We are very pleased to welcome veteran blogger Winter Rabbit as a guest front pager. He is a teacher and a musician who writes at Native American Netroots, from which this piece is cross posted. -- FC He says of himself: My circumstances have found me in South Dakota with some frequency in recent years. I was ignorant of the area's history for the first two years and so I finally decided to educate myself. This opened my eyes to the point that I vowed to help people understand, so that the assimilation and cultural genocide might cease. One day, I hope, that sect of the Dominant Culture that is religiously intolerant will be civilly restrained, because the entirety of the U.N. Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples will be adhered to. My tribal heritage is unknown. |
Religion and state have united to assimilate the American Indian in the past, such as with Ulysses S. Grant's Peace Policy that created the Indian Boarding Schools, and in more recent times, pro-Peabody Western Coal Indians and obtaining a false Hopi-Navajo Tribal Counsel designation by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, who were several First Mesa Hopi who had been converted to Mormonism. Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them, and you cannot change what you do not acknowledge.Indian Boarding Schools with the "incest, child abuse, hostage negotiations, kidnapping, and religious abuse" that accompanied it created two things in the victims: trauma bonds and Stockholm Syndrome by definition.
Our communities are still struggling with the consequences of forced assimilation through religious and education institutions designed to kill the Indian in us, said Innu human rights lawyer Armand MacKenzie, who attended a residential school in Quebec.
I think, that the greatest pain in this life is not being yourself, and the solution lies in helping our brothers and sisters be themselves.
"I searched for my brother and could not find him
I searched for my God and he was no where to be found
When I found myself; I found all three."
(author unknown)
SourceExploitive relationships can create trauma bonds-chains that link a victim to someone who is dangerous to them. Divorce, employee relations, litigation of any type, incest and child abuse, family and marital systems, domestic violence, hostage negotiations, kidnapping, professional exploitation and religious abuse are all areas of trauma bonding. All these relationship share one thing: They are situations of incredible intensity or importance where there is an exploitation of trust or power.
SourceThis sort of betrayal creates something called a trauma bond or betrayal bond. A trauma bond is where an intense, traumatic experience or betrayal of trust takes place, forming an equally intense relationship/bond with the perpetrator. It is related to Stockholm Syndrome, after the hostages of Stockholm bankrobbers who waited for them to get out of jail a decade later and defended them -- and one even got engaged to one of them.Stockholm Syndrome explains why that when a new student began attending an Indian Boarding School and spoke their tribal language, students who had been attending that Indian Boarding School mocked the new student for speaking the language. "Exploitive relationships (were created) can create trauma bonds-chains that link(ed) a victim to someone who is (was) dangerous to them" between the children and the teachers. The authentic self being lost, mirroring and defending the cultural genocide inflicted upon them by their perpetrators was a defense mechanism to cover up the original pain. So,Dominionism's threat against Indian Country is not merely external in terms of land theft, but also internal: striking at the very core the authentic self.
Our communities are still struggling with the consequences of forced assimilation through religious and education institutions designed to kill the Indian in us, said Innu human rights lawyer Armand MacKenzie, who attended a residential school in Quebec.
Christian Crees Tear Down Sweat LodgeMeanwhile, the Oujé-Bougoumou band council notified Lana Wapachee by letter in early December that several elders and community members were coming to her property to take the sweat lodge down. And they did. It was dismantled on Dec. 6 as Mianscum and dozens of community members stood witness. Police said the outer structure had to be dismantled as well. All the materials were left in a pile in the yard.
The ban believed to be the first of its kind signals trouble ahead for tribal governments that choose Christian beliefs over tribal traditions, according to some observers, who blame the heavy influence of Christian churches that often denounce traditional First Nations spiritual beliefs. Our communities are still struggling with the consequences of forced assimilation through religious and education institutions designed to kill the Indian in us, said Innu human rights lawyer Armand MacKenzie, who attended a residential school in Quebec.First Mesa Hopi who had been converted to Mormonism.
By Dan Katchongva, Sun Clan (Ca. 1865-1972) Translated by DanaqyumptewaNow this Tribal Council was formed illegally, even according to whiteman's laws. We traditional leaders have disapproved and protested from the start. In spite of this they have been organized and recognized by the United States Government for the purpose of disguising its wrong-doings to the outside world. We do not have representatives in this organization, nor are we legally subject to their regulations and programs. We Hopi are an independent sovereign nation, by the law of the Great Spirit, but the United States Government does not want to recognize the aboriginal leaders of this land. Instead, he recognizes only what he himself has created out of today's children in order to carry out his scheme to claim all of our land.Dominionism's threat against Indian Country is not merely external in terms of land theft, but also internal, striking at the very core the authentic self.
American Activism too Privileged & Bogged: Europeans Maintain Efforts for Big Mountain"The BIA Indian police are intensifying their daily presence and intimidations. They have graded the main dirt roads that allows them to be on constant patrol.."I think that they will be rounding up Dineh-owned cattle and horses. It is pretty likely that there will be livestock impoundments or confiscation... Indian police operating out of the Hopi reservation do not have any real commanding-authority...
Three members from the Hopi Tribe arrived to give their testimonies as show support for their neighbors, The Dine. Their presence dispelled the public relations myth that the traditional Hopi and the Dine are involved in a Range War."
America's West Bank (Edited and New Info.)John Boyden with his "several First Mesa Hopi who had been converted to Mormonism " wanted Peabody Coal to strip mine Black Mesa after the natural resources had been discovered. More than 10,000 Navajo and 100 Hopi did not want Black Mesa stripped.Dominionism's threat against Indian Country is not merely external in terms of land theft, but also internal: striking at the very core the authentic self.
SourceOn Tuesday, May 20th, key traditional elder resister to the relocation laws, Pauline Whitesinger, was served a notice to halt new construction of an earth lodge commonly known as a hogan, and this notice was served by Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) agency deputized officers, Hopi Tribal Range Technicians. In addition to this warning about illegal construction activity, officers attempted to get personal information from a non-Indian volunteer helper and sheepherder. The issued notice also stated that elder Whitesinger is having an unauthorized guest and thus, she is violating laws of the Hopi Tribe.I am not a psychologist and I have no major research study to cite in connection with the specifics contained herein, so this is my opinion. I offer the information to be considered. So too, consider why: Scott MacLeod of HEALING for the NATIVES MINISTRIES is convinced "dismantling of the cement tomb over the mass grave" at Wounded Knee is sound judgment; why Jay Swallow teaches "the prophetic act of smashing pottery (Native American) that depicted Baal and Leviathan;" why the drafters of the Genocide Convention severely weakened the prevention part of their goal when they cut out of their document the prohibition and punishability of acts of cultural genocide;" and why "Charles Hanson suggestedBlack Elk regretted his Catholicism in 1948."
I think, that the greatest pain in this life is not being yourself, and the solution lies in helping our brothers and sisters be themselves.
"I searched for my brother and could not find him
I searched for my God and he was no where to be found
When I found myself; I found all three."
(author unknown)
