenous. That poorly reported and often fabricated chronicle must be questioned, particularly its divide-and-maintain-control mentality that pits languages and cultures
against each other in the indigenous arena while dividing families at their spiritual roots.

There are strange, intruding language-forces yet dominating this hemisphere and the indigenous upon this hemisphere, causing one indigenous camp to look askance at the other. The strange languages are English and Spanish. The arrogance of the English language reinforced by the presence of God, and the power of the Spanish language reinforced with the strength of the Catholic Church, are formidable structures to confront, causing an immense division among the indigenous. By employing this strange formula, the English-speaking native and the Spanish speaking native often hold each suspect of being foreign! A colonized English-speaking native from the north will hold the Spanish colonized Spanish-speaking native from the south in the “foreign” arena even though the Spanish speaking native is a full-blood-native Spanish-speaker and is to a greater degree original native than the English-speaker making the crude and hasty judgment-accusation emulating from tijtawa (real) foreigners that the indigenous choose to emulate, protect and promote.

This confusion is accomplished by distorting the native languages and world-views. This distortion is accomplished to promote and protect the assumption of “truths” residing in the act of assimilation, and to invite indigenous loyalty to strange beings and their strange habits, actions that continue to erode the gentle spirit among indigenous peoples everywhere. Those invading and foreign habits devoid of protection and promotion would, like an autumn leaf, dry and fall from the present to be raked and discarded in the abyss of uselessness.

Our unblemished ancient ancestors that learned from their ancient ancestors who studied this hemisphere and cherished the life-forces said, “Hamis hidatsi (One heart), hamis Aw’te (one people), hamis himal (one mind), hamis ahti (one blood), hamis telamji (one spirit), hamis tasoqjami (one dream), from tip to tip” (meaning from the tip of South America to the North Pole). In order for the indigenous inhabitants of this western hemisphere to appreciate the boundless love of our Ancient beings and to begin to conduct our lives and its purpose issued to us as an undamaged dream, this generation must lift the curtain of prejudice smothering our instincts, cast it off, and follow the foot steps of our ancestors, for that path leads to the dawning of our respect and responsibilities as original indigenous dwelling upon this earth. It is a good path. This path awaits our happy laughter, our delicate songs, our dedicated dances. Hayyaw, (younger brother) Enunja (little sister) it is a dream of Pukemuka (wonderful wise people of our history), therefore it is tijtawa (genuine).

Gedn’ch’lumnu (This must be so).

Sul’ma’ejote