Shirts And Skins



SKINS IN SHIRTS

RED POWER PERSPECTIVES

JAMES BLUEWOLF

Skins In Shirts

© 2007--2012 James BlueWolf

All Rights Reserved

We dedicate this book to the

Indigenous Peoples of the Earth

for their understanding of the human right

to live in balance, with harmony and respect

This book is a continuation of a series of essays begun in it’s companion book, American Myths And Madness. These essays are specific to the Native (Indigenous) issues we think important, and offers a limited amount of contemporary Indigenous history starting near the beginning of the twentieth century. In keeping with Native values, we won’t attempt to coddle or coerce our readers into reading these essays by providing introductions or precursory summaries. You’ll either read them or you won’t. JBlueWolf

Table Of Contents

Before We Get Started

Essay One A History Of Isolation

Essay Two Lost Generation

Essay Three A New Beginning

Essay Four Divided—Traditional Vs Progressive

Essay Five Crossing Tribal Boundaries

Essay Six Wannabes And Unrecognized Indians

Essay Seven Blood Quantum

Essay Eight Leadership

Essay Nine Twentieth Century Decision-Making

Essay Ten Consensus

Essay Eleven Resources And National Unity

Essay Twelve Materialism

Essay Thirteen Discipline

Essay Fourteen Indintity

Essay Fifteen Dependency

Essay Sixteen Sacred Tobacco

Essay Seventeen Indian Money

Essay Eighteen Outside Help

Essay Nineteen Cracking Our Bones

Essay Twenty Blacks, Black Indians, And Black White-Men

Essay Twenty-One Mexica, South Of An Imaginary Line

Essay Twenty-Two Abortion or Right To Life

Essay Twenty-Three Blood And Balance

Essay Twenty-Four Picking Up The Medicine

Essay Twenty-Five Warrior Societies In A Modern World

Essay Twenty-Six Original Learning And Language

Essay Twenty-Seven Elder Islands

Essay Twenty-Eight Respect

Essay Twenty-Nine Family Extended

Essay Thirty To Be Or Not To Be

Essay Thirty-One Indian Man/Indian Woman

Essay Thirty-Two Values, Virtue, And Behavior

Essay Thirty-Three Appearances, And Assimilation

Essay Thirty-Four Euro-American Independence Day 2003

Essay Thirty-Five Commitment To Morality

Essay Thirty-Six Renewal

Essay Thirty-Seven Relationship And Balance

Essay Thirty-Eight Last Words

Book and Source List

Before We Get Started…

“For those readers who have read the companion volume, this introduction is the same as that which accompanies American Myths & Madness. You may pass go and collect your $100.00, just as if you had attended a Tribal Council meeting! Your check is in the mail...”

“My brother, Nathan Lupe’, a decorated Navy Seal, has been a co-writer on a number of our projects. Though he did not participate in composing or assembling this selection of essays, I believe that it is appropriate to include his name, and use the pronoun “we”, in describing this work. A victim of Alzheimer’s, he is still, as a true Indigenous American Hero, an inspiration to me and all the members of our Society and extended family.” James BlueWolf 2008

Our opinions are our own and are not intended to represent any other group or individual. We expect that even some American Indians will disagree with our perceptions and conclusions. We’re okay with that, believing that a book can be just as important as a springboard for dissent and controversy as it is a hymnal for agreement and praise.

We have deliberately used the language to its fullest, preferring to resist the contemporary temptation to simplify our vocabulary. Languages evolve rich and nuanced vocabularies to more accurately express the detail of a perception or content of an idea. Deliberately and disingenuously utilizing simplistic language can obscure the clarity of those perceptions, not elucidate them.

We urge readers to accept the factuality of this book as a tertiary source only, and to look to the book list to read those works that can be classified as primary or secondary sources. We do include some primary, as well as secondary source information—but believe that it will be in the best interests of all readers to study further any controversial issues or facts that interest them. We have no desire to be considered scholarly, or literary experts—preferring the title we chose—renegades.

Since these essays have been composed over time, the discriminating reader will undoubtedly encounter some repetition. We hope this will not be too tedious or distracting, and that our affection and earnest enthusiasm to build a subjective theme into the entire work may be viewed more as a musical piece than a literary one, with movements and repetitive themes toward a single end.

Natives do not need us to "educate" them in regards to the issues and concerns we all share, our intention is simply to contribute to the timely and important discussions being held within, and without, our individual Nations.

Where we have erred, over-generalized, misrepresented, or misunderstood our subjects or the facts, the responsibility is ours alone.

A final word—if any essay seems to be too much—skip it and go on to another. We tried to make each one stand-alone. Who says a book must progress front to back?

There have been changes in Indian Country since the Seventies—some of them good, some not so good. Many of our complaints from yesterday are still aggravations today. Much of the feeling of brotherhood and community of that time has dissipated with the drive for “economic development”. All of us who were active in the Seventies know we're only a small step away from being classified and cataloged by the FBI again, this time as "domestic terrorists". Who knows, this book could put us back in their scopes. We're certain that the names of the American Founding Fathers and all of the Native heroes and heroines we cherish would be included with ours on that list, so we’re okay with that. In these turbulent times, we relish the opportunity to stand up for militancy and be identified as “renegades” again.

Essay One-- A History Of Isolation

"Several ladies passed through the cars...American Horse's papoose was a chubby, sturdy little beggar, and when one of the ladies spoke to him, he set up a tremendous wail, just as natural and lifelike as if he were Human."

Omaha Herald, 1876

We’re going to jump around a little, get wild, make some generalizations, and not worry about time-line continuity for this essay. Since we don’t intend to tell the entire history of American Indians in America, we hope our Native readers won’t be too disturbed about the lapses or gaps in the story.

For some Indians, early days on the rez (reservation), in the late 19th and very early 20th centuries weren't so bad. They were decidedly better than not knowing from moment to moment when they might be attacked by soldiers, militia, or vigilantes. Eastern Tribes, having suffered a long relationship with various European ethnic colonial groups were in various stages of assimilation. Southeastern Tribes had suffered the Removal to Indian Country and California Tribes were still reeling from thinking they had treaties and then having their lands stolen from under them and bounties placed on their heads. Plains Tribes were trying to get used to sitting in one place and existing on government rations, as were Southwest and Northwest Indians. Though still dealing with the after effects of starvation, disease, and shock, reservation Tribes settled into a routine of taking government supplied commodities, hunting game or fishing (where possible), growing vegetable gardens, raising stock animals, and enjoying their remaining families and social ties.

In many state courts of the late 1700 to mid-1800’s, the names of Tribal members had first been recorded to deter them from owning land, marrying, voting, becoming jurors, etc.—but the push for a major enrollment of Indians was for the allotment rolls in the late 1800's. The government was forcing Tribes to divide their reservations into small parcels to be registered to individual families. It was a time for signing everyone up, the two Dawes Rolls being an example of carding and cataloging whole Tribes of Native people. It was at this time that the naming and renaming of Indians was needed. Except for those already assimilated, descended from, or married into white families, Natives did not have surnames that identified their lineages. It was time to give Indians names that could be used to identify descendants down the line, ostensibly so property could be recorded and passed down to relatives. This is where Natives got many of the names we live with today.

Christian missionaries continued to consolidate their efforts to convert the Nations, especially after 1878, when the President gave control of the reservations to different Christian Denominations. Presbyterians, Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Methodists, Mennonites, and the Church Of God, all sought to save the eternal souls of the Natives. In their rush to convert the reservation Peoples, they continued to implement and increase the policy of sending Indian children off to boarding schools to facilitate their "civilizing."

In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, the federal government sought to encourage that “civilizing” by banning Native spiritual ceremonies. In 1882, Commissioner of Indian Affairs Hiram Price expressed his opinion in a letter stating, "There is no good reason why an Indian should be permitted to indulge in practices which are alike repugnant to common decency and morality. The preservation of good order on reservations demands of me active measures be taken to discourage—and if possible, put a stop—to the demoralizing influence of heathenish rites.” The Government immediately sought to create a wave of public opinion against Native religious dances by emphasizing the important of dancing as a precursor to war. Violators of the government ban were punished under regulations known as “Indian offenses”. Dancers and participants were jailed and rations were withheld from their families. Even use of the Pipe and the sweat lodge were denied. For some the bans lasted until 1933, but Indian people were persecuted even into the 1960’s. (All freedoms were not returned until 1978 under the passage of the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.)

In March of 1891, Congress enacted a compulsory education law that was to, "...secure the attendance of Indian children of suitable age and health at schools established and maintained for their education." (Read "brainwashing".) These contract schools, built by the government and supported by the Church, put forward the concept that continuing to allow Indians their pagan ways and beliefs would corrupt the children and cause their socialization to be retarded. Many relocated, orphaned, or stolen kids were already encamped at similar schools. In an 1893 editorial, Harpers Magazine wrote about the Sioux, "...the churches and religious societies have certainly quenched the fires of barbarism in the Indian children.... The disappearance of blanket and breech-cloth, long hair and highly painted faces, is a sign that the Sioux has succumbed to a stronger civilization, and with his old customs have fallen his old gods."

The Government decrees (pushed by military and Christian leaders), had made important tribal and ceremonial spiritual gatherings illegal. Many Traditionals ignored these laws, being forced to conduct their activities in secret, and this “renegade” or “hostile” activity caused some internal conflicts to arise within the Tribes, who still feared for their safety.

As World War I began, on the isolated lands of their reservations (and former reservations), the Indian Nations found themselves carefully scrutinized on the one hand—to prevent participation in illegal spiritual activities—and thoroughly ignored on the other.

Over 12,000 American Indians volunteered to serve in the United States military in World War I, nearly a decade before they became U.S. citizens. Approximately 600 Oklahoma Indians, mostly Choctaw and Cherokee, saw action in France and these soldiers were widely recognized, not only for their contributions in battle but as the first of the fabled code-talkers. Due to the secrecy that shrouded the code-talkers legacy, it is not commonly known that many Tribes were included in these operations, resulting in many Code-talking veterans of both the first and second World Wars.

These Indian men soon learned to blend into the landscape of the U.S. military machine and became accepted as valuable comrades-in-arms. It is an interesting fact that throughout the military campaigns of this century, Natives, once identified, have been consistently given some of the more dangerous assignments as scouts and point-men because of the Anglo fantasy that they have some inherent gift for those type of missions.

The Code-talker successes also provided a lesson to contemporary Natives about resistance to assimilation. Code-talkers from the Choctaw, Comanche, Navajo, Creek, Hopi, Menominee, and Ojibwa nations contributed to the WW1 & 2 efforts. Most of the Code-talkers of both wars were boarding school educated. As students, they were humiliated and physically punished for speaking their languages. Many resisted and disobeyed, risking punishment by speaking together secretly. Then, in an ultimate irony, the government came to them asking that they create a code from the very languages that they had been forbidden to speak! In the end, the fact that they resisted assimilation contributed significantly to an American victory.

The training and natural camaraderie of combatants contributed to a sense of pride and patriotism in their service, and Native vets returned home, to once again be considered nonessential third-class non-citizens.

If we jump ahead for a moment and discuss World War II vets as well, we find a callous abandonment by the very Government they sacrificed for. The treatment of the Code-talkers is a sore point with their contemporary relatives. Forbidden by secrecy to discuss their roles in the war (even with family), for decades afterward, many of the Code-talkers of WWII were responsible for creating and developing the code themselves. They are credited, by most military historians, of being directly responsible for the taking of Iwo Jima and the entire Pacific Theater. This resulted in the eventual launching of the military’s ultimate solution, Fat Man and Little Boy (the two nuclear weapons unleashed on the innocent populations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki). Yet, they have been denied medical care and basic veteran’s benefits, even into the 21st century!

Continuing hostility, racism, and resentment kept Indians from associating with most of their neighboring Anglo communities. As the next few decades passed, alcoholism dependency increased and racism reinforced reservation stereotypes and isolation. No one in American society was prepared to welcome our ancestors into the melting pot as long as they maintained their tribal affiliations and clung to their reservations. Not much has been written about these times because it doesn't have the romance and color of the previous centuries of tribal history. Many of the Tribes themselves have little collective memory of those days. For eight decades or more, the Indian Nations lived as forgotten Peoples, isolated and alone.

Essay Two-- Lost Generation

“When a pattern of culture is shattered, a people lose their vital spark.”

William N Fenton

They were the in-betweens. Too young to remember the free days and too oppressed to see hope. Even into the late-20th century most grew up dirt poor, using outhouses, living without running water, electricity, or jobs, and having little contact with the outside world—not even a radio or telephone.

Generations had passed since the Tribes had been able to live completely from the land. Reservation Indians had seen the abundance of necessities disappear and their local economies fall far below what we think of today as poverty.

The blessings of citizenship and the reorganization of tribal governments in the 1920’s and 1930’s were only token gestures of conciliation, concealing a broader plan to complete the destruction of traditionally democratic Indian governments and to continue the elimination of their land bases through another round of individual allotment programs.

Beloved children were forced to leave their families and homes to attend the military or religious run boarding schools. Some were not allowed to return to their homes for years. Original language was disallowed and punishments for speaking it were severe. Strict military disciplines were observed. The food provided was often poorly prepared and malnutrition and sickness were common. Many children died. Inadequate records were kept and families were denied visits to sick children or access to their graves. Denied their language, clothing, natural foods, song, dance, and forms of worship, these young people were forced to alter their appearance and conform to new and unfamiliar standards. Reminded daily that they were ignorant heathens, and that old ways must be forsaken, many of them grew up confused and despondent, often turning to alcohol or converting to Christianity (or both), when they returned to their Nations. Others Natives rebelled, secretly speaking in Traditional tongues, risking the certain punishment that resulted if they were discovered. Some merely ran away and returned to their families, to be hidden or sent away to other relatives.

At most of these “training facilities”, the demand to accept and practice Christianity was non-negotiable, but for most, the religion provided little comfort from the poverty and despair which filled their lives. Most of these schools were actually military training establishments intended to “create productive members of a greater society.” The military discipline was thought to be appropriate given the popular belief that Native children had inherent discipline problems. It was hoped that these strict systems, which sought to replace every aspect of Native life, would cause a shift in student loyalties leading to a disintegration of the old tribal ties when they finally went home. The brainwashing succeeded not in a transfer of loyalty, but in a predictable confusion of identity. Burdened with an irrelevant and alien knowledge, many of these cultural refugees returned carrying the parasites of self-hatred and contempt for their own people. A sign at one of these boarding schools, circa early 1900’s, said it all. “Tradition Is The Enemy Of Progress”.

World War II saw a new generation of Indians enlisting in the military. It was viewed on reservations as merely the continuance of the warrior tradition. 44,000 American Indians, out of a total Native American population of less than 350,000, served with distinction between 1941 and 1945 in both European and Pacific theaters of war. More than 40,000 Indian people left their reservations to work in ordnance depots, factories, and other war industries. American Indians also invested more than $50 million in war bonds, and contributed generously to the Red Cross and the Army and Navy Relief societies. Seventeen million dollars of those bonds were purchased with lease and allocation monies. The tribes also donated food, minerals, rangelands, resources, and reservation lands for bombing runs and artillery ranges. Ironically, one fourth of the Japanese American citizens interred were held on reservation lands. This statistic is amazing considering Natives were among the poorest people in the Nation. One third of all eligible Native men, 18 to 50, served. The October 24, 1942 Saturday Evening Post put it in perspective when it proclaimed, “We would not need the selective service if all volunteered like Indians…”

As previously mentioned, these servicemen and women came into direct contact with mainstream America, and in that brief period of time many of our fathers returned home believing that they had finally become Americans. Their hopes were again shattered as the stereotypes of Hollywood prevailed and they returned to life at home still considered "ignorant” second-class citizens, incapable of handling their own affairs. These were the days of Ira Hayes, a Pima who gained at least a momentary fame for having been one of Marines who was photographed raising the flag on Iwo Jima. Hayes died a lonely alcoholic. Were it not for Johnny Cash’s song about him (The Ballad Of Ira Hayes, Bitter Tears), a decade or so later, the world might have forgotten him altogether. But he was not the only one.

Hollywood rushed to cash in on a new interest and nostalgia about the wild west, and Indians were, once and for all, stamped into the molds that still shape our image worldwide as romanticized painted savages in beads and feathers—horses, war-whoops, teepees, and all.

The Nations drew further into themselves. Reverse racism and internal isolation developed to the point where anything that represented the outside world was viewed with suspicion and a guilt-ridden yearning. Yet, we honored our Vets and flew the American Flag with a bitter pride. Traditionals continued speaking their languages, performing the Ceremonies (once again legal), and praying as they had for millennia. However, by this time many Indians were convinced the old ways and days were gone. There was nothing left from those times they could recognize except for the racism that still controlled their lives from Washington. Though they wanted what Americans had, flew the flag, and watched the world around them speed up and change, they still were not convinced that they should become Americans.

Whole families turned to alcohol. It became a new tradition along with ready-made cigarette smoking, jeans, and cowboy boots.

1950’s America tried termination. Tribal governments and Bands were officially disbanded and dissolved. Tribal lands held in trust or in common were divided into allotment-like parcels between the families. Tribal aide programs were dissolved and since it was recognized that few opportunities to find work existed in their poverty-stricken communities, many Natives were offered the “opportunity” to relocate to urban areas where it was thought they would encounter greater success (and assimilation). The relocation programs developed into a nation wide attempt to force Indians to leave the reservation to go to the cities. Many of the young women found their way into government clinics where they signed papers they could not understand and were sterilized without their knowledge. In the cities they did not find opportunity, they found what the blacks and other minorities already faced—more poverty and more racism. Some returned to the rez, but many did not. They huddled in Indin-town, frequenting their own bars and marking their territory. The drive and ambition that most Anglo-Americans seemed born with was missing and they viewed the outside world with suspicion and hostility. The off-rez world remained a foreign and inhospitable place.

It seemed that Indians, no matter where they were, lived in a bubble. It was a vacuum that witnessed the everyday passing of old values, ethics, language, ceremony, and viewpoint—but allowed virtually nothing to enter and replace what was being lost. Only the sterile and unpleasant economic realities of poverty and suffering seemed real. Families isolated together for generations developed the natural strains, feuds, and conflicts that too much familiarity and lack of freedom foment. Another generation passed, and in some Tribes, these difficulties festered until family members didn't speak to each other and the tribal circles were broken. Epidemic levels of dependency on alcohol continued to sweep through entire families. Many of the smaller unchanging reservation or urban environments saw an almost complete loss of language, values, discipline, spirituality and knowledge of the past. Dependence on the Tribe was replaced by dependence on the BIA and the US government. Respect diminished between family members and generations grew apart, without common purpose, hope, or ideals. They learned to want what most white people had—they wanted not to want.

Instead of viewing the elderly as the Keepers of Tradition and Wisdom, the Elders now began to be seen simply as used-up old people. With Traditional forms of government dispersed, leaders began to be suspected of having ulterior motives, and of being untrustworthy and selfish. Many of them had characters that justified these suspicions.

Progressives began looking down on their own people, especially those Traditionals who stubbornly wanted to preserve everything they could of their remaining land bases, spiritual life, and culture. Even in the poverty and squalor of the times, these Progressives believed the Old Ways to be dead and tried to be like other Americans. True tribal relationships were often broken, though every Nation had those enclaves of individual families whose strength of character and will were unconquerable. They maintained language and culture while many of their relatives tried to forget they were Indian. Other Nations, with large or isolated reservations (or strongly organized Traditional governments), had managed to remain semi-protected from the encroachment of American values and progress.

Denial of racial heritage was frequent. Often those with lighter skin denied their Indian heritage, especially in the south and southwest. Who wanted to admit they had a "colored" ancestor in the woodpile? These who could pass as White began to deny their Red, considering that heritage ignorant and uncivilized. Some assimilated southern Native families used to say, as recently as 1960, "at least our side of the family ain't colored Indians!" In some states, legislation allowed that it only took one eighth of Indian ancestry to place one in the non-white category. This affected people’s voting eligibility, ability to own land, get married, serve as a juror, or even be a legal American citizen. There were legal, economic, and social advantages to being "White".

The isolation, deprivation, and brainwashing of the preceding decades had almost reached its climax. Spirituality was replaced with religion, and that religion offered little day-to-day comfort. Most Traditional spirituality was inseparable from the actions and thought of everyday life. The power and “spirit” of life was inherent in every action and interaction, including a relationship to the earth and other life. But European-American religion was centered on a book and specifically raised Humans above their surroundings with a forward-looking myth of hope and deliverance. It gave man dominion over the earth and all its creatures. This seemed to justify the apparent power the white man had—from his weapons to his strong resistance to disease, his ability to tolerate alcohol, his endless populations, and architectural monstrosities, etc.

In the oratory of the time, it is evident that many Traditionals recognized the White religion as a system of rationalization and justification for individual actions rather than a holistic system to facilitate balance and harmony common to most Native spiritual thought. However, it did feature a dramatic and appealing story with some familiar symbols for lost peoples to grab onto. A significant number of families lost the social interaction, oral traditions, and parenting values that had been passed generation to generation within the circle of the family. Christianity offered an appealing fable of hope but provided little concrete and understandable relevant guidance or solace for the daily problems Natives faced. And so, the refugee cycle of children growing up on their own, with little guidance or direction, began. Beginning after World War One and accelerating after World War Two, many Natives joined the lost generations. Deprived of their families, their culture, and their Spirit, they were able to teach the children—nothing.

It is important to note that there were exceptions to this description. To generalize about the individual experiences of the Tribes is relatively impossible. Each area of the country had its own experiences and realities, some profoundly different and extraordinary. Many Tribes and individual families were able to keep their centers intact. Unfortunately, a significant number of our Peoples were affected by the policies that contributed to the scenario described above. One need only travel from rez to rez, rancheria to rancheria, city to city, to find the common denominators that have contributed to our tribal problems with drug and alcohol dependency, violence and abuse, incest and suicide, tribal corruption and nepotism, and a disruption of basic Traditional values.

Essay Three-- A New Beginning

“From a small island in the great western ocean, a wave swept back across the land, restoring the power and pride of the Indian Nations

Amoshi

For many of us, renewal started at a most unlikely place—an abandoned federal maximum-security prison on Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay. An obscure statute allowing Natives to occupy abandoned military facilities for educational purposes was discovered, and in 1970, a group calling themselves “Indians Of All Tribes” took the “Rock” intending to establish a Native educational facility. The government was shocked, and responded with a John Wayne-like reaction. The media picked up the story and the “All –Tribes” defiance encouraged others to reconsider their capitulations and re-establish their pursuit of Native agendas and initiatives, particularly examining treaties and loss of lands and fishing rights. That began a Movement that sparked a rebirth of pride and power for Indigenous Peoples who had suffered a continuing crisis of identity on reservations, rancherias, and in urban ghettos.

The press called it “the occupation of Alcatraz”. Traditional people called it a fulfillment of Prophecy, a public affirmation of survival, and a push for greater recognition for the rights of Indigenous Nations. Young people called it Red Power, or “The Movement”, and saw it as the beginning of an opportunity to recapture our identity, lands, treaty rights, and common purpose.

Certain place names developed symbolic importance to the Movement. Alcatraz was about education and culture. Pit River was the site of a different kind of struggle—the struggle for lands illegally taken. The State of California attempted to pay all the California Tribes a meager forty-seven cents an acre for lands taken illegally. Corporate giants like PG&E, Boise Cascade, Burlington Northern, and others owned much of the Achumawi (Pit River) land. In an attempt to re-establish their land claims, the Tribe purposefully challenged the trespass statutes and the case found its way into court. The court would not allow the issue of ownership to be litigated and charges were eventually dropped. However, national attention had been drawn to the issue of Indian land claims. At Frank’s Landing, in southern Washington St., another struggle began to take place—this one mostly about racism and fishing rights. Native fishermen on the Nisqually River were pitted against sport fishermen in the area, attempting to assert the Northern Indians right to hunt and fish as guaranteed by the 1854 Treaty of Medicine Creek. It was there that members of the Quillayute, Nisqually and Muckleshoot tribes, among others, defied state laws by dipping their nets into the river to harvest salmon.Violence occurred and life was lost.

Drawing on a long tradition of inter-tribal gatherings of leaders and elders for the discussion of important issues, the word went out to invite the nations to a Traditional Unity Convention held in the Tulalip Nation in Washington State (summer 1970). It was there that many of us heard a national call to action and unity expressed and affirmed by Elders from over thirty-four Native Nations.

Red Pride swept across the land like a wave, guided by the gentle hands of Elders, pushed by the angry wind of youth, to begin a process of regeneration of Spirit and a renewal of purpose for all Indian Peoples.

Richard Oakes, and others of the Indians of All-Tribes movement, suffered a number of personal tragedies and sacrifices there, ultimately making their efforts all the more heroic and meaningful to those who came after. They should be remembered and honored for the part they played in the fulfillment of that prophecy of healing. Their strength of commitment led others to stand for their lands and rights in California and Washington—at Puyallup, Pit River, Middletown, DQU—and again at Wounded Knee—eventually extending all over North America. Suddenly, we were warriors again, proud of our identity and our heritage, and willing to take risks for our beliefs. The Traditional Movement embodied a belief that the land was at the center of our strengths and should be protected and guarded from exploitation. Language and cultural heritage were recognized as the primary source of unity available to struggling Tribes. Spiritual belief and commitment were put forward as the source of our Power and the reason for our survival. As warriors, we were asked to support the Traditional People in their local attempts to hold their own against assimilated tribal councils and groups who did not share a commitment to those values.

At the same time, along with the All-Tribes Skins, there emerged a Minneapolis-based group calling themselves AIM, the American Indian Movement. These new Warrior Societies proved completely loyal to the Traditional viewpoint, whether they understood what that meant or not. Demonstrations, takeovers, and media blitzes highlighted the times culminating, but not ending, in AIM's leadership and participation at Wounded Knee Two and during the Long Walk. Wounded Knee was a South Dakota Lakota local conflict between Progressives and Traditionals, which progressed to a continual state of violence. A short description of those events will be made later in this text. The Long Walk and Trail Of Broken Treaties were attempts to draw attention to the legal and social inequities of Washington’s relationship with Native Nations and the Bureau Of Indian Affairs complicity in defrauding and disenfranchising tribal governments, as well as a general incompetence in handling the affairs of Native Tribes and citizens.

There was plenty of violence, frustration, disharmony, and ignorance accompanying those turbulent times—but these problems always accompany the turning points of history. There was also a sense of extended family, cooperation, common purpose, power, relationship, culture, and tradition that filled our minds, hearts, and spirits with hope. Among the Elders were men and women who had grown up steeped in Tradition. They had been prepared and taught in the old way by Elders who still remembered the free days and ways of their youth. Some of them carried Power. If you were lucky you got to know them, spend time with them, and see the effects of their Power on the natural world.

The familiarity, unity, and respect that was shared in those times was exhilarating to those who had grown up surrounded by despair and dependency, or by denial and ignorance. What fine examples they were!

It was a time of wonder and awakening. It was also a time for the Road. We began to move about the land freely again. Rediscovering our connection to the Earth, bodies were put into motion. For the first time many young urban or dispossessed Natives were exposed to Tribal cultures, intact and relatively undisturbed. Spokesmen for the Hopi and Six Nations traveled coast to coast to speak of their prophecies and the need for a return to traditional values and spiritual beliefs. People began to consider the natural organization of the circle of the family, with its respect for the importance of Elders and children. Landless Indians were given an opportunity to once again feel responsible as keepers of the land.

Naïve and innocent, many of those who were rediscovering their identity were thoroughly unprepared for the resistance they often experienced at the hands of their own People. It was a shock for urban Indians to discover that their Tribes were divided over issues like leasing lands for mineral rights. The vehemence of the divisions was disturbing and disconcerting. It was a counterpoint to the feeling of unity encountered at Traditional gatherings.

Despite the internal conflicts, everyone was realistic about how the Federal Government would respond to this new Pride. Federal Law Enforcement considered us subversive and immediately descended on Indian gatherings en masse. With guns slung low on their hips, they were all John Wayne, swaggering among the families of mothers and fathers, children and grandparents. We realized then that they knew nothing about us except what they had seen in the movies and on TV. And they were afraid—afraid of what they didn't know or couldn't understand about us—afraid of our "savage" potential. We smelled their fear. Red Power was real!

Others have detailed the specific history of those days, so we will not. Let it be said only that we are proud to have shared those times with our Elders, our brothers and sisters, and our families.

Alcatraz was not an island! Alcatraz was a joining together—and a renewal.

Essay Four-- Divided—Traditional Vs Progressive

After Alcatraz, the buzz of the "Movement" polarized communities. The labels Traditional and Progressive were coined. To understand what these two terms represent we need to understand, in a general way, the processes of original tribal leadership and government.

Traditional leadership was often based on service and the inherent qualities, talents, and character of those who most effectively provided that service. So the best hunters were often followed or depended on to lead the hunt. The most daring and resourceful warriors were given the opportunity, by the power of their ability, to lead during battle. The most visionary and spiritually oriented people were expected to oversee the spiritual welfare and ceremonial life of the Peoples. The most proven and effective healers were expected to provide their Power and skills to care for the sick and injured. Native abilities, talents, and superior character rewarded and encouraged.

As always, with human beings, the intricacy of social politics sometimes puts the wrong person in charge at the wrong time, but by and large, many true democracies existed in the pre-Columbus Americas. An example of these might be the Councils that enforced the Great Law of the Six Nations, guided the Choctaw Confederacy, or sustained the Mississippian Civilization during its 5000 years. Felix Cohen wrote, "It is out of a rich Indian democratic tradition that the distinctive political ideals of American life emerged. Politically, there was nothing in the Empires and Kingdoms of Europe in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to parallel the democratic constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy, with its provisions for initiative, referendum and recall, and its suffrage for women as well as for men."

One of the unique characteristics common to many different Nations was the right of an individual to follow the leader of choice based on a "what have you done for me lately" approach to service. Though leaders did have a certain status among the people--that status was never guaranteed to last. Even though respect might endure, should a better and more effective leader demonstrate his or her abilities, the People could "change horses" at will.

Often decisions were made by groups of leaders reaching consensus, rather than by one individual making a solitary choice. This confused Europeans, who were used to appointing, electing, or being forced to accept one man as their spokesman or leader. Most of the unintentional misunderstandings that occurred during treaty making happened because Americans were looking in vain for one "Chief" when; in fact, the power resided in the hands of a group of leaders directly responsible to their People. Of course as time went on the U.S. Government became aware of this and used it as a tool against the Peoples to illegally obtain treaty signatures to steal lands and resources they knew would never be given up intentionally by the Nations.

After George Washington declared the first policy of "assimilating" Indians into the mainstream society through an inter-breeding of the races, the job of pushing assimilation was taken over by missionaries and organized religion. Nevertheless it was the reaction to the corruption of the Department of the Army's individual Indian Agencies that pushed for a reorganizing of the "savages" into more malleable political entities—that could be watched over (and controlled) more effectively. In the early 1900’s, the American Government began looking for a way to introduce their own brand of "democracy" to the Tribes.

Though some Tribes received the outlines of the American plan in 1927, it was the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934 that provided for the formation of tribal constitution—with governments comprised of general councils of the enrolled tribal memberships, along with quorums, parliamentary procedures, tribal chairmen, secretaries, treasurers, organized meetings, elections and voting.

The push to enroll tribal members came with the Reorganization Act, ostensibly to establish official membership lists for voting purposes. During all of these registration attempts some people were left off these lists intentionally, some refused to register out of fear or as a sign of continuing resistance; nevertheless these lists became the basis of official tribal membership. Knowing that the die-hard Traditional peoples (and much of the common membership) would shun or ignore this foreign approach to governing themselves, the Federal Government sought to establish governing bodies more sympathetic to assimilation and Progressive thinking. Smaller Tribal Councils came into being. We have come to see clearly, in the last few decades, how government employees and unscrupulous leaders would eventually misuse this formula for tribal re-organization.

As decades passed, some Indians were drawn to the Council positions offered by the BIA (Bureau of Indian Affairs). It was gainful employment, close to home, and it had advantages beyond a paycheck. These "leaders" often involved themselves for the same reasons many American political figures do, not because they have innate talents or special abilities to serve the People, but simply to gain influence, power, economic profit, or special status for themselves and their families.

To be fair, those early Tribal Council pioneers probably did not enter into their positions with these questionable goals in mind, but to attempt to help their families out of poverty. Perhaps some of the old-time values for serving the people remained. Nevertheless, the 1934 Reorganization Act precipitated numerous intra-tribal conflicts, though it was still to be decades before the right conditions would exist for significant economic exploitation of the Tribes through these new "governments." In fact, it was the 1950 and 1960’s Tribal Councils that were often comprised of members or descendants of the lost generation. Lacking the values of a Traditional upbringing, these fully assimilated Natives were completely taken with the consumer ethic of mainstream America. Primarily interested in success and security, Progressives lacked any commitment to Traditional values and even considered those values ignorant and outdated. Thoroughly convinced that they should assimilate and share in the American dream, they took advantage of the Traditionals reluctance to become involved, and through tribal “elections”—became the federally recognized representatives of their Tribes. This served the interests of the BIA perfectly. As Tribal Chairmen, Councils, or Chiefs—they were in perfect position to commit Tribes to relationships with non-Indian lawyers and the large corporations that were discovering vast quantities of valuable resources on heretofore “worthless” Indian lands. The Tribal leaders often received under-the-table payoffs or “kickbacks” for successfully negotiated agreements. These assimilated American’s, as important tribal leaders, despised the Traditionals for holding onto what they (the leaders) regarded as obsolete social, spiritual and cultural practices. They relished their new power to be a VIP.

Rather than creating true democratic representation for Tribes, to replace their traditional consensual democracies, the 1934 tribal government Constitutions saddled them with a system that depended on government social and economic programs.

If the general memberships of the Tribes had fully understood the principles of the Indian Reorganization Act, and had immersed themselves in the process of General Council decision-making from the outset, the form might have been effective, but culturally the Tribes were not ready for an American kind of government. Traditional suspicion and lack of participation (plus the missing checks and balances that attempt to make the American process equitable) accomplished a contradictory result. Rather than encouraging tribal members to participate in the General Council process, it caused them to shun or ignore it, leaving the government-to-government interaction and decision-making solely to the small Tribal Councils, Chiefs, or Tribal Chairmen.

The U.S. Government and Corporations finally had those single "chiefs" they'd always been looking for with the recognized authority (at least by the BIA), to push and approve any program and proposal regarding tribal lands and resources. With so much money involved—fraud, corruption, graft, and nepotism within the Tribes was bound to occur. The pie-in-the-sky promises of corporations like Peabody Coal sounded wonderful on paper. Strip-mine Black Mesa in the Four Corners area, powder the coal, pump up water from the aquifers, and send it all through a pipeline to make electricity for the west. The Tribes would make big bucks. Traditionals foresaw that a future water and energy crisis might severely tax not only their precious resources, but their unity—causing them enormous inner turmoil and political strain. However, with the usual shortsightedness of American Progress, Progressive leaders, with generations of poverty under their belts, were easy targets.

In the late 1960’s, and particularly after Alcatraz, Traditional protests of proposed land leases and concessions to mineral and resource mega-corporations publicized one of the fundamental differences between the Progressives and the Traditionals.

Traditionals believed the land to be Sacred. Traditionals were for protecting their resources, not exploiting them. They were for preserving language, ceremony, and tradition—not discarding them. Also, since they refused to involve themselves in the "puppet" governments they despised, they had no real power to effect change except through public demonstration, civil disobedience, protest, and media publicity.

Progressives wanted "economic progress." Their ideas about what they did, or did not believe were obscured by their adamant acceptance of Government programs and "economic" issues. Since the Government (i.e. BIA federal law enforcement) stood behind the "recognized" Tribal Councils, bitter and often violent confrontations between Traditionals and Progressive tribal police and Federal Agents occurred.

These conflicts led to deep divisions between the two groups. Political and vindictive murder, rape, and assault were commonplace in the 1970’s—especially where morally bankrupt federally recognized "leaders" held total power over their Nations and their lands. Even the 1973 occupation of Wounded Knee in South Dakota, which centered on the alleged misconduct of a tribal chairmen and his Progressive government did not solve the poor system of government most Indian Nations endure, though quite a few people lost their lives in the effort.

Many Tribes today are still in the grip of criminals or carpetbaggers who manipulate these obsolete and ineffective systems for their own gain. A few Nations have managed, with educated and responsible leadership, to benefit their Peoples. Other Tribes are ignorantly racing to diminish the power of their general memberships by rewriting their constitutions and placing that power in the hands of fewer and fewer, often unqualified, "leaders."

The Dream that was born innocent at Alcatraz, came into its adulthood during these times. The Movement suffered the death, loss, and imprisonment of many of our brothers and sisters. The repercussions of the killing of the two FBI Agents, Williams and Coler, at the Jumping Bull's compound on the Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975, echo around the Nation even now, more than three decades later. Leonard Peltier, though almost universally recognized as innocent of the charges he was convicted of, still sits in prison as of this writing; a victim of a corrupt law enforcement agency (the FBI), and the war that existed in those times. (This same agency of misfits and low-lifes has only recently been given broad powers to undermine the Constitution and infringe on the rights of citizens again.)

The U. S. Government and the American people have never accepted that the various local conflicts of the 1970’s were simply a continuation of the Indian Wars against the United States and not just isolated events perpetrated by activists and dissidents. As evidenced by solemn Treaty agreements, we have never stopped believing in the Sovereignty of our Nations.

At Pine Ridge, hostility and fear ran high. Those who talk about how the Agents were executed, forget that the FBI had previously, and callously,ignored the violence on the rez. No warfare conventions had ever applied to Federal/Indian conflicts of the past and none existed there. Armed FederalAgents entered a Sovereign Nation, knowing that there was a similarly armed group of Indians near there (as well as a camp full of Elders, women, and children), purportedly to pursue an unknown person, in an unconfirmed vehicle, who had stolen a pair of cowboy boots! It was an ill-advised, if not foolhardy act to begin with. The Feds were well aware of the fear they evoked in the people of this area. Few remember that an Indian, Joe Stuntz, was also killed in the gunfire that followed, and that these Agents were not the only Federal Law Enforcement Agents on the reservation at the time. Fifteen minutes after the firefight thearea was literally swarming with agents, including helicopters. Fear and violence were directing the actions of both sides. Eventually, even though his two "accomplices" were exonerated of any crime, and despite proven Government tampering and intimidation, Leonard was chosen to be the "sacrificial goat" to fulfill the FBI need for someone (guilty or not), to pay for the murders of their two comrades. But no one was ever held accountable for the killing of Joe Stuntz.

Similarly, though emotions regarding the American Indian Movement occupation of Wounded Knee still run deep and divided in the local Lakota population, Indians definitely sacrificed a greater number of lives in the conflict and no one has ever been prosecuted for those murders.

The lines between Progressive and Traditional have blurred over time. Many Nations still labor under the yoke of unresponsive or unrepresentative leadership. Tribes continue to have their resources exploited and their trust monies unaccounted for. Whistleblower Dave Henry's revealing book, "Stealing From Indians," details his firing by the BIA after his discovery of a multitude of accounting errors and questionable practices resulting in billions of missing Indian trust fund dollars--a result of government mismanagement, fraud, and corruption involving both Tribal and Federal government employees. Legal action to force the Secretary of the Interior and the Chief of the BIA to admit the mismanagement, if not the outright theft of billions of dollars of Indian trust monies continues today. (Google Cobell to find out the latest info on the web.)

For a while, the government was "losing", contaminating, or destroying boxes of evidence and being threatened with contempt by the Federal Judge appointed to the case. All this is a direct result of the Reorganization Act and the consolidating power of Progressive tribal councils who failed to demand accurate BIA accounting of funds because they were ignorant dupes, or active participants, in the theft. Today the Government acknowledges the exact amounts missing may never be known, and a settlement offer is in the wind.

Most of those who were once committed to Traditional ideals still hold to that commitment. AIM is still around, as are many of the Warrior Societies, but the focus and unity of the Traditional Movement has diminished nationally. Fortunately, the awareness of the importance of what is being lost culturally within individual Nations has increased. Even Progressives are spouting Traditional rhetoric. Meanwhile some Traditionals, at least superficially, approve of the meager economic benefits being experienced by gaming Tribes. The viciousness of the struggle between Traditional values and Progressive economics has lessened, and in some places, there is even a spirit of cooperation toward both ideals. However, as time counts forward, there has been a lessening of the cooperative spirit, a jaded satisfaction with the trappings of newly found wealth, and a loss of the feeling of imperative necessity that the Nations continue to push for treaty recognitions, land claims, and real sovereignty. Ultimately we must ask whether the Spirits of the missing in action, the murdered, and the imprisoned who paid with their lives or freedom will be respected and remembered as they should. Because we loved them, we hope a new generation of Red Power Children will emerge to follow in their tracks.

Essay Five-- Crossing Tribal Boundaries

In the 1970s, Alcatraz and the efforts of the All-Tribes Movement encouraged Indians all over the continent to come together and find common ground. Traditional Elders agreed unity was a prerequisite to preparations of the Nations for the difficulties foreseen ahead. Unity Conventions and Gatherings were held. At these Gatherings, representatives of the Hopi and Six Nations Peoples continued to reveal and compare the prophecies of their Nations. These prophecies had common themes—Indians should not become too dependent on the modern world. We were encouraged to remember our original responsibilities and relationships to the land and each other. We were told to always teach our coming generations that the world can change at any time, and that it is always purified when the misdeeds of men become too great for the Creator and Mother Earth to tolerate. Today much of what was said then has been forgotten, but in our minds, their call to unity has never diminished.

Some call it Pan-Indianism. We prefer to think of it as an expression of a visible and intentional attempt at Inter-Tribal Unity. Once our spiritual life was to be found in everything we did. A sense of magic and mystery filled our lives and we believed that anything was possible. We did not separate the sacred from the mundane. Power was everywhere. We shared a love for our families and had a long time tradition of respect for the circle of the family and the role each member played within it. Now, though alcohol, poverty, and grief weaken us, we recognize that the Creator has given each of our Peoples specific Ceremony and Ritual to keep our Balance. We share the all-important ideal of "Respect." Indeed, we share many things. Just as the Pipe of Red Stone crosses the boundaries of Nations as a Sacred symbol, as sign language once fostered international communication, and as the Ghost Dance brought Peoples together in hope and prayer, so do today's inter-tribal forms unite the vastly different Indigenous Nations that inhabit this land. At one time, we were as different from one another as the Europeans—English from Spanish, French from German, Basque from Portuguese, etc. We had different languages, different stories, and different cultures.

It is first in our minds to acknowledge that those of us who still have the opportunity to learn our language and oral traditions are obligated to preserve those original and distinct qualities of our Nations.

But for those Indians who cannot, there exists a desire to learn Traditional methods of dealing with the daily events of ourlives, as well as a desire to pass to the children essences of what made our cultures and values different from the dominant society of today. The shared experiences of subjugation, imprisonment, isolation, poverty, dependence, and survival have forged us into Nations that should be obsessed with preserving culture. Some Tribes still remember their languages and speak them, performing their ancient Ceremonies and Rituals to fulfill their obligations to the Creator. Others have lost almost everything of what they once were.

Today, we believe everyone benefits from the All-Tribes Spirit. Moreover, especially for the thousands of un-enrolled, separated, or unknowns that live away from their Original Peoples—that spirit may be all that remains of the ties to their heritage. Shared ways give them an opportunity to maintain their spiritual balance and harmony, to feel their Indian extended-family strength, and to help pass on Traditional values and culture to their children. They may not be active members of a specific tribe, but they are "in-support", and that is important.

Despite the fears of some that this cross-cultural sharing will open the floodgates to wannabes and opportunists; we believe Indians are smarter than that. They can easily recognize the genuine from the bogus. For those who slip by, unless they demonstrate the desire to profit or gain recognition, what harm will they do?

A greater threat to our Peoples is that we will allow materialism and consumerism to usurp our values, causing us to slowly and surely give up speaking our languages, holding to our lands, supporting our families, dancing and singing, performing our ceremonial duties, honoring our older ones, introducing our newborn, caring for those who pass away, and teaching our youth the discipline and values of our Elders.

We must qualify our endorsement of this "unity". Just because ways may be shared does not mean we believe they may be adapted or altered indiscriminately. In regard to spiritual form and ceremony for example; one does not simply “decide” to be a Ceremonial Leader or Instructor. There is a protocol and a correct way for these things to come about. This is one of the differences between Traditional Indians and those who have adopted methods that are more modern. Not every Indian can carry a Pipe, instruct a Sun Dance, or pour water in a sweat lodge. First you are chosen, then prepared, then instructed, then authorized (and there may be limitations to your authorization.) We're generalizing of course, all Nations have their own ways, but our family believes that it is primarily through oral tradition that our ceremonies and rituals are taught and preserved, not by reading, or writing books.

To understand the bond between us that crosses Tribal boundaries, one has only to visit large inter-tribal gatherings, spiritual ceremonies, or unity conventions. The feeling of extended family is ever present. These gatherings have been occurring from times even before Europeans came to our shores. Our greatest victories against our opponents occur when we act together in unison for a common purpose.

There are still Indians who believe that their Tribe is the only one. Similarly, there are those who judge each and every person by their color of skin or tribal affiliation. While we agree that preserving specific tribal languages, identities, and culture is of paramount importance, we also believe that many of our old family prejudices must be discarded so that the unnecessary divisions between us will disappear.

To share what we hold in common between our Nations is an important step toward the unity that will make us a power that cannot be ignored. Unlike those superficial symbols of Hollywood, to which we have been compared and subjected, we hope to fulfill the prayers of those Elders, now gone, who wished only that our Nations endure.

Essay Six-- Wannabes And Unrecognized Indians

Also during the 1970s there were many different people attracted to the Movement. Enrolled and Federally recognized Indians, un-enrolled and unrecognized Indians, "White" people who wanted to help and hang out, and "White" people who wanted to reverse assimilate and magically become Indian. Both enrolled, and un-enrolled Indians came from all over. Some had grown up on the rez, some in the city, some entirely separated from their culture and Tribe. Many mixed-bloods whose parents or grandparents had left their original Peoples began rediscovering their heritage with the publicity that Alcatraz and the Movement drew nationally. Children, stolen at birth from their Indian parents and placed in Christian foster homes, sought their identity. Everyone with a family story about an Indian in their background began the search. Some were rewarded with verifiable ancestry, and some found the stories to be false or without proof. It continues today.

Many of these began believing they were Cherokee, the most familiar tribal name, with five hundred years of Indian-European interbreeding. George Washington ordered this policy of intentional interbreeding to weaken the strong Eastern Tribes.

One could almost always expect that a mixed-blood, (in this case someone with Indian and European or Black heritage), who knew nothing about Indians but claimed some heritage, would find a Cherokee Princess or Grandmother in their "roots." It became a joke among other Indians, much to the chagrin of those who really were descended from that great Nation.

Many of the "stolen" ones discovered themselves—mixed-bloods and full bloods alike. They began their search not only for a personal ethnic identity, but for a cultural and spiritual one as well.

Friendly "white" people, who knew Traditionals, joined the struggle intent on helping. Often they failed to ask if their help was wanted. Well-meaning, but in the way, they were generally tolerated and allowed to remain.

Many young white, who knew nothing of the Nations, but were continuing the hippie quest for new life-ways to fill up their dull, meaningless, and spiritually bankrupt lives, descended on the Movement hoping to find the romantic and noble people depicted by Hollywood. Attracted by the warm, extended-Indian-family feeling, they stayed to help financially with transportation, gas, money, and supplies, often with a tenacious and fanatic support. Some had to be told when it was time for them to go home.

A few of these people, with a fabled Indian hiding in the woodpile of their past, made no attempt to verify their ancestry. They simply gave themselves a colorful name, picked out a Tribe, and became instant Indians. These people earned the label Wannabe. They are not to be confused with mixed bloods of a known or verifiable lineage, no matter how ignorant of their Indian heritage these descendants might be. Wannabes were, and are, people who have fraudulently attempted to infiltrate a Tribe or community, establishing an identity without a real relationship or attachment to their original people.

Typically, their actions are defined by furthering their own cause. They "become" Indians for money, prestige, novelty, attention, or just the simple dramatic fulfillment of play-acting out their childhood cowboy-and-Indian fantasy.

At the bottom of the barrel, we must not forget the "plants." These despised ones infiltrated the Movement to provide information or intelligence to those who opposed us. Fortunately, the Doug Durhams of the past were, for the most part, quickly exposed. (Douglas Durham was a non-Indian FBI plant, who infiltrated AIM and was eventually exposed.)

Wannabes persist today, some with more than a decade of pretending under their belts. Often they claim to carry Medicine, to be healers or teachers, craftsmen or artists, and continue to perform, lecture, or offer their wares for profit without participating in the life of their Original Peoples, or without having any real connection with local Indigenous Peoples. Occasionally one may find a real disenfranchised Indian in this group as well.

Wannabes continue to be the subject of hot debate among Original Peoples, especially with the Federal Government getting deeper into the soup of who is, and who is not, federally recognized. Add to this the rapid intermarriage of Indian and non-Indian, with the inevitable dilution of blood quantum, and the problem grows. According to some estimates, by the year 2070 less than one tenth of a percent of American Indians will be able to call themselves full blood. With the individual Tribes setting different standards for membership, even excluding many "real" Indians from verifiable tribal affiliation, the guidelines to identify who is and who is not, grow more and more confused. Federal census figures indicate more and more Americans are identifying themselves as, at least part, Native American. This causes some concern for those Tribes who are still significantly dependent on census figures to define government programs and allocation money.

Who is, and who is not a Wannabe has always been a subject for argument. Some Indians consider anyone of mixed-blood, that doesn't look ethnically Indian enough for them, a Wannabe. (Whatever “that picture” looks like!) Some require a specific lack of blood quantum to qualify. To others it is a lack of verifiable ancestry and familiarity with Indian culture. Whatever the answer, it is of obvious concern to the Nations. Certainly there have been cases where Wannabes have seriously offended Indigenous Peoples, but then, on occasion, so have “real” Indians. Occasionally Wannabes have reaped economic benefits that might otherwise have gone to Indians, and in some cases they have been a downright embarrassment, but we wonder if they have ever contributed problematically to any of the more serious and important issues of tribal sovereignty, inter-tribal unity, economic, social, or political self-determination. Other than misrepresentation, or being a general annoyance, we fail to see how they encourage government dependency, or affect the self-esteem of our youth, or inhibit our ability to preserve language, culture, spirituality, and traditional values.

We think we'll always have Wannabes. Our cultures, spiritual heritage, and histories are too rich not to be a magnet for the lost and unfulfilled in this Society. Too many non-Indians today are searching, and with an Anglo-Roman heritage of borrowing gods and plagiarizing ideals, it should not be surprising that they look our way. There are bound to be those who believe they can simply pick and chose their ethnic identity. Most of them are harmless.

Fortunately, we are always gathering new relatives among those Indians who have been lost, separated, or who are just now discovering their true heritage. Too many of us have come down one of those roads to judge them too harshly. Providing they search quietly, respectfully, and with humility, their companionship and loyalty can only make our Nations stronger.

Essay Seven-- Blood Quantum

This is one of the most contentious issues being discussed in Indian Country. All Tribes who participate in the government-to-government relationship with the U.S. must establish guidelines for tribal membership in order to define the limits of who is, or is not, eligible for the programs, benefits (real or imagined), and decision-making processes necessary to maintain that relationship.

Blood quantum originated as a way to define who was Anglo-Saxon (white) and who was not. As far back as the 1700’s, Anglos were setting up standards for ethnic membership in their exclusive club. Sometimes a mere 1/8th mixture of some other racial group (like Indian or Black) would disqualify you. Belonging to the club meant you could vote; marry a "white" man or woman, own property, etc. There were substantial economic benefits to being a recognized, and legal, "white" person.

Though blood quantum and percentage of heritage was important from the first contacts with Anglo settlers, formal tribal enrollments generally began with the allotment programs in the 1800’s. Needing a system in which the title registration, transfer of property, and legal tribal lineage could be cleanly and easily recorded required, first, a process of translation and renaming of individuals. Tribal agencies and boarding schools were given the task of recording the names of tribal members. These names, which are currently carried by Natives, reflect the different processes that were used to provide these records. Blood quantum was not really an issue during the creation of these rolls, and the importance of becoming a “member” was never entirely and clearly explained to the Peoples. Many Indians resented and feared enrollment and refused to participate, even light-skinned ones. However, it soon became apparent that in order to share in the division of reservation properties into individual family allotments, enrollment was important.

When the decisions to break up tribal lands into allotments began, even non-Native Whites and Blacks found their way onto tribal rolls. Later, as federal programs for Indians were allocated by Congress, the BIA decided that one-fourth was a sufficient percentage to render one an Indian. Often that became a standard for enrollment, although today the amounts vary widely among "recognized" Tribes. The official establishment dates of enrollment change from Tribe to Tribe. Some of the rolls were established in the late 1800s, while others were determined in the 1920s, 30s, 50s, 60's and 70s. New standards are being debated, revised and changed even as we write this. Tribes being newly recognized today are, at this very moment, establishing these "lists."

As long as Indians lived in poverty and isolation, except for allotment, formal membership was a relatively unimportant issue. Members and non-members living side-by-side were most often relatives. Treaty agreements included government responsibilities to administer Native Tribal resources, lands, lease agreements, health-care, and even monies. Tribes were not considered capable of handling their own financial affairs, so the Army and the BIA administered payments and accounts. As Indians started receiving the trickle down benefits of trust payments and claims settlements, and the Government began funding tribal social programs with grants and legislated monies, the issue heated up and enrollments took on greater and greater significance. But it was not until Indian Gaming hit the scene in the 1990’s that the fires surrounding membership began to blaze out of control, with new enrollment efforts and standards being set (to include or exclude people from the process). Suddenly it worked both ways. Natives who had never before taken an interest in their Tribe climbed out of the woodwork with their hands outstretched for their share of profits. Enrollment numbers boomed as people "re-established" their relationships to their Tribes. Often these "outsiders" were more educated and assimilated than their cousins who had stayed on the rez, and in many places, they have taken over as business and council leaders.

Today, bookstore owners and genealogy groups are being besieged by people looking for the "lost" proof of verifiable Indian heritage. Resentment and tribal family quarrels and divisions have increased. Instead of focusing on the Tribe as a living entity, many Indians have copied the American anti-values of individuals or family groups acting solely on their own behalf and for its own benefit. Enrollment records are scrutinized and irregularities seized upon to exclude members or terminate their membership. In some places, records are doctored or forged to provide, or deny proof of enrollment. Enrollment, and the tribal right to participation, is being used internally as a weapon. Qualifying quantum amounts vary significantly from Tribe to Tribe. In some Tribes you have to be a full blood, in others half. In some, you can have minuscule blood quantum as long as you can verify relationship to an originally enrolled member of the past.

Accepting the premise that it is a good thing to be enrolled, those hardest hit by blood quantum requirements are not the feared wannabes or low blood-percentage mixed-bloods, but those Indians who have mixed-Indian heritage. Many full bloods today are descended from more than one Tribe, yet they are unable to enroll because they are unable to fulfill the quantum requirements of either Tribe. People who have more than two tribal heritages are in even more trouble. We know of several full bloods who've had to register with a Tribe whose quantum requirements are low, even though their quantum in that Tribe is insignificant compared with their quantum in their primary Tribe. Within those Tribes, they do not qualify for enrollment and tribal participation!

Despite the extremely varied and confused requirements adopted by Federally Recognized Nations, we still support their right to make those decisions for themselves. We are repulsed, however, by those who use them as a weapon against their own people and divide their Tribes and families into warring factions like dogs tearing at a carcass, each trying to get a bigger share. In some places Indians who moved away during Termination, Relocation, boarding school, or out of economic necessity, are presently unable to return unless their names appear on some recent or newly reorganized enrollment list. Many families are now divided by archaic restrictions or purposely constructed restraints to their enrollment. In one highly publicized case, Indians from a particular Tribe who were not on the "approved" rolls were denied visiting rights to Tribal lands that contained the Tribal grounds where their relatives were buried!

Of course, some Indians are busy warning those Tribes who adopt ever higher quantum requirements that they may eventually quantum themselves into a state where the Federal government has an excuse to declare them non-existent, (a situation that has already taken place). Others complain that low requirements simply further dilute the ethnic and racial heritage of Indigenous People, encouraging those who have no ties to, or knowledge of, their peoples to "cash in" on membership.

Whether a person who is one-three-hundred-and-sixty-second Indian can be considered along with someone of a quarter or half is one of the hottest and most contentious of our current debates. The answer would seem to be apparent, but it is not. The question of whether knowledge of culture, practice of original life-ways, involvement in spiritual ceremony or ritual, participation in social life, etc., should be considered as evidence of tribal participation, and whether that constitutes "belonging" is frequently asked. Ultimately, the answers will be determined by those who have the necessity to determine it—those Federally Recognized Tribes with money, federal grants, programs, and political issues at stake.

It is our hope that all the Federally Recognized Tribes will examine these issues closely and over time determine the best course for their Nations, keeping Sovereignty and Tribal relationships equally in mind. One would hope that there will always be a place for those who do find themselves, for one reason or another, excluded, but who have the blood or the relationship to continue the fight to be a part of their Peoples. It is not necessary for everyone to be enrolled, to share in the profits or decision-making that comes with federal recognition. It is, however, necessary for the Nations to continue to recognize social, spiritual, and cultural involvement as an important and unifying force in the true (not federally determined) factors that construct, and perpetuate, tribal identity.

Essay Eight-- Leadership

“(Indigenous) Power...means prestige translated into action…no one ordered anyone else around. Issues were argued to consensus, and if agreement was not reached, the matter was dropped. Even when the chiefs attained “one mind,” an appeal was made to the people to comply. Those who disagreed simply went their own way.”

William N. Fenton

In days past, we looked first to our complete survival. We had to have mothers, hunters, warriors, spokesmen, peacemakers, decision-makers, singers, and clowns—the elements of society and culture. In each of those honorable pursuits, there were those who excelled; those with natural ability. Indigenous People often utilized the merit concept of leadership.

Hunters, fighters, scouts, planners, speakers, or storytellers, were recognized by the People for their abilities, and were followed because of those abilities. They were natural leaders. If they lost those abilities, or dishonored their positions, people simply refused to follow them anymore. From earlier essays we remember that Thomas Jefferson observed, "Their leaders influence them by their character alone; they follow, or not, as they please him whose character for wisdom or war they have the highest opinion." Moreover, there was always room for more than one leader.

This system of merit leadership did not always demand superior character or virtue. Depending on the role to be performed, functional skills, as in hunting or war leadership, were to be considered first. The Peoples recognized that different types of leadership demanded different qualities. It was not a “one size fits all” requirement. Spiritual or political leaders and healers with personal power were often held to higher standards of character, determined by their social accomplishments and their abilities to uphold the People's trust and interests. Those who possessed a charismatic personality, command of language, or uniquely persuasive ability could go far only if they were respected first for their integrity and honesty.

Before the European occupation, there was no need for leadership to be rigid and defined beyond the formal structures of Nations. For many Tribes the concept of leadership was as fluid and as changeable as the People. Benjamin Franklin recognized this when he wrote of Indigenous leadership, "The Persuasion of Men distinguished by Reputation of Wisdom is the only means by which others are govern'd or rather led." No one was locked into a relationship of leadership or constituency that could not be easily changed.

Here is a quote from an unknown Native that adds to this observation.

"You talk of loyalty, but we are loyal--to our families, our Societies, and our People. We have no loyalty to individual men as leaders, they lead because of their character and talents and power. The General says our lack of loyalty weakens him, but if his leadership were true, all people would follow him naturally. I think this is just another word the White Man uses to turn wolves into sheep. The White Men claim loyalty to their Great Father, yet they fight among themselves and few of them have an equal voice. Among us, every man has the same voice. If we step in behind one of our own, it is because of what they can achieve for the People. If someone with greater power arises, we are free to follow. Loyalty follows from achievement and service, not because it is appointed or demanded. We are not dogs whimpering at the feet of their masters, we are free men—we are wolves."

Many of the Nations functioned in the truest democratic sense and governed themselves by unanimous consent in councils deciding as a group rather than as individuals. When pressed for time they knew who to look to, but no one was bound to follow, and each spoke for him or herself. Spokesmen or representative councils were carefully chosen to represent the People in specific issues but few had permanently chosen people authorized to speak and decide on any issue. Everyone had a choice to agree or disagree. Certainly respected men and women carried a certain power in the deliberations and in final important decisions, but positions of leadership usually dealt mostly with serious or emergency issues related to the physical or social survival of the People as a group. Individual problems always took a backseat to those faced by the Nation. Everyone agreed that that was the way it should be and we survived and thrived.

Europeans, accustomed to centuries of dealing with royalty and their appointed representatives, were unable to comprehend societies organized under an envelope of leadership that did not have specifically recognized individual spokesmen. In their desire to manipulate the Nations, they consistently attempted to force Nations to put forth individuals to represent our "interests" in peace and treaty negotiations. It took the Indigenous Nations many more years before Natives realized that their entire Nations were supposed to be bound by the promises of individuals chosen to negotiate for peace or treaty. This realization ultimately brought about a change in the concepts of Native leadership and caused them to take on different qualities. Even many of the so-called "chiefs", did not understand the concept of singular representative leadership the Europeans demanded. Used to taking the time to talk things out, they were not prepared to make the quick decisions required of readily accessible spokesmen.

Anglo-Americans had not been organized in a tribal way for centuries. Their newly organized democratic principles belied a principal belief in a pursuit of individual success that superseded any true belief that the entire people's basic needs come before individual wealth. This modern thinking pattern is analytical and not synergistic. It does not consider the whole, but focuses only on its individual parts, with the human being the principle character around which all other life makes obeisance. As John Trudell has pointed out in his lectures, the Patriarchal Societies of the Three Desert Tribes of the Middle East, and their fragmented descendants, have never had a cosmology that allowed for a unity and relationship between life forms and the planet. Instead, they view the human species as the crowning achievement of Creation, the manifestation (albeit flawed), of the Creator. These views are the antithesis of tribal thought and arrogantly seek to fragment, compartmentalize, and subjugate life rather than recognizing the universe as a single interrelated, interdependent entity. Instead of relying on a context of relationship and co-dependence to find one’s place, civilized men place distinctions on separate events, and each of their thoughts exist independently and separate from the whole. What has this to do with leadership?—Everything. This tendency to focus on the “parts” of life result in an overstatement and lack of subtlety in dealing with day to day events. Out of this flagrant and analytically divided perception, an individual's economic status becomes his defining characteristic, and wealth defines the new royalty. Those that put themselves up to be "chosen" as leaders are often not the most qualified, the most honorable, or even the most trustworthy. Americans rarely investigate their potential leader's achievements thoroughly enough to effectively evaluate a potential candidate's qualifications, ability and philosophy. They settle for his words and media hype. But words cannot hold honor, nor demand loyalty, nor serve the needs of the People. American standards for leadership have come to be judged by how well a person serves the personal enrichment of those supporting his election, and the individual fortunes of his immediate circle.

In some Nations, Native spiritual and political leaders, while respected and honored, were often expected to embrace poverty or hold themselves apart from others by observing a higher standard of morality and ethics. They held a position of sacrifice, which they fulfilled with a single-minded commitment to the Nation. In the 1700’s, the writer/statesman Cadwallader Colden commented on these ideals, which we think warrant repeating. "Their Great Men, both Sachems [civil chiefs] and captains [war chiefs] are generally poorer than the common people, for they affect to give away and distribute all the Presents or Plunder they get in their Treaties or War, so as to leave nothing for themselves. If they should be once suspected of selfishness, they would grow mean in the opinion of their Country-men, and would consequently lose their authority."

The American leader is often paid for his service, is able to accept gifts, and is even expected to increase his personal wealth and stature, providing it be done discreetly. Though it is publicly proclaimed that our leaders adhere to moral and ethical standards, the opposite is often the case. Despite flowery rhetoric and promises, their actions often speak more as a tribute to greed, self-aggrandizement, lust for power, and individual/corporate self-gratification, than to service, morality, and equitable decision-making.

Here we come to a middle ground. The old physical ways relating to our day-to-day survival have passed, but the challenge to survive as Nations is still with us. There will always be Apaches, and Pomos, and Mohawks. There will always be people who can say they are racially Indian. But there may not always be an Apache language, a Pomo culture, or a Mohawk Tribe on Mohawk lands. These can be lost!

We have faced generations of being told what to do. Many of our "leaders" during the last ten decades were functionally powerless. Some were simply puppets of the Feds with all our important decisions being made by the Army or the BIA. All the natural and meritorious things that our leaders used to do for the People faded away as they merged into the nondescript abstractions of American political gamesmanship. What was there left for a "leader'" to do? This is not to say that no "leaders" survived during those difficult times, but the role and realities of leadership changed.

To steal a quote from a popular novel, (the title of which we do not know!), "... When the entire surface of the earth is changed, there is nothing to do but live on it as it is. We cannot camp by the shore of a lake if it is now a creek. We cannot follow a trail the earth has swallowed up. We cannot eat buffalo that died in the time of our grandfathers."

We must make for ourselves new trails, find new buffalo (or bring them back), and integrate the old with new. Some of our People in the preceding generations became convinced that the Indian Way was dead and that to survive they had to become Americans. For these People, the belief that "the Tribe comes first" died. Many of their descendents today think only of themselves and of their immediate families. That way of thinking is a threat to the survival of the Nations. If the Tribal way of thinking dies, our Tribes will cease to be Tribes.

Fortunately, there were family leaders who did not give up the vision of the past. They are the true survivors. They pointed the way forward, looking to make connections between the Old Ways and the New. They know that our Ceremonies and Dances are not just "performances" for tourists but are the "life" of the People. Today's leaders work toward making the surviving “old ways” real and relevant so that young people can feel both a connection to the world they live in, and to the ancient world from which they are descended.

Some of our Nations today are being governed fairly and effectively. Others are not. We think there are some crucial questions about leadership that must be asked. Those Nations that have answered these questions are already advancing or implementing their solutions.

1. Must we continue to use the obsolete forms of government almost all of us have been using? Can we effectively govern through councils and consensus groups, without elected leaders, or are our social relationships too fragile?

2. Should the People choose their leaders by consensus or must prospective leaders continue to put themselves forward to be chosen by a divisive and easily corrupted majority vote, the way US politicians do?

3. Should Nations separate their councils of leadership from their business councils so that conflicts of interest can be avoided and competent outside business people hired if they do not exist within the Tribe?

4. Should Elders or Traditional councils be utilized and empowered to effectively safeguard tribal lands and resources, as well as the social, cultural, and spiritual integrity of the people by holding the authority to advise tribal, or business councils, of decisions that are potentially destructive to that integrity?

Despite the appearance of apathy on important issues, Indian People still expect to be involved in the decision-making of their Tribe or Band. We hope that those who are not taking an active part can be re-involved through tribal acceptance of more traditional forms of government or just naturally through the development of a more comprehensive sovereign authority. We think it is natural during peace, or in the absence of genuine necessity, for people to let their leaders govern without involving themselves too deeply in the process. However, it is the method of communication we choose, and the regular free flow of discussion between the people that will allow a true representation of the People's opinions to emerge. Still, in times of crisis, great leaders have always taken risks and run at the fringe of the People's approval to innovate and bring about great and beneficial change.

Many Indians today are still holding to the old values of not putting oneself forward, or speaking up. It is our opinion that these are fairly new post war traditions that have only become accepted since our warriors, male and female, lost confidence and feared government reprisals for straight talk. Where are the warrior days of publicly recounting one’s accomplishments so that they can be publicly honored and the entire people may take pride and credit for them? This is in sharp contrast to the “hold ‘em down, keep them back” ethic publicly utilized on many reservations and in many communities by fearful, jealous relatives. If sovereignty is to be preserved and augmented, leaders must not be afraid to suggest new ideas to the People. They must risk criticism and believe that these ideas will be fairly examined and that priorities will be made of the most important issues. Confidence in leaders will bring back the influence of the general council, and this will contribute to an increase in the pool of new leaders. With a healthy distrust for "the few leading the many", we are challenged to organize Councils that represent the people's voice and put tribal needs in front. If we continue to value those who can transform words into deeds, with vision and experience, then we will have leaders in the Traditional sense of the word. As ceremony is the soul of the People; and relationships are the heart of the People; so leadership is the mind of the People. Without it, our Nations will continue mired in the sticky mud of ineffective and outmoded government.

Essay Nine-- Twentieth Century Decision-Making

“The Iroquois had long done things in common, and having reached one mind, they act. It was abandoning this principle of unanimity, Wright thought, which led directly to the loss of their lands. Scattered on reservations, they were dealt with separately and were forced to act independently of each other… Life on the reservation was a new ball game with new rules.”

(Reverend Asher Wright)according to William Fenton

"The (Seneca) ability to speak with “one voice, one mind, one heart,” was what contributed to the power of the confederacy—and it was not “until their councils were divided by bribery and Whiskey… and they adopted majority rule, that their power declined.”

Asher Wright, according to William Fenton

The U.S. Government has always needed specific representatives of Indian Tribes, i.e. "Chiefs", to act as formal representatives of our Peoples. If they could not find someone who seemed to fit that bill, they just picked someone who seemed to have some status or recognition. In the early decades of the last century, when it became apparent that at least some of the Tribes would survive, and sensing that they would soon have to be made citizens, the government began looking at other methods of centralizing Indian political organization.

In the late 1920’s, in order to further "civilize the savages", a sample constitution was drafted and present to Tribes. It featured a General Council (the People), an elected tribal chairman as spokesperson, and a tribal secretary for keeping track of meetings and decisions. Suggestions for determining who was eligible for membership, and what the guidelines for voting might be, were included. Thirty percent of the eligible voters became the original guideline for a Council quorum for decision-making. Suggestions for frequency of council meetings, elections, and other procedures were detailed.

After the IRA (Indian Reorganization Act), was enacted in 1934, these sample constitutions were accepted by virtually every Tribe recognized by the Federal Government. In their simplistic form, these constitutions were as close to approximating Traditional governments as European thinking could get. The People, or general council, retained almost complete autonomy and nowhere was the tribal chairman given any more than a spokesman-like position. With the People in close proximity to each other, or in almost daily contact, the thirty percent figure for conducting business seemed reasonable.

Though most of the Nations adopted these constitutions, the structure was still too formal and foreign for the Nations to accept. Besides, what power could any kind of government have when every economic, political, and social aspect of tribal life was still under the direct scrutiny (and control) of the Dept of the Interior, the BIA, or the Army? Remember that at no time have the Nations had control of their decision-making processes or monies without the review and approval of one of those agencies until recently.

When it was determined that reservation lands and allotments held billions of dollars of mineral, water, and grazing rights, getting hands on those rights became a big business as the BIA and corrupt tribal governments schemed on how to enrich their own interests at the expense of the Nations. The BIA had already found that the magic thirty-percent quorum for business decisions could be manipulated or even ignored to get decisions favorable to the government. It was at this time that some Traditionals began to question how a U.S. government agency—loyal first to the U.S. government—could be given the responsibility to act as the representative of the interests of the Tribes without generating a conflict of interest.

The Supreme Court has never adequately resolved this legal question. Many times the United States has pretended to represent the interests of the Tribes against itself, but seldom has it upheld its obligation. One of the more famous examples is where the U.S. offered the Nevada Temoak Shoshone a monetary settlement for their lands. When the Shoshone refused, the Government declared that since it was also representing the Tribe it could accept the money on their behalf and closed the case. Recently, the Shoshones have filed suit again to regain their lands.

A vital revision of tribal constitutions, instituting the safeguards that provide checks and balances to the power of Councils and Chairmen, was (and still is), desperately needed, but ignored, in Washington. In some places constitutions are ignored, meetings are held and conducted illegally—ignoring designated quorums and procedures. Tribal membership voting rolls are manipulated, and illegal decisions enforced. Even convicted criminals have held powerful tribal positions. Members who buck the system within these types of governments are assaulted, intimidated, coerced, bought-off, even stripped of their tribal memberships, while Councils and Chairmen get fat off the new Mecca of gaming monies. Additionally, tribal members are often offered money to attend and vote at important meetings, especially where constitutions are being rewritten—to legitimize, and enforce this system of tribal council invulnerability. Councils are declaring vital economic tribal records confidential, disallowing public view of enrollment lists, and protecting their interests under the guise of tribal "security" or "confidentiality". The catchword of the 1990’s, "sovereignty", is being used to keep government agencies from interfering in tribal corruption now termed "self-determination". The BIA and Department of the Interior decline to involve themselves in intra-tribal squabbles, and prefer to overlook local problems and disturbances. Even though we hate to see sovereignty used this way, this policy of non-interference is probably for the best. Especially since in the few places where the Government has been forced to intervene, the contradictory and convoluted status of Federal Indian Law almost always causes the BIA to support the criminal governments to the bitter end, denying Traditional constituents any proper or legal standing within the Nations.

There are places where the system works, due to a selfless or powerful leadership, cooperation, or greater tribal involvement, but the potential for abuse is still there. Hopefully, these Nations will continue to make the process work, even within these limited and outdated forms. There are also a few places where Tribes have successfully replaced their systems with more traditional forms, or at the very least, new representative constitutions. Whether or not they will achieve balance has yet to be seen.

We do not mean to take issue with the need for a real and legally defined sovereignty; however we believe that the Federal Government must also allow Tribes to reorganize their governments to provide safeguards against corruption and criminal behavior. Finding new ways to involve everyone that wants a say in representative government is also important. Of course, it has always been a conflict of interest for the U.S. On the one hand, they have envisioned themselves our guardian, at the same time representing the huge corporate interests that wish to profit from our resources or otherwise benefit from our special status. We all believe that sovereignty should not be used as a weapon, but a solution will not come from outside interference or regulation. Only by breaking down these outdated tribal council systems and utilizing more traditional forms and methods for decision-making can the Nations protect the rights of their members and benefit from a more traditional, and functional, representation. The other solution is to model the governments more closely to the American system with equal but separate councils to balance and uphold the equitable distribution of power.

Essay Ten-- Consensus

Voting is an exercise that puts people in competition to accumulate a majority to authorize any decision. This is inherently weak because it does not demand that the circle of voters do their best to serve the interests of everyone through conciliation and compromise to facilitate a decision.

Modern governments representing huge constituencies have difficulty reconciling their relationships to each other and become individually self-serving. But anytime we take the easy way out in our decision-making processes, allowing arbitrarily some voices more power than others, we diminish our ability to equitably serve the whole People.

Voting works in a system where the individual's interests are considered paramount but the individual's powers are limited. In Traditional government, the service and interests of the People are paramount but the individual's power is exalted.

One is a shadow of democracy, while the other stands full in the sun. The first calls individuals to find like minds to pit themselves against those who disagree in order to "defeat" them at the polls—while the second requires cooperation and genuine concern for everyone's voice to come to unanimous consensus so that a decision can be reached. One is a quick and final, fast-food approach to government, while the other takes time, effort, determination and genuine respect for opposing views to achieve a gourmet type representation.

In today's world you can guess which type is the one most favored, especially by business. Progress and the accumulation of wealth demand a quick and final decision-making process. Unfortunately, quick and easy decisions are often the wrong ones. Many Americans are not easily convinced that a slow and steady hand makes for a trustworthy mount—they'd rather break 'em quick, and if they don't ride easy, sell ‘em for dog food and get another.

However, sacrifice and well thought out decisions are the only way we will clean up this earth, reformulate our governments and achieve real sovereignty.

The following paragraphs detail how hypothetical consensus governments might work. They do not necessarily reflect the views or traditions of Indian people. Still, a number of Tribes, who still have Traditional governments, intact utilize many of these principles.

Consensus means unanimous decision. Consensus can work for small or large Nations. Here is an example of how it works.

For large Tribes, there must be smaller organized groups to begin with. These may consist of individual bands, families, clans, councils, towns, or other types of natural organization. These small groups meet on an issue. They discuss it until the general consensus is known. Then, if consensus cannot be achieved, the issue is dropped or brought up again after some time has passed to see how the needs or issues change. This commitment to resolution limits contentious behavior and promotes a feeling of participatory decision-making that is amenable to compromise and equitable solutions. Though some disagreement may still exist, compromise and reconciliation is often reached anyway.

Young adults have the same voice as Elders but allow Elders' views to carry opinion. Why? Because Natives value the opinions of Elders, and because young people know their time will come and are confident that their opinions are respected.

In large Nations, smaller councils may send a representative or spokesman to larger councils that consist of appointed, honored, and respected leaders. If a Tribe is small, the council may consist of all the adult members. If it is a serious issue, one that has involved a lot of criticisms, contentious accusations, or general disagreement, care is taken to represent all voices. No decision is reached without consensus. This is real democracy at work.

We think there must be at least four pre-existing conditions for consensus decision-making to be effective and representative:

1. The People must share a commitment to similar spiritual principles that encourage everyone to be on their best behavior to ensure peace and respectful social interaction.

2. The People must show respect for their Elders and each voice that is represented in the Council.

3. The People must believe that Tribal interests supersede any personal benefits gained by decision and they must have enough relationship to still be a viable Tribal organization.

4. The People must respect and stand by the consensus decisions of the Council without undermining its decisions.

For crisis decision-making, each council has those people trusted to be the most honorable and knowledgeable about the nature of the crisis. In certain cases, they are pre-chosen to act in these times. If it is an issue of threat, some Indigenous Peoples had pre-designated leaders to declare war, negotiate or mediate conflicts or decide on pressing issues related to the survival of the People.

Today, survival may be construed to apply to spiritual, cultural, social, or economic situations having a profound impact on the present or future well-being of the People as determined by the Elders and accepted natural leaders.

The gathering of general councils, whether they are of appointed representatives or the entire Nation, is an important part of consensus. It is much harder for people to lie or deceive each other face to face. A sense of community is the only thing that can unify opposing forces. Humanizing the discussion and de-personalizing the conflicts can achieve this. Indians have become used to interpersonal conflicts, but deep down they don't want meetings with parliamentary process, and chairmen banging on podiums!

Consensus can only become reality when People share in each other’s lives. When families eat together, children play together, people dance and sing together, powwow together, pray together, and giveaway—these people share the common bonds that allow them to make important decisions together. It is through these kinds of gatherings that fractured and divided Peoples can be healed.

So, coming to your Rez today: The Traveling Indigenous Gourmet, NewTime-OldTime Dance-Time Prize Competition, Traditional Rock and Roll-Country-Rap-49er, Consensus Government, Spiritual Unity and Friendship PowWow. Transportation can be arranged.

It's an idea.

Essay Eleven-- Resources And National Unity

Tribal governments are obsessed, and rightfully so, with the ideals and realities of tribal sovereignty under the watchful eye of the U.S. Government. We should, by Constitutional rights, have almost unlimited sovereignty in a real sense. Unfortunately, the policies of Manifest Destiny allowed for changing the rules of Constitutional law at the whims of historical convenience. So sovereignty, while a virtuous ideal, presents a two-edged sword. Sovereignty can be misused. It can be used as a political or personal weapon. It can be used to abandon the principle of stewardship of the land and misuse or abuse natural resources for profit and it can become tyrannical and arrogant if not used responsibly. Our assertion is that the U.S. should no longer legislate the conditions of our sovereignty, except to expand our rights and powers, and representatives of the Tribal Nations themselves should handle any abuses of sovereignty. A National Native Court has been proposed that could represent a new legal confederacy to uphold individual Native rights and oversee government infringement on Tribal National rights. We support this proposal.

Here is a letter we wrote that further describes our opinions regarding the history and issues of sovereignty.

“On the issue of Native Sovereignty and Tribal Rights to determining citizenry, we have always viewed this whole issue as a double-edged sword.  First the government provides us all with the blueprints for setting up our tribal governments in a half-hearted model of their own so that the maximum amount of corruption and manipulation can occur, then sets blood quantum or other standards to determine early eligibility—(Dawes Rolls, etc), knowing that our peoples, unsophisticated in these respects, will simply continue to modify these constitutions (with the help of non-Indian lawyers) to destroy the individual rights of their own tribal members and solidify the power of families and cliques within tribal societies for their own power, greed, or aggrandizement—further weakening our Nations and making them more susceptible to US influence and manipulation  Then the government and BIA opts out and starts talking sovereignty again after they have ensured that tribal governments are set up in the least effective way possible for supporting tribal unity and Native rights, in the hope we'll tear ourselves up internally or legislate ourselves out of existence.  Right now, that policy is coming to fruition. In our area, gaming tribal councils are effectively setting enrollment standards that will ensure that in thirty years only a small number of their present enrollee's descendants will qualify for tribal membership, effectively regulating themselves out of existence.  This is just another government ploy to destroy our Tribes.  No one's doing the basic math on intermarriage and quantum requirements for these Tribes, they are just seeing the dollar signs in the short term.  In addition, here in California, Tribal Councils are busy un-enrolling members at will because of vindictive personal disputes, a desire to increase per cap payments, or gaming profits—any old reason they can think of.  The abused tribal members have no recourse—the BIA won't hear their arguments because of Tribal sovereignty and a no interference policy.  Now, without roll numbers—they no longer qualify for tribal health,college scholarships, etc.

Who is speaking for them?  What recourse do they have?  With no National Indian Court to hear their arguments, they're up shit creek.  They've been wiped out by the half-assed Tribal Sovereignty the US has so thoughtfully granted us and are no longer legally Indian.  This is unprecedented.  To say that our "elected officials" should have the complete power to regulate who is, and who isn't, a member is to deny the changes that have come about in our tribal governments and social institutions in the last centuries.  Can we make international treaties? Raise our own armies for our own defense?  Regulate our boundaries as other Nations do? Do we have complete control or jurisdiction over our lands and resources?  Are our laws and regulations enforced on immigrants or tourists in our Nations?  Sovereign nations have these rights.  We do not. 

The myth of Tribal Sovereignty and government-to-government relationships is a smokescreen to destroy us. If we are faced with abandoning traditional government, mediation, and consensus—to adopt manipulative popular elected governments similar to the US, we'll need to develop some protective checks and balances for our members--including an impartial judiciary to regulate and insure member’s rights.  Every Tribe should have a right to say who is a member. However, what is a Tribe?  In the old days, it was all of the people, and one family or group could not say you didn't belong.  If the people accepted you—you were one of them—it wasn’t decide by a Tribal Council that can manipulate the general council into an up or down vote to terminate you as an Indian!  In the 60's and 70's—the legal definition of Indian was, "A person having origin in any of the original Peoples of North America, or who maintains tribal affiliation or who is recognized by tribal members as attached to the community." This was a perfectly good scenario as long as we were poor with few prospects for profit.  As the business of being Indian has become more profitable, and Indians started coming out of the woodwork--the standards have tightened.  Its easy to see how assimilation is affecting us-- with so many of our economies depending on government grants and programs it is money that determines the importance of strictly defining who is, and who is not, an Indian. Forget for a moment that that same government has lost or stolen billions of dollars of Indian money. For gaming Tribes it's more about how much profit can be made, smaller rolls mean more money for recognized members.  Additionally, that ones who control those member definitions are able to manipulate them for their own benefit.  To say that tribal councils are representative of their nations at large is like saying the present administration is representative of the opinions of all Americans.  It just ain't so!  Representative American government has always been a sleight of hand democracy.  We know how much we can trust the U.S., do we really think governments formed to mimic theirs will be any more trustworthy?

The kind of sovereignty we have today is a token sovereignty, overseen, but not legally defined, by a third party. It is a most dangerous and tentative situation. It allows for a third party (like the BIA) to control who it determines to be the legal and designated representatives of each Tribe, while excusing that same third party from acting when tyrannical or abusive forces manipulate tribal governments, or attack tribal members.

Natives all know what I mean. To clarify for others, let us describe a situation a very large tribe found itself in, in the last decade.

A legally elected Tribal Chairman held an iron hand over the Tribe. He accused of defrauding the Tribe of millions, of sexually assaulting women in the Tribal Office, etc. He declared all Tribal records to be confidential including the Tribal Voting Rolls. In subsequent elections he refused to disclose the names of tribal members eligible to vote to his competitors, arrested those who attempted to leaflet or promote their campaigns, etc. Attempts were made to legally recall him but his control over the tribal courts and police was extensive. Opposition leaders organized their own court supporters and took over the Tribal Offices. Separate Tribal Court Officials issued conflicting decisions. Opposition Leaders went to the BIA and were told that since he was still the federally recognized Chairman, and he had not requested their involvement, the BIA could not intervene. Privately, they were told the BIA would not involve them in a political Tribal struggle, despite the fact that BIA law enforcement could be used by the existing Chairman to quell illegal disturbances. Fortunately, the issue resolved itself without significant violence, but this is an example where a third party authorizes a governing body but refuses to intervene when that body is proven to be abusing its authority and serving its own interests.

As long as the Tribes themselves do not have absolute control over their legal and recognized representatives we will continue to see violations of constitutions, individual rights, misuse of resources, etc. Today the BIA can avoid involvement simply by pretending it does not want to involve itself in the "internal" and "sovereign" affairs of tribal government--or it can jump in with law enforcement personnel to "aide" the "legal tribal government."

It is our opinion that we need a confederacy of some type, or at least a National Indian Supreme Court, to organize our Nations into a powerful and unified force. First and foremost, it would tie Indians into something universal representing all the Indigenous People of this land. It would add to our identity. Though we define ourselves by Tribe or Band, this way we could have both a local and national identity. This body could also represent those Indians who are not members of Tribes—urban Indians, relocated Indians, un-enrolled Indians. It would not give these people a voice in the affairs of Sovereign Nations but would allow them to participate in programs that would serve the Unified Nations.

A Confederacy could develop national media programs to promote cultural awareness and encourage diversity within unity. It could honor the accomplishments of our youth, statesmen, and artists, coordinate health and dependency programs, institute trade agreements between Nations, develop tribal resource guides, oversee trust accounts, represent the Nations in world organizations, and develop economic programs between Tribes.

Of course, there have been, and still are, organizations that exist to accomplish some of those ends, but some of today's smaller non-treaty gaming Tribes are often at odds with the larger land-based Tribes over priorities and issues of importance. To the smaller Tribes, issues related to gaming and economics come first. For the large land based Tribes, more immediate concerns may be about health care, roads, law enforcement, resources, or other land-based issues.

Often the small successful gaming Tribe has much more money to spend politically than the larger land based Tribes. Naturally, larger Tribes are concerned that money might buy a greater representation in any Confederacy or Court proposed. But representation is crucial to the integrity of any decision-making body, and members—not money—should define the issues. To insure equal representation would be a great challenge. Nevertheless, if it could be achieved equitably, the benefits for all Tribes would be enormous.

This Confederacy, or Unified Court, could formulate responsible precepts regarding the use of natural resources in Tribal profit-making ventures, and protect and preserve undeveloped lands for future generations. It could push for a process, separate from the BIA, to help Tribes with the purchase of additional tribal lands and applications to place these lands into Tribal trusts. It could oversee government accounts of the use, harvest, or withdrawal of Indian resources by outside parties for profit, and manage and keep private accounts of Indian trusts and settlements. A National Indian Supreme Court could develop legal arguments supporting Indian causes specifically in rebuttal, or in compliment to U.S. Higher Courts. This court could mediate inter-Tribal suits, disagreements, and disputes of sovereignty, individual rights, etc. Most importantly, it would attempt to take all those previously mentioned topics out of government hands, once and for all.

Indians must find ways to deal with our internal problems legally, outside of American courts. We must decide now that sovereignty will not be used as a tool to allow corrupt or greedy Tribal Governments to ravage and pollute our environment and natural resources. The resources of the Earth are not placed here for the profiteering of individual Tribes, families, or members--but to assure that the generations unborn will have the necessities of life.

Hopefully, Indian Nations will someday see a reason to look out from the limited boundaries of their lands and see a potential for larger organization. We envision a time when we will have our own Land Management Councils to oversee the proper care of resources, and a national Supreme Court, or Council of Elders, who will stand for the Nation’s unborn children above the individual pursuits of Tribes and their members. At that time, our Confederacy may finally have the power to preserve our individual sovereignty against the fickle whims of the U.S. Government.

Essay Twelve-- Materialism

Most human beings have some desire for material possessions, especially those with children or families to care for. It's a natural instinct to provide for one's family: to be as comfortable as possible, and to live free of want.

Indigenous Peoples did not develop community relationships that permanently stripped the earth of resources. They had common limitations on how much they could acquire materially and still be able to function. The reality of difficult and time-consuming labor necessary to creating any beautiful or valuable object placed another limitation on the number of those objects one might hope to acquire in a lifetime. In most tribal societies, materialism was more a matter of possessing enough functional items to make the daily work life flow as smoothly as possible than it was acquiring an unnecessarily ponderous amount of extras. We'd like to repeat Bruce Johansen's observation that, “(Ben) Franklin used examples from Indian societies rather explicitly to illustrate his conception of property and its role in society: ‘All property, indeed, except the savage's temporary cabin, his bow, his matchcoat and other little Acquisitions absolutely necessary for his Subsistence, seems to me to be the creature of public Convention. Hence, the public has the rights of regulating Descents, and all other Conveyances of Property, and even of limiting the quantity and uses of it. All the property that is necessary to a man is his natural Right, which none may justly deprive him of, but all Property superfluous to such Purposes is the property of the Public who, by their Laws have created it and who may, by other Laws dispose of it’.”

Of course, there were items that were considered personal property and delineated status or wealth; planting acreage, horses, etc. But often the concept of the giveaway or potlatch in these societies was a countering social influence to the attraction of selfish accumulation of wealth. That is not to say that no societies amassed material wealth, certainly the Meso-American cultures allowed for great concentrations of wealth. But by-and-large, most Northern American Tribes, lacking wagons and beasts of burden, did not accumulate much more than they could carry away at any one time. Franklin wrote, regarding the Indian view of the American distribution of wealth, "The Care and Labour of providing for Artificial and Fashionable Wants, the sight of so many rich wallowing in Superfluous plenty, whereby so many are kept poor and distressed for Want,..all contrive to disgust them [Indians] with what we call civil Society."

Native Nations had concepts of wealth and power, but determined them differently than Europeans. Since the invasion and holocaust, American Indians have had neither. Poverty became a way of life for generations. Some were able to escape, usually by leaving their Peoples and blending or assimilating with non-Indian communities, while the "darker" communities were trapped by racism and lack of opportunity.

It is an interesting observation that while some poor people are able to keep their morals, ethics, and values—even when they have nothing else to sustain them—others give them up completely, seemingly without a fight. Among our Nations, certain individuals of character were able to continue to pass on to succeeding generations their ideals of spirituality and morality, while others failed.

Today, many membersof our communities suffer from loneliness and lack any belief that comforts them or gives them hope. It is a crisis of values made even more serious by the sudden appearance of the gaming issue. Instead of spiritual leaders rising up to give us back the power and mystery missing in our lives, we now have investors promising riches beyond our wildest dreams. And for many Natives, the word "riches" doesn't mean much. One Grandfather we know says that "too many of us don't really know the difference between the power of holding a thousand dollars and the power of holding one hundred thousand, or even a million."

While enormous sums slip from our mouths easily in council meetings, we are still poor people in our minds and cannot grasp the fact that there is a difference between enough, and too much, money. Rather than settling for enough, and debating the best ways to serve the People's interests, many of our leaders get caught up in the business of enormous dreams and lose sight of the day to day functional use of the smaller sums that actually makes its way into our tribal coffers.

We do not think this situation will last long. Many of our younger people have begun to educate themselves in business and law. Before long, we will be able to run our casinos and businesses professionally without the help of outsiders. Unfortunately, many Tribal Human Resource Offices are ignoring these qualified Natives to hire “outsiders”. Sometimes this is done simply to protect the interests of the present administrators or Council, sometimes it is to hide corruption and fraud, sometimes its just family politics. But the question of importance is not just when will we utilize our best Native leaders, lawyers, and educated young people to help us make our way out of poverty, but what will we have become when we get there?

All poor people with sudden wealth are especially prone to the sad and divisive selfishness of greed. You see examples of this disease everywhere. Only a spiritual reawakening can save people from that sickness.

We have not yet seen Indian Casino management, Business Councils, or Tribal Councils take a fully supportive role in the spiritual and social growth of the tribes they represent. There may be some who have, and to them we offer apology. Some may question whether that should be their role or responsibility, but it is our contention that they are in a position of power and are therefore required by Traditional ethics to provide that support.

Those who are in a position to lead, or to provide a focus and center, should do so. The excitement of this new time should promulgate projects and gatherings that bring people together, encouraging them to attend spiritual, social, and cultural events. We think Tribal leaders, even gaming leaders, should be responsible for more than money and jobs. It is an idealistic point of view, but we think they have a unique opportunity to become a center and a fire that serves unity--not just the usual American demand for materialistic gratification.

For those Indians who have lost their center, we do not pretend to understand how people can recapture values, ethics, and morals. Either they are planted in youth and flower in adulthood, or they do not. We do know that if we begin sharing again, and if we gather again to pray, it will be a good first step.

Essay Thirteen-- Discipline

"The fool does what makes himself feel good. The wise man does what makes him feel good about himself."

Grandpa

It is our understanding that the Nations all had their own particular method for maintaining discipline and order within their Peoples. There were warrior societies, and bear doctors, and dog soldiers and sub chiefs, all who acted in the interests of their nation, sometimes at the direction of their Elders and Leaders. Rather than discuss the methods or processes of how these decisions came to be made, and how they were enacted, we are more concerned with the fact that they dealt specifically with the occasional exception to the rule in Indian society. What we mean by this is simple; the behavior of individuals was efficiently modified by their relationship to the Tribe.

Ben Franklin wrote, "All their Government is by Counsel of the Sages; there is no Force, there are no Prisons, no officers to compel Obedience, or inflict Punishment."

Rules and regulations were kept to a minimum. Order was kept through social pressures, public humiliation, and embarrassment. Occasionally, in a dangerous or important situation there were forms of corporal punishment—even capital execution.

However, as Thomas Jefferson put it, "Public opinion is in the place of law, and restrains morals as powerfully as laws ever did anywhere."

George Catlin observed, "...there is no law in their land to punish a man for theft, that locks and keys are not known, that no commandments have ever been divulged amongst them; nor can any human retribution fall upon the head of a thief, save the disgrace which attaches as a stigma to his character in the eyes of his people about him."

Individuals rarely considered being anything but what they were—one of the People. They cared what their relatives, friends, and neighbors thought and were inclined to go along with the consensus decisions. If they disagreed, they simply did not participate. There was little reason for the children to be disciplined. They learned by watching the example of their older peers what was to be expected of them, especially in difficult and dangerous situations. Beyond that, they learned early on that there was a time for self-restraint and a time to be free and unrestrained—a perfect environment for children.

When there was a need for discipline, many of the Peoples used fear of the unknown or superstitions to keep discipline and reasonable control. Extreme cases of disorder were dealt with by those mentioned in the first paragraph of this essay, but these were exceptions, and few and far between.

John Trudell talks about the holocaust of the influx of the three violent, patriarchal religions of the Middle East sweeping in to replace the "mother" as the center of Tribal Life. This opinion is at the center of one of the root problems of western civilization. These religions had, as a cornerstone of their faiths, a belief in a purposeful, and vengeful, God who owned everything. As a group of Jehovah's witnesses asked us the other day, "Do you believe man was given dominion over the Earth by God?"

We think Traditional Indigenous people would answer emphatically—No!" Those Middle Eastern cultures were harsh, dominating, and authoritative. No wonder their main export to the world has been violence!

Europeans, being primitive, did not have the unified social organization that Indians had, so they maintained discipline and order by threat of violence. Biblical admonitions to "use the rod" authorized corporal punishment, and however out of favor it has fallen in today's world, it was, and is, an effective method of disciplining children in the absence of commonly held social constraints.

When the social organizations of our Peoples were disrupted, and in many places dissolved, quite a few of our Grandfathers and Grandmothers adopted the European methods of punishment. Many of us grew up fearing corporal discipline. And it worked! It certainly wasn't the traditional Indian Way, but that Way required a social unit that each individual was proud to belong to, and motivated to remain a part of. It also required the old stories and fears that were part of our Traditional worldview. As the tribes began to break down into individual families, there was less of the old social structure to be responsible to, and fewer of the old perceptions to help discipline the young. Something had to take its place and our Grandparents chose a method they knew their children would understand, the fear of pain.

Don't get us wrong—any discipline is better than none. Just ask any fifth grade teacher who lives in a state where social restraint doesn’t exist, corporal punishment has been disallowed and parental guidance is non-existent, how you can reach boys who have no fear, no guidance, and no discipline in their lives. Where old-time Indians used stories of monsters, spirits or enemies to keep their children from the dangers of the night, and our grandparents used the switch or the belt, many of today's grandparents and parents have nothing. There are just too many one-parent, dysfunctional, dependent, poverty-stricken families where self-discipline or parental discipline has become an ideal of the past—and if there is one thing Indians know about, it's how easily one of us can wind up in prison through a simple lack of discipline.

Indigenous life two centuries ago required a different type of discipline based on a natural and immediately responsive world. In today's modern setting, self control, restraint, and self-discipline are necessary tools for survival. How do we re-establish discipline as a society, as individuals, as Tribes? It begins at home, but relatives and tribal members must share some responsibility for the discipline and order of our children. On the other hand—maybe we should just stay the way we are!

Essay Fourteen-- Indintity

We never question someone's claim to be Indian no matter what they "look" like. We've known plenty of mixed-bloods, with European features, who were important members of their Tribes, as well as enough full-bloods who were a total loss. Both were Indian.

Despite the objections of some, however, it does come down to ancestry and blood. In what portions we cannot say, but each Tribe or Nation surely has the right to determine those guidelines for it when it comes to membership, the sharing of decision-making, and in the economics of the Tribe. We also know that to many Indians, the question of identity is simply answered by racial characteristics. Those with brown skin of varying degree, dark hair, and eyes, have no problem defining them. To many, the other attributes of culture, religion, and heritage are not significant factors. They know that they will be Indian no matter what type of life they live, what religion they follow, what government they give their loyalty to, and what values they practice. Nothing can separate them from being Indian, because it is so apparent and visible it simply cannot be taken away. This is the Indian that is defined by race. In our lives that still has meaning. But what about the future—nut brown bleaching to latte’? It’s happening. Beloved blond haired, blue eyed tribal members are being born everyday to loving Indian parents and grandparents. Ask those blond grandchildren in twenty years if they’re Indian—we’ll find out how important race will be then.

We know from experience that the attributes of history, culture, and socialization are important, if only to the strict Traditionals, who are fighting to preserve every bit of the cherished past, and to those mixed-bloods who stand in two worlds. Since the latter's racial identity can be called into question, the reality of what they know of their culture, how they live, who they associate with, and what they believe, becomes significant, almost all-important.

We would hope that the rules made by Tribal governments always have allowable exceptions. Those fullbloods, half one Nation and half another, who are unable to enroll in either Tribe and are denied legal status as an Indian, might be the first to argue against blood quantum as a final determination on Indintity.

For those who are unenrolled, life goes on. They live their lives, perform ceremonies, pray, sing, dance, and live as they have always done, knowing that identity can not be legislated. Though they are not able to participate in tribal politics or economics, they still stand in support of their families and Federally Recognized relatives. The fact they are not enrolled does not affect their commitments to our Peoples and Nations. They too, are still Indians.

Because Federal Recognition is a prerequisite in the quest for sovereignty, the issues of blood quantum and membership will remain important. Legal Tribal memberships, enrollment, and recognition are necessary to sustain the government-to-government relationships demanded by Treaties and Compact agreements which insure the preservation and control of tribal land bases, self-government, and full accountability for the management of trusts and resources.

Fortunately, enrolled or un-enrolled, recognized or unknown, we are still a force in this Nation. Though there will always be threats and attempts to take away what we have fought for so long to regain, more and more we are represented by our own in the halls of government, in the courtroom, and on the street.

The true issues of identity rise from within. What of our past will be preserved to be made meaningful to the generations of tomorrow? And not just in ways that will make our children feel special when they dance at powwows, but ways that make them feel good about themselves—ways that encourage integrity, honesty, morality and leadership. We need to recapture the ideals that will stretch their imagination and challenge them to reclaim the world that claims to have conquered them, all the while retaining what we cherish of our past.

First, we must break the bonds of stereotypes. Not only those put upon us from the outside (like mascots and Hollywood images), but those from the inside that enslave us to dependency on drugs and alcohol, drive us abuse our spouses or children, and push us toward materialism at the expense of our Spirits. It reaches deep into our children. The outside stereotypes have power over them, creating the false image that we are of the past, that our cultures and traditions are dead. They recognize those outdated Hollywood images as Indian, sometimes even before they recognize the ways of their true culture. These stereotypes hurt them by miss-shaping their identity. With some parents having third, or even fourth generation addictions, many young people have come to consider that behavior "Traditional". Where extended families are broken and many single parent/grandparent families are raising children—the circle of family balance is lost. We must end the generations of isolationism. We cannot achieve our goals for our grandchildren by continuing to pretend that isolation separates us from the "white" world and helps us retain our Way.

At the Unity Gathering in Tulalip, a group of young Warriors stood with some Anglos waiting for the caravan of Traditional Elders from the East Coast and Canada to arrive. Dressed in suits and ties, they pulled up and got out of their vehicles. The shock on some faces was evident. I heard grumbling. "This can't be them!" How could a Traditional dress so conservatively? It was obvious it shook up a number of preconceived ideas of reality. Later, these same Elders, entered the Longhouse dressed in Traditional clothing, fluently speaking their languages, relaxed and at ease with themselves. These Traditionals were able to sustain everything they had been taught as youths and still participate powerfully, and effectively, in the modern world. They believed in education, in being bilingual, and in mastering whatever skills they needed to take care of their families and Nations. Only those who feel unsure of their own identity are threatened by, or shun, the outside world.

Some of the present Tribal Council Chairmen and their Council Members would be well served to take a lesson from these men and women. These are Indians who would never think to perform ceremony or healing without adequate authorized preparation, neither would they presume to act as leaders or businessmen on behalf of their Tribes without similar skills preparation and education.

Today, in the rush to place our own people in positions of power, authority, and influence, we find that many of us are simply not prepared, educated, motivated, or interested enough to study and develop the skills to be effective at our positions. Those who do have the education and training are often ignored.

We all have developed an understandable, but limiting, racism toward Anglo people and the outside world. This is evidenced by the increase in gang activity on reservations where the influence of other minority cultures is strong. Instead of becoming Warriors for their People, they "create" their own Warrior Societies in a Black or Chicano image and isolate themselves even further from the world. Meanwhile those who choose to participate in the Institution of Public Education are forced to embrace a system that emphasizes only European contributions, accomplishments, and history—alienating them as well.

Fortunately, more and more clean and sober Indian men and women are taking the risks to teach, by example, the values of respect, morality, honesty, integrity, and relationship. Unfortunately, many of those who do provide these examples go unrecognized, gaining no special respect among their People. In that case, the young see no advantage to following the Good Path.

One of our son’s saw some youngsters, under twelve years old, throwing rocks at an old man on the rez. When they stepped in to admonish them, they were cursed at and spat upon, all this while these children’s parent sat in the Casino, gambling.

An Elder we know, commenting on a tribal council plan to construct a reservation gymnasium for adult volleyball and hoop leagues, scoffed and said, "What we really need is a Daycare Center where someone—anyone—will help teach our children values and discipline!" This isn't only an Indian problem, it is pervasive in modern society.

Americans forced us to give up our culture, our religion, our social structure, and our forms of self-government with the assurance that they had superior values and life-ways that would guarantee our generations a better life. Now they are finding out how shallow and weak their basic institutions are. Moreover, the whole country is reaping a whirlwind of violence, selfishness, and shallow, fragmented purpose.

The problem of quality formation and strengthening of self-identity among Indians is unique. It is a problem of blending the past with the present; of finding a balance between what is remembered and perceived as having been our most cherished and powerful attributes, and the necessity of coping with what we have become in a modern world after more than a century of external and internally imposed captivity. Few remember the old days and Ways and that Vision is becoming more and more clouded with time. What we preserve of our past in the next generation will be what lasts of those times, while what we have endured since then has created unique and difficult problems for us to solve.

Blood quantum and racial heritage will not guarantee lasting cultural, social, or spiritual identity. We hope our future will consist of the best of our past and the best of our present cultures. If not, our unique and original identity will fade, and though we may retain our special government status, we will eventually blend into the American melting pot of cultureless people. Then, committed to the gods of progress, technology, and consumerism, we will become a part of that faceless crowd of lost humanity that is the modern civilized human, unbalanced and alone. Our great grandchildren deserve better.

Essay Fifteen-- Dependency

One of the first "gifts" bestowed on Indians from Europeans was alcohol. It was quickly determined that our tolerance for liquor was zero and we could easily be influenced and taken advantage of under its influence. White flour and sugar followed. The former helped diminish our Spirit, while the latter destroyed our health. Both were accepted by our Peoples to take the place of absent necessities in their lives. The cash cropping of tobacco caused us to adopt the European penchant for casual smoking. With time, and tuberculosis, came the drug codeine. The 1970’s and 80’s brought marijuana, psychedelics, and cocaine, along with paint thinners, spray paints, glues, and other hardware store drugs. With the 1990’s came crank, methamphetamine. Diabetes and suicide shadow us wherever we go.

Other kinds of dependencies swallowed us as well. We came to count on governments programs, projects, grants, and awards. We looked eagerly for settlements or per capita payments. We got into the business of being Indians, looking at tribal council positions as jobs rather than service to the People. We attend tribal meetings for the attendance checks handed out rather than any true interest to participate. Casinos and gaming have added to the mix.

Though Casinos may be seen by many to be an easy way out of poverty and despair—solitary gambling may also be the last golden carrot put before us to coerce us into assimilating with a promise of plenty. Native people have always loved to gamble, but in our past we did it together—with singing, and laughter, and communication. It was a community event. Now we often sit isolated and alone, huddled in front of a machine. If we can resist the divisive and selfish interests of greed, perhaps we will defeat this new challenge to our unity and use our promised (but as yet unseen) wealth to economically rebuild our Nations. It will not be easy; already we see families and tribes divided by the tyranny of greed.

Many of our young cannot see farther than the reservation. They have come to believe that their necessities will be provided without any effort on their part. They have come to be content with their poverty and dream of "easy" money. It has gone past the time where we mourn the great agricultural civilizations that were ours. Our children know nothing of those days. Their lives have had more to do with dependency than freedom. And while we leave the solutions of addiction, violence, and dependency to those who must rekindle the faith, discipline, and values to defeat these enemies (and to the Creator whose hears our prayers), we believe that a simple acceptance of the labor life requires is a large step toward rehabilitation.

We must find ways to build prestige and recognition for those who attempt to provide for their families. Indians love to dance, and we love to dance our old dances. The problem is that the "reasons" we did those dances have often become unattached to our present lifestyles. This can be remedied if the dance for the hunt becomes the dance for hunting knowledge or a job. The honor dance becomes a dance for graduating school, getting married, or an important achievement. Dances that mark the season, or fulfill traditional obligations, can still do so effectively, maintaining our natural ties and providing reasons to gather and celebrate thankfully, our unity and survival.

Indians are never afraid of hard work if it fits into the context of their life and passions. Traditional life ways were very demanding physically. To track, kill, carry, butcher, and dress any large animal is not an easy labor; neither was planting, harvesting, tanning, sewing, cooking, etc. Even our art, crafts, and music required craftsman who labored to make our lives beautiful. To live naturally was not labor free. Our lives were filled with difficult and dangerous tasks that were performed without resentment. But the new habits of waiting for commodities or per capita checks are difficult to break, and only time will give our young the same satisfaction with their work that they get from giving their all in a basketball or softball game. Of course many of our youth have already adapted, but we know pockets where there has been, as of yet, no movement. Fresh from our original way of life, the modern types of labor offered us were unacceptable, but today we understand that whatever labor we engage in can be healthy and meaningful.

Dependency can be broken with activity and purpose. Sacrifice and commitment to giving up our bad habits will generate people who, by their example, may fulfill the old-time qualities that encourage others. It begins with men and women pledging themselves again to their People and to the Creator.

Essay Sixteen-- Sacred Tobacco

Tobacco is something almost all Indians share in common. Many natural varieties were harvested and numerous mixtures of native tobacco and herbs were used. Tobacco itself was an indispensable ceremonial item. The leaves were offered to open fires, or placed upon the Earth, or given to the winds. Old accounts even mention uses of it as an aide to exuding poisons from the pores, but we are unfamiliar as to how that was accomplished. Commonly, it was used in a smoking mixture but was mixed with others herbs, barks, or berries. The Smoke and its properties were sacramental. Though some casual use was accepted in differing degrees among different Tribes, the spiritual awareness that permeated every aspect of Traditional life insured that proper respect and attention be paid to its use. In addition, the amount of exercise natural to everyday life acted as a countering influence to the detrimental effects of smoking in young to middle-aged people. However, Elders warned of those detrimental effects even then.

Casual abuse and addiction to commercially prepared tobacco products run deep in the Indian psyche and in our communities. Use of cigarettes has trickled down to even our elementary-age school children and, at one time, almost every Indian smoked. It is easy to see how this Traditional form was converted to profit the tobacco companies through causal use. Since the consequences have only recently come to public attention, we should expect an epidemic of tobacco-related health problems in our elder generations. If not for the many other ways Indians die, we would probably be seeing higher statistics already. Today, a number of Indian groups have launched tobacco education programs while still providing naturally grown tobacco for ceremonial use. They encourage a respect for this Holy herb, and recognition of the dangers that come with abusing a sacred herb. It is a formidable task. It seems almost anti-Indian to be anti-smoking, especially when it's compounded by the economic benefits of being able to sell untaxed tobacco on many reservations, a situation that many Nations are taking advantage of.

Traditionally, it is a matter of respect. Tobacco has a powerful Spirit that, if abused, will turn on those who disrespect it and wreck havoc in their lives. It is the same for all Medicine abused. Indians know that better than anyone does. To make the choice for creation or destruction has always occupied the minds of our Elders. We can see how we got to this place, and are just now beginning the process of changing ingrained habits and viewpoints to reflect a more Traditional attitude. No Pipe Carrier would think of using marijuana in the Pipe, yet even our most respected young leaders think nothing of casually rolling tobacco or smoking ready-mades. Generations have formed these attitudes. It is a matter of education, and time. As with every great change, some must choose to be the examples of that change in order that others might see strength in their abstinence and follow their lead.

We begin with our children. A program of education using posters and other visual aids is a beginning, but only children witnessing an example will achieve success. When mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, grandmothers and grandfathers begin giving up casual smoking in Respect, and when social pressures within the Tribes turn from support of casual tobacco use to a more Traditional view, then we can feel good about our efforts.

Essay Seventeen-- Indian Money

Many Americans believe that every year the government gives enormous chunks of (taxpayer's) money to each tribal member in the U.S. for no other reason than that they're an enrolled Indian. It is a misunderstanding that stands in the way of Americans recognizing and accepting responsibility for our holocaust. They are unaware that circumstances everywhere in Indian country are remarkably different. Some Tribes own their lands in concert. Some have each parcel deeded individually, and some are a mixture of the two. Some live on checkerboards of Indian land, government land, and property owned by private non-Indian citizens.

In many places, monies and programs are part of treaty agreements that may be in perpetuity, or they may be settlements for lands or resources ceded in the past or present. They may be use-payments for grazing, timber rights, agricultural use, water, or mineral rights. They may be trust payments held in trust by the government for individuals or Tribes. They may be allocations or monies granted as compensation for the fact that treaties were broken or never ratified.

It must be pointed out that most American Indian Tribes never held the right, or opportunity, to prove they could manage their own monies until the first gaming compacts were ratified. In a few cases, the BIA has previously allowed sufficiently organized Tribes to attempt business ventures, but always under the careful eyes of the Department of the Interior. If Indians did have money, they had to apply to the government and go through bureaucratic gymnastics to get it. We explain to people that much of our long standing distrust for the BIA stems from the legacy of corrupt Indian Agents leasing allotment parcels to cattle barons, stealing rations from starving peoples, and bootlegging alcohol. Indian trust monies have existed since the early days, but the Departments of the Army and the Interior determined that Indians were incapable of handling or managing their monies. Knowing they had trust money, yet never being able to get their hands on it, has frustrated dirt-poor Indians for decades. And then there are the hundreds, maybe thousands, who have trust accounts and don't even know it!

Recently, a suit by Indians against the BIA for the loss and mismanagement of billions of dollars of Indian Trust Monies has vindicated Dave Henry, the accountant hired by the government to provide a general accounting of the trust fund situation at a Montana Agency years ago. He was the first to expose the mismanagement, poor handling of accounts, and outright theft by BIA officials and others. In his book, "Stealing From Indians", Henry goes into specific detail to show how this monumental swindle took place. He was subsequently fired as a whistle-blower and to this day maintains his hopes that he will be reinstated with back pay under whistle-blower protection statutes, and that the billions of dollars will be repaid. Unfortunately, he has found out that when it comes to Indian matters, laws can be ignored, rules broken, and issues of trust and integrity disregarded.

As we mentioned before, the suit to find the money determined by the United States Office of General Accounting to be missing from Bureau of Indian Affairs fund accounts continues. The new multi-million dollar computer tracking system built to streamline the process has been determined to be monumental failure (at taxpayers expense), and legal battles drag on. But this suit represents only a drop in the bucket of monies, lost, swindled, fraudulently used, stolen, or mismanaged over the last 150 years. Some estimate the actual figure at well over a hundred to a hundred and fifty billion dollars—a considerable sum for people who, in many places, still don't have telephone service or indoor plumbing! Dave Henry originally estimated the figure at fifty billion over twenty years ago! We doubt that much of that money will ever be recouped.

There are places where Indians have received large sums for settlements or disbursements, but they were not always U.S. taxpayer monies. Despite the beliefs of many Americans, the Government is not paying out "guilt money". The U.S. government has never spent a dime on Indians that it did not have to. Any social programs that are currently paid for by the American public are a direct result of the legal responsibility assumed by the government pursuant to treaty rights, settlement dispensations, resource trusts, or moral necessity.

The latter is especially true in California where, by 1850, the State Government had learned that federal treaties need not be ratified and the lands of peaceful Peoples could be easily taken without much loss of life. The policy was to first make the treaties, so the local Indians thought they were protected, and then Congress (under pressure from the States) would fail to ratify them. Of course, no one would inform the Indians of this and the decisions would be place under a Congressional Act of Secrecy for more than fifty years. Remaining Indian lands were obtained (stolen) during the 1950's policy of Termination. Whatever the State of California and the Federal Government does for these Indians can never be enough to pay for the suffering they endured and the sacrifices they were forced to make.

In fact, the benefits Americans have received from the illegal and immoral confiscation of our rights, lands, and lives can never be measured or compensated for in economic ways.

Happily, we can report that some small progress toward self-sufficiency is being made. Two eastern Tribes, made vulgarly rich through gaming, recently returned all Federal monies asking that they be redistributed to poorer Tribes. Other Tribes have successfully spread out into legitimate businesses other than gaming and are finally able to provide many good services for their People. Some claim that Traditional spirituality, culture, and values are being sacrificed for such advances, but the minds of people who are formed from generations of poverty and suffering rarely turn first toward philosophical issues. We are beginning to find Indian money; hopefully we will not lose what is more important along with that discovery.

Essay Eighteen-- Outside Help

Many citizens want to help Native Peoples. While we may have given our readers the impression that America is, and always has been, against Natives—this impression is certainly false. Many non-Indians, almost from the first day that Anglo-Europeans landed on these shores, have seen a value in our ways and have wanted to help. The problem is that they usually want to help on their own terms and by their own methods. This approach never works with Indians. Even if they get by a natural distrust of their motives, they are handicapped by a complete lack of understanding of how things get done in Indian Country.

Granted, times are changing, and in many places Indians are becoming more and more familiar (and open) to historically European systems of organization and decision-making, but in just as many places you will still find a slower-time, word of mouth, get-there-when-we-get-there way of life.

Rather than trying to explain to anyone what Indians think, we think it better to simply caution anyone who wants to "help out", to ask themselves first whether or not they have been asked for that help. To jump in uninvited, with preconceived ideas about the relevance and effect of that “help”, with an expectation to be a part of the decision-making process is not only guaranteed to cause problems, it is disrespectful. Indians are not looking for outsiders to solve their problems. The real problems in Indian Country must be solved from within.

Generally, Indians are in need of the same things poor people around the world are in need of: firewood, propane or natural gas, housing, food, blankets and new clothing, transportation, gasoline, money for necessities, etc. We are not in need of outside guidance or leadership, organizational strategists, group leaders, spiritual advisors, rags, or remnants. We are occasionally in need of laborers, truck drivers (with trucks), grant writers, teachers, doctors, health professionals, lawyers, etc., if we can't get our own.

The first rule when offering anyone help is to ask—have they asked for it? The second rule is to find out exactly what is needed, and when. There are Indian organizations and media people who keep track of such things, or one could always call specific Tribal Council/Business Offices to inquire about what is needed. Please don't go uninvited with brainstorms about how to make Native lives better or casual inquiries about helping out with expectations of being enthusiastically received. If Indians think they need your help, they'll ask you. Moreover, if you show up and no one actually tells you to leave, but you find yourself being ignored—take the hint. These are times when Indians must step up and help themselves. Your economic support may or may not be requested. Don't be afraid to ask, just don't be offended if you are politely refused.

Essay Nineteen--.Cracking Our Bones (Cultural Appropriation and Exploitation)

Culture is like building the perfect soup. First, you start with the water and dog—excuse us—meat, and then you add the other ingredients.

The water and meat are your heritage, your economic status, social status, personal freedom, education, as well as your grasp of language and ability to use it effectively. These are the base ingredients to the soup of your life. The spices and flavorings are the ritual forms, culture, spiritual life, and philosophies that bring the soup into balance and harmony.

In past times, the base and flavorings were not always a matter of choice, but of necessity. Life provided you the base and flavorings according to the continent, race, religion, and social order you were born into.

On this continent, the flavor was Tribal. It exalted the freedom of the individual in service to the People. It enforced its precepts by the power of social pride. Its sense of beauty, art, oratory, language, and personal freedom was unsurpassed. It was not perfect, but it was perfectly suited to this Land.

In the late 1960’s, many modern youth were looking to escape what they perceived as a materialistic, hypocritical, exploitive, authoritative, and repressive approach to life, as evidenced by the obvious disintegration of their parents' dreams. While spouting the wondrous qualities of the "democratic system", three major contemporary leaders had been assassinated within a decade, and a number of controversial and costly wars begun.

Americans. Many of us are the children of plenty. They are not afraid of deprivation, lack of education, homeless nights, or even temporary violence. One does not fear what one does not know. Those of the 1960's feared sterility, stagnation, closed-mindedness, rigid authority, and rich bastards who didn't mind that there were neighbors starving only a few miles away.

Some of them took to the road to see if they could make it alone. They lived with hunger and homelessness and found they could stand both with a little company and some good weed. The Beatles had publicized an attitude of looking outside one's own heritage and upbringing with their adoption and practice of East Indian Philosophy. The eyes of American youth began restlessly searching the horizon for "another way".

It was about this time that the American Indian Movement members began building their first fires in Minneapolis and the Indians of All-Tribes Movement began. Alcatraz Island became a national headline along with Pit River, Franks Landing, and the Traditional Hopi dispute with Peabody Coal. Suddenly Indians were in the news! Those questing for answers began to look our way.

Americans are always amazed when they hear Indians are uncomfortable with more than a casual outside interest in our cultures, particularly our Sacred Life and Ritual. Non-Indians often perceive their personal interests to be harmless, and are surprised that their motives are questioned.

To begin to understand, you have to look at the “meat” American culture uses beneath all its borrowed flavorings. American tradition has always pretended to exalt the freedom of the individual, but the pretense of their being in service to one another exists only so long as their personal interests are not affected. These "interests" may not only be financial, they may have just as much to do with gaining community status or recognition, personal development, or spiritual growth. And they want it now! They deeply resent anyone who tells them something they do not want to hear. Deep down they harbor the same feeling of superiority and arrogance in these matters as did their Puritan relatives. Of course, they can always find a slippery-tongue way to convince themselves of their own arguments. This is a part of their "soup". As a group, the present generations are well educated and spoiled, having not recently suffered any war on their own soil, violent social upheaval, or disruption in necessities or services. They usually have a good grasp of language and sincerely believe in their quest for whatever "Holy Grail" they seek.

Some Indians object outright to non-Indian participation in Sacred Ceremonials. Most feel the decision should be left to the particular Ceremonial Leader or Elder. But all object to those who appropriate these forms for profit or spiritual trophy hunting.

It is not about skin color. It is about identity, and maintaining the purity and validity of very private and personal social, cultural, and spiritual mores. The first threat is from those who would exploit and exhibit rituals and ceremonies for monetary gain, or a desire for recognition or status. It is not so much a threat as an insult--and Indians are deeply offended. However, we do understand that it is very, very American.

New Age concepts and books have further stripped original Indigenous spirituality of its humanity, dehumanizing and reconstructing it to become part of a homogeneous world-view. This reconstruction sanitizes any "offensive" smell, taste, sound, or sight from the message by lifting it from the environments of remnant Indigenous peoples, and rendering it safe, deodorized, and easy to understand.

Eager, full-bellied "searchers", with time on their hands and a penchant for the comfortable study and effortless absorption of supposed "ancient knowledge, are drawn to these texts. But the average uninformed reader may be drawn in as well. People who consider fraudulent narratives harmless, embracing "the message", are like “hunters” who prefer to buy their meat from the counter. They prefer to remain aloof from the realities of the environment of the message, and ignorant of the responsibilities carried by the butcher who must inevitably wash the blood and guts from his hands.

To go to the actual present day environments of Indigenous peoples involves an element of danger, of risk, and certainly—of discomfort. Potential students would have to become part of the Nations to be taught in a traditional way. That infers commitment, patience, and a substantial amount of time. It is so much more convenient to skip all that and sit in an easy chair with a book, imagining one’s self to be "studying" the authentic ways, vicariously soaking up the knowledge and spirituality of Indigenous Heritage.

Indigenous spirituality cannot be separated from culture. It cannot be removed from its environment. It is a part of the People. To understand it, one must be part of the People. This is why unrelated spiritual hunters always come away with only misunderstood pieces of a puzzle. There are no individual truths to be found in Indigenous Tribal knowledge; the truths are social, shared, and intimately part of the whole animate body of the People.

Western civilization has done its best to isolate modern man from his environment, his culture, his social relationships, and shared secrets. For this reason, the truths of Indigenous knowledge and spirit will remain inaccessible to him unless he, or she, approaches it with "respect".

Many new-age authors rationalize modern "learning" by implying that the true Indigenous peoples have vanished and are now represented by only a few wandering "teachers”.

This present day western concept, i.e., that experience can be gained without actually having an experience, comes from a belief that the written word can endow men with an experience of truth—a concept that is entirely alien to Indigenous Peoples around the world. Indigenous knowledge, and oral tradition, is effective because it utilizes concepts which are familiar in the day-to-day life of the People, and because it occurs in the environment of its foundation. To be taught ancient ways around a night fire, with stars overhead, sparks flirting with the wind, the smell of smoke and sweat and earth, the sound of familiar voices, and the feel of relationship and belonging—is a portion of the message that cannot be experienced through text or imagination. Of course, that was the romantic version. After all, in real life it might be daylight and hot as a pistol—no air-conditioning. On the other hand, it might be cold as an iceberg, with you standing so close to the fire that your eyebrows are singed, your toes cooked, and your backside frozen like a slab of beef in the freezer. Without the environment of the teaching, what is recorded of the message is only a shadow of itself.

Western civilization takes its knowledge from what it thinks it understands about the world. Its perceptions are formed not from its own experiences but from someone else's perceptions of someone else's perceptions of someone else's experiences and on and on.

With a continuing colonial spirit—arrogant, greedy, lazy, contemptuous, and impersonal—many present day authors attempt to imply that they have been privy to these experiences. By pretending authenticity and relationship, they ravage, plunder, and disrespect the true perspective while incorrectly glorifying what they what they perceive to be the essence of Indigenous spiritual life and culture, all the while adapting it to their own purposes of profit.

Western pundits point to all the accomplishments that civilization has achieved for its subjects, ascribing the successes in great part to the accumulation of written knowledge and wisdom. If that is so, why then is there a new age movement at all? Why was this great experiment unable to convey, through its accumulated published works, a message of truth that is spiritually satisfying to its children? Why is there such a great exodus from Christian movements toward Indigenous and otherwise "uncivilized" ancient understanding, if the methods and accumulated wisdom of civilization is superior? Why do our school children murder their fellows? Why do millions starve in a world capable of feeding them? Where is this supposed superiority?

Could it be that the whole pyramid of civilization has gotten so high, that only those who are not looking up, but down can see the crumbling fraud of its foundation? It is as if all of mankind is on a ladder; with the leaders daily constructing rungs that reach higher and higher into the firmament, while the lower rungs are rotting. They constantly exhort us not to look down but to look to technology and the future as they furiously struggle to draw our attention away from the crumbling structure beneath us.

Why would anyone do this? Because many of them suppose that by climbing higher and higher, we will someday eliminate the need for those original foundations, and reach a level of achievement where man will evolve beyond the ladder. Others, with their accumulated wealth, count on their private jets to whisk them away should the ladder begin to fall.

It is the last way in which Indigenous peoples can be exploited. Everything else is familiar.

Our foods, natural resources, and lands have been taken or altered so they will no longer support the ancient ways of life. Our names have been appropriated for usable nouns. Our images have been used for entertainment, our arts copied and sold as novelties or antiquities, even our bones dug up as objects of study or curiosity. Why should our most sacred ceremonies and spiritual concepts be free from this continued onslaught from the children of Colonialism, Manifest Destiny, and progress? Moreover, who says they must be represented accurately or respectfully? After all, this is the final frontier of colonization. The scavengers have picked over our bones long enough. Now their children are intent on devouring our minds and spirits-because, as the price of their ancestor’s conquest, they have lost their own.

There is another threat to our culture that is less offensive but more insidious. Indians are very shy when confronted by non-Indians. Many mixed-bloods have learned to walk carefully if they want to participate fully and be influential in their Tribes—so for those non-Indians looking to adopt or participate in ceremony or ritual, the questions and problems are complex. Primarily it is an issue of respect. If one respects a culture enough to want to adopt its most sacred forms, then one should also have enough respect to support age-old methods of teaching and learning these forms. The treasure of Traditional forms of passing on (and authorizing) Ritual and Ceremony protect the integrity of these rituals within an oral tradition.

In many places, first among the "rules" of ceremonial life is that a candidate for teaching does not choose it for himself but is instead chosen. These people have characteristics and endowments recognized by Elders, or have had some special power bestowed on them by the Creator. Some are born to it. For some, it is hereditary. Others grow into it. Unlike many of the Christian ministers of the world, few Indians personally recognize and accept a "call" based simply on their own isolated initiative.

In Traditional education, the method and environment of the presentation are important attributes of the message. The simple memorization of chants, the physical preparations, or gestures of ceremony, etc., are only forms that constitute a part of the discipline of commitment. The entire experience and environment of the teaching provides a greater understanding of the purpose of ceremony beyond the disciplined mastery of ritual. In addition, that experience does not end, as it does in a classroom, but continues throughout the life of the person.

To show this kind of respect for our forms of learning requires an element of time and commitment that is certainly a stumbling block in the way of an outsider learning and using our rituals and ceremony for their personal spiritual benefit.

It is our opinion that a number of conditions should exist for those who would take on these responsibilities.

First, they should have a People to serve. Then they should travel to the "Teachers" who will help them gather this knowledge and Power. This will probably be a place of poverty and violence. Certainly, it will be a considerably different environment than the preferred New-Age routine of sitting quietly on a comfortable rock with a book about shamanism or American Indian ceremonies. These persons should be able to answer the question of how they determined they were ready for this knowledge or why they should possess it at all! Ultimately they might have to suffer the disappointment of learning they are not suitable for this role, something that a book will never tell you.

Finally, these persons should be warned. Those who carry, or participate in these powerful forms are in constant danger that the consequences of abuse will be visible in their lives. These students should be suitably awed by their responsibility. They should understand the implications of the word "Sacred" and understand our concern that the Power of these forms, misunderstood, misapplied, or misused, can cause more harm than good. Most modern people know little of this Power, except for faith healers and what is conjured up in Hollywood and horror novels.

Lastly, our potential candidates should consider the most controversial and volatile question. Why should they even consider it in the first place? What gives them the right and authority knowing that many Indians resent it?

Why do we resent it? We hate the idea that the descendants of those who turned our "soup" into a mixture of mud and blood and shit, should be so empty and free as to want from us now what was once taken away, and even made illegal! Our generations have been asked (or forced) for a century, even up to recent days, to turn away from these ways as inferior and ungodly. Now that some of us have finally acquiesced, here come latter-day Americans wishing to learn those same inferior and ‘pagan’ spiritual forms!

This is the "soup" that we have left in our bowl. Today it is easier for the descendants of former enemies to consider our ancient ways spiritually and culturally valid than it is for some of our own peoples. The opportunity to appropriate or exploit our sacred ways, no matter how well intentioned, creates a violent resentment among peoples who have trouble getting their own relatives to embrace their original cultural and spiritual heritages

So what's the answer for the non-Indian looking for personal meaning and spiritual growth, with a specific interest in Indian ways? Unless they have been brought into a circle of Indians and included in their life, we say, "Stick with a book." They should adapt it to their own uses. However, they should not advertise, or represent it, as Indian. They should use it carefully, praying always for their protection, and for those they love. In the end, they should not delude themselves into thinking the knowledge makes them Indian.

There is only one way to be authorized to learn, teach, or practice Ceremony and Ritual. That is by being one of the People. There is only one reason to learn or teach Ceremony or Ritual: that is to be committed in service to a People for a lifetime. Not for status, recognition, profit, or individual spiritual enlightenment, but because Power has chosen them, and it is their responsibility—with all that that entails.

If these words stick in their craw of those who are looking to crack our bones for the marrow they are missing, we ask them to reconsider. Their motives may have less to do with Spirituality and Respect, the fundamental principles of American Indian life and culture, and more to do with furthering their own individual purposes, however altruistic they may insist them to be.

Essay Twenty-- Blacks, Black Indians, And Black White-Men

We've read a number of writers who like to lump together the Black and Indian experiences with regard to similar experiences with captivity, racism, and poverty--to make a point about the futility of resisting assimilation in today's world. Their point makes much of supposed African American successes in overcoming the obstacles that kept them from becoming modern Black "White" people. This has always been the standard by which progress toward civilization is judged. History books are quick to point favorably to Indian tribes that made early conversions to American culture, government, religion and other "civilized" behaviors while pointedly ignoring or romanticizing the "wild" or patriotic "savages" that resisted any such acceptance of civilized ways.

It is the same on the African continent where English and Dutch colonialism caused many Indigenous Africans to lose their ties to the land and assimilate. Of course economic issues, overpopulation, and the destruction of natural resources has effectively destroyed many African people’s ability to utilize natural systems for survival, as it has here in the U.S.

Unfortunately, any comparison of the Black and Indian experience in the Americas is misguided and pointless. Here we distinguish between Black Indians and Black White People. Black Indians are proud of their mixed-ancestry, as they should be. Their loyalties include their tribal affiliation. But except where Blacks and Indians intermarried, or have been adopted into Tribes, Black People have had a different experience than Indians in the Americas.

The history of Black slavery in America is full of myth and distortion. Everyone thinks the Colonists waited until the Civil War to address the issue. But the Colony of Georgia was the first to outlaw the institution of slavery in 1735. In 1777, the British Crown ordered “an end to the immigration of all Blacks, free and slave.” The second Continental Congress in 1776 resolved that “no slaves be imported into any of the Thirteen United Colonies”, but later reaffirmed slavery as national policy by refusing to outlaw it as an institution.

Opposition to slavery was not confined to the North. More anti-slavery groups existed in the South than in the North. The Virginia Abolitionists lost their bid to outlaw slavery in the Virginia Legislature in 1832 by only 11 votes. Blacks did not endure their slavery without protest. At least three times, in 1800, 1822, and 1831, Blacks conspired to overthrow their oppressors in imaginative large-scale rebellions.

Both Blacks and Indians were enslaved at the beginning, and both revolted when the opportunity presented itself. The major difference was that most Blacks were separated from similar tribal members, while most Indians (held on the continent) still had some contact with their lands and peoples. Despite the fact that, after the Civil War, freed Blacks dropped into the same levels of poverty and isolation into which Indians eventually languished, they had already had over 100 years of living as an integral, albeit unwilling, part of the dominant culture. By being separated from their lands and any contact with their former culture and tribes, after the passing of the first few generations, Black slaves had no choice but to assimilate or perish. The Shoshones of Nevada remember well the Black Calvary units assigned to destroy them.

The Mexican Indian was faced with much the same choice under the Spaniards and their Papal Bulls. No bones were made about the results of their choices. Convert, and do not resist, or die. Fortunately, a few of them resisted and survived. For a while, they still had their land.

Despite the American Black insistence that they have a distinct culture within the dominant culture, like the Mexican-American population, only a little of their lifestyle or culture shows Native roots. Though they might wish it otherwise, they are culturally predominantly European

For African Americans, after a few generations of separation from their homelands, the old knowledge derived from that contact seemed irrelevant and was discarded in the face of their new reality. Loss of language was another big factor in the loss of identity and culture. Losing contact with their lands and languages was instrumental in the loss of oral tradition, and ultimately, African culture.

After many generations of captivity, the Civil War caught Blacks severely unprepared for freedom. Black families had been divided up, or came over from their homelands as separated individuals from the start. They had no recourse but to utilize the values, economics, and ideals of their owners and peers as they attempted to reorganized their families and bring the social ties of slave life into a “free” life.

Indians knew where they stood from the beginning. Those who survived were often placed together on poor, but familiar, soil. While there were instances of relocation and forced marches away from traditional lands, many Tribes eventually returned to their general areas. This is not to make light of the connection each Nation felt with their specific “Creator-endowed” lands, but it was not the same as being removed to another hemisphere. We previously made much of these relocations as being a turning point in the temporary dissolution of Tribes, but the socializing factors of blood relationship still remained and the circle of most Indian families survived, semi-intact.

A significant difference in the two experiences was that while the U.S. Government instituted very direct policies to force Natives to give up their languages and culture, the isolation of Black Americans, many from different African Tribes or Nations, caused language and social customs to disappear within only a few generations. The U.S. government made a colonizing error in allowing most Native families and Tribes to remain together on the land. Believing that a military victory and boarding school education were all that was necessary to destroy our ties to the Earth and each other, they assumed that eventually we would recognize their "superior" culture for what it was, and become like them. After all, it was destiny and God's will. What we have of our past has survived because of their arrogance.

Slightly off-topic to this essay, but important, is our observation that one of the many vices we inherited from the Americans, was bigotry and racism directed specifically at Black People. Many Tribes originally utilized war captives as slaves, but it was not a racial issue. Eventually those slaves were adopted. Unfortunately as many of our People's adopted Anglo ways, they incorporated the institutions of Black slavery into their changing lifestyles. The Civil War severely affected southern Native peoples. All across America, on almost every reservation we have observed continuing racism toward Black people. Typically, we believe these kinds of prejudices can only be eliminated by time, through the passing of generations.

Contemporary issues affecting Black Indians have forced us to include our opinions on this issue. Our view is that we should, at every opportunity, value the decisions made by our ancestors. If they thought it right and proper to adopt or include members of other races into the nations, it is not our place to drag new (or old) prejudices into the issues. To strip members of membership today, who are descendants of those who were once accepted and participated fully, and loyally, in their Nations, is wrong. The individual Nations must decide, but if they arbitrarily exclude the descendants of those their honored ancestors once called brother and sister, we hope those ancestors will forgive them.

As for Black White people, they have every right to be proud of their accomplishments and survival. To compare their experiences with that of Indians, however, is not of any value. Most people don't even know that there were still "free" Apaches in the 1960s. Except for Black Indians, or recent immigrants, for all intent and purpose, a majority of Black Americans have willingly, or unwillingly, assimilated.

Essay Twenty-One-- Mexica, South Of An Imaginary Line

"I had a Comanche mother and an Irish father. But I'm Comanche. I'm not Irish.... Blood runs the heart. The heart knows what it is.

LaDonna Harris, Comanche.

La Raza Cosmica is a conqueror's myth. Unless Mexican descendants are pureblood Spanish European, to call themselves Hispanic or Latino is to make a mockery of the original Indigenous Peoples who were murdered resisting the Spaniards, and all those since who have been killed, enslaved, or assimilated.

Hispanic people are from Spain, or have Spanish ancestors. A Latino is a descendant of Europeans (Portuguese, Spaniards, and French) in Latin America. They are generally racist against Indigenous People. If you are a Mexican national, or descended from them but not pure European, had you traveled anywhere in Europe, America, or Mexico one hundred years ago, your "mixed" ancestry would have marked you clearly as "inferior" and you would not have been accepted as an equal. Your identity is either Euro-Spanish or Indigenous Mexica (Meh-shee-cah). Hispanic and Latino are media terms that manipulate the truth to further separate you from your Indigenous heritage. Some choose to be both, which North of the border, would be tantamount to choose the conqueror's side. The drive to become "white" and deny or diminish Mexica or Indigenous heritage was even more important in Mexico and South America than it was in the U.S. There were no Indian-brown-skinned Spaniards. Racism still hangs on in many "mixed-blood" Mexican families in the United States, and certainly below the border. Until recently, to be identified as Indio/Mexica is to be inferior. Yet those Original Peoples built pyramids, cities, and performed great feats of engineering. They developed an agriculture that gave the world chocolate, chili, tomatoes, vanilla, and many other foods. They developed the mathematical concept of zero and the decimal point. They invented the most accurate calendar in the world. They had great cities that were, at that time, the largest cities in the world. That their people have forgotten four thousand years of Anahuac civilization, culture, and accomplishments due to an insignificant five hundred years of subjugation is a testament to the cruelty and thoroughly destructive effects of Spanish colonization.

We hear of the proud identity of the Hispanic Community. But this is largely a creation of politicians looking for an edge with the more than twenty American groups that speak Spanish, many of which are unrelated culturally.

Like many other North American Indians, there's not much left to set Indigenous descendant Mexicans apart from Anglo-American communities, except for language and a few holidays or celebrations. Where are the original and authentic traits passed down from their Indigenous ancestors?

The adoption of Spanish culture is no different than the adoption of an Anglo Saxon one. Today most American Chicanos accept their Spanish-Indian duality as a unique mestizaje that defines their identity. This is a phenomenon of successful colonization. Even those Mexicans who are of "mixed-blood" are no different racially than a similarly mixed Scotch-Irish/ Choctaw American Indian. They are, actually, just a Spanish/ Mexica (Tribal name) Indian. Do they choose to search for, or follow their Indigenous identity or do they accept only the language, religion, customs, and culture of their conqueror?

To clarify even more, let's look at Filipinos. They have Spanish surnames and some have some Spanish blood, but they don't call themselves Hispanic. They speak English but that doesn't make them English or British. Where do the actual differences exhibit themselves? In their minds, .they are committed to being Filipino first.

Mexica Heritage. It can't be escaped. It can be denied, ignored, or downplayed, but Indigenous heritage is the single factor that separates Mexican people of color from Europeans--above or below the border.

The conquerors brought an entirely new culture and forced it down the throats of a People who resisted for decades, until the Church fabricated the legend of the Brown Virgin of Guadalupe. The conversion of millions of Mexica Indians into Roman Catholics was aided by a story, widely circulated by the Spanish Catholics. It was said that an Aztec Indian Franciscan neophyte named Juan Diego witnessed the appearance of the Virgin Mary in December 1531. The Virgin left her image on his cloak. However, surprisingly enough, the Virgin had the exact features and skin-color--not of a Hebrew woman--but of a Mexica one! And the Church just happened to be built on the exact spot of ground Sacred to Teotenantzin, the Traditional "Mother of Gods". Convenient.

This event is at the root of Mexico's national identity and contemporary faith, and was the final blow of Colonialism. Now the only "spirituality" many will accept today is an institutionalized and organized European-descended faith.

You see the efforts to preserve the Vision of a predominantly European culture all over Mexican and "Latin" TV. People of European descent control the Spanish and English language media. Sometimes you can watch for hours without seeing a "brown" Hispanic. It is still not completely acceptable to be Indian (although today, certain strides forward are being taken). Above the border, in the United States, the media and government herd those with Mexican heritage into an acceptance of Hispanic/Latino labels. Perhaps among the older people, these old ways of thinking cannot be changed. But the young can be educated to new realities. The fact that their Indigenous identity and old ways are unknown, and their heritage obscured, should not keep them from searching, and finding it again.

The names Tarascan, Azteca, Maya, Otomi, Tarahumara, Olmeca, etc., need to be heard once more, spoken with dignity and pride. The Spaniards were excellent conquerors but they did not fully succeed. Our brother spends much of the year traveling among Indigenous Mexica, representing our Society. Many of these peoples still have their language and customs. Some of the groups of Indians from even further south have done a much better job of keeping their identity separate from their colonizers. Even when they come to this country, they still identify themselves as Indians in census accountings.

The mixing and inter-marriage of Indigenous Mexican immigrants and American Indians is raising the understanding that to be Indian is a "good" thing. Also recent political events in Mexico give us hope that the previous policies of enforced assimilation will be corrected by Constitutional Amendments designed to protect Indigenous cultures and Peoples from similar attacks. So if you are from Mexican, Central, or South American heritage, with brown skin or "mixed-blood"—remember—you are Indigenous. Neither the English nor Spanish language is your original language. Your relatives need your support. Anahuac y Axtlan: Libre y Mexica!

We acknowledge Olin Tezcatlipoca’s essay as the source of much of this material.

Essay Twenty-Two -- Abortion or Right To Life (A Natural Perspective)

"When the (buffalo) cows sense we're gonna have a real hard winter, they'll often abort their calves. It's just their way to make sure they survive to be able to bear new calves the next year."

Fred F, Canadian Buffalo Rancher

In the natural world, animals abort their babies not because they do not have feelings for their young, but because they intuitively know that to keep the child endangers not only the child’s future but also the mother and larger family.

Human beings, absorbed in this temporary but overwhelming fantasy called civilization—argue, demonstrate, legislate and commit murder to celebrate the sanctity of an unborn child. Separated from the natural and spiritual worlds, these people usually live in well-fed, comfortable Nations with plenty of spare time for armchair philosophy and media bytes. They naturally take the survival of the species for granted, because they have accepted that human beings have successfully achieved "dominion over nature."

If they understood the fragile position we hold as a species on a changing planet, they might be a bit more grounded in reality. In addition, if they truly believed the religions of their historical fathers, they would admit to the everlasting nature of spirit and accept that there is no death. An unborn child denied life today, will, just like the buffalo calf, surely find a time to be born. Those who cry for the sacred but deny the transitory nature of the universe actually expose the real nature of their discontent. They are afraid of death, unsure of their spiritual immortality, and resent the pain of loss that juxtaposes the joy of gain.

In their haste to find a scapegoat for their fear, they forget the 40,000 children who die each day of hunger and ignore the cries of children suffering abject poverty, illness, abuse, and degradation. Unable, or unwilling, to demand that their technological masters solve the efforts to sustain life for future generations without sacrificing finite resources or depleting the natural systems beyond their natural limits, they contribute to the very real threat to all life unborn. Safe in their mythical righteousness, they callously disregard modern science's discovery that the universe is indeed one interrelated and interdependent organism and continue to embrace the barbaric, wasteful, and destructive blind beast of progress.

Stories of women subjecting themselves to multiple abortions out of irresponsibility or amoral character are fabricated. Each mother mourns the loss of a conceived child beyond the understanding of an unrelated bystander. Indigenous Nations recognize that it is the mothers, not the children, who are the guardians and repositories of our future. The children are beloved, but the Mothers are Sacred.

Spirit is eternal—in rock, water, tree, star, animal, human. Death, like life, is necessary to Creation and is filled with motion and transition. The building blocks of the Universe rearrange themselves constantly. No fear, no blame, no loss. Birth and death are twins that will not be denied their time.

Now that we two men have expounded on a subject that should only be discussed and decided on by our women, we'll take our medicine, shut up, and wait for our punishment!

Essay Twenty-Three-- Blood And Balance

The recent issue of whether or not traditional life-ways (such as the Makah hunting of whale) should be allowed to be continued in a "civilized" world is important to all Indigenous Peoples.

The Makah Nation, like the Inupiat of Alaska and other seaside Nations, is aware of the binding thread between the whale, the ocean, and themselves. They know that civilization has damaged the balance, and that the number of whales has been significantly reduced. Nevertheless, their Elders know what can be sustained and what is needed. That is why they will not attempt to harvest beyond what can be used in a given season. That is why their hunt is acceptable; it is within the boundaries of traditional thought, balance, and harmony.

The individual and group skills, attributes, and unity necessary to become proficient at preserving and utilizing any First Nation's traditional methods of providing necessities for its People are of incalculable value. Beyond the skills and techniques, the shared preparations, creation of tools, concentration and disciplines, are the nurturing social and communal relationships that facilitate the art, music, dance and culture that accompany and support these physical acts of survival.

The entire ritual of the hunt is a much more important event than what is often perceived to be (in today's world), an unnecessary killing.

For the Makah, the special relationship and bond achieved between whale, water, and human—and the lessons derived from the recognition and understanding of sacrifice, death, and purpose in a world of blood and beating hearts—are not to be found in any modern social or educational institution. These traditional forms emphasize relationship, balance, and a blending of life and death into a complex and richly intertwined reality of the natural world.

It is an Old Way, but not an outdated or valueless way. It is still true to the Peoples who were given it by the Creator, tying the physical and spiritual world together where formulae religions fail. It preserves an essence of the greatness of Nations who clearly understand the role of human beings in the natural world—and of the inter-reliant relationships we share with all our relatives on this Grandmother Earth.

It is these acts of taking life for our survival that teach us the precious sacrifices all mortal beings ultimately make toward the preservation of our world. Life on this earth is not lived without experiencing pain and death. From this we learn why we have the obligation to always be grateful, and respectful, of Life.

For those Safeway Indians and Eco-freaks intent on their narrow views regarding the balance and harmony of life and death, these ways have no meaning. They do not understand the reason for such a bloody kind of life because they have been closeted from the natural world. By being brought up in a media society that uses violence to entertain but not educate, these people have been convinced that the tenuous and fragile systems that provide modern civilization with necessities, are guaranteed us forever. They relegate these life-ways to a dead past, believing in the superiority and endurance of modern systems. Should those tenuous threads of civilization ever be broken, those who have maintained some connection to original life-ways will be glad they did.

Western civilization has always casually discounted the social organizations of the animal and plant nations. Naturally connected observation led Indigenous Peoples to have no doubt that these other Nations were to be honored and respected as having an equal role in the balance necessary to ecological harmony. We are blood beings, relatives to the other Nations who share eating and being eaten. It is a wholesome circle. However, modern culture has gone to great lengths to insulate its citizens from the smells, sights, and sounds that remind us our relatives are suffering and sacrificing themselves for us. None of these sacrifices are willingly endured. The Creator does not ask that from any of us. Nevertheless, this does not mean that taking life for food is unnatural, simply because we fight to survive. We have been taught that if we have the correct spirit in our minds and hearts, being grateful and mindful of our relatives' sacrifices, we fulfill our responsibility to the Creator and to our Relations.

Our children learn the first reality of this world—everything passes away. In this way, at our ending—when it is our time to feed the grass—we understand the balance and are comforted.

Essay Twenty-Four-- Picking Up The Medicine

Medicine. Like "respect", this is an English word that, when applied to Indians, has multiple meanings. One signifies carrying Power. That Power may be an ability to exert an unusual influence over the natural world. It may reflect an ability to heal with the mind or a specifically directed ritual, or have a special knowledge of specific natural plants, minerals, rocks, or other forms of life that aide in the healing process. It may evidence itself in a visionary or prophetic ability. It is not something one chooses to have or searches for in a usual manner. It is a gift from the Creator, a natural selection process beyond our comprehension. Indians view power differently. Some see it as an extension of the creative (or destructive) processes. Some give it no face, believing it to be derived of neither good nor evil but simply an expression of itself, as it exists in the Universe.

New-age meanings extend it to people of knowledge, people of great personality, or people who assume the roles of spiritual leadership or healer, not because they experience any mysterious or Indigenous relationship to these forces, but simply from their own strong personal desire to do so. That's not the way we think it happens.

Of our two families, as far as we know, only one carried Power. Much of our experience with this issue comes from knowing a few men who did (or do) carry it, their families, and others descended from families with a Tradition of Medicine or Power in them.

Power is frightening. If misused, or abused, it can wreck terrible havoc in one's life and on the lives of loved ones. During the 1960’s and 70’s there still existed a number of men famous for their Power, and an equal number not so famous. Many of their children, who might normally have been expected to step forward and carry that same Medicine, were too intimidated by the examples they had seen of those who had been unable to carry it cleanly, and who had suffered the consequences. Alcoholism, lust, pride, arrogance, and materialism are all temptations constantly assailing all humanity, and those who carry Medicine are not exempt from those temptations. A heavy toll is exacted from those who fail to respect their own Power and its Source. Fear, self-doubt, and lack of commitment cut into those who should have been next to pick up that Traditional Way and they chose not to burden themselves with the responsibility.

For People who live by oral tradition, and who learn by doing—any interruption in the sequence of participating generations causes a serious loss of knowledge, and reduces the number of spokesmen for the Creator that carry Power in service to the People. Men like this do not decide to follow these paths arbitrarily. It is something they are given, or born to, or chosen for. The lost generations significantly reduced the pool of eligible and capable candidates to the point where knowledgeable Elders have been choosing to allow some traditional rituals to be lost rather than teaching someone whose character or preparation is inadequate for carrying those responsibilities for the People.

We do not pretend to know what should be done to renew this aspect of our strength. Hopefully, in each generation there will be a few who will take up this hard road, though it is becoming more and more difficult to explain to young people how beautiful and powerful these Old Ones were. They rarely get to experience an example of those miraculous influences over the natural world that some of our people possessed. Their lack of familiarity with these kinds of influences is dangerous. We fear they may be too easily influenced by some selfish or evil one stepping forward with Power, never realizing that even those who carry Medicine and do extraordinary things are still just human beings, with all the faults and foibles of a common person.

The virtues of discipline, commitment, service, and self-sacrifice are important in any age, but particularly now, with so much at stake.

We urge those who may be chosen, or whom the Spirits call, or who are from a hereditary family, to "pick it up". There is no greater sacrifice you can make—for the Earth, and for your People.

Essay Twenty-Five-- Warrior Societies In A Modern World

There are a number of contemporary Tribes whose traditional Warrior Societies are still active. Others have lost that part of their culture. However, that loss, and the proliferation of urban environments, has not ended the need for them. Make no mistake, it is a very human need-especially for young men (and women as well). The violence regularly reported in the press and evidence of gang behavior throughout modern society and across cultural boundaries only serves to punctuate, and validate, our point of view.

The contemporary view that gangs are a response to poverty, lack of privilege, opportunity, boredom, and diminished self-esteem is wrong. There is a natural reason why these gangs/societies exist and have existed since the human family began.

Men and women have always formed bonds and alliances beyond their immediate families. There are bonds between hunters, between warriors, between planters or gatherers, between mothers, between fathers, between families and family members, between old people, young people, young and old people, between healers and spiritual leaders, etc. Often these alliances were reflected in our forms of social organization and government. It was undoubtedly recognized by our earliest ancestors that these alliances made them stronger, as individuals and as united Peoples. Even within American culture, the mainstream entertainment media has always emphasized the bonds between soldiers, prisoners, husbands, wives, and children--even gangs, criminal organizations, and ethnic groups. We have the Lions Club, the Kiwanis, the Elk’s Club, Sewing circles, Choirs, Theater, etc. All of them come together for fellowship, support, social interaction, and sense of additional meaning in their lives. Some of these groups are mixed sex; some are only open to men or women. The phenomena of young people getting together is not unusual or outrageous.

It is our belief that in the years of growth toward maturity the increase in bodily strength, a need for mental and physical activity, and a fluctuating emotional balance, pushes every generation to test its limits, to flaunt its mortality, measure its resiliency, and search for day-to-day excitement. Obviously, the culture of a People determines the type of activities and viewpoint that structures the outlet for that expression. In the natural world those outlets for young men often involved militaristic training with its attendant tests of bravery and skill, or the rigorous, and often dangerous, pursuits of hunting, horse-stealing, sports, gambling, game-playing, etc.. Historically, the fighting warrior ethic has always been necessary to foster the attributes of bravery, courage, and sacrifice needed by Indigenous Peoples (and perhaps all peoples) to defend their lives and lands.

It is commonly thought that only recently have the city gangs stretched their tentacles over the civilized world. In fact, if you look closely throughout history you will find these types of groups flourishing in every part of the world, even in rural areas, throughout time. They exhibit differences of course. Their symbols change; their mannerisms and methods of initiation, their inclusion or exclusion of women members, as well as their specific goals and values, but these are more the peripheral paraphernalia of their bonding. Though certainly of concern to the modern sociologist or criminologist viewing contemporary societies, these external trappings and symbols have nothing to do with the innate need for the human bonding that comes with “making relatives”

Once one accepts that this is not an aberrant or unnatural behavior, it is easier to get at the basic elements of why many of our present gang/societies exhibit misguided and inappropriate behavior.

First, though it has become common to blame Society for all our ills—in this case the shoe fits. Over the last three to four generations, the average extended, and even nuclear, American family has become non-existent. Families have separated, divorced, moved away, and generally ignored any of the reasons for maintaining larger unified families in their search for the American Dream. Sometimes emotional or intellectual conflicts have further divided those families that are still located in one general area. We see this on many reservations and rancherias where family feuds and arguments have festered over generations to the point where members who live only a short distance from each other have little or no daily personal contact, by choice.

Anglo-American culture, while pretending unity with such catchwords as "the silent majority" etc., has been steadily deteriorating in common purpose since the Second World War. Values, once thought to be universally accepted, are now hard to find. Pockets of the "Christian Majority" still exist, but even their family values have splintered and become more and more subjective within each individual family. Ethics and values no longer spring from a central source. Mainstream religious practice, once responsible for formulating this part of the Anglo-Saxon culture through knowledge of the Bible, or interpretation by priest or minister, has become significantly less devout. Even where these values have been preserved, a desire for material affluence and individual self-gratification is dominant. Minorities are faced with the same problems. Denied their original cultures and force-fed Anglo-Saxon religion, culture, and government—they are left in the vacuum as the mythical American culture and society disintegrates around them. TV has stepped in to take the place of teacher, spiritual advisor, father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother for many of our youth. The programming is predominantly devoid of common ethics, and misrepresents the successful accumulation of material wealth as being easy and within everyone's grasp. While watching the glorification of affluence and immediate self-gratification, young minds are inundated with a Roman selection of entertainment. Violence, sex, and death are routinely, and repetitively, presented in a romantic or dramatic fashion, becoming personalized with familiar looking characters and emotionally stimulating contemporary music.

Since urban society still has a natural need for social/emotional relationships and bonds, but finds them developed in an alien and unnatural setting, it is only understandable that their outlets of expression would be as corrupt and unnatural as the environment itself. The breakdown of universal Indigenous unity by our unbalanced technologically civilized society has created a unique but familiar phenomena—that of the disillusioned and rebellious young adult. Indigenous peoples have no experience with this, as there was no reason for this alienation to occur. It is a direct result of the propaganda espoused by the present civilization's anti-culture that purports to be accessible to all, while actually furthering only the specific interests of a few. Young people are taught to believe in wealth and self-power, in romantic and hedonistic reward. Then when they find it to be an illusory promise or unattainable reality, they rebel at the hypocritical nature of their world and become angry. To clearly identify the source of their motivation, and their eventual disillusionment with a false and fanciful indoctrination, with its attendant realization of failure) is not rocket science, just common sense.

This is our view of why our modern warrior societies (gangs) exhibit the anger, and anti-social behavior they do. There is no People, no Society, that can be as clearly identified as their own. It looks like everyone for himself or herself. They have no important role to play and no people to serve. So they serve themselves and their brothers/sisters toward the only goals they have been taught to value—military power, accumulation of material wealth, and self-gratification.

Though their methods may be questionable, much of their organization and inter-society ethics is Traditional. They usually emphasize loyalty, courage, and self-sacrifice. They adhere to rules, regulations, and the expectations of their society. They participate willingly in the rituals of initiation. They recognize and empower systems of leadership and government. Since older members are often the leaders, they follow a time-honored system of respect for age and experience. In every way except one, their bonding follows the Traditional attributes of warrior societies. That one deviation is that the society exists for itself and does not play a role of importance within a people. A similar parallel may be the Samurai societies of feudal Japan who once fought together for Lords who commanded their loyalty, but who suddenly found themselves obsolete and dissolved into Samurai ronin, warrior/soldier/outlaws, pursuing their own individual goals.

Every individual, and especially young people, have a need to see their initiatives, commitments, sacrifices, and accomplishments recognized and valued by the community. If the community shuns them, they will strike back in anger and frustration. They must have an outlet for their expression. If the community does not provide one, they will find their own.

We do not purport to be experts in any academic science studying these matters--but we do understand the need to have brothers/sisters, to have a formal commitment to them, and to work together toward a common purpose. We recognize these needs in ourselves and see them as universal. As young men/women it was, and is, a necessity in our lives. Without it we might have ended up in prison, in despair or dependence, and most certainly we would have felt alienated and alone. Today, as older men we know that without our brothers/sisters we would feel we had missed a great undertaking, a powerful and purposeful event in our lives. We can see how the generations after us, who have not formed these bonds, drift alone and unconnected through their lives without the stabilizing influences of society and commitment, brotherhood, and bond.

What can be done? First, it must be acknowledge that words are a weak substitute for example. Few minds can be reached with words. We could talk all day about teaching the Traditional history of gang/societies, what the differences are now, the concepts of service and unity, etc., etc., but we find that we have different values and priorities, different language and symbols, different perceptions and world view, than our younger generations. What may appear clear to us may be cloudy to them. They may not even take the time to examine or hear what we have to say. Some of their minds are too full of their own thoughts to have room for ours. They are content to express their own views, their own assertions. It is part of that natural hormonal push to become a dominant individual. That is the crux of the problem. They are too full of the moment to be guided by the future. They cannot be stopped, slowed down, or detained for even a moment without becoming restless. Theirs is a time for action. So every solution proposed, every teaching considered, must be surrounded, and accentuated by activity.

Indigenous life had no "problem" teenagers because the society in place around them presented plenty of roles and opportunities that were full of activity, danger, excitement, and intrigue. However, all of that dangerous and exciting activity was centered on protecting, preserving, and participating in the Nation and the society.

The first and most important decision is next. Do you break up the gang/society and deal with its individuals as mainstream America demands-- seeing no purpose for such organizations? Or do you take a Traditional approach, ascribing value to such groups and dealing with them as viable social organizations to be re-directed not destroyed?

You can't take a chicken and put it back in the egg. We can't just load our youth into a classroom, preach and teach and lecture to their already overflowing minds, and expect them to be "converted" to a new perspective. That would be a form of brainwashing anyway. We have to go with what is real—and that recognizes that they are a product of their environment, the people they know, the media influences they have been indoctrinated with, and the peers they are bound to. Every solution we entertain to bring their societies into balance must face this reality. Just as some people think that bringing back culture and language should begin with our very young children, we believe most of our efforts should probably be directed, not at the current gang members, but at their younger siblings.

For those young people struggling now we can't always take the direct approach. First, we must demonstrate to them that we think it is worth our time and effort to involve ourselves with them. We have seen many a would-be counselor consumed by the sound of his own words, in love with his own story, lecturing for hours to deaf ears. It doesn't take young people very long to discern that this type of "teacher" is more involved with the effort of what he is doing, than with the effect of his teaching. They aren't stupid and recognize his motives to be false. So first, there must be some other relationship developed than just teacher/student. Kids get lectured at all the time. Sharing food and entertainment with individuals and groups is part of the gathering way we all need to personalize our relationships, build trust, and show genuine affection for one another.

On the Rez there is a need to develop both individual and group relationships. Gangs/societies do not have to be dissolved to be redirected. We think a great mistake is made when these groups are broken down, and forced to relate as individuals. It is different in the big cities where the lure of big and easy money is one of the primary draws of gang membership. On the Rez, joining usually has more to do with brotherhood, power, and identity than money. So, get them together. Let them have the strength of numbers. What can be determined from viewing them in the group is valuable. We find out who the leaders are, the followers, the doers, the thinkers, the clowns. This is important to a strategy to bring the group forward to a more balanced and acceptable behavior. Every society's dynamics revolve around the characters and relationships of its members.

It is important that their value as a group be established, and acknowledged, in a historical context. They must be assured that it is a good thing they've done, no matter what bad or inappropriate tangents they might have pursued. This could be the first time anyone has ever complemented their decision to join a gang, and they may be confused or even resentful. The next step is to convince them they are valuable, and that they have a purpose and importance within the community. Identifying the specific services they could provide for the community is one of the creative challenges that must be determined prior to counseling. If a role for the gang/society doesn't exist—one must be created. The society must be given a ready-made place of respect, with all the responsibilities and attendant expectations that implies.

It is difficult to expound on unity where there is no unity. These are the very things that caused gang/societies to seek each other out in the first place. In reality, there are many places where “the People”, as a communal group, don't exist anymore. In these locations, there may be no common purpose, no shared value, and no pride. Nevertheless, it's our belief that people are brought together by being together. Whatever reason can be created to call people together to eat, share ideas, make decisions, or be entertained is worthwhile. After all, unity is achieved, or dissolved, more through personality and affection, or the lack of it, than through lecturing or education. Education is made meaningless by a dysfunctional and unaffectionate society or culture. No teaching or motivation to learning can be achieved without an investment of personality and genuine concern. Risks are part of the process. We know we don't have the answers, but neither do we believe the myth that gangs are an aberrant and dangerous nuisance, to be destroyed at all costs.

It is true that many of them will continue to be destructive, but at least we can be honest with our own children. Warrior societies/gangs are honest and forthright associations of people trying to make sense of their lives in an unnatural and destructive environment surrounded by a hypocritical and equally disturbed society. Our answer is not to destroy them but to attempt to redirect their behavior by empowering them, giving them status and advantage as important and useful organizations, rewarding their commitment and courage, giving them a place in the community and a reason to serve.

Essay Twenty-Six-- Original Learning And Language

Language is a mirror of the mind. The words and phrases we use reflect the way we see our world. The greater mastery we have of our language, the clearer we are able to express how we feel, what we see, and what we think about it all. People with different languages see life from different perspectives. They have different ways of responding to what they experience. Their views of reality may even be radically different. English, Spanish, and French interpretations of how our Indian ancestors lived, how they thought, and what they believed, could never represent the true picture of what it was. The differences in spiritual tradition and institutional values of commerce and classes insured that the European languages had no similarity in perceptual organization to the many languages of Indigenous America.

In Charles Wohlforth’s book, The Whale and the Supercomputer, he describes the complex nature of the Inupiat language. “The very structure of Inupiat helps deal with situations in a unique environment”. Speakers are able to communicate information about the environment and events even with an absence of reference points. One word describes a something above, has a length less than three times its width, is visible an stationary, and is an equal distance between the speaker and listener. Such a complex and nuanced language is common to peoples with great observational capacities but is incomprehensible to peoples used to looking past their surroundings. (At the same time, Wohlforth explodes the myth that, at least among the Inupiat, there are not one hundred words for snow!?

Not only does the difficulty of misinterpretation and distortion exist, but many of our Peoples had no interest in saying what they really thought to these foreign men, no matter how peaceful and interested they seemed. Much of what was important in our lives was not to be spoken of. There were secret and personal things that were simply not to be revealed, to anyone.

Similarly, in the matters of Power—personal, spiritual, medicinal, or otherwise—there were almost universally accepted taboos against revealing anything. Outsiders always have a hard time understanding the personal privacy required by Native people when it comes to their most basic knowledge. Some kinds of information are just too personal to be casually shared or revealed. Revealing knowledge can diminish it. Some information is cultural, brimming with emotion and the intimacy of relationship. Still, it was the European way to press for an answer. Often the answers given had nothing to do with any real attempt at a reply and were purely frivolous, sarcastic, or humorous in a way the Europeans could not understand. Sometimes, out of embarrassment, we simply feigned ignorance or lack of comprehension. In California, during one of the ill-fated treaty negotiations, an interpreter quoted a headman who was asked whether he believed in a supreme being as saying, "Why ask us poor people, surely you must know." The interpreter believed that the headman was saying, "We are so ignorant, and you are so knowledgeable; why ask us? Surely you must know." He further commented that this supported his belief that the Indians had no spiritual beliefs, and were too ignorant and uncivilized to conceive of complex spiritual or philosophical concepts. In all likelihood, the headman was making fun of the negotiator, using humor to cover his discomfort at being asked such a personal and unanswerable question. Our point is that almost everything specific written about Indian people—our history, culture, religious beliefs, etc.—should be closely examined and questioned as to its veracity. Including this book!

The preservation of language is one of the most important steps any Nation can take toward the true preservation of culture and life-ways. For many of us, the opportunity is quickly passing. Some linguistics people predict that all but about twenty of our languages will be lost in the next generation. Many first-language fluent Elders are passing away. There are a number of Nations left whose language is still viable and dominant. Hopefully, their success will encourage others to try, and the importance of these belated attempts at language preservation not be underestimated. Only in Peoples who are first-language fluent do the true ancient perceptions survive. Those of us who are "English-firsts" must muddle through as best we can with what we have seen and been taught by those who have preceded us. We will never completely grasp how our early relatives thought and viewed the world. We must look for our own understanding and pray that we have captured some of the flavor and meaning of our past. This does not invalidate our beliefs, our values, or our perceptions--it only serves as a reminder of how fragile culture and life-ways are.

Many of our Grandfathers never asked if we wanted to learn something, although there were those specifically singled out to be taught. More often, they waited until we respectfully approached them, to learn by watching. Sometimes, to obtain special instruction, a gift of some sort was expected. In certain Tribes, they made us wait or assigned us menial chores to perform before finally allowing us to "watch". Often they did not explain what they were doing or what we were to do, they just did it in a manner that we could observe clearly. We copied their actions, memorized the songs, prayers, gestures, or accompanying words, and they corrected us until we did it right. Neither did they always explain "why" we were doing something, what it meant, or why we were doing it just that way. And if we asked, they'd just say, "That's just how we do it", or "That's how it's done." And it didn't do any good to ask further. If they wanted to tell you they did, but only when they were ready.

The Inupiat of Barrow, Alaska, demonstrated the relationship, respect, and pecking order of their culture in an example described by Charles Wohlforth. It was during a session of boat building and repairing in the Traditional Room at the Inupiat Heritage Center in Barrow, Alaska. A few of the older men gave instructions to the senior crewman, most nearing forty and they hastened to comply. Men in their twenties, though skilled, worked under the direct supervision of the Elders—paying close attention to their directions. Teenage boys stood silently around the edges of the room waiting to be given a task—even one as menial as going out for firewood or supplies. When asked, they responded immediately.

They accepted this without complaint because they had respect, and wanted to learn "our" Way, not "my" way. One of the great problems we face today in the education of our children is that, for generations, many have abandoned those Traditional teaching methods. Our children, having grown up in a fast food world with instant media and constant sensory gratification, are unprepared to take the time to learn in this manner. In the absence of patience, respect, and a burning desire (or circumstantial necessity) to learn, they lose interest and motivation quickly. They do not see the value of the long run, preferring the short sprint.

So, we must ask ourselves—can we restore this type of teacher/student relationship? Is it important to do so? If not, what do we replace it with that is a reflection of our values and Traditions? Do we wait for them to mature, hoping they will eventually come to us? Do we write it down so it will be available to whoever looks for it? How do we encourage them to identify with values and beliefs not familiar to them or instilled in them since birth? Should ancient knowledge be allowed to pass away as obsolete if no one steps-up to learn it in a Traditional way?

Despite our agreement on the value of common ideals and culture as a force for Unity expressed in a previous essay, this does not mean that we support the homogenizing of Nations. Wherever language, customs, social forms, and spiritual traditions can be accurately preserved, they must! We should support in every way any People actively attempting to preserve their rich and unique identity—and that starts with language.

Relatives, if you speak your language fluently, we urge you to be a teacher of it as well. Pass it on to whomever you can, especially the young. If you once were fluent, work at being so again. We ask this of you on behalf of those who have completely lost, for all time, the chance to truly understand how their ancestors viewed the world.

One Elder we know is one of the very last to speak his language. His people pay lip service to his gift, occasionally asking if he'd teach them, saying they want to learn, but never following through. The years pass quickly, soon he will too. The children of his Tribe will have forever lost their chance to enjoy that language, with its smooth cadence and inflection, glottal stops and unspoken vowels, gruff consonants and lilting beautiful phrasing, to say nothing of its unique meaning and perceptions.

Original language is the cornerstone of Tribal Identity. Lose it and,

generation after generation, the tide of assimilation is hard to resist.

For those who are confined to thinking in English--and this is quite a number of us today—there is another great challenge to be faced. While we are trying to learn our Tribal languages, we need to insure that our English-first children have mastered the one they will use most often. English is a language made more difficult by its melting-pot assembly of vocabulary. Individual words hold the key to meaning, and context, though important, has few of the complexities we find in original Indian languages where meaning can be defined by tonal inflection, order, gender, relationship in time, etc.

In order to be effective in using and understanding English, vocabulary is the key. Everything else is secondary. In order to develop English vocabulary, you must read. The development of the language makes this a requirement to mastering it. Unfortunately, this is something that few Indians do. There aren't many young people who see a reason or motivation for doing it. They think it has something to do with Anglo education and are unaware that the mastery of language, oral or written, is essential in developing the brain. Many of them have physical limitations or disabilities that, unless recognized, interfere with learning to read. Those that are successful reading often have difficulty finding anything interesting that they can relate to. There is a genuine need for Indian writers to fill that void with books and articles that young (and old) Indians can relate to—books that will echo our People’s feelings and interests.

There are many factors that have contributed to a situation where so many Indian People are simply unable to deal with the paperwork and organization of the modern world. But one stands out. Indians were taught visually rather than verbally. Verbal language skills test low among many Indians, while visual skills are high. This may account for some Indians having difficulties with academic subjects that depend on verbal learning skills.

Personally, in each of our families, we were taught a love of language and reading. We read at an early age. We came to love reading. This led to writing. It is also true that we missed out on a lot of traditional teaching because our families had changed perspectives. We got to travel the land, hunt, and fish, but not so often that we became experts. We had to teach ourselves those skills later in life. Yet, despite our fascination with the written word, none of our children are expert readers, and none of them read for pleasure. We say this to illustrate a point. Much of what we want to achieve, value, and hope to preserve is not going to be accomplished for our people by writing it down or publishing books. We do it here in the hope that those Indians who do read will find some idea or concept useful to them—but unless there is a turnaround in the reading and learning habits of Indian people, all the published solutions, suggested ideas, and innovations are going to have to be presented to them either through another media (our own), or orally and personally. Perhaps this is as it should be. Perhaps we have lost more than we gained through our achievements. We may never know.

From a traditional standpoint, the discussion is moot. Traditional knowledge and values cannot be learned from a book. A traditional mentor recognized that natural pride, in the face of Nature’s power, could be a dangerous thing. So the mentor let the student try and fail—making sure he did not provide them with too much information to create overconfidence and arrogance. Once pride was replaced by humility, it was possible to get a feel for the world and how it really works. The mentor was only a guide—nature was the real teacher. Touching and doing are the Native tools for learning—words often get in the way.

The mixture of methods may be our key to the future. We need to identify what types of knowledge must be conveyed in the old “touch and do” way, and what information is better learned in the academic fashion. Both are important—the first to our identity, and the second to our survival in the modern information age.

The first method can only survive through the continuation of family relationship. The second method relates almost entirely to literacy. Most Natives have only partial functional literacy. One problem of partial functional illiteracy in English is that the person never develops vocabulary and language skills to be able to express themselves beyond a superficial and rudimentary level.

If our peoples were illiterate in English but fluent in their original languages, there would be no problem. However, many of our people have lost their original language and never been able to replace it effectively to the point our ancestors were at in their ability to understand and express complex concepts. A young Indian man we know has literally cried at his inability to clearly express his thoughts and feelings. For him, it is a prison, almost like being mute. Neither is he able to grasp complicated ideas or directions. It affects his perception of himself and the world around him. It affects his ability to appreciate himself, to develop his own original opinions and make up his own mind as to what he believes. He is easily influenced by anyone who can twists words well. He does not have the ability to discern with his mind, only with his emotions.

We cannot just shake our heads when it comes to our young people and their English education. We define education as the simple ability to understand the world around you and have the tools to be able to teach yourself what you need or want to know. Hopefully, as we recapture our original languages, we will someday produce educational materials in our Indigenous tongues. However, our children must be fluent in some language, and that implies having a command or mastery of that language. To guarantee our future we believe our Nations should push for fluency and/or literacy in multiple languages. Most of our great-great-grandfathers could speak two, three, or even four languages.

From looking at the many new programs springing up throughout the Nations, we have renewed hope. From the information available it is apparent that while Indigenous languages can be learned by English-first adults, it is much easier accomplished among children as young as two or three. They learn more quickly than adults and, if immersed in the language, will retain it easily. Immersion camps, schools, and classes are growing rapidly. This dedication to teaching original language will ultimately give us a better command of English as well. The mastery of language insures healthy mind—minds that can visualize problems, intuitively create solutions, and draw immeasurable beauty from the depths of our hearts.

Essay Twenty-Seven-- Elder Islands

There are places in Indian country where the Elders are like islands. No one goes to them to ask them the questions they have answers for. No one brings them the gifts they need to feel useful. Sometimes they even go hungry or freeze to death from cold.

Young people, desiring knowledge, are afraid of them. Afraid to hear what they do not want to hear—afraid to ask too much, or too little, afraid of showing their ignorance or their arrogance.

Sometimes they are criticized for not jumping in to lead. Often they are tired, they need to be asked, and escorted, and cared for—in many ways, like children. They simply do not have the energy to deal with controversy, difficulties, or misunderstandings. They’re willing to help—but they prefer not to exert too much energy doing it. Not only that, but they have their own lives to lead as well, with things they want to do and schedules they want to keep or keep open. They’d like to see a little bit of enthusiasm from their own people. So these Islands wait. Seeing the desperation around them, feeling the loss and isolation, they are unable to take their place as spiritual leaders due to family squabbles or Progressive ideals. Many of their sons and daughters grew up in the lost days when Traditional values and connections were believed to be old fashioned or obsolete. Now, after years of hating themselves, that generation has found a new niche in the business of being Indian. The job of chairman or councilman, with its prestige and economic perks, has turned their self-importance into arrogance. They no longer need their Elders, and fear outright the recriminations that might come from the lips of those who remember leaders that served the best interests of their people because that was what a leader was expected to do, and not because it was a paycheck with status.

When we visit these Islands, they are often despondent, openly critical of their own, and less than hopeful about the future. Of course, they realize the full extent of what's been lost, while we only glimpse the past through family stories and written accounts of our histories.

We wish for the power to gather everyone together to listen to their stories, hear their wisdom, and soak up what they represent of the past, but that is because we understand the value of their place in the circle.

It is our prayer that these Islands will soon be rejoined with their families, and recognized for the treasures they are, while they still grace us with their presence.

Essay Twenty-Eight-- Respect

Of all the words that Traditional People favor, this is the one used the most. It implies many things: values, morality, character, compassion, commitment, relationship, and more that is unspoken, but understood. We think it is the foundation of Traditional Life.

It begins with family and extended family, blossoming from an understanding of the importance of each generation's contribution to the Peoples needs—physical, mental, and spiritual. By acknowledging the importance of each relationship—elder to child, child to provider, provider to elder, etc.—the balance of relatives maintain a civil and structured harmony.

The role each age group plays in the People's life, with all its complex and interactive relationships and responsibilities, demands there be a formal process of recognizing, approaching, and acknowledging the contributions of each age group and relative. Indians speak in terms of those relationships. Personal names were seldom used, and even today the words which identify relationship within the family structure--aunt, uncle, cousin, brother, sister, grandmother, grandfather, husband, wife—are often used in place of common names. This is a measure of respect descended from the days when personal names were often unspoken, having greater meaning than the simple identification tags Europeans placed upon themselves. A name had Power. To respect that power and the individual who utilized it, our words for expressing relationship were used instead.

Respect extends into relationships in other ways: One does not touch another person or their belongings without invitation. One does not walk in the space between someone and the fire without acknowledgment. One offers only a clean Pipe to another to smoke. One knows that sometimes it is appropriate to be silent and sometimes it is appropriate to speak. One knows when a gift is necessary to accompany a request.

These are simple examples of how respect allows for compassion, civility, authority, and relationship to maintain order and balance in our lives. Though specific forms may be distinct and individual to each Nation, the concepts are universal. Respect comes from the value we place upon each other's gifts, contributions, and place in our lives. It comes from our gratitude for each other and from our love and desire for harmony.

Native communities have often been derided for being so accepting of their dysfunctional members. But traditional Native communities—founded on strict policies of personal independence, autonomous decision-making within families, and truly democratic leadership—depended on cooperation, compromise, and consensus for their very survival. Indeed, during the holocaust period we find numerous examples where hardheaded societies or individuals bucked the carefully nurtured system of conventions that required consensus, only to hamstring the decision–making abilities of the people at large, resulting in terrible tragedies to them all. The glue that holds Native people together is respect—and respect is not to be earned, as in western society, but is to be given freely. The community will provide shelter and sanctuary for all but the most dangerous and violent of its members. Western society has always dolled out its respect to members according to their wealth, importance, productivity, and appearance—but that acceptance is always temporary and conditional. Any misstep and you’re out! Western tradition asserts that one’s effort determines results. All shortcomings and failures are blamed on the individual. Native communities are more compassionate. They still believe they need every member, no matter what problems they might have, to remain a strong community. This is the radical difference that still exists between tribal communities and the isolated individuals of western society. Western society does not need the individual. The individual is expendable. Tribal communities may subtly criticize, they may even talk behind one’s back—but in the end, they cherish and give respect to every member.

Respect is learned by example. Many of our young People do not even know what it means. It has a much broader and more encompassing meaning than that of the one used by Americans today. See how some of us yell at one another—adult to child, teenager to adult, employer to employee, teacher to student, adult to elder, and on and on? Rudeness has become the rule.

The cliché says that respect must be earned. We believe respect must be given. These ideals are as far apart as the oceans that touch our eastern and western shores. Rude and divisive behavior threatens to drown our attempts at building the fire of harmony.

Respect is the Power that keeps the circle of the family from splintering into individuals, weak and alone.

Essay Twenty-Nine-- Family Extended

We often hear American politicians talking about families and family values, but they have constructed a society that does its best to splinter and alienate families from one another. Glorifying individuality in service to its own needs, as opposed to those of a People, demands that families pursue separate and unconnected goals. While some ethnic groups still manage to hold on to the supportive structures of extended families, by and large, the American Nation has lost its relationship, purpose, and compassion for each other.

The circle of the family is the essence of tribal life, necessary in times where survival is a day-to-day business, and procuring the necessities of life requires the cooperation of every individual to insure success. The modern circle of the family carries even a more expansive responsibility—as important as ever in these more convenient times.

Human beings acquire experience, perspective, wisdom, and Power if they age in a balanced and harmonious manner. Elders carry history, spirituality, ritual, custom, tradition, language, and a natural desire to pass these on. They live to perpetuate what they have come to love to the children. The children and teen-agers provide curiosity, entertainment, energy, innocence, and eagerness for life. Our older providers give us stability, protection, procreation, comfort, culture, and activity in our lives. Babies are to love, hold, and cherish. These four parts of the circle together give our lives meaning.

To break the circle and deprive the family of any one of these quarters diminishes the family in every way. Together, the family benefits from every experience, and every activity. Each shared moment adds to its strength.

When anthropologists finally ask why Indians survived the holocaust here in America, the answer will be simple. The greater tribal family is a powerful and tenacious force from which parts can be killed, separated, and isolated—but when tied to the land and centuries of Tradition, it does not die. This is especially true for a culture that considers all life related and familial. Our families extend beyond this world—backward, forward, and beyond.

Today we are in danger of finally losing those relationships as the combined forces of time and circumstance force us to choose paths that conflict with our connections to our lands and tribal relationships. Many of our people have lost compassion for each other, even within individual families. It is the result of so many years of suffering, so much lost with so little taken in replacement. Dependency has turned our minds inward and we still prefer not to venture out beyond the protective borders of our isolation.

Every Indian still feels, and is aware of, these relationships. We talk about valuing our Elders and we still love our children. We are not so far away from our past. For those relationships to be restored we have only to find excuses to gather and share. It will not be easy, and it will require a little imagination. Perhaps some adoption between tribes will be necessary so that groups divided may still find circles where they can be accepted. Indians don't like to think outside their tribal affiliation and in many places it won't be necessary—but for Tribes who are broken beyond repair, someone must choose to gather them in—if not their own, then someone outside. New blood never hurt any tribe, and common ground between Indians is easy to find.

The real challenge is to keep our families together. We have to resist putting away our Elders, like so many modern and civilized people do, and farming out our children. Home schooling or Indian run schools will help. A greater dependency on each other is fundamental to our success. If we rebuild our trust in true tribal relationships, our family circles will strengthen on their own. Our Nations depend on it.

Essay Thirty-- To Be Or Not To Be (Suicide)

"Death! There is no death--only a change of worlds!"

Seattle

“To fight to live—that is the most honorable battle!”

Amoshi

On a small rez, in March of 2000, four youths under 16 year old committed suicide. More have tried since then. All over North and South America, Indigenous people are losing themselves to this crisis of hopelessness. Some say that it is a traditional end for Indigenous People—but that is of little solace to grieving families. Two of our Nephews have gone that that way.

We recognize that words don't do our Peoples much good. For most of us, books are dead. But suicide is not painless, and with the highest suicide rate in the world, we felt it necessary to write a short essay for our children, in the hopes that even one would read—and be saved.

For everyone the pain, sorrow, uncertainty, tragedy, frustration, and disappointment of this life cause us to question our reason for living and the importance of our existence. When these doubts come upon us, we should consider these questions:

If we are to develop courage and strength of character

must we not live in an environment of hardship and disappointment?

If we are to serve life and each other

must we not encounter inequalities, both in humankind and in nature?

If we are to have hope

must we not also be confronted with insecurity and uncertainty?

If we are to have faith

must not our minds seem to know less than we can believe?

If we are to love truth

must not error and falsehood also be possible?

If we are to have ideals

must we not struggle in a world of inconsistent beauty and goodness, so that we are forced to search for what is better and more beautiful?

If we are to be loyal

must there not be the possibility of betrayal and desertion?

If we are to be unselfish

must we not fore-go the personal temptation to be honored and recognized?

If we are to embrace good

must we not resist the temptation to choose gratification above conscience?

If we are to be content

must there not exist also the possibility of pain and suffering?

Our Old Ones reassured us that there is a next world, and that some form of our life continues after death. Since we owe all that we have to their wisdom, we trust that their Vision is truthful. They braved the ending of a world, and did not give up. If for no other reason than to honor their sacrifices, we should fight to live.

Be comforted.

Essay Thirty-One-- Indian Man/Indian Woman

We are losing count of the times we have been asked (mostly by liberated non-Indian women) to explain why Indians accepted, and still cling to, separate roles for men and women in Traditional society.

Why they don't ask Indian women, instead of us, has always been puzzling. We expect that they are looking for a way to tie us into the "sexist pig" cliché, believing Anglo historical reports of Indian women saddled, like beasts of burden, with the supposed drudgery of Indigenous life, over-burdened and ill-appreciated.

The division of labor was a circumstance that evolved in a natural and similar way for most Indigenous peoples around the world. That the "life" of the People (its childbearing women), should be kept in a protected and secure location is a natural response to the dangers of a natural environment. The assertion that they were treated by their husbands and fathers as "beasts of burden" is only another of those Anglo myths that seek to advance the belief that Indians were primitive peoples, with no real understanding of advanced social concepts—more like cavemen than civilized human beings.

Male Indians revere their women. They were, and are, the future of our Nations. Additionally, the belief that Indians had to spend every waking moment slavishly laboring to keep them from squalor is false. The economic systems of Indigenous peoples lean toward producing only what they need, and except in preparation for the winter season, do not seek to create or acquire exorbitant surpluses. Indeed, Marshall Sahlins, in his book, Stone Age Economics, cites a study by Frederick McCarthy and Margaret McArthur which shows that Australian Aborigine community member males labored an average three hours and forty-four minutes a day, while the women averaged three hours and forty five. A Dobe Bushman in Africa, according to Richard Lee, averaged only two hours and nine minutes a day! Lee states, "A woman gathers in one day enough food to feed her family for three days, and spends the rest of her time in camp, doing embroidery, visiting other camps, or entertaining visitors.” Daily routines..."occupy only one to three hours of her time."

The Indian Nations must have had similar routines and amounts of leisure time as evidenced by Ben Franklin's observation; "Having few artificial Wants, they [Indians] have abundance of Leisure for Improvement by Conversation. Our laborious Manner of Life, compared with theirs, they esteem slavish and base... "

Undoubtedly this differently structured life was ultimately the cause for the reticence shown by Indigenous Americans to adopt the daily work habits of Anglo-Saxon Americans. It certainly contributed to the idea that Indians were lazy and unmotivated, especially when they refused to spend the hours and hours necessary to pursue more civilized activities.

Most of our Nations were Matriarchal. The true power of the Tribes rested in the hands of the Elder men and women, but often it was the Elder women who had the final say. Occasionally that power was exercised behind the scenes and in private, but many Nations held places of honor for them in Council.

Arthur C. Parker wrote, (circa 1900), "Here, then, we find the right of popular nomination, the right of recall and of woman suffrage flourishing in the old America of the Red Man centuries before it became the clamor of the new America of the white invader. Who now shall call the Indians savages?"

An unsigned contemporary manuscript in the New York State Library reported that, "Indeed, every possession of the man except his horse & his rifle belong to the woman after marriage; she takes care of their Money and Gives it to her husband as she thinks his necessities require it." And it continued, "The truth is that Women are treated in a much more respectful manner than in England & that they possess a very superior power; this is to be attributed in a very great measure to their system of Education."

Ben Franklin wrote, "The women...are the Records of the Council... who take exact notice of what passes and imprint it in their Memories, to communicate it to their Children."

Only in the last few generations, with dependency taking such a heavy toll on our family circles, have roles been obscured. As Indians assimilate, they lose sight of the true and underlying reasons behind the familial separation of women and men.

It is again a matter of mystery and Power. We feel uncomfortable discussing this, (not because of our opinions), but because it is neither our responsibility, nor our place. However, with the help of our Elder Women we will attempt to give you a clearer view of this Power, so as to clarify misunderstandings and incorrect perceptions about these issues.

A man does not touch the sacred objects of a woman and vice-versa. This has nothing to do with a value of gender but is instead an expression of the underlying energies of male and female—which are complementary but not always equal or similar. Though this may at first appear to be some sort of new-age rhetoric, it is instead, an ancient understanding of the forces of mystery and power that are inherent parts of the natural world.

The separation of menstruating women from the society of men is more than just ancient wives tales perpetuated to suppress women and exalt the male. It has nothing to do with impurities of blood, or an uncleanliness of blood, or imperfection in the female. Rather it is a time when the female's Power is at its zenith, as her cleansing cycle renews her life-creating abilities.

The attributes of individual power wax and wane for both men and women. Our Elders recognized the necessity for these separations and taught us the appropriate actions to take for the protection and strength of the entire People. Though some more modern Indians scoff at these Old Ways, our families trust the wisdom of those who came before us and try to hold on to them. That is all we will say about that.

The associations and societies of brothers, and sisters, are planks that serve to strengthen the foundation of our social and familial relationships. Bonds between men, and bonds between women, hold the People together in times of tragedy or suffering, particularly when male-to-female unity may be weakened by the periods of inevitable separation inherent in the natural world. Competition for the affection of a man or woman can be a divisive influence on a community. The bonds of brothers and sisters temper these conflicts. In the end, Tribal survival is dependent on these relationships, defined and accentuated by male and female Powers, separate yet complimentary.

Essay Thirty-Two--.Values, Virtue, And Behavior

The values of our Peoples occasionally reflected different perspectives, but they were conveyed in the same manner. Oral heritage; stories, songs, and ritual all sought to instill in our young a common view of the world and our relationships to it and to each other. In many places, leaders were expected to exhort the people daily in the morals and good behavior expected of them. Certain people lived according to these values and were singled out and pointed to as examples of living virtue. Often they became the Great Ones of their Nations, but that did not guarantee their economic fortune. Since generosity and sacrifice were among those virtues, these "examples" often gave everything of themselves and lived in poverty. Sometimes it was even expected of them, as evidence of their virtue.

Honesty, integrity, honor, bravery, self-discipline, sacrifice, generosity, modesty, humility, family kinship, sharing, cooperation, humor, compassion, avoidance of conflict, respect for elders, nature and each other, gratitude, and an abiding spirituality were all deemed virtues of higher character.

Talking about Native values can be a slippery slope to controversy. Values, methods of transmitting values, and resulting behavior can vary from Nation to Nation, Band to Band, Family to Family. Any attempt to generalize about these values in order to create a pan-Indian perspective, must be seen as what it is—an attempt to “begin” a discussion of the issues. Native people are often reluctant to discuss such personal and important issues in a public forum—if at all. Why then should we push the issue and create a written discussion or record? This is important because for at least two and one half centuries, western civilization has judged Native values to be inferior and have demanded we replace them with Judeo-Christian ones. Despite these attempts, Native people have resisted abandoning their traditional values to assimilation. The need to interact on a daily basis with educators, law enforcement, social servants, health workers, etc., has resulted in those entities forming misguided observations and judgments regarding Native behavior based on western standards of value and action. With little understanding of Native values, motivation, and perceptions—these misinterpretations continue to cause problems for twenty-first century Natives.

Throughout the last six hundreds years, Europeans and their descendants have been examining, and making judgments, about Native culture and behavior. Due to a natural Indian reticence to discuss personal, cultural, spiritual, or family beliefs and issues, western society has been forced to rely on their own opinions as to why Native people respond and act the way they do. Hence we have some of the more familiar terms and racial epithets that have come to symbolize and stereotype the Native character: lazy, shiftless, no account, stoic, backward, ignorant, unresponsive, unemotional, uncaring, permissive, dull, listless, humorless, uncooperative, withdrawn, silent, slow, unorganized, irresponsible, etc.

Values are more than moral guidelines; religious commandments, public laws, or social constraints. Values may be simple modes of behavior that dictate our responses and reactions to the elements and personalities in our environment. They form the fabric of our cultural reality. They establish the basis for our perceptions of the world around us and of ourselves. Values often reflect the learned behavior of many generations, and are exhibited unconsciously in physical behavior. These perceptions are rarely passed through verbal expression but are learned through observation. Because of this, values become so ingrained that people are unaware that their judgments and perceptions are being guided by their personal experiences. The potential for misinterpreting the motivations and behavior of others is high when conflicting value systems interact.

Many Native people still enjoy at least a semblance of tribal life. Reservations and rancherias, once prisons and concentration camps, have acted as insulating environments where extended family relationships and safe environments still contribute to the passing of traditional values. Native people will often prefer to stay within those boundaries, venturing forth only when necessary, except when attending other Native events or environments. This reticence to experience or participate in non-Indian environments and society is the result of generations of racism and negative criticism. Indians have endured generations of people telling them how their ways are inferior, how they must change, what they should and should not do, how they should and should not act, what is good or bad for them, etc., etc. Well meaning crusaders pummel them with unwanted advice, praise, or criticism. As you will see in our discussion of traditional values, this is hard for Natives to endure and they avoid the experience at all cost.

In discussing values, we must admit the partial success of assimilation, with a resulting adoption of formerly unfamiliar values, particularly since World War Two. Many of the members of those early and middle twentieth century generations were convinced by the dominant society that the old ways were limiting, even harmful to their children’s opportunities and chance for contentment in the modern world. Nevertheless, some of the more traditional families did develop the ability to operate successfully with two sets of values, within both modern and traditional society. They balanced the needs and expectations of both worlds. Perhaps this is the trail we need to take.

Native communities will have to answer the question individually as to whether it would be beneficial, or not, to have internal discussions about native values and behavior—but there is no question that educating non-Indian communities, especially institutions which serve or affect Native lives, will have beneficial results. Correcting the misinterpretations and false perceptions regarding the behavior and interaction of Native students and members in a modern setting might do much to relieve the tensions and frustrations Indians have in dealing with modern institutions and society on a daily basis.

Certainly, understanding is better than ignorance, and since it is obvious that many Native families and communities are continuing to pass on traditional values, it seems prudent to make all our neighbors aware of the differences between us

I would like to acknowledge one of the first (and best) attempts to address this issue. Primarily for educators, the 1982 volume, “The American Indian: Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow”—produced by the California Department Of Education, remains a timely, and definitive resource on this issue.

Because we are only partially finished with our preparation of the pamphlet relating to Native values, we will publish only a portion of that publication here.

“Being an Indian is not a problem, being Indian in a non-Indian world can be.”

In a multi-cultural environment, the concept of the melting pot only goes so far. While acknowledging the dominance of Anglo-American language, religion, history, and culture, we must also remain acutely aware of the continued immigration of new cultures and perceptions into the mainstream. In the case of this document, we are continuing the long overdue effort of educating the mainstream into the oldest and hardiest cultural perceptions in this hemisphere. The danger of not knowing, or making an attempt to know, the different cultures around us poses a danger to the more vulnerable and powerless within our society. Culturally learned values play a part in every judgment and perception we make about the actions, behavior, and beliefs of our neighbors.

Here is a case in point.

Law enforcement officials often rely on the value of establishing the honesty and forthrightness of a person by observing their body language and behavior. But upon whose standards of behavior do they base their observations? Many officers will tell you that if a suspect does not, or cannot, hold to direct eye contact during questioning, their conduct demonstrates insincerity at the very least, or a more overt dishonesty and suspicious behavior. But what happens when they are faced with an American Indian who has been taught that to hold a direct gaze is at best rude, and at worst—purposely disrespectful? Without that knowledge, the Indian has been placed at a serious disadvantage.

These kinds of misjudgments happen frequently between Native people and the mainstream institutions they must interact with. The next few paragraphs will illustrate this point.

A social worker, observing a Northern California Native woman walking on the street with her young children, observed the woman walking ahead of them a number of yards, seemingly disinterested in their progress. “Look at her,” she said, “she doesn’t care about her children at all!” What that worker didn’t know, being unfamiliar with California history, was that many Native women, generations before, developed that habit in protection of their children. During the time that California mercenaries and slave traders were stealing children for the southern California slave markets, it became a necessary habit for Native women to walk significantly ahead of their children—often leaving them in hiding—until the safety of their course was confirmed. That behavior became an ingrained habit and eventually evolved into learned behavior. While not a “value” in the traditional sense of the word, it was still passed down and learned by successive generations of mothers. When informed of this fact, the social worker reacted by saying, “Well, doesn’t she realize how dangerous it is today?” Once again, a reply was necessary. This woman lived on a local rancheria. The small insular communities found on most California rancherias are typically safer from predators than elsewhere. Part of that relates to extended family and tribal relationships that become immediately conscious of strangers or dangerous members in their midst. The predators from within are generally watched carefully or forced off-rancheria, as are unidentified strangers. The safety of the rancheria did not require the vigilance that off-rancheria society requires. The woman rarely ventured out of that familiar and secure environment. She had yet to learn the necessity for changing her ingrained behavior. Simply to tell her it was dangerous would not be enough. Like many Native people, abstract information is not enough. Concrete examples would be necessary. Remind her of a child run over in the street or point to an example of a child stolen in a local store and she might begin to think about it. But the ingrained habits would remain and unless she had a personal experience which caused her to consistently and consciously change her behavior, she would most probably continue to walk ahead of her children on the street.

In the previous paragraph, we have discovered three or four important characteristics, or “values”. The woman’s walking habits are traditionally learned behavior. Her preference for staying within the familiar, insular, and safe community of the rancheria is common. Many Indians, faced with the reality or memory of racism or danger from outside, prefer to stay where the experiences and attitudes of people are familiar. They don’t want to risk appearing out-of-step with Anglo neighbors. They may be embarrassed by the fact they don’t own a car or have a driver’s license. They may not read or speak as well as others. There are so many reasons for their fear and reticence about venturing beyond the safety of rancheria life, that some people don’t even want to leave for a reason as simple as going to the store for food.

As far as helping her “understand” why she had to change her behavior, which the social worker suggested was necessary, I pointed out that she would undoubtedly have difficulty making her point. Many Natives have significant difficulty and reticence in processing advice or criticism from an outside source, particularly if that advice is presented as a verbally abstract opinion that she might not be able to tie to a concrete experience in her life.

Understanding the Native woman’s behavior actually requires a knowledge of historically ingrained physical habits, present day emotional perceptions of security, methods of learning as applied to developing new behaviors, and understanding the Native response to criticism or advice from non-Native sources.

The same social worker commented on how another Native woman allowed her children to “run wild” in a local grocery store. She was appalled at the “lack of discipline” the woman allowed them without immediate correction, criticism or punishment. It took more than forty-five minutes to “educate” her about the myriad number of value differences involved in her “judgment” of the woman’s behavior.

Native people traditionally have a wholly different view of childrearing. The Native approach is relatively non-verbal, relying on allowing the children to grow through experiential and exploratory learning rather than through verbal direction, rules, and constraints. Children are allowed to endure the consequences of their actions rather than be criticized or punished. Harsh criticism and punishment is considered damaging to a child’s psyche. Native children are rarely struck or physically reprimanded. Since Native people are not overly verbal, raised voices are a new phenomena in childrearing. Expressions and body language might be used to convey criticism. If a direct criticism needs to be made, another relative is often expected to participate. Since children are given as much respect and importance in the community as adults, their autonomy is seldom challenged and they are allowed to mature more quickly with few of the restraints non-Indian children endure. Public praise or criticism is considered rude, as are rapid responses and judgments. A high degree of tolerance is practiced and children are given, what seems to many Anglo outsiders, an inordinate and excessive amount of freedom. The Native woman, in the situation described by the social worker, was simply exhibiting a time honored traditional value of quiet, silent, self-restrained behavior--even in the face of her children’s “misbehaving”. In reality, she probably did not even consider their behavior inappropriate, not having experienced all the time honored European values of behavior that determine what is appropriate and what is not Indian people often cannot grasp what all the fuss is about. The children are just finding their way. What’s the problem?

Our next example demonstrates how damaging stereotypes have become to Native adults, teens, and children.

Recently, a local community was engaged in a controversy about whether the school mascot should be changed. One of the arguments for keeping the name “Indians” was the perception that Indian people had always been fierce and effective warriors—which the writer considered an appropriate image for the mock battles of high school athletics. The author of that argument felt it was an honor for Native peoples to be remembered for what he considered one of their more admirable traits. The fact that California Tribes were not known for a war-like disposition did not dissuade him from his opinion.

Unfortunately, Hollywood has firmly grafted the image of a noble but warlike and savage nature onto the shoulders of all of the Native Nations. Indians grow up with little of their own history in school textbooks, and almost all that history deals with the glorification of war carrying through the Indian Wars of the nineteenth century. Every stereotype they see reinforces the perception that Native men were warriors of violence. Our roles as responsible fathers, statesmen, and peacemakers are rarely mentioned.

The insular nature of rancheria and reservation life over the last five generations has resulted in a delay of social progress, at least as it applies to understanding and participating in the modern world. While Native people may be up to date in their style of dress, knowledge of contemporary music, etc., attitudes regarding what contemporary society regards as appropriate behavior may lag as much as a full generation. Here is the case in point.

Having grown up with the self-image of a stereotypical Native “warrior”, adolescent boys and young men, (even girls and women) believe they must be tough and ready—even eager—to fight. The difficulties of establishing their Native identity and self-image in a world where those values are continually undermined may imbue them with low-esteem, even self-hatred. They are told by teachers, counselors, social workers, and others how they should act, what their goals and expectations should be, how they should prepare for the future, etc. without any regard for the way in which their ingrained values conflict with those admonitions and advice. They become confused and angry. The society of the rancheria and reservation, lagging behind the modern social environment, still accepts a modicum of violence in its young men in the way that American society did in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. No one thought much about it in those days. Boys, teenagers, and even men—fought occasionally. It was no big deal.

Jump forward into the twenty-first century where even minor violence in society is no longer tolerated. A young Native man gets into a fight in town. He is arrested for assault and put on probation. The judge, having no knowledge or interest in the special conditions and values that exist in contemporary Native society; and being unaware of the debilitating effects of stereotyping and generations of horrendous post traumatic stress syndrome on Native teens and young people—does not require him to attend crisis counseling, anger management, cultural awareness or identity development classes. Consequently, the young man gets in trouble a second time and is summarily sentenced to five years in prison. A fairly responsible and intelligent, but troubled and confused young man is placed in a closed environment with violent and hardened criminals. When he returns to the rancheria, toughness has become his permanent persona, and he may be perceived by his younger peers as having achieved something important by his incarceration. He becomes a role model of sorts, and the circle of violence and stereotyping continues. One has only to look at the statistics of how many Native people go to prison to see the correlation.

Teachers, health workers, and social service providers probably face the most difficult task of becoming educated to the difference in values and culturally specific behaviors exhibited by Native people in conflict with the mainstream.

My daughter told me how difficult it was for her in a speech class where the instructor demanded that they debate each other on contemporary issues. After our discussion of the paper I was preparing, she came to an understanding of why she had so much difficulty in living up to her instructors’ expectations. Obviously, the instructor had little knowledge of Native values or culture.

Educators, along with Native students, face a mountain of problems resulting directly from conflicting cultural values and behavior differences in the current educational environment. Natives, recognizing a cultural conflict of values, have even abandoned the pursuit of educational degrees, often with only a dissertation to write. They become uncomfortable with even the idea of having a degree. They perceive the pursuit to reflect a lack of humility—they don’t want to be experts, better or smarter than anyone else.

This is where we have chosen to end this portion of the publication due to its incompletion.

Essay Thirty-Three-- Appearances And Assimilation

The majority of Europeans who came to our shores were folk predisposed to judging things at face value. Obsessed with image and appearance, and convinced absolutely of their moral, social, cultural, and spiritual superiority, they could not see beyond their perceptions of primitivism and savagery they imagined must be the attributes of people who lived so simply and close to nature.

Modesty is a good example. While Indian Nations had their own precepts of what comprised modesty, Europeans had specific Christianized principles when it came to exhibition of the body and its form. They had no interest in examining our cultures further to see if our worldview might portray the value of modesty in a different way. They simply assumed that modesty did not exist among us.

Generally, they immediately perceived this way every aspect of our cultures. Foregoing a closer examination, their racist and arrogant examination found little virtue in such a repugnant civilization.

There were exceptions to this. Some Europeans, not bound so intently to their bigoted views, were able to discern the wonder, beauty, and integrity of our world and wrote on it extensively.

George Catlin, though still holding fast to European perceptions, acknowledged this when he wrote, "I am fully convinced, from a long familiarity with these people, that the Indian's misfortune has consisted chiefly in our ignorance of their true native character and disposition, which has always caused us to hold them at a distrustful distance, inducing us to look upon them in no other light than that of a hostile foe...."

For the most part, Europeans ignored Catlin and his views as romantic yearnings to escape the consequence of being a European in the New World, with its entire attendant Puritanism and narrow ideals.

The Native concept of time has always given Europeans fits. As Historian William Fenton observes, British, French, Dutch and Colonial Officials “suffered the delays of Indian delegations arriving for meetings on their own time, and they chafed at the deliberateness with which Indians conducted affairs. Indians were never in a hurry. They would arrive “in so many moons,” “when the corn is knee high,” “when bark is ready to peel for canoes”,” “when the leaves turn,” or “when we get done hunting”—concepts that were important to them but too vague and uncertain for gentlemen attuned to a calendar.” It was a foregone conclusion that treaty making could not be accomplished during hunting seasons, or ceremonial times. Even in contemporary times, Native people have a difficult time adjusting their schedules to the clock.

The concept of Termination, brought to fruition in 1959, was California's legislated attempt to assimilate Indians into mainstream America. It, along with every other plan, was doomed to failure from the outset. If Indians were going to forget the past and join the American dream, it would have occurred decades ago. But most Americans still do not realize the extent to which Indians have maintained their separate values and unified resistance to joining the descendants of their destroyers. Neither do they understand that while we have lived alongside our American neighbors for generations, little of that outside culture, except for its hard surface veneer, has crept in to fill the empty spaces where Traditional and cultural forms once conveyed the vital ideals of the Nations.

Until gaming thrust Tribes into a continual spotlight, the American people still preferred to picture Indians as celluloid caricatures. It is only recently that Americans have shown any interest in how Indians live today. They have preferred to look upon our garbage-strewn reservations with the self-satisfaction at having been right in their perceptions of us as filthy and lazy savages.

With gaming, and the entrance of Nations into the economic reality of the American political marketplace, the populace has begun to stand up and take notice of Indians and their condition. Since the average non-Indian mistakenly hold the view that the government subsidizes our every endeavor with taxpayer's monies, or that Casinos provide every Tribe or Band with unlimited capital, they are outraged that their newly noticed "neighbors" should continue to have piles of garbage around their houses or participate in the American Democratic process by making multi-million dollar contributions to politicians and propositions that favor us! We are now labeled as "special interest" groups, despite our "Government to Government" relationships with the United States. Americans still don't understand that we are separate nations and governments inside their borders.

All morals, values, and perspectives are learned, and passed from generation to generation. Natives cannot fathom that it might be a perversion of the democratic processes to attempt to influence government with capital contributions, especially since we've seen so much money thrown at decisions that have conflicted with our best interests in the past. It may turn out to be the ultimate irony, that the powers who subjugated and despised us for so long may have given us the tools and the experiential knowledge to become major powers in state and federal government.

While one culture may view a behavior as repugnant, and see that perception as merely exhibiting common sense, another, with completely different world-views, may have a different perspective. Again, we turn to Catlin (looking beyond his obviously stereotypical European attitudes).

"In the Indian communities, where there is no law of the land or custom denominating it a vice to drink whiskey and to get drunk; where the poor Indian meets whiskey tendered to him by white men, to whom he has come to consider wiser than himself, by nature of superior wealth, weapons and numbers, and to whom he naturally looks for example; he thinks it no harm to drink to excess, and will lie drunk as long as he can raise the means to pay for it."

Here's another example. Drop a large amount of money on any poor people and you will seldom find them doing anything with it but spending it as fast as they can. The handling of money is a skill that must be learned and adapted to the values and priorities a people deem important. So if these skills have not been learned, and the Indian order of values and priorities differ from those Americans possess, how can Americans expect that the results will approximate what they themselves would prefer?

Indians are socially, culturally, and spiritually in a time of great transition and development. Among many Tribes, the loss of oral tradition (as a transmitter of morals and values), has resulted in a number of generations having lost basic teachings. Tribes and leaders are struggling to find methods to restore Traditional values mixed with those assimilated from the surrounding society. It is a difficult task, especially given the fact that the surrounding society has few commonly practiced values, other than accumulating material objects, and even fewer ideals generated from spiritual beliefs.

Materialistic individual pursuits are in direct conflict with Traditional Indian values and ideals, which held spiritual responsibility as a priority, not an afterthought. Though we may have lost, or forgotten, many of our original forms—nevertheless there are unspoken and emotionally recognized values and perspectives which are still familiar to us and remembered by our Peoples.

Our world is much larger in scope than modern men, and includes the world of Spirit—of unseen Power—that requires a greater understanding of the universe than that of our apparently simple physical reality. Though there are many of us who are no longer cognizant of that world, Indigenous perspective has taken on a larger and more important global significance with the need for healing and preserving our world for the generations to come. The reasons for our continued separatism, our search for identity, and our demand for sovereignty, is not simply a calculated drive to reap monetary benefits free of taxation, etc., but is a deeper and more meaningful desire to "hold-our-horses" on further assimilation until we can redefine who we are, what we believe, and in what direction we desire our future to proceed.

It bothers many Americans that we have not come to accept ourselves as simply one of them. They still ascribe to their original belief that their way is superior, and is validated by their violent victories over our Nations. They are just as misinformed (or uninformed) about our People's values, and perspectives, as were their grandparents.

We are confident that we can restore the morals, values, and ideals of our Tribes to reflect at least a balance of traditional and modern perspective. We may be citizens, but we have dual citizenship. America is deeply in need of new ideals and imaginative solutions. If only our fellow Americans were to give in to that reality and allow us to heal, educate, and restore ourselves, the union of our cultures and ideals would be much stronger than our simple assimilation into the mainstream.

As for Native's, we are assured that wounds, though deep, will heal. We believe that is what our ancestors and relatives have suffered and sacrificed for. Their world was lost, but not in vain. We are intent on sharing this new one coming, together.

Essay Thirty-Four -- Euro-American Independence Day 2003

Of course, Natives have a different perspective of this day. For many decades, the term American referred to the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas. While the descendants of the oppressed Peoples of Europe have a reason to celebrate their independence, to ask the survivors of the American holocaust to share in this celebration is a bit twisted.

Yet, most Indians do celebrate Independence Day, with a curious mixture of pride and pathos. The processes of American education and entertainment have always called for the victims of the American experiment to make the sacrifice of forgetting, while until recently, the victors have conveniently whitewashed, ignored, denied or forgotten all the terrible and significant injustices performed by their heroic forefathers (as well as recent fathers!). Its human nature, we suppose, for the victors of any conflict to glorify themselves but we think it's also the nature of true and Indigenous cultures to resist any forgetting of their defeat. To forget that is to dishonor those who sacrificed and gave their lives for us, and our right to freedom and cultural preservation. Forget the past and let's go forward has been the cry of the last century. But beneath the promise of that statement is a lie, because it is not "us" they want to go forward—it is a mirror of themselves and the demands of assimilation. Their cry to “forget and go forward” means to become like them—you know the old saying—kill the Indian and save the Man.

Natives are torn—overwhelmed by their indoctrination into the perception of superiority that surrounds the American experiment and the patriotism it demands—so they serve proudly in the Armed Forces at a rate well beyond their ethnic percentage. At home, they see the government constantly attempting to undermine the strength and vitality of a sovereignty guaranteed by the American Constitution. They are forced to accept and serve a government that is both ally and enemy.

In carving up the planet, the global power elite believes in ownership above all else. They know that world opinion has grown beyond the direct ownership of human beings but they have found that human beings can be enslaved without bills of sale. If you own the land, the water, and the means to sustenance—if you create a system of empowerment that disenfranchises all who do not accept the rushing wind of progress—if you suppress, discredit and discourage every conversation that discusses the possibility of alternatives—if you utilize a world media to extol the advances of civilization while failing to admit that its benefits can only be experienced by a select few—if you talk about morality and responsibility out of the side of your mouth while waging war or tyrannizing your peoples, exhausting natural resources and utilizing unproven or dangerous technology—you control the modern world. Modern people are enslaved by addicting theologies, ideologies, and technologies that result in shrinking freedoms and greater sociopathic behavior. But for most of us, to allow ourselves to be awakened to the plight of the real world is almost too much. The horrors are so many, and so real, that it is difficult to resist re-immersing oneself in the distractions and sensory delights of the technological age. For some freed men and women, being faced with the full brunt of the terrifying wave of reality only leads to suicide and violence. Others of us have been activists all of our lives. By whatever means, we have grown up outside the real matrix of the twentieth century. Our hatred and loathing for the myths and lies that persuade so many drives us to write and speak for an new perceptual reality. As John Trudell says, if we use our collective intelligence consciously and coherently—as often as possible—we may, in the long run of time, make a difference.

Technological civilization, and its deity, Progress (now Democracy), is in the process of demanding the allegiance of every world citizen and enlisting every malleable mind to their ends. However, the fruits of that civilization, which once promised to be so sweet, have soured as of late as the foremost societies in this quest plunge into cycles of inner turmoil and violence. In America, even children dream of indiscriminant murder. We pretend that we can safely continue this lifestyle indefinitely while the rest of the world is lacking nutritious food, shelter, or a safe place to sleep. This is what the current crisis is really centered around. Those who despoil not only humanity but the life of the earth will continue to be visited by the plagues of moral bankruptcy. Our families and our children will be the targets of our own transgressions. This was a seed planted at the beginning of this nation in soil soaked with the blood and dreams of Indigenous peoples. Even today, across the world, new blood soaks the ground.

We know that the basic elements of creation are everlasting and cannot die. That's why Natives have always been honorable warriors. But it is also necessary to realize that, as Woody Guthrie sang, “mean things are happening in this world”. There are bad guys and sociopaths leading governments everywhere. Even here in the good old U.S. of A. Some would argue that George Bush is a bigger threat to world peace and plenty than Osama Bin Laden. Who is to judge? Both might be found to be decent to their families and pets. Both believe in their divine mission. Bad guys are not always inherently evil—sometimes they just make bad decisions and cause others to do bad things. We will always have them, attempting to live out their warped visions, controlling and destroying people’s lives and contentment. Those of us who seek to develop plans for peace and ways to better society, have to agree on how we plan to deal with these twisted men. To simply appeal to them to do what we think is right is ridiculous. People are expected to exercise their unified power to control despots, tyrants, and oligarchies—but the specter of “collateral damage” forces us to reassess our methods and solutions.. Unfortunately, the record of modern people for demonstrating their power and getting involved isn’t very good. That is left up to politicians, militants, activists, and terrorists.

To change our perceptual reality we need a revolution in thought; a questioning and reevaluation of everything we have been taught about the past, the present, and the future. In every earthly garden there are always deeply rooted weeds that desire to dominate, which cannot be removed at the surface. This modern garden is filled with deeply rooted selfish, stubborn, and fanatically opinionated weeds. The Earth is calling for a deep turning of the soil of this civilization. What will be the nature of the spade?

Essay Thirty-Five-- Commitment To Morality

"Goodness does not thrive in the absence of evil. Selfishness, small vices, and jealousies dominate the people in those times. True goodness only emerges in the threat and presence of Shadow—nestling in the crook of its arm, whispering in its ear, until the Shadow goes mad and men relinquish their fears to cry once more for compassion and the creative spirit."

Amoshi

When many people hear the word morality, they immediately think of sexual conduct, or the personal behavior of an individual. Indigenous people often see morality as a communal trait. It involves the global perspective of the people. Western civilization began with the colonial conquests of Rome, with economic and political power as its prime directive. Roman Catholic traditions drove forward the conquest for greed disguised in the cloak of religion. European colonialists, specifically those of England, Holland, Spain, France, and Germany, carried on this tradition of seeking to enrich themselves utilizing the shield and conveyances of religion. In America, the concepts of manifest destiny mirrored these traditions of spiritual deceit, pretending a social, political, and spiritual superiority while conducting its own holy war against millions of Natives.

These blueprints have since been drawn upon by countless despots and dictators looking for methods and rationalizations to openly condone their programs of genocide and pillaging of the earth. Today these models are openly used to bully and coerce resource rich nations into allowing a handful of powerful international criminals access to those resources. We benefit from this horror by continuing to allow our modern gods of comfort and convenience to supersede our spiritual values and morality. By relegating morality to individual standards, it relieves us of any group responsibility for the horrors being perpetrated upon the world. Technological civilization, and its deity, Progress, are in the process of demanding the allegiance of every world citizen and enlisting every malleable mind to their ends. But the fruits of that civilization, which once promised to be so sweet, have soured as of late. The foremost societies in this quest plunge into cycles of inner turmoil and violence. In America, even our children dream of murder. We pretend that we can safely continue this lifestyle indefinitely while 75 percent of the rest of the world is lacking nutritious food, shelter, or a safe place to sleep. It is a myth that there are enough resources for the rest of the world to share our standard of living. Even if the entire world were to model their political and economic systems after ours this could not be accomplished without finding six more earth's to plunder. This is what the current crisis is really centered around. Those who despoil not only humanity, but the life of the earth will continue to be visited by the plagues of moral bankruptcy. Our families and our children will be the targets of our own transgressions. This was a seed planted at the beginning of this nation in soil soaked with the blood and dreams of indigenous peoples. Even today, across the world new blood soaks the ground. The fabric of civilization must be torn and re-sewed with a new moral perspective.

Morality relates not only to the actions of human beings toward other humans but toward the entire planet. In the Indigenous world, the earth is a living being. Every physical form upon it is comprised of the same elements moving and interacting. Earth, fire, air, water, rocks, trees, animals, and human beings are built from the same blocks. All these forms share this inner life for differing purposes in our global family. The rock does not speak because that is not its purpose. Indigenous people do not ascribe to humanity any superiority or greater value than our environment—because we could not sustain our lives separate from it. If we depend on it, how can we be superior to it? To be very frank, some of our Elders predicted these circumstances a century ago because they recognized the selfish belief that considers humanity to be the preferred species of the earth rather than as an integral equal part of the whole.

We are asked to possess three characteristics: respect for Creation, responsibility to act in the best interests of Creation, and gratitude for that Creation. Indigenous people revere Creation. It is all Sacred. We view death as a natural process. Just as we eat, so we are eaten—and give back our spirits to Creation. We know that the basic elements of creation are everlasting and cannot die. No guilt—no blame. As the volcano pours its lava into the villages below, we are assured that someday flowers will sprout in the enriched soil of that destruction. That is what separates natural violence from the violence of men. Natural violence will always result in new creation. However, the horrors men put upon each other do not guarantee that from those horrors new flowers of great beauty will sprout. There is a difference between the mysterious order and purpose of natural destruction in Creation and the willful and calculated violence of human beings purposely destroying the very relationships that should give their life meaning, purpose, and joy. Amoshi says that it is the fear of death, the fear of judgment, the fear of loss, and the very selfish fear of personal extinction that leads men to evil.

In our family, we think that it is part of man's purpose to search for a balance between fate and choice. Those who have chosen war and conflict will not be convinced or changed. My Pomo friend, Clayton Duncan, says an Elder once told him that Americans are—“the people of ruin, everything they touch they ruin—that has become their purpose.” In America, one would expect that people would be overwhelmed with gratitude for our many blessings and overflow with compassion. For our leaders to act with attitudes of arrogance, superiority, and a willingness to exercise a violent spirit can only lead to our losing these blessings. We cannot expect to move away from revenge and violence toward morality and gratitude until we acknowledge the absence of the sacred in this modern path—until; once again, we revere Creation. Meaningful change can only be led by people who demand that the moral principles of our spiritual heritages be applied without compromise to the principles of the republic. Lip service and rhetoric only increase the danger.

We don’t have to possess exactly the same perspectives and beliefs, only to agree that our goal is not to loose unnecessary and unjustified evils upon the world merely to preserve a standard of living that will be impossible for the rest of the world ever to share.

The noise we make must be heard above elections, above sound bites, above negotiations—even above the bombs.

Essay Thirty-Six-- Renewal

We're gonna do a little preaching here. (As if we haven't already!)

Once, the oldest grandparent down to the smallest child on this continent were filled with Spirit. They saw magic and mystery everywhere in the natural world. They demonstrated their reverence for life in every act they performed, and in every word they said. Spirituality was not a religious activity limited to attending church services or reading from a book. It permeated their life, guiding their every decision and action. Every moment they were aware of their spiritual responsibility to the Earth, to each other, and to themselves. With awe and wonder they lived their life, full of the awareness that the Powers were observing every thing they said, thought, and did. In many locations, it is impossible to find distinctions between social and spiritual interaction. All singing, music, and dance were expressions of the Sacred. Some Tribes did develop some separation between the two, but reverence was a pervasive spirit encompassing the Nations.

Today, much of that sense of magic and mystery has been lost. Institutional Christianity, for the most part, has failed to adequately fill the spiritual void left by the loss of our old beliefs. The bible story does not view the world in the same way. Its limits magic to only those events it recognizes as part of its own doctrine, and by conforming only to its institutionally accepted translations—dogmatizes the mystery of life. For all the discussions and finite assertions we have presented here on politics, social issues, dependency, preservation of culture, economic progress, unity, etc., the only real solution we have faith in is the renewal of true spirituality in our lives.

Anglo-Saxon Puritan Christianity has often failed to provide comfort for our People. For those who have fully embraced it, that approach to God seems to emphasizes only an individual relationship with the Creator. We perceive original Indigenous spirituality to be community based, emphasizing a continual expression of gratitude and wonder for the mystery of life. It does not focus on sin and punishment, but on beauty and renewal. We are immersed in it. It is not a once a week affair. Appreciating the Earth and celebrating our relationships together make up a large part of the earthly responsibility we share. It binds us and gives us a unified purpose. Without that sharing, the word "Tribe" loses its meaning and we only pick at the bones of these other issues.

The one identifying characteristic, other than our racial and ethnic identity, that sets us apart from the modern and civilized Peoples of the world is that, from generation to generation, we share binding ties in the passing of spiritual life and responsibility within the circle of our families. Those "ties" imply a group spirituality that provides an opportunity to share love, hope, faith, sacrifice, and commitment for each and every member of the Tribe. These ties are the cornerstones of a Nation. They include all the moral and ethical teachings and values we cherish.

The Hopi prophecy may express it best. Do we choose the road of the Creator or the road that leads into the whirlwind? It is our opinion that there is a purpose to life greater than gathering wealth, power, fame, or glory. It is in the life of the People--in praying and fulfilling ceremonial obligations that teach children or grandchildren our cherished beliefs. No matter what religion we profess, first and foremost among our Nations there must be a continuous expression of gratitude. The world is a beautiful but dangerous place. Our environment is always changing. No civilization is guaranteed forever. A genuine and comforting belief in the Powers and the Creator can give us a rock to cling to when the world shakes and we are afraid. But to remain hopeful, to appreciate this gift of life, and to be ever thankful—that is our family Tradition.

Essay Thirty-Seven-- Relationship And Balance

Relationship is another key to Tribal survival. Some Elders have likened it to the glue that holds the Universe together. The philosophy of maintaining balance in a world filled with difficulty and pain is based on recognizing and being responsible to the interconnected reliance between all life, and our Earth, as well as the spirit world, and Our Creator. Relationship is more than just emotional attachment; it is an understanding of the dependencies we share.

Deciduous trees do not drop leaves just before winter simply because their genetic code calls for it. They drop them to lay down a protective covering mulch for the more fragile plants beneath them, and to provide enrichment for the soil in the spring. Little birds sit on the backs of rhinos, whispering warnings and eating their pests. Acacia trees use the wind to tell their neighbors of leaf-eaters on the way. Carnivores and herbivores take life in order to survive, whether green-growing or blood-being. These sacrifices to each other, animal to human, plant to animal, plant to human, must all be viewed within the context of interconnected Nations supporting each other in the quest for life. Death is a natural occurrence, a termination of physical presence only. It does not imply the loss of any spirit or energy other than a transformation from one form to another. The Creator, in maintaining the balance of this world, gives human beings a special status. By being gifted the ability to perceive beauty and harmony we are obligated to be grateful, to recognize the sacrifices of those who give their lives for our well-being, and to care take our Grandmother Earth, who is the source of everything physical in our lives.

Just as the tree does not consider why it drops its leaves, conservation, and balance was never an ideal that was consciously discussed or perceived by Tribal Peoples. It was ingrained in our way of life. Our Old Ones shared a sense of belonging to their world. They had an affection for rocks, trees, plants, animals, earth, water, rain and Spirit that went far beyond a conscious spoken affinity or altruistic New Age babble about relationship or communication with other forms of life.

Phrases of our generation like "loving the land" and "being one with the earth" imply an intellectual understanding of the natural principles of balance and harmony, but are often more romantic yearnings than a true subjective emotional attachment.

Relationship implies kinship, support, responsibility, and commitment. It would be incorrect to imply that every tribal member from our past was a sterling example of intellectual purity and pristine ecological practice. We were human beings, and like any other Peoples, we had our faults and imperfections. But it is also true that we shared a common view of ourselves as an integral part of our surroundings, neither inferior, nor superior to the Earth and all the other forms of life we share her with.

The power of that philosophy sustained our relatives through the loss of their world. It is only in the last few generations that our Peoples have begun to lose their direct tie to the land, and see our balance erode farther and farther away. One attribute of that philosophy is the ability to sense our relationship with the Universe and its Powers, and to feel a true sense of belonging in our world. It is a feeling of relationship that goes beyond "human", to encompass all life, and to extend the definition of life beyond animate objects. When one has a solid grip on that balance, one is never alone in the world.

No matter what problems human beings have between each other, our relationships with our "other" relatives can provide strength, comfort, and consolation. Communication with these relatives does not imply a form of direct conversation. A simple knowledge of their attributes, characteristics, and properties contributes to a bond of relationship that transcends speech.

In our constant quest for inner and outer harmony, the Earth, and our other non-human relations provide consistent lessons in how life should be pursued and lived. We strive to be as fulfilled as the rock or the tree, accepting what we are given without complaint and relentlessly holding to what we are, pursuing our lives until we pass on to the next reality.

Because our minds grasp these concepts and we can communicate them to our young through action and language, we have a responsibility to uphold the position of leadership we have enjoyed for many thousands of years as the dominant species. We define dominant as having the power to disrupt or destroy the natural order, and do not imply a superior spiritual, intellectual, or physical importance. Whether or not the Creator Mystery intends that we should continue this "leadership" is unknown, but what is certain is that many human beings have lost their connection to stewardship of the land and emotional attachment to the natural world. Many of our children do not even know that such a relationship is supposed to exist. They have no "feeling" for the land, or their relatives. It is dead to them. Today, many of us do not even have common affection for our human relatives!

It is not a condition easily changed. Change begins with consistent vocal and public demonstrations of gratitude, and with education to the real underlying powers of our ancestors. History, heritage, culture, and ceremony, infused with the attributes of gratitude and recognized relationship, can gift back to our children their natural ability to find peace, balance, and harmony in a tragic and difficult world.

Once we did not have to speak of our relationships to each other and our Earth. We did not need to speak for ecology and frugality, or of waste and pollution. We did not need to speak for our relatives, the trees, plants, animals, rocks, or for the purity of water and air. We did not have to voice our affection for all our relatives because it was a natural feeling. But the world has changed, and perhaps it is time that we speak openly of such things, to retake our place as a protector of these lands.

The abrogation of our responsibility toward maintaining the balance of our world has led humankind to the door of destruction. Prophecy is real, carved in rock, protected by original caretakers. Though yearly Dances of Renewal continue, human beings must choose the path of balance, harmony, peace, relationship, and gratitude—or continue toward the Whirlwind.

We fear that the majority of us are choosing poorly.

Essay Thirty-Eight-- Last Words

“Forked tongues sip from an empty cup, dipped until all springs run dry. A past of lies, served with formal sterling, make the taste of our defeat so much more bitter—now we know exactly what was lost.”

Amoshi

Here's one last thought for all Natives younger than fifty to ponder. Before Alcatraz and The Red Power Movement; before people died and guns were fired, before we learned to use the press to our advantage—there were no discussions of government-to-government relations between Indian Nations and the U.S. Government. There were no assurances or guarantees of Sovereignty. There was no breaking free of the BIA. Our Peoples were hanging on by thin and weakening thread. It was the efforts, and sacrifices, of free, mobile young people and Traditional Elders that resulted in all the good things that have happened in Indian Country over the last four decades. Never underestimate the influence of an occupation, a demonstration, or a show of civil disobedience. A call to violence is always the last resort. The time is coming when we may need the Red Power Movement again. Don't worry about appeasing tribal councils or progressives, they always jump on board late. This time we may be called domestic terrorists and the price of resistance may be even higher than before. We pray that young people find the determination to carry on the struggle for though it has been more than a century since the last Indian Nations were overwhelmed militarily; if you look around you’ll see that we were never truly defeated. The great names of our warriors and statesmen are still remembered, and we are adding new names to the list. In your heart, remember the names—and if your tradition allows it—speak them out loud to the new babies. Give them those names so their deeds will be remembered in our new oral traditions. And remember—it’s always a good day to live, it’s always a good day to die.

Red Power Forever.

August 28, 2006

Book and Source List:

(for Shirts N’ Skins and the companion volume, American Myths & Madness)

Aldous Huxley Brave New World Revisited

Harry Lopez The Rediscovery Of North America

Eric Schlosser Fastfood Nation

Dick Teresi Lost Discoveries: Ancient Roots Of Modern Science

Martin Garbus Courting Disaster

Brian Swimme Canticle To The Cosmos

James Lowen Lies My Teacher Told Me

Vine Deloria God Is Red

Vine Deloria Red Earth, White Lies

Vine Deloria & Daniel Wildcat Place And Power

John Trudell DNA, Descendant Now Ancestor

Jerry Mander In The Absence Of The Sacred

Jerry Mander 4 Arguments For The Elimination Of TV

Peter BlueCloud Alcatraz Is Not An Island

John Sulston The Common Thread

Chester Starr A History Of The Ancient World

Patrick Colm Hogan The Culture Of Conformism

Jacob Abbot Aboriginal History, American History Vol 1

Hartzell Spence The Story Of America's Religions

Bartolome' De Las Casas In Defense Of The Indians Translation: Stafford Poole

Bartolome De Las Casas The Devastation Of The Indies Translation: Herma Briffault Introduction: Bill Donovan

Dave Henry Stealing From Indians

George Catlin Letters 1832 to 1833

Cadwallader Colden History of the Five Indian Nations Depending on the Province of New York in America, 1727

Cadwallader Colden History Of The Five Indian Nations, 1747

Felix Cohen Handbook Of Federal Indian Law

Bruce E. Johansen Forgotten Founders: Benjamin Franklin, The Iroquois

Bruce E. Johansen Native America And The Evolution Of Democracy

Bruce E. Johansen Debating Democracy; Native American Legacy Of Freedom 1998

Gore Vidal Perpetual War For Perpetual Peace

Gore Vidal The Last Empire

Gore Vidal Dreaming War

Dale F. Lott American Bison

William B. Secrest When the Great Spirit Died

H. W Brands "Founders Chic" The Atlantic Monthly Sept 2003

Deborah Small with Maggie Jaffe "1492 What Is It Like To Be Discovered?' (extracts from Christopher Columbus' Journal) 'Medieval Source Book' published at

Cathy Ross, Mary Robertson, Chuck Larsen, and Roger Fernandes

“Teaching About Thanksgiving” Tacoma School District 1986

Francis Jennings The Invasion Of New England

E. B. O'Callaghan, ea., John R. Brodhead, esq., Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New York (Albany: Weed Parsons & Co., 1855), Vol. VI, p. 741

John Ferling Adams & Jefferson 2004 Oxford University Press

John Burdett, Bankok Tattoo, Alfred Knopf, NY 2005

Ray Raphael, Founding Myths, The New Press, NY 2004

John Pilger New Rulers Of The World

Martin Garbus Courting Disaster

Robert Baer Sleeping With the Devil May 2003, Atlantic Monthly

Thom Hartmann Unequal Protection

Charles C. Mann “1491”, March 2002, Atlantic Monthly

Russell Thornton American Indian Holocaust And Survival

Richard Shenkman Legends, Lies & Cherished Myths Of American History 1988 Harper & Row

Richard Shenkman I Love Paul Revere, Whether He Rode Or Not 1991 Harper Perennial

Michael Moore Dude, Where Is My Country? 2003 Warner Books

Robert W Funk Honest To Jesus 1996 Polebridge Press

Robert W Funk A Credible Jesus 2002 Polebridge Press

Oivind Anderson Jesus and the Oral Gospel Tradition

John Dominic Crossan The Birth Of Christianity Harper San Francisco 1998

Elizabeth Loftus Memory

Daniel L Schacter Searching For Memory

Peter Brown The Rise Of Western Christendom

Gunther Bornkamm Jesus of Nazareth

Leslie C Tihany A History Of Middle Europe

Popol Vuh Translation: Adrian Recinos English version: Delia Goetz & Sylvanus Morley

Peter Phillips and Project Censored Censored 2003

Suzan Shown Harjo Introduction: Mending The Circle AIRORF, New York

John E. Remsburg Six Historic Americans, letter to William Short Jefferson

Thomas Paine The Age of Reason pp. 8,9 (Republished 1984, Prometheus Books, Buffalo, NY)

Paul F. Boller Jr George Washington and Religion pp. 16, 87, 88, 108, 113, 121, 127 (1963, Southern Methodist University Press, Dallas, TX)

Peter Shaw The Character of John Adams pp. 17 (1976, North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, NC) Quoting a letter by JA to Charles Cushing Oct 19, 1756, and John Adams

Newsweek Edited by James Peabody A Biography in his Own Words, pp. 403 (1973, New York, NY) Quoting letter by John Adams to Jefferson April 19, 1817, and in reference to the treaty,

Alf Mapp Jr., Thomas Jefferson, Passionate Pilgrim pp. 311 (1991, Madison Books, Lanham, MD) quoting letter by Thomas Jefferson to Dr. Benjamin Waterhouse, June, 1814.

Thomas Jefferson (letter to J. Adams, April 11,1823)

Virginia Moore The Madisons , P. 43 (1979, McGraw-Hill Co. New York, NY) quoting a letter by JM to William Bradford April 1, 1774,

Newsweek edited by Joseph Gardner James Madison, A Biography in his Own Words

(1974, Newsweek, New York, NY) Quoting Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments by JM, June 1785.

G. Adolph Koch Religion of the American Enlightenment pp. 40 (1968, Thomas Crowell Co., New York, NY.) quoting preface of American Heritage Press Inc Reason, the Only Oracle of Man pp. 352 (1985, American Heritage Press, Inc., New York, NY.)

American Heritage Press Inc. A Sense of History pp.103 (1985, American Heritage Press, Inc., New York, NY.)

Newsweek edited by Thomas Fleming Benjamin Franklin, A Biography in his Own Words, pp. 404, (1972, Newsweek, New York, NY) quoting letter by Ben Franklin to Ezra Stiles, March 9, 1790.

H.G. Wells Outline of History

Robert B. Pickering Collier Deputy Director for Collections and Education, Buffalo Bill Historical Center

George M. Fredrickson Racism (A Short History)

William N. Fenton The Great Law Of The Longhouse University Of Oklahoma Press, Norman, Okla.

Alex Kirby Planet Under Pressure BBC News Online Series

William Blum Rogue State Common Courage Press, 2000 Monroe, Maine

Eileen Welsome, "The Plutonium Files: America's Secret Medical Experiments in the Cold War."

Kent Nerburn Chief Joeseph & The Flight Of The Nez Perce HarperCollins 2005

Roy Morris Jr. Fraud Of The Century 2003 Simon & Shuster

Joel Garreau Radical Revolution

Charles Wohlforth TheWhale and the Supercomputer 2004 North Point Press

We utilized over twenty primary source in the preparation of these essays, however knowing that many of these sources might not agree with all of our perceptions we feel it would be disrespectful to mention their names—thereby opening them up to unjustified criticisms.

BIO

James BlueWolf has been a performer, songwriter/recording artist, poet, author, journalist, lecturer and storyteller since the early 1970's. He has recorded one record album and six CD's of original music. An internationally published poet, BlueWolf was Poet Laureate of Lake County, California, from 2000 thru 2003. He is the author of nine books and his stories and radio productions have been featured on radio stations across the U.S. and Canada. He has received three commendations from the Lake County Board of Supervisors for his work with youth, and was included in the 2006 edition of “Who’s Who Of American Teachers”. He is a co-producer of the well-received documentary of Lake County Native history—Hinthel Gaahnuula, and was a script editor for the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. He has been awarded recognition as the Wordcraft Circle Of Native Writers & Storytellers’ “Children’s Writer Of The Year, for 2006-2007.” He currently lives in Nice, California with his wife of 32 years, Bernie. He is a father of five and has twelve grandchildren.

Other Books By James BlueWolf

Formally Published and Available From:

Earthen Vessel Productions

3620 Greenwood Drive, Kelseyville, Ca 95451

Or call 707-279-9621

Sitting By His Bones (Poetry) 1999

Grandpa Says (Stories) 2000

Speaking for Fire (Illustrated Story)2006

Speaking for Fire (DVD/Audiobook)2012

Other Books

American Myths & Madness (Essays)E-Book 2012

Skins In Shirts (Essays)E-Book 2012

Black Breath, Red Wind (Fiction)2005

Sparks (Children’s Stories)2012

Lake County Letters (Essays)1990-2012

Shadow Of A Fat Man (Gastric Bypass Journal) 2010

Haunted Hearts And Indin Parts (Poetry) 2012

Dreaming Roundball (Young Adult)2012

Children Of The Blue Mountain...(Fiction)2013

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