Beware of misinformation on Native culture

Editors, Asheville Global Report,

Over the last few weeks we have received a few phone calls from various people in the area regarding the upcoming visit from Brooke Medicine Eagle. The concern being, she is just one of many people who are subverting the American Indian culture through her books, workshops, and seminars. We are very grateful for the people of all ancestry who realize the damage caused and wish to convey that message to them.

Our recent education campaigns, aimed at people selling bastardized versions of Indian ceremonies in the area, seem to have made an impact. We are encouraged and glad our elders’ words were heard. We still encounter those selling combined spiritual paths with committing to none. These people take away from the true messages – and in the wake of the popularity of these so called teachings offering the ‘secrets’ of Indian spirituality we have come to a new place in our battles.

People like Brooke (and the list is long) do a great disservice to Indian people through their interpretation and views that we are all are alike. Our interaction with our environment and within our family systems does have common elements. Respect for all life -- knowledge that we have responsibility to the generations coming and to those that came before -- and our constant blend of survival and spirituality - none can be separated. However, each is linked to the regions and customs, environment and ceremony that worked for each individual nation, tribe, or clan.

Books which are compilations, misrepresentations, catering to those who need to feel warm and good have little to offer -- most of it is fantasy with little resemblance to what and who Indian people were or are.

People seeking knowledge are drawn to these books thinking they will learn what it is and was like to be Indian. Some are simply looking for the instructions on how to be happy -- how to find ‘peace’ -- or whatever. There are no references to responsibility or honor or humbleness or commitment or true balance. There is little if any explanation that our ways were for the good of all the people -- NOT the individual. And VERY few if ANY of these so-called medicine people or teachers work toward the issues that are plaguing our people and our lands. They don’t bring out that it was ILLEGAL to practice the ways of our ancestors before 1978! They forget to tell their readers that thousands upon thousands of innocent and caring people died horrible physical and spiritual deaths in order to save what we have today. Much of what was kept was done so through rivers of Indian blood released by sword, bullet, and laws. They forget that the People are still suffering from substance abuse born from the US government taking generations of children away from their family units in order to make them WHITE. Now we struggle to bring back the hoop. We struggle through the BS (buffalo shit) and the continued wars against our lands and our people from those who only think they know who we are -- and those who sell false tales have just as much blood on their hands as the Calvary of old.

Real Indians don’t recruit -- they know that our way is our way and it may or may not be for others. They don’t pretend to know all the answers and they certainly don’t believe that one way is right for everyone.

We are also painfully aware that there is a balance that must be maintained -- peace is not achieved without struggle -- harmony without pain -- day without night. It is that simple. These books are created from the imaginations of the authors who hold no responsibility or accountability.

And yes -- most of it is buffalo shit -- of which we could learn some of the Plains Nations’ ways: They didn’t worship buffalo shit; they burned it for warmth and for cooking -- they used it for what it was worth -- which is what I suggest be done with most of these books -- and realize that true peace will never be achieved without struggle or suffering -- some of what is happening right now, in this time, has to be for other things to come about.

There are also many books written and still in print that explain the condition and situations in contemporary times -- please see our site at http://www.geocities.com/aimasheville for recommended and not recommended authors/publications.

As much as we see the problems and damage these kinds of people and their books do -- there is nothing we can do in the case of this woman coming to sell books -- except use these examples to teach.

We have only scratched the surface of this issue -- there is much more to it -- so for more information and insight on current events like Leonard Peltier, mascot and tribal issues, and much more -- come join us this Sunday, September 22nd, at Spirits on the River. We will have people to entertain and inform you. We will have an info table – sign up for our mailing list -- come and support the people at Spirits as well as artists and musicians from around the area.

In The Spirit of Crazy Horse,
AIM Asheville

Name-calling

Editors, Asheville Global Report,

What does it mean to be Israel? Does it mean that you support the slaughter of Palestinians and settlements on contested lands, or that you even believe that those contested lands belong to the state of Israel? Does it mean you support Sharon’s heavy handed policies? Americans enjoy the right to distance themselves from the opinion of Bush and his Chicken Hawks by mediums ranging from public discourse to private debate. To be American does not mean that one supports action in Iraq, reduction of Civil Liberties, or even the war on Terror. Despite this we are comfortable with making statements personifying America and Israel. “America mourns, Israel waits, Palestine desires peace.” These statements are manipulative and often inaccurate.

This may seem to be a semantic argument with no real significance. However semantics are not insignificant. Our ability to communicate accurately is one of the few domains in which we can exercise power in the near future.

For the next two to six years, there is little we can do to influence the executive branch of our government. We will invade Iraq, and we will continue to watch our rights deteriorate. We must plan ahead, six years ahead. In looking at that time, we must consider a very important condition. Like the Weimar Republic of Germany following World War I, we shall inherit a nation of severely diminished prestige and ability because of the foolish actions of a powerful ruler and the current nature of our diplomatic language will be meaningless.

If we are careful and intentional, we can influence the dramatic changes in this language. Rather than referring to Israeli initiatives and American interests, we must use the extra ink to report instead the names of those who forward initiatives, and which Americans’ interests are served. Corporations must be treated likewise, and they must be defined within their individual contexts, so that those which deviate from the corrupt corporate culture can be praised accordingly, inspiring imitation in others.

We must pay attention to our semantics to ensure that we emerge in a global climate in which individuals are held responsible for their actions. We will define the way in which people consider the events. That is semantics, it is the power to influence the way in which ideas are considered, even as they are being communicated, and it is a power we actually have if we will only exercise it. And I highly recommend the measured use of childish name calling within appropriate rhetorical contexts.

Adam M.
Asheville, North Carolina

Columbus: role model for US foreign policy makers

Editors, Asheville Global Report, At the start of the twenty-first century, with the American military once again preparing to drop bombs and kill thousands of Muslims to rid the world of another “evil one” perhaps we need to examine the federal governments glorification of Christopher Columbus. George Bush Sr. once stated “Christopher Columbus not only opened the door to a New World, but also set an example for all of us.”

Apart from being a heroic navigator what example did Columbus set for us once he landed on modern day Haiti?

On his second visit Columbus and his men took captive two thousand friendly local villagers who came to greet them. Once gold was discovered Columbus set up a tribute system and had the hands cut off of Taino Indians who did not collect enough gold dust. For minor offenses an Indians nose or ears were cut off and Spaniards even hunted Indians for sport and murdered them for dog food.

As he began exporting the Taino as slaves, the sex-slave trade became an important part of the business, as Columbus wrote a friend in 1500: “A hundred castelanoes(coins) are as easily obtained for a woman as a farm, and it is very general and there are plenty of dealers who go about looking for these girls; those from nine to ten(years old) are now in demand.”

Life for the Taino became so unbearable that, as Pedro de Cordoba wrote King Ferdinand in a 1517 letter, “As a result of the sufferings and hard labor they endured, the Indians choose solo or mass suicide. The women, exhausted by labor, have shunned conception and childbirth. Others after delivery have killed their own children with their own hands, as not to leave them in such oppressive slavery.”

Since the Taino did not make very good slaves Columbus, and later his brother Bartholomew simply resorted to wiping out the Taino altogether. Prior to Columbus’ arrival most scholars place the native population at 3 million people. By 1516 the population was 12,000 and by 1555 not a single Taino was alive. The Taino culture, people, and genes vanished from the planet.

Christopher Columbus’ purpose from the beginning was not mere exploration or even trade, but conquest and exploitation. His actions are best understood as a bloody atrocity that left a legacy of genocide and slavery.

Rather than glorify a brutal European slave trader there is a growing movement to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples Day. Let us celebrate the native peoples of the Old World who lived in harmony with the land long before Europeans ‘discovered’ America.

Jeffree Laughingman
Eugene, Oregon

Column cancellation, ‘corporate’ influence on AGR?

Editors, Asheville Global Report,

Your Savage editorial makes no sense. You state clearly that you do not agree with negative reaction to the column. You suggest that those offering the criticism are shallow as they don’t get equally upset over the other atrocities your paper uncovers. You suspect circulation has increased since the column started running. With all of that you somehow decide to cancel the column? Welcome to the real world where a few influential supporters ultimately decide what is fit to print, both on the right and the left. The left also has its “corporate” influence also.

Philip Voso
Asheville, NC