SALMON
Salmon were made versatile but delicate. They could survive any act of nature, but they could not survive evil acts of neglectful abusive strangers set to damage nature and earth. Chemicals and toxic wastes in the water effects salmon like Small Pox blankets affected the indigenous at first contact not long ago. The salmon can flee, but to where? And, what is it spreading?
Salmon is endangered because of many forces beyond any control, but mostly because nature has been interrupted by foreigners and they refuse to correct their errors because they changed nature “For the best.”
The low population of salmon is another warning (like the canary in the mine), that ocean and earth’s spirits are beyond the breaking point.
The big river in my homeland, It Ajuma, ran sweet to the ocean and brought us Salmon every season. This was the case ever since earth began turning around sun. One day in the early 1900’s PGE, with carelessness and some deliberate ignorance laced with greed, put a dam across the river. Salmon and other migratory fish could not complete their spawning cycle. I suspect it was whispered in the corporate office, “For the best.”
My people and much life along the river were attuned to the return of the salmon, waiting in a calm yet dignified and excited expectation. The first loud splash on the river, made by a salmon clearing the surface to slap back in, caused much happiness. Bears gathered at the river. Osprey and eagles gathered along the river. My people gathered at the river. Salmon, our main diet, a diet that kept the people and landscape healthy forever, returned once again as they have since the beginning.
That cycle stopped one day. Our diets changed and not for the better. Life along the river changed, looking over its shoulder while walking away to hunt for food. The landscape faced a sudden famine. The natives faced famine, too. We are yet in the recovery mode.
The ocean is very sick because of toxic waste and poisons being dumped in it. The ocean is nearly empty because of fishing practices, and the use of 40-foot nets that strain fish of all sizes and takes from the ocean, much of which is not used but dumped back as a carcass. Some sinking to the bottom to rot.
Many from Europe in their arrogant posture refuse to acknowledge that earth and nature are alive with feelings and deep emotions, know pain, abuse and neglect. They giggle and point fingers at the humble natives singing to the dawn and to all of the powers of the universe. Many natives were instructed to sing love songs to Mother Earth, and we must.
One day the fish will respond to the poisons created “For the better,” then life will follow. Too late we will find “For the better” is our final song.
The warnings are ignored. Poisons flow into the sea. We cannot breathe. We cannot swim in the ocean. Where do we go? What do we do?
As I was instructed by the Elders of my childhood, I will go to the mountain top at dawn and sing a love song to Earth. I will sing a song for salmon, too.
That is all,
Sul’ma’ejote
Sunday, May 11, 2008
I STAND FOR SALMON (PART 1)
The ecology upon this hemisphere trembled, like a frightened horse, when European man first touched it. After a month of leaving a trail of pollution in the ocean as they traveled here from Europe seeking gold, the strangers touched land. After thousands of years of of conflict and crusades, plunder and pollution were in their spirits and diseases were upon their breaths. Whatever they touched soured and began to decay. Their assault upon the ecology began in their unclean thoughts devoid of respect and their imbalanced ideas of life. Immediately they began a program of destruction to the indigenous beings and to the indigenous landscape. Their presence was toxic to earth and it damaged the water and the air.
They assembled upon the eastern homelands then scattered in many directions, inviting more of their kind to assault this land, the ecology, the indigenous. When they looked back upon their pollution and destruction, they called it "glory." Their plan was to destroy indigenous people and indigenous landscape, to erase the natives and to destroy the ecology. They have, to date, almost accomplished both endeavors. The diseases they carried, like a black cloud, covered the land and the water. The natives not knowing that they were carriers fled from village to village infecting all they touched and destroying millions of indigenous in their desperate flight.
Soon pollution creating diseases were in the ocean and in the great rivers of my homeland and among the leaves of the forest.
They assembled upon the eastern homelands then scattered in many directions, inviting more of their kind to assault this land, the ecology, the indigenous. When they looked back upon their pollution and destruction, they called it "glory." Their plan was to destroy indigenous people and indigenous landscape, to erase the natives and to destroy the ecology. They have, to date, almost accomplished both endeavors. The diseases they carried, like a black cloud, covered the land and the water. The natives not knowing that they were carriers fled from village to village infecting all they touched and destroying millions of indigenous in their desperate flight.
Soon pollution creating diseases were in the ocean and in the great rivers of my homeland and among the leaves of the forest.
Lessons and Legends
Anthropology has labeled the oral narratives, the spoken history, the knowledge that has traveled trough eons and ages, of the indigenous upon this hemisphere to arrive here now as myth. That is a gross error that will be corrected one day. Often I wonder if those ideals anthropology and academics stand for are not myth.
****
From our lessons and legends we learn that our wa'tu (spiritual umbilical cord ) reaches beyond the stars into a land, our origin. Some legends state that we came here from the land beyond the stars and our wa'tu is connected there, all of us. Some of us don't know our legends, some legends were castrated during the conflicts of the crusade, and some were deliberately ignored out of existence.
I was terribly lucky to be informed by the older generations. According to legend, our spirits traveled through the stars to get here. Silver Fox, in spirit form, acquired the power to dream and created the dream. He came here first but there was no here, here, then Coyote spirit came. Silver left the land beyond the stars because he was a great creator, but everything he created Coyote changed "For the better", Coyote said. However, the change was always not good and always destructive.
When Silver Fox arrived Annikadel was here already. Annikadel was a great dreamer. He dreamed and threw the dreams to others and gave them the power to create whatever was in the dream. Annikadel also gave a song with the dream. It took a very long time to create this world and prepare it for children. Nowadays they say, "A million years or more." After many songs and many dreams here we are.
Earth was beautiful, and there were many homelands and many customs, languages, and songs. The homeland of my birth was beautiful with deer, birds, bears, eagles, hawks, squirrels and forests, and the big river brought us the salmon from the big water, every season. There was abundance of life in a great variety, all created to function with all others, balanced, complete.
Many events in history are distorted and confused and confusing in their deliberate distortion. "The discovery" is one. To Europeans it was new life, hope. To the natives it was a trespassing, an uninvited intrusion, an unwanted penetration, an entrance not announced, an offense. The trespassers were two-legged, but but the important part of their being, their life's spirit, wandered without focus or feeling. Often they were cruel. They were also stubborn and refused to depart our homeland. They lingered, and they invited more of their kind to come here and claim all that they wanted, to not share, and to destroy that which they didn't want. We heard them say, "For the better." They came without rules and laws. Like Coyote they damaged or change all that they touch saying, "It is for the better."
Today the ecology and life-cycles of nature upon this hemisphere has been altered, abused and damaged beyond repair and we hear "For the best because now we have paved the way for God or Science will fix it."
****
From our lessons and legends we learn that our wa'tu (spiritual umbilical cord ) reaches beyond the stars into a land, our origin. Some legends state that we came here from the land beyond the stars and our wa'tu is connected there, all of us. Some of us don't know our legends, some legends were castrated during the conflicts of the crusade, and some were deliberately ignored out of existence.
I was terribly lucky to be informed by the older generations. According to legend, our spirits traveled through the stars to get here. Silver Fox, in spirit form, acquired the power to dream and created the dream. He came here first but there was no here, here, then Coyote spirit came. Silver left the land beyond the stars because he was a great creator, but everything he created Coyote changed "For the better", Coyote said. However, the change was always not good and always destructive.
When Silver Fox arrived Annikadel was here already. Annikadel was a great dreamer. He dreamed and threw the dreams to others and gave them the power to create whatever was in the dream. Annikadel also gave a song with the dream. It took a very long time to create this world and prepare it for children. Nowadays they say, "A million years or more." After many songs and many dreams here we are.
Earth was beautiful, and there were many homelands and many customs, languages, and songs. The homeland of my birth was beautiful with deer, birds, bears, eagles, hawks, squirrels and forests, and the big river brought us the salmon from the big water, every season. There was abundance of life in a great variety, all created to function with all others, balanced, complete.
Many events in history are distorted and confused and confusing in their deliberate distortion. "The discovery" is one. To Europeans it was new life, hope. To the natives it was a trespassing, an uninvited intrusion, an unwanted penetration, an entrance not announced, an offense. The trespassers were two-legged, but but the important part of their being, their life's spirit, wandered without focus or feeling. Often they were cruel. They were also stubborn and refused to depart our homeland. They lingered, and they invited more of their kind to come here and claim all that they wanted, to not share, and to destroy that which they didn't want. We heard them say, "For the better." They came without rules and laws. Like Coyote they damaged or change all that they touch saying, "It is for the better."
Today the ecology and life-cycles of nature upon this hemisphere has been altered, abused and damaged beyond repair and we hear "For the best because now we have paved the way for God or Science will fix it."
Sunday, April 13, 2008
THE WAY, OUR WAY
THE WAY, OUR WAY
Our Pukamukas (honored wise) in the north and our Caciques in the south had a grand responsibility to ensure that we stayed on the path given to each of us and our generations. Our tribal leaders obeyed their dreams, and after revealing the dreams to the tribal consciousness, we followed the instructions and life came to us in abundance.
Is/Aw'te (people), our dreams, our thought powers, our original purposes were not destroyed by colonizing powers. It is true that often we have had to alter them in order to evade the many thrusts of the colonizers, but we neither forgot nor discarded them as we have often been told.
Each child born is wrapped in that dream which is the original way, the intended purpose. They are precious seeds among us. They are the blossoms of our generations that Flower Maiden and Spring Maiden will cause to be pollenated. They will provide roots for the approaching tribal way.
Our laws, our way, our rules will come to them in their dreams. We must be vigilant and prepare to greet that dream, for it is the continuation of our generations.
Within each of our dreams today are huge chunks of our "way," our "law," our rules for respectful conduct, our instructions of how and why to maintain our balance with the great universal powers. Yes, those rules are within us today, but some of us fail to encourage that dream because we hasten to survive. Survival is our foremost duty to the approaching generations.
Our original languages are within us each. It was born with us. Some of us have not encouraged its development as we parry the thrusts of assault from cruel strangers representing the European continent, a strange force borne to our homelands upon the vast oceans. For a reason that may remain a mystery, they destroyed our places of gathering, places of pleasant thoughts and flowered dreams, continuing in their destruction until they thought the earth and indigenous were conquered and their Angry God was securely instituted.
Yes, they destroyed many great cities and centers of wisdom and knowledge. Yes, they assaulted our purpose of migration as we dwelled in balance with the seasons. Many majestic centers built with and from dreams were put asunder. It hurt our spirits then and it aches yet today, but they could not locate the dream or they would have destroyed it, too. The dream is still here, still healthy, still the most precious honors assigned to us each long ago.
The wise told us to go out at dawn and study the churning universe and prepare for greater instructions from our leaders, from our Pukamukas, from our Caciques. Obeying our Elders we must do this. It is our law. It is our way.. They said a great goodness dances to us at dawn and to prepare to receive it with gracious dignity for it is beyond precious.
Let us look upon what the strangers encountered in our homeland just five-hundred winters ago. A people obeying the instructions given in dreams to the wise ones.
No army prepared to assault. No jail. No chains. No asylum. No prison over-flowing. No tax collectors. No Supreme System doing the thinking.
Instead they met people enjoying the life all around us, spring, summer, autumn, winter. Strange eyes looked upon our proud, healthy people, went to their Bible and could not find where God made us, because He may not have, so they assumed it was the Devil that gave us life. There was no concept of heaven, hell, God or Devil in our lifescapes or landscapes. Those garbled thoughts came with garbled people from Europe. They were not invited. They, because of their conduct, could not be recognized as a tribal people so were not welcome. They were free to depart this land and never return. They, instead, stayed with a strange God commanding them. God commanded them to destroy our life-force, our purpose, our dream, and they continue that path yet today.
Their God said to destroy us, to lay waste our life and the life around us. They tried. They have destroyed much. Yet we have been instructed to be respectful and responsible towards each other and to the life-forces in the land. That is our duty, our responsibility equally, until the dream changes and other instructions are given to our leaders.
So we continue to live within the tribal melody, within the orchestra of ancient consciousness, within the composition of life flourishing around us, and as closely in harmony with the churning universe as we are permitted.
The cruel strangers who forgot their tribal origin and laws, decided among themselves that the indigenous had no law, no rule, nothing worthy of defending with armies and catapults, so they attacked our beauty like a herd of buffalo stampeding through the orchid garden.
We spoke a thousand languages but not English or Spanish, so they decided our languages were designed by the Devil, too, because if God had created us he would have given us English or Spanish as our language of conversation. As their days passed here their warped reasoning and gnarled thoughts sprouted and grew fangs. They looked upon the indigenous and, taking commandments from their Angry God, began a systematic destruction to the indigenous that has not yet found relief.
Although we are surrounded and imprisoned with strange thoughts wrapped around our life like spider webs multiplied around a moth, let us not forget the great powers giving us both birth and emergence, because those powers issued laws in dreams and haydutsi for governing our conduct while we walk upon little Mother Earth. Those great powers speak indigenous so let us prepare to receive the tribal dream, for within us each is the power to become Pukamuka or Cacuque. Do not forget.
We need not gather to prove our communications with the great powers of our lives. Alone at dawn on a hill top is a precious place to be. The Elders instructed us to cast our dreams and thoughts to the universe and to cast those things troubling our hearts, also. To maintain our connection we must do this.
It is true that we have only moments, after we struggle to survive to re-invent our languages and our cultures, so let us not attempt that. Instead, let us remember our precious possessions at the origin of our birth-spirit long ago. The memory and the dream are within us each at this moment. In our remembering let us remember that Mother Earth is the most precious world of our lives. Therefore we must respect and love her while exercising our responsibility to be her guardian and protector.
Aponiha, Tecate, mimoo'ischi'ee. (Great Mystery,Mother Earth, we are your little children).
Beautiful people, let us cease measuring ourselves with foreign equations, but by the universal seasons. That law was established very long ago and has not found amendment.
Let us walk upon Mother Earth carefully and dream about manicuring that orchid garden again.
I am finished.
Sul'ma'ejote.
Our Pukamukas (honored wise) in the north and our Caciques in the south had a grand responsibility to ensure that we stayed on the path given to each of us and our generations. Our tribal leaders obeyed their dreams, and after revealing the dreams to the tribal consciousness, we followed the instructions and life came to us in abundance.
Is/Aw'te (people), our dreams, our thought powers, our original purposes were not destroyed by colonizing powers. It is true that often we have had to alter them in order to evade the many thrusts of the colonizers, but we neither forgot nor discarded them as we have often been told.
Each child born is wrapped in that dream which is the original way, the intended purpose. They are precious seeds among us. They are the blossoms of our generations that Flower Maiden and Spring Maiden will cause to be pollenated. They will provide roots for the approaching tribal way.
Our laws, our way, our rules will come to them in their dreams. We must be vigilant and prepare to greet that dream, for it is the continuation of our generations.
Within each of our dreams today are huge chunks of our "way," our "law," our rules for respectful conduct, our instructions of how and why to maintain our balance with the great universal powers. Yes, those rules are within us today, but some of us fail to encourage that dream because we hasten to survive. Survival is our foremost duty to the approaching generations.
Our original languages are within us each. It was born with us. Some of us have not encouraged its development as we parry the thrusts of assault from cruel strangers representing the European continent, a strange force borne to our homelands upon the vast oceans. For a reason that may remain a mystery, they destroyed our places of gathering, places of pleasant thoughts and flowered dreams, continuing in their destruction until they thought the earth and indigenous were conquered and their Angry God was securely instituted.
Yes, they destroyed many great cities and centers of wisdom and knowledge. Yes, they assaulted our purpose of migration as we dwelled in balance with the seasons. Many majestic centers built with and from dreams were put asunder. It hurt our spirits then and it aches yet today, but they could not locate the dream or they would have destroyed it, too. The dream is still here, still healthy, still the most precious honors assigned to us each long ago.
The wise told us to go out at dawn and study the churning universe and prepare for greater instructions from our leaders, from our Pukamukas, from our Caciques. Obeying our Elders we must do this. It is our law. It is our way.. They said a great goodness dances to us at dawn and to prepare to receive it with gracious dignity for it is beyond precious.
Let us look upon what the strangers encountered in our homeland just five-hundred winters ago. A people obeying the instructions given in dreams to the wise ones.
No army prepared to assault. No jail. No chains. No asylum. No prison over-flowing. No tax collectors. No Supreme System doing the thinking.
Instead they met people enjoying the life all around us, spring, summer, autumn, winter. Strange eyes looked upon our proud, healthy people, went to their Bible and could not find where God made us, because He may not have, so they assumed it was the Devil that gave us life. There was no concept of heaven, hell, God or Devil in our lifescapes or landscapes. Those garbled thoughts came with garbled people from Europe. They were not invited. They, because of their conduct, could not be recognized as a tribal people so were not welcome. They were free to depart this land and never return. They, instead, stayed with a strange God commanding them. God commanded them to destroy our life-force, our purpose, our dream, and they continue that path yet today.
Their God said to destroy us, to lay waste our life and the life around us. They tried. They have destroyed much. Yet we have been instructed to be respectful and responsible towards each other and to the life-forces in the land. That is our duty, our responsibility equally, until the dream changes and other instructions are given to our leaders.
So we continue to live within the tribal melody, within the orchestra of ancient consciousness, within the composition of life flourishing around us, and as closely in harmony with the churning universe as we are permitted.
The cruel strangers who forgot their tribal origin and laws, decided among themselves that the indigenous had no law, no rule, nothing worthy of defending with armies and catapults, so they attacked our beauty like a herd of buffalo stampeding through the orchid garden.
We spoke a thousand languages but not English or Spanish, so they decided our languages were designed by the Devil, too, because if God had created us he would have given us English or Spanish as our language of conversation. As their days passed here their warped reasoning and gnarled thoughts sprouted and grew fangs. They looked upon the indigenous and, taking commandments from their Angry God, began a systematic destruction to the indigenous that has not yet found relief.
Although we are surrounded and imprisoned with strange thoughts wrapped around our life like spider webs multiplied around a moth, let us not forget the great powers giving us both birth and emergence, because those powers issued laws in dreams and haydutsi for governing our conduct while we walk upon little Mother Earth. Those great powers speak indigenous so let us prepare to receive the tribal dream, for within us each is the power to become Pukamuka or Cacuque. Do not forget.
We need not gather to prove our communications with the great powers of our lives. Alone at dawn on a hill top is a precious place to be. The Elders instructed us to cast our dreams and thoughts to the universe and to cast those things troubling our hearts, also. To maintain our connection we must do this.
It is true that we have only moments, after we struggle to survive to re-invent our languages and our cultures, so let us not attempt that. Instead, let us remember our precious possessions at the origin of our birth-spirit long ago. The memory and the dream are within us each at this moment. In our remembering let us remember that Mother Earth is the most precious world of our lives. Therefore we must respect and love her while exercising our responsibility to be her guardian and protector.
Aponiha, Tecate, mimoo'ischi'ee. (Great Mystery,Mother Earth, we are your little children).
Beautiful people, let us cease measuring ourselves with foreign equations, but by the universal seasons. That law was established very long ago and has not found amendment.
Let us walk upon Mother Earth carefully and dream about manicuring that orchid garden again.
I am finished.
Sul'ma'ejote.
Thursday, April 10, 2008
TASOQJAMI (DREAM)
TASOQJAMI (DREAM)
Out in the world there are many who genuinely worry about earth's eroding condition. Some witness earth being murdered. I am a tribal person from two tribes of northeastern California. Through all of the generations my people were blessed with dreamers and a dreamer society. I was fortunate to not only be a part of the tribal structure, but to be instructed by people of wisdom and knowledge. However, I am not a wise man, a man of knowledge, or a spiritual being. There are government agents within the tribe nowadays who fill these slots - while they laugh at those of us maintaining the native language as best we can.
Hay'dutsi'la means: thought in action that produces something from that activity. My life has built a little nest in the ancient forest where I can listen to the thoughts of the universe and allow haydutsi to function in solitude. Amazing things happen in that nest while hadutsi is in motion and listening.
In the old way my Elders said, "If you lay there sleeping and not dreaming, you might as well be dead." So I make it a point to dream more than I sleep.
Now I want to share with you a dream that came to me as I worried about the ragged condition of earth, while humanity hurries to damage it more by purchasing yet another shiny pollution-invention by the God Technology.
I was thinking of a way for an object in motion to create its own power to maintain its motion without the assistance of fuel. It could be like a humming bird. It is true that hummingbird gets its power from nectar to assist its motion, but it does not go to the gas station for nectar, neither does it require oil. The gas pump does not rob its family of their food money. In high school I learned there is no such thing as "perpetual motion." In dreams I learned there is! A vehicle can and should create its own energy to travel and it needs neither gas nor oil by products. Flat tires will need to be fixed but the vehicle will travel on its way polluting nothing, just like the hummingbird. Airliners need not be a flying time bombs of gas and fume mixtures constantly in fear of running out of energy to maintain its schedule. Submarines need not be nuclear fueled while we wait for a malfunction and prepare to flee or melt, but like a salmon use its own energy and pollute nothing.
With this message my intention is to meet sincere people with emotional ties with Mother Earth and examine ways to bring oil dependency to a halt along with war and all of the pollution damage the use of oil involves. Yes, I have tried to patent the thought but I quickly learned that the oil industry owns the U. S. Patent Office.
Sul'ma'ejote
Out in the world there are many who genuinely worry about earth's eroding condition. Some witness earth being murdered. I am a tribal person from two tribes of northeastern California. Through all of the generations my people were blessed with dreamers and a dreamer society. I was fortunate to not only be a part of the tribal structure, but to be instructed by people of wisdom and knowledge. However, I am not a wise man, a man of knowledge, or a spiritual being. There are government agents within the tribe nowadays who fill these slots - while they laugh at those of us maintaining the native language as best we can.
Hay'dutsi'la means: thought in action that produces something from that activity. My life has built a little nest in the ancient forest where I can listen to the thoughts of the universe and allow haydutsi to function in solitude. Amazing things happen in that nest while hadutsi is in motion and listening.
In the old way my Elders said, "If you lay there sleeping and not dreaming, you might as well be dead." So I make it a point to dream more than I sleep.
Now I want to share with you a dream that came to me as I worried about the ragged condition of earth, while humanity hurries to damage it more by purchasing yet another shiny pollution-invention by the God Technology.
I was thinking of a way for an object in motion to create its own power to maintain its motion without the assistance of fuel. It could be like a humming bird. It is true that hummingbird gets its power from nectar to assist its motion, but it does not go to the gas station for nectar, neither does it require oil. The gas pump does not rob its family of their food money. In high school I learned there is no such thing as "perpetual motion." In dreams I learned there is! A vehicle can and should create its own energy to travel and it needs neither gas nor oil by products. Flat tires will need to be fixed but the vehicle will travel on its way polluting nothing, just like the hummingbird. Airliners need not be a flying time bombs of gas and fume mixtures constantly in fear of running out of energy to maintain its schedule. Submarines need not be nuclear fueled while we wait for a malfunction and prepare to flee or melt, but like a salmon use its own energy and pollute nothing.
With this message my intention is to meet sincere people with emotional ties with Mother Earth and examine ways to bring oil dependency to a halt along with war and all of the pollution damage the use of oil involves. Yes, I have tried to patent the thought but I quickly learned that the oil industry owns the U. S. Patent Office.
Sul'ma'ejote
Thursday, March 27, 2008
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
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
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Turquoise Little Eagle
PSUKITOK
(early spring)
AZTECA MEXICA
ANO NUEVO
National Hispanic University,
San Jose, CA
Mar 15-16, 2008
By
Sul’ma’ejote
It is true, brother sun smiled across eternity
Morning wind whipped across the valley from the hundred-hill-Sierra country
Sun listened hearing the rattles, the drums, the soft thunder of dancing feet
caressing sweet earth
He parted the clouds of morning
Looking with the eyes of his heart he saw earth-children casting sterling thoughts to outer-world as is our way
He saw a rainbow dancing around the hissing fire
Blue, purple, red, orange green, gold and silver
Sage perfume moved the good-heart-thoughts past the billowing clouds
Rain ceased
Dance to Universal Powers continued
Sun saw bronze bodies flashing in a great dance of happiness
and a baby sleeping, dreaming secrets to Aponi’ha* that we may never know
Sun also saw a turquoise eagle sparkling under the rain drops
As one, a thousand bronze-feathered Quetzalcoatl’s knelt before
the Great Powers governing life
The ancient song, the ancient rhythm, the ancient dream, the ancient thought moved north, south, east and west closer still
to mingle with Aponi’ha at sunrise
Rainbow thunder from earth came in a mist of spinning colors, feet touching Earth,
feathers caressing Universe
Rattle promises of tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Sun whispered across forever, “There is but one,
One heart, one blood,
One people, one mind, one dream”
At that moment the seasons seemed younger than the dreaming baby
Under the snows upon the mountain Grandfather spoke saying
“It is true. Annikadel** sent hummingbird to sun
to place a bouquet there so rainbows,
the symbol of love, would forever arch across earth.
Love must be forever remembered as amazing, delicate, wonderful,
and above all things, precious”
And so it is
As Brother Sun and the Great Powers listened with one heart
they revealed a dream of the baby sleeping,
that rain would fall upon the flowers and blossoms of earth
And so it came to be
Colors flashed and feathers sparkled under the rain
Children dreamed of a greater goodness,
under the splashing sun and dripping rain of Psukitok
The outer-world watched Brother Sun cry for his heart was happy
Mother Earth promised to love all people for as long as the dance and the dream are in motion
Gedin’ch’lumnu (this must be so)
* Great Wonder, Great Mystery, Great Spirit, Great Power
** A great dreamer who dreamed the earth into being
For
Turquoise Little Eagle,
The Rumsen-Ohlone dancers,
and all of the dancers and dreamers of earth
(early spring)
AZTECA MEXICA
ANO NUEVO
National Hispanic University,
San Jose, CA
Mar 15-16, 2008
By
Sul’ma’ejote
It is true, brother sun smiled across eternity
Morning wind whipped across the valley from the hundred-hill-Sierra country
Sun listened hearing the rattles, the drums, the soft thunder of dancing feet
caressing sweet earth
He parted the clouds of morning
Looking with the eyes of his heart he saw earth-children casting sterling thoughts to outer-world as is our way
He saw a rainbow dancing around the hissing fire
Blue, purple, red, orange green, gold and silver
Sage perfume moved the good-heart-thoughts past the billowing clouds
Rain ceased
Dance to Universal Powers continued
Sun saw bronze bodies flashing in a great dance of happiness
and a baby sleeping, dreaming secrets to Aponi’ha* that we may never know
Sun also saw a turquoise eagle sparkling under the rain drops
As one, a thousand bronze-feathered Quetzalcoatl’s knelt before
the Great Powers governing life
The ancient song, the ancient rhythm, the ancient dream, the ancient thought moved north, south, east and west closer still
to mingle with Aponi’ha at sunrise
Rainbow thunder from earth came in a mist of spinning colors, feet touching Earth,
feathers caressing Universe
Rattle promises of tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow
Sun whispered across forever, “There is but one,
One heart, one blood,
One people, one mind, one dream”
At that moment the seasons seemed younger than the dreaming baby
Under the snows upon the mountain Grandfather spoke saying
“It is true. Annikadel** sent hummingbird to sun
to place a bouquet there so rainbows,
the symbol of love, would forever arch across earth.
Love must be forever remembered as amazing, delicate, wonderful,
and above all things, precious”
And so it is
As Brother Sun and the Great Powers listened with one heart
they revealed a dream of the baby sleeping,
that rain would fall upon the flowers and blossoms of earth
And so it came to be
Colors flashed and feathers sparkled under the rain
Children dreamed of a greater goodness,
under the splashing sun and dripping rain of Psukitok
The outer-world watched Brother Sun cry for his heart was happy
Mother Earth promised to love all people for as long as the dance and the dream are in motion
Gedin’ch’lumnu (this must be so)
* Great Wonder, Great Mystery, Great Spirit, Great Power
** A great dreamer who dreamed the earth into being
For
Turquoise Little Eagle,
The Rumsen-Ohlone dancers,
and all of the dancers and dreamers of earth
Thursday, March 6, 2008
DON'T TURN A LEAF
“DON’T TURN A LEAF”
At this time of confused and slanted American History, particularly that part where original natives were contacted by lost Europeans, as the Europeans bobbed around on the ocean, having no direction or destination and no provisions to go home, and their survival from moment to moment was questionable, history as presented should be questioned by some indigenous academic authority. At some point in native history some indigenous historian should get the “adventure” correct and in proper order. The floaters and bobbers were trying to reach India or China, but their real mission was to find gold for the Sovereigns – no matter whose gold it was. The Queen, contrary to history books, was not interested in finding land and owning the world. Manifest Destiny, imported personal greed, and massive American over-population accomplished that. The Sovereign’s needed gold. The need for gold stemmed from a desire to invade Palestine and to pacify it, once and for all. The Sovereigns needed an army. Armies require much money. An army of 5,000 mounted and 50,000 foot soldiers was terribly expensive. The Palestinians had to be invaded and their voice quelled. The Muslims occupied the Queen’s homeland and had to perish for the insult.
That activity required gold to put it into motion. Thus the journey of Columbus and the crews of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, Hernan Cortes, and other plunderer’s and pillager’s. They were commanded upon the oceans to bring the crown gold because gold was somewhere in the world. It surely was not in Europe. What little there was in Europe, the Kings and Queens had it all, but they also had an army with spears and swords, shields and helmets, chains and iron balls with steel spikes sticking in every direction, catapults, cavalry, and a ruthlessness that made thousands quake at the mention of their name. Soon ships were going out of Europe a dozen at a time in a dozen directions.
Columbus and Cortes penetrated this homeland and there were beautiful people living here. They gave gifts of food and fine jewelry to the pillagers. The indigenous were unarmed, friendly, healthy, naked and strong but delicate, their bodies never needing an immune system because there was no disease. They were vulnerable. Neither was there a need for implements of war because war could not be imagined. They were friendly. They were so friendly and vulnerable it was damning to the natives but delightful to the plunder-mentality.
The indigenous dwelled in a paradise because they were governed by dreams of wonder and strict laws and rules of etiquette and personal conduct emanating from those dreams. The laws came in dreams to the Elders from the Great Mysteries of the universe. The rules came to the great leaders in dreams, also. Emerging from those dreams were instructions that make no common sense to those of the plunder-mentality invading this continent from Europe, a mentality that emerged from constant conflict and war, nation against nation, biggest most ruthless army the victor and the plunderer. Those victorious in slaughter and destruction were encouraged by the notion of victory to attack and plunder other nations. Thus, the Europeans were honed in the “first strike” mentality. The natives were honed in the “first give,” “first share” mentality.
A native historian should read Columbus’ log book and begin American History from there and discontinue siphoning American history from the propaganda tanks of the American establishment.
I am neither historian nor scholar, but In my feeble attempt to piece history together I can see a societal law that was there when the indigenous met the disease infested Columbus and other pirates, a societal law that may never find rest from European violation, a law coming to our Elders in their deeper dreams:
“WHEN IN THE LAND OF ANOTHER PEOPLE, DO NOT TURN A LEAF, DO NOT BREAK A BRANCH.”
“A WARRIOR OFFERS PEACE, FIRST.”
The Elders issued these rules to the many people of this vast hemispheric homeland long ago and this is how we have lived through all of the seasons and the great migrations that we interpreted as “time.” In our lessons we were instructed to sing sweet songs to Mother Earth and to the Great Universal Mysteries and to always respect all people and all life, everywhere.
Then one day evil spirits came from beyond the sunrise. Their hearts empty of dreams and respect, they brought death and destruction. They, for centuries, have thought only about more destruction and their diseases have mutated and strengthened and now threaten humanity. Earth is sick. Earth is damaged. The strangers have not yet learned that their hearts and habits are not healthy.
Because the invading forces refuse to correct their habits and their hearts, earth may perish, soon. Legend says it will. Elder wisdom says the children will save earth from its final collision with an uncertain destiny by singing Ye’ja (love songs) to Mother Earth at dawn.
According to legend we will divide into two great camps, the “destruct-o,” “Me only” mentality in one camp, children’s dreams about future in the other. We shall see whether child-love or destruction-driven imbalance prevails.
For information concerning Columbus’ first voyage, look in his “Letter to the Sovereigns,” and his log book of that time.
Sulma’ejote
At this time of confused and slanted American History, particularly that part where original natives were contacted by lost Europeans, as the Europeans bobbed around on the ocean, having no direction or destination and no provisions to go home, and their survival from moment to moment was questionable, history as presented should be questioned by some indigenous academic authority. At some point in native history some indigenous historian should get the “adventure” correct and in proper order. The floaters and bobbers were trying to reach India or China, but their real mission was to find gold for the Sovereigns – no matter whose gold it was. The Queen, contrary to history books, was not interested in finding land and owning the world. Manifest Destiny, imported personal greed, and massive American over-population accomplished that. The Sovereign’s needed gold. The need for gold stemmed from a desire to invade Palestine and to pacify it, once and for all. The Sovereigns needed an army. Armies require much money. An army of 5,000 mounted and 50,000 foot soldiers was terribly expensive. The Palestinians had to be invaded and their voice quelled. The Muslims occupied the Queen’s homeland and had to perish for the insult.
That activity required gold to put it into motion. Thus the journey of Columbus and the crews of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, Hernan Cortes, and other plunderer’s and pillager’s. They were commanded upon the oceans to bring the crown gold because gold was somewhere in the world. It surely was not in Europe. What little there was in Europe, the Kings and Queens had it all, but they also had an army with spears and swords, shields and helmets, chains and iron balls with steel spikes sticking in every direction, catapults, cavalry, and a ruthlessness that made thousands quake at the mention of their name. Soon ships were going out of Europe a dozen at a time in a dozen directions.
Columbus and Cortes penetrated this homeland and there were beautiful people living here. They gave gifts of food and fine jewelry to the pillagers. The indigenous were unarmed, friendly, healthy, naked and strong but delicate, their bodies never needing an immune system because there was no disease. They were vulnerable. Neither was there a need for implements of war because war could not be imagined. They were friendly. They were so friendly and vulnerable it was damning to the natives but delightful to the plunder-mentality.
The indigenous dwelled in a paradise because they were governed by dreams of wonder and strict laws and rules of etiquette and personal conduct emanating from those dreams. The laws came in dreams to the Elders from the Great Mysteries of the universe. The rules came to the great leaders in dreams, also. Emerging from those dreams were instructions that make no common sense to those of the plunder-mentality invading this continent from Europe, a mentality that emerged from constant conflict and war, nation against nation, biggest most ruthless army the victor and the plunderer. Those victorious in slaughter and destruction were encouraged by the notion of victory to attack and plunder other nations. Thus, the Europeans were honed in the “first strike” mentality. The natives were honed in the “first give,” “first share” mentality.
A native historian should read Columbus’ log book and begin American History from there and discontinue siphoning American history from the propaganda tanks of the American establishment.
I am neither historian nor scholar, but In my feeble attempt to piece history together I can see a societal law that was there when the indigenous met the disease infested Columbus and other pirates, a societal law that may never find rest from European violation, a law coming to our Elders in their deeper dreams:
“WHEN IN THE LAND OF ANOTHER PEOPLE, DO NOT TURN A LEAF, DO NOT BREAK A BRANCH.”
“A WARRIOR OFFERS PEACE, FIRST.”
The Elders issued these rules to the many people of this vast hemispheric homeland long ago and this is how we have lived through all of the seasons and the great migrations that we interpreted as “time.” In our lessons we were instructed to sing sweet songs to Mother Earth and to the Great Universal Mysteries and to always respect all people and all life, everywhere.
Then one day evil spirits came from beyond the sunrise. Their hearts empty of dreams and respect, they brought death and destruction. They, for centuries, have thought only about more destruction and their diseases have mutated and strengthened and now threaten humanity. Earth is sick. Earth is damaged. The strangers have not yet learned that their hearts and habits are not healthy.
Because the invading forces refuse to correct their habits and their hearts, earth may perish, soon. Legend says it will. Elder wisdom says the children will save earth from its final collision with an uncertain destiny by singing Ye’ja (love songs) to Mother Earth at dawn.
According to legend we will divide into two great camps, the “destruct-o,” “Me only” mentality in one camp, children’s dreams about future in the other. We shall see whether child-love or destruction-driven imbalance prevails.
For information concerning Columbus’ first voyage, look in his “Letter to the Sovereigns,” and his log book of that time.
Sulma’ejote
Friday, February 22, 2008
DISRESPECTS
“DISRESPECTS”
I went early one day to visit “Grampa” Ramsey and Aunt Lorena. They were both of the older generation. Ramsey had an original name. Following the instructions of culture, he was named after the landscape where he was born. In the “real way” this is how it is supposed to be. Like a fawn, he was born on a hillside near a series of springs and the water ran down into the little valley. His name described the springs and the action of the water: Juaji ah jujuji (Where the water comes up and the grass growing in the water is always dancing).
It was fall and it was crisp in the morning darkness. I wanted to get to their home before they had breakfast because Aunt Lorena made the best biscuits and eggs over-easy in the whole wide world. Ramsey was not my Grandfather. He was married to my father’s great aunt and we called him Uncle until we had children and his title simply changed to “Grampa.” Aunt Lorena was always Aunt Lorena. She was a beautiful lady with a sterling life-spirit.
I arrived at dawn. Ramsey was out walking in his yard. Ramsey and I stood on the edge of a wheat field talking and waiting for Auntie to call us for breakfast. She knew I was coming for breakfast because that is my habit. If I didn’t sleep overnight then in a week I’d be there for breakfast. Auntie knew that I might kill for her fresh biscuits and her wild plum jam. Her jam was magic. She said it was the song she sang while making it. That was one amazing song full of love.
Ramsey was prepared for me in his “thinkings.” Before breakfast it seemed like he was very much into the landscape and migrations, but he was preparing to give me a philosophy lesson, itspo’e’otisi. We watched a flock of geese landing in the huge field and he talked of how huge the flocks were when he was a kid, compared to now there are few in the flocks and few flocks. Deer do not migrate in huge herds but are now only remnants, almost only a memory. A series of dams on the river have denied salmon the natural migration instinct of spawning, and that political decision damaged the salmon spirit and the homeland by denying food to the natives and to the other life living in the land from Eagles and bears to ants. One summer Ramsey showed me where (long before my birth) there was a large camp down by the river during the “runs.” Salmon were taken from the river and dried and smoked here in preparation for winter. Acorns and salmon got us through many long, bitterly cold winters. Winter is described in our oral literature as: Apnui (when the ice cracks). During the winter the keepers of wisdom tell of how Annikael moved the sun south. Sun stops going south, and that is the time Annikadel gives the sun to Spring Maiden. Spring Maiden brings the sun and fresh life north again. She also brings flowers and fruit for the children.
Ramsey talked with a heavy voice about all of these things very necessary to life, that have been fading away since he was a young person, a fading that began with the invasion by Europeans.
Besides the perfume of coffee, something thick with aroma came from Auntie’s kitchen and wrapped around us out in the early chill. We listened for her signal and waited quietly. Her signal was a tapping with a butter knife on the kitchen window. In the early, nippy quiet we were thinking and waiting quietly. Then, “tap,” “tap,” “tap.”
When we opened the door to her kitchen a tsunami of warmth laced with the aroma of ham and eggs, fresh biscuits, coffee and bear claws that she bought at the store “For a special occasion,” came in a blast of warmth. Rheumatism was creeping into Auntie’s life and sometimes her hands and shoulders hurt her terribly, yet she continued to pick fruit, to create pies for after dinner, and to make preserves for winter. She then cooked wonderful foods for our bodies that simply dripped with aromas wrapped in the flavors of love. Such was that breakfast. A warm bear claw and a fresh cup of coffee made the early day seem warmer and brighter.
After breakfast Ramsey and I went back out into the morning to talk with the sunrise and to think. Sun was just kissing the mountaintops in the west. At this time of morning there was usually a lot of quiet, no bird songs or coyote calls to half-moon. That thick, deep quiet was across the land like a mist.
Ramsey said, “Babe, the white man brought many disease but the bad one was disrespects.”
Wow! His hay’dutsi’la (thinkings) spurred my hay’dutsi (thought) into action. My thoughts came alive and alert, almost like they were touched with a red-hot branding iron. What powerful, precise and complete words! Ramsey continued showing me how the forests had been cut down and the animals and birds fled or perished, how the river is sick and dirty, how the vast migrations are small now, merely a token, how salmon camp was no more, how animals are killed like they have no feeling or purpose, how cars and Americans with superior “dominion over” have rights to run over little animals, how the world is changing, diseased and often decaying, how American and indigenous families are sick and crumbling.
He looked long across the landscape and I thought he was looking for another flock of geese to migrate in, but instead he saw the landscape of the native family left in the wake of civilization and progress. He said, “Look at the Indians. Mens in jail, womans in bar, kids is car out front, hungry. No respects. Look at bad habit of Americans brought with them. No respects. Look at the laws that deny us rights. No respects. Look at white people. They think it is right to take everything from us, but if we take something from him, even bread, it is okay with law if he shoots us and our family. No respects. Look at the jail, always full of disrespects. Why do they take all of our land and leave us nothing? No respects. How can this land belong to strangers and not us? Who made these crooked laws? It is “disrespects!”
Soon the old council called for me. They sent me back to college to “Learn how to use words like bullets, because that is how Americans use words against us.” I entered the hallowed halls of advanced education, paying particular attention to the United States Constitution and the laws founding America. But that is a story for another day, not today. For now, let’s remember the terrible, arrogant attitude of “disrespects” that encourages harm to multiply
I went early one day to visit “Grampa” Ramsey and Aunt Lorena. They were both of the older generation. Ramsey had an original name. Following the instructions of culture, he was named after the landscape where he was born. In the “real way” this is how it is supposed to be. Like a fawn, he was born on a hillside near a series of springs and the water ran down into the little valley. His name described the springs and the action of the water: Juaji ah jujuji (Where the water comes up and the grass growing in the water is always dancing).
It was fall and it was crisp in the morning darkness. I wanted to get to their home before they had breakfast because Aunt Lorena made the best biscuits and eggs over-easy in the whole wide world. Ramsey was not my Grandfather. He was married to my father’s great aunt and we called him Uncle until we had children and his title simply changed to “Grampa.” Aunt Lorena was always Aunt Lorena. She was a beautiful lady with a sterling life-spirit.
I arrived at dawn. Ramsey was out walking in his yard. Ramsey and I stood on the edge of a wheat field talking and waiting for Auntie to call us for breakfast. She knew I was coming for breakfast because that is my habit. If I didn’t sleep overnight then in a week I’d be there for breakfast. Auntie knew that I might kill for her fresh biscuits and her wild plum jam. Her jam was magic. She said it was the song she sang while making it. That was one amazing song full of love.
Ramsey was prepared for me in his “thinkings.” Before breakfast it seemed like he was very much into the landscape and migrations, but he was preparing to give me a philosophy lesson, itspo’e’otisi. We watched a flock of geese landing in the huge field and he talked of how huge the flocks were when he was a kid, compared to now there are few in the flocks and few flocks. Deer do not migrate in huge herds but are now only remnants, almost only a memory. A series of dams on the river have denied salmon the natural migration instinct of spawning, and that political decision damaged the salmon spirit and the homeland by denying food to the natives and to the other life living in the land from Eagles and bears to ants. One summer Ramsey showed me where (long before my birth) there was a large camp down by the river during the “runs.” Salmon were taken from the river and dried and smoked here in preparation for winter. Acorns and salmon got us through many long, bitterly cold winters. Winter is described in our oral literature as: Apnui (when the ice cracks). During the winter the keepers of wisdom tell of how Annikael moved the sun south. Sun stops going south, and that is the time Annikadel gives the sun to Spring Maiden. Spring Maiden brings the sun and fresh life north again. She also brings flowers and fruit for the children.
Ramsey talked with a heavy voice about all of these things very necessary to life, that have been fading away since he was a young person, a fading that began with the invasion by Europeans.
Besides the perfume of coffee, something thick with aroma came from Auntie’s kitchen and wrapped around us out in the early chill. We listened for her signal and waited quietly. Her signal was a tapping with a butter knife on the kitchen window. In the early, nippy quiet we were thinking and waiting quietly. Then, “tap,” “tap,” “tap.”
When we opened the door to her kitchen a tsunami of warmth laced with the aroma of ham and eggs, fresh biscuits, coffee and bear claws that she bought at the store “For a special occasion,” came in a blast of warmth. Rheumatism was creeping into Auntie’s life and sometimes her hands and shoulders hurt her terribly, yet she continued to pick fruit, to create pies for after dinner, and to make preserves for winter. She then cooked wonderful foods for our bodies that simply dripped with aromas wrapped in the flavors of love. Such was that breakfast. A warm bear claw and a fresh cup of coffee made the early day seem warmer and brighter.
After breakfast Ramsey and I went back out into the morning to talk with the sunrise and to think. Sun was just kissing the mountaintops in the west. At this time of morning there was usually a lot of quiet, no bird songs or coyote calls to half-moon. That thick, deep quiet was across the land like a mist.
Ramsey said, “Babe, the white man brought many disease but the bad one was disrespects.”
Wow! His hay’dutsi’la (thinkings) spurred my hay’dutsi (thought) into action. My thoughts came alive and alert, almost like they were touched with a red-hot branding iron. What powerful, precise and complete words! Ramsey continued showing me how the forests had been cut down and the animals and birds fled or perished, how the river is sick and dirty, how the vast migrations are small now, merely a token, how salmon camp was no more, how animals are killed like they have no feeling or purpose, how cars and Americans with superior “dominion over” have rights to run over little animals, how the world is changing, diseased and often decaying, how American and indigenous families are sick and crumbling.
He looked long across the landscape and I thought he was looking for another flock of geese to migrate in, but instead he saw the landscape of the native family left in the wake of civilization and progress. He said, “Look at the Indians. Mens in jail, womans in bar, kids is car out front, hungry. No respects. Look at bad habit of Americans brought with them. No respects. Look at the laws that deny us rights. No respects. Look at white people. They think it is right to take everything from us, but if we take something from him, even bread, it is okay with law if he shoots us and our family. No respects. Look at the jail, always full of disrespects. Why do they take all of our land and leave us nothing? No respects. How can this land belong to strangers and not us? Who made these crooked laws? It is “disrespects!”
Soon the old council called for me. They sent me back to college to “Learn how to use words like bullets, because that is how Americans use words against us.” I entered the hallowed halls of advanced education, paying particular attention to the United States Constitution and the laws founding America. But that is a story for another day, not today. For now, let’s remember the terrible, arrogant attitude of “disrespects” that encourages harm to multiply
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
No End to Life
NO END TO LIFE
In an effort to magnify and clarify hay’dutsi’la for those individuals of the world society who have knowledge only of rote education, who think that indigenous people are created without the ability to think, that they are inferior and backwards and only an obstacle to the eyes of invading forces and therefore, because of the design of politics, must be erased from the path of progress by military force and all means of destruction for the good of all mankind, I write again about the wisdom given me during my life time.
Many times I wondered about the indigenous wisdom and knowledge that was erased from this earth by the crude and cruel tactics of fire and destruction festering in the thoughts of invading forces from Europe as they fell upon the original inhabitants of this continent.
This idea of hay’dutsi’la is a process and is also central to tribal Elder, Craven Gibson. He said he had a real name but never mentioned it, but he did live for a thousand snows, it seemed. Living alone some of his life he took the time to think (hayy), to process the thoughts (dutsi) and to obtain results (la). I was very lucky that he shared his thoughts with me. He called me the-man-who-writes-on-paper, so it is invalid for anyone to claim that I am giving away our secrets. The complainant’s lack of both secrets and general tribal knowledge is usually the condition that initiates this type of immature comment.
Before the ending of my high school days I worried about this thing, “life.” What is it? Where did it come from? Where does it go after the body holding life is destroyed by bombs, bullets, old age or fire?
As I looked around it was clear that natives around the world were omitted from the glories of Democracy and the “American Dream,” or the dreams of any other form of politics. We were left out of God’s account of the world, and since heaven and hell are not a part of our indigenous spirit, where does life go when death visits us? At that point I thought about everybody because judging by the Evangelist thing, heaven or hell, seemed to be a fairytale that evolved into an excuse that was liberally applied supporting the “right” to invade any native, any where, any time.
After Craven told how easily this earth can be turned into a moon by burning up, I worried about life with a new urgency, a vengeance.
I was fresh out of high school and in the Marines. I was stationed in the Far East, Okinawa. At some point during this period while I was worrying About life, I thought that if I knew when the beginning was then I could figure the ending and maybe then I could understand where the life force of the spirit goes upon death. For almost two years I searched for the wise people in that land (Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Cambodia and Laos. The Americans and Vietnamese made me jittery so I did not ask many questions there. Hostilities were fermenting and the natives knew an American invasion was imminent. Whenever I could, I asked when the beginning was. No one seemed to know. I was shipped “stateside” and finished my time and was discharged. Not long after that I was in Europe. It seemed that wisdom should be somewhere, in the forest, in the valley, on the mountaintop. No answer. I returned to my homeland and thought it may be worth while to ask Craven about the beginning. I went to visit him and asked about the beginning. He required me to return in two days when full moon was just rising. I did.
In my old pickup I rattled into Craven’s yard and he helloed me in for coffee. Moon was just climbing over the mountain range. After a cup of coffee we went out to his yard. Moon was just above the mountains now and we did not talk but studied the moon and its light splashing across the valley while listening to coyotes. Mosquitoes drove us back into the house. Craven piddled around and made small talk. I thought, “He forgot.” He kept doing little things, then stopped and rubbed the top of his ear and cocked his head a little like he was listening to something, then said:
“I THINK THERE WAS NO BEGINNING BECAUSE THERE IS NO ENDING AND IF THERE IS NO ENDING THERE CANNOT BE A BEGINNING.”
No end to life? That made me feel good, especially after the earth burning into another moon legend, but it also raised more questions that forty years later I am still formulating. Craven is no longer with us. He returned to the stars. Now where do I go for answers?
The Elders said that our wa’tu (spiritual umbilical cord) is connected in the universe where we began our journey long ago. I will return to that place. But does everyone have a wa’tu? Who do I ask?
Looking over my life I wondered why I didn’t go to Craven first. It would have saved years of worry and searching for an evasive thing that must be produced with hay’dutsi’la, and hay’dutsi’la was in my homeland waiting for me to ask a question.
A wise man may say that everyone uses hay’dutsi’la. Say to that wise man that moon is also an important ingredient in the hay’dutsi’la process, the moon and the rest of the universe, including coyotes and mosquitoes.
The old philosophers of my life said, “Think with your mind and when you don’t think with your mind, think with your heart. The mind is directly connected to the universe and it is all of the experiences of your ancestors collected through the generations and given to you long before your birth upon this earth.” I know now that there were great philosophers in my generations but my inability to know is there because I failed to learn many things before my birth, not the ancestors’ fault for not passing what they know to me. So yet, I wonder and worry about many things.
In an effort to magnify and clarify hay’dutsi’la for those individuals of the world society who have knowledge only of rote education, who think that indigenous people are created without the ability to think, that they are inferior and backwards and only an obstacle to the eyes of invading forces and therefore, because of the design of politics, must be erased from the path of progress by military force and all means of destruction for the good of all mankind, I write again about the wisdom given me during my life time.
Many times I wondered about the indigenous wisdom and knowledge that was erased from this earth by the crude and cruel tactics of fire and destruction festering in the thoughts of invading forces from Europe as they fell upon the original inhabitants of this continent.
This idea of hay’dutsi’la is a process and is also central to tribal Elder, Craven Gibson. He said he had a real name but never mentioned it, but he did live for a thousand snows, it seemed. Living alone some of his life he took the time to think (hayy), to process the thoughts (dutsi) and to obtain results (la). I was very lucky that he shared his thoughts with me. He called me the-man-who-writes-on-paper, so it is invalid for anyone to claim that I am giving away our secrets. The complainant’s lack of both secrets and general tribal knowledge is usually the condition that initiates this type of immature comment.
Before the ending of my high school days I worried about this thing, “life.” What is it? Where did it come from? Where does it go after the body holding life is destroyed by bombs, bullets, old age or fire?
As I looked around it was clear that natives around the world were omitted from the glories of Democracy and the “American Dream,” or the dreams of any other form of politics. We were left out of God’s account of the world, and since heaven and hell are not a part of our indigenous spirit, where does life go when death visits us? At that point I thought about everybody because judging by the Evangelist thing, heaven or hell, seemed to be a fairytale that evolved into an excuse that was liberally applied supporting the “right” to invade any native, any where, any time.
After Craven told how easily this earth can be turned into a moon by burning up, I worried about life with a new urgency, a vengeance.
I was fresh out of high school and in the Marines. I was stationed in the Far East, Okinawa. At some point during this period while I was worrying About life, I thought that if I knew when the beginning was then I could figure the ending and maybe then I could understand where the life force of the spirit goes upon death. For almost two years I searched for the wise people in that land (Japan, Taiwan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Cambodia and Laos. The Americans and Vietnamese made me jittery so I did not ask many questions there. Hostilities were fermenting and the natives knew an American invasion was imminent. Whenever I could, I asked when the beginning was. No one seemed to know. I was shipped “stateside” and finished my time and was discharged. Not long after that I was in Europe. It seemed that wisdom should be somewhere, in the forest, in the valley, on the mountaintop. No answer. I returned to my homeland and thought it may be worth while to ask Craven about the beginning. I went to visit him and asked about the beginning. He required me to return in two days when full moon was just rising. I did.
In my old pickup I rattled into Craven’s yard and he helloed me in for coffee. Moon was just climbing over the mountain range. After a cup of coffee we went out to his yard. Moon was just above the mountains now and we did not talk but studied the moon and its light splashing across the valley while listening to coyotes. Mosquitoes drove us back into the house. Craven piddled around and made small talk. I thought, “He forgot.” He kept doing little things, then stopped and rubbed the top of his ear and cocked his head a little like he was listening to something, then said:
“I THINK THERE WAS NO BEGINNING BECAUSE THERE IS NO ENDING AND IF THERE IS NO ENDING THERE CANNOT BE A BEGINNING.”
No end to life? That made me feel good, especially after the earth burning into another moon legend, but it also raised more questions that forty years later I am still formulating. Craven is no longer with us. He returned to the stars. Now where do I go for answers?
The Elders said that our wa’tu (spiritual umbilical cord) is connected in the universe where we began our journey long ago. I will return to that place. But does everyone have a wa’tu? Who do I ask?
Looking over my life I wondered why I didn’t go to Craven first. It would have saved years of worry and searching for an evasive thing that must be produced with hay’dutsi’la, and hay’dutsi’la was in my homeland waiting for me to ask a question.
A wise man may say that everyone uses hay’dutsi’la. Say to that wise man that moon is also an important ingredient in the hay’dutsi’la process, the moon and the rest of the universe, including coyotes and mosquitoes.
The old philosophers of my life said, “Think with your mind and when you don’t think with your mind, think with your heart. The mind is directly connected to the universe and it is all of the experiences of your ancestors collected through the generations and given to you long before your birth upon this earth.” I know now that there were great philosophers in my generations but my inability to know is there because I failed to learn many things before my birth, not the ancestors’ fault for not passing what they know to me. So yet, I wonder and worry about many things.
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