THE WAY THINGS STAND - Impressions on the Uneasiness of Being an American
I am fortunate that where I live I am surrounded by fresh water springs and many 'native Americans' that know how to live somewhat outside conventional society, for the most part, share the knowledge of what our natural flora and fauna provides for food, medicine and survival in general; they are capable of maintaining and defending of social order by banding together to preserve life and liberty of the benefit of the original "we, the people". As evidence, the Tsalagi were never a conquered people only subjugated.
Facts…..
'Cherokee' is Creek for 'people with another language'. (It's amazing how white settlers always managed to learn another tribe's name for any group of Indians. They learned the Creek word for the Cherokee tribe, but not the Creek word for themselves.) Anyway, our original name for ourselves was Aniyudnwiya, but Cherokee is fine too (though we say it Tsalagi). There are 350,000 Cherokee people today, mostly in Oklahoma and North Carolina.
History...............
The best-known episode in Cherokee history was also the worst: the Trail of Tears, the forced relocation of the Cherokee Indians from their ancestral home in the southeast to Oklahoma. The Cherokee people were civilized urban, Christian, agricultural, intermarried society who had supported the United States against other tribes. In the end this was all for nothing. Though prominent Americans like Davy Crockett and Daniel Webster spoke against Removal, and though the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional, President Andrew Jackson sent in the army. Fifteen to twenty thousand Cherokee Indians (along with Choctaw, Creek, and other tribes) were rounded up and herded to Oklahoma in the winter of 1838-1839. Driven from their homes without being allowed to collect their possessions first, even their shoes, the Cherokees were no better equipped for an 800-mile forced march than people today would be. Between four and eight thousand Cherokee people died of exposure, starvation, disease, and exhaustion along the Trail of Tears. If you understand this, both the extent to which the Cherokees had adopted American standards of civilization before the Removal and the ultimate futility of it, you will go a long way towards understanding the Cherokee mentality and also the attitudes of other Indian peoples towards federal control.
A few other things to keep in mind, learned before, during and after the betrayal and removal, besides survival.
1. Most have a very good memory and elders to remind them that a distrust of the federal government in general is historically justified and verified by attempted genocide.
2. Their political loyalties are to the tribe first, are capable of governing themselves. White settlers settled nothing.
3. They are educated and socialized in western ways, but retain and maintain a cultural identity separate and apart from many of those ways.
4. Western education has afforded them with history, lawyers and guns. The will and determination to keep what they have was already possessed before western encroachment and ultimate removal. Of course, a justifiable distrust of the federal government came after guns, lawyers and history, henceforth, the Tsalagi have educated many lawyers accordingly and many have armed themselves as a result of this history to protect tribal sovereignty.
5. Most important of all, the indigenous peoples of this land never lost their unyielding faith in the 'Great Spirit', a belief they held long before the arrival of early American colonists. That faith is something settlers couldn't give, something impossible for the pale ones to take away; knowing no man can give something he does not himself have to give. The Tsalagi see the goodness of God in all of creation, all of the time…everywhere, in everything; not in little white buildings only on Sunday morning. God may be there in that place, but for the red-man, he knows God is not there unless he brings God with him to that place or any other place anyone red or white wonders on this earth.
*Remember this, republican and democrat alike, you may find forgiveness and you may find sympathy, we are all brothers of the human race, but like the sacred hoop of life….*what goes around…..
Freedom is a state of the mind, not a mind full of the state….
To the brave and the free: Never forget!!
The way things stand…
In this
Our country
Our home
Our land
Keep Fighting the Good Fight - with your minds as weapons!
..................................kosmicdebris............................
In this
Our country
Our home
Our land
If you think you, and only you, know where it's 'at'
Chances are you're a republican
If you think anyone who doesn't agree with you is a 'rat'
Chances are you're a democrat
Meaning
If you think the sick, the poor and the unemployed need a kick in the 'rear end'
You'd be a republican
If you think you can solve all the problems in the system with 'tax and spend'
You'd be a democrat
If you think the president sits in the 'oral office'
Chances are you're a republican
If you think the president sits in the 'oval orifice'
Chances are you're a democrat
Meaning
If you think the public should know where a president puts his cigar
You'd be a republican
If you think the country has gone one corporate scandal or another country too far
You'd be a democrat
If you think the U.S. should rule the world because it can
Chances are you're a republican
If you think the U.S. should lead the world because it can
Chances are you're a democrat
Meaning
If you think it's better we should 'smart-bomb-the-shit' out of them
And tragically murder thousands
You'd be a republican
If you think it's better to 'economically sanction' rather than occupy them
And quietly starve millions
You'd be a democrat
If you're confused after reading this
Because you believe both sides are really that different
Chances are you're most likely
A true red-white-and-blue patriotic American.
Nothing wrong with that really
It's good to have pride in one's country
You'd be justified historically
However isn't too much pride a sin
To the Christian Way of thinking?
To the brave and the free: Never forget
That you have History in your hand
When you cast a vote
To balance things out
Or write a politician a note
To point things out
To the brave and the free: Never forget
That you can sign petitions
That aim to bring about change
Or Refuse a draft because the reasons
For going to war seem strange
To the brave and the free: Never forget
Voice your opinion, Do Not Remain Silent,
Do not be afraid to be labelled 'anti-American'
By some, and follow your conscience
To the brave and the free: Never forget
There's always room for improvement
That being a citizen, instead of a subject,
Is much more than having a gun in your closet
Or reading a left-leaning pamphlet.
To the brave and the free: Never forget
There is much good in this land
If not bold political enlightenment.
We, the people, are only Human.
Both republicans and democrats
And the disenchanted voters
The way things stand,
We're sure as hell trying….
In this
Our country
Our home
Our land
Copyright 2006, the minute menace
……………………………..I am fortunate that where I live I am surrounded by fresh water springs and many 'native Americans' that know how to live somewhat outside conventional society, for the most part, share the knowledge of what our natural flora and fauna provides for food, medicine and survival in general; they are capable of maintaining and defending of social order by banding together to preserve life and liberty of the benefit of the original "we, the people". As evidence, the Tsalagi were never a conquered people only subjugated.
Facts…..
'Cherokee' is Creek for 'people with another language'. (It's amazing how white settlers always managed to learn another tribe's name for any group of Indians. They learned the Creek word for the Cherokee tribe, but not the Creek word for themselves.) Anyway, our original name for ourselves was Aniyudnwiya, but Cherokee is fine too (though we say it Tsalagi). There are 350,000 Cherokee people today, mostly in Oklahoma and North Carolina.
History...............
The best-known episode in Cherokee history was also the worst: the Trail of Tears, the forced relocation of the Cherokee Indians from their ancestral home in the southeast to Oklahoma. The Cherokee people were civilized urban, Christian, agricultural, intermarried society who had supported the United States against other tribes. In the end this was all for nothing. Though prominent Americans like Davy Crockett and Daniel Webster spoke against Removal, and though the Supreme Court ruled it unconstitutional, President Andrew Jackson sent in the army. Fifteen to twenty thousand Cherokee Indians (along with Choctaw, Creek, and other tribes) were rounded up and herded to Oklahoma in the winter of 1838-1839. Driven from their homes without being allowed to collect their possessions first, even their shoes, the Cherokees were no better equipped for an 800-mile forced march than people today would be. Between four and eight thousand Cherokee people died of exposure, starvation, disease, and exhaustion along the Trail of Tears. If you understand this, both the extent to which the Cherokees had adopted American standards of civilization before the Removal and the ultimate futility of it, you will go a long way towards understanding the Cherokee mentality and also the attitudes of other Indian peoples towards federal control.
A few other things to keep in mind, learned before, during and after the betrayal and removal, besides survival.
1. Most have a very good memory and elders to remind them that a distrust of the federal government in general is historically justified and verified by attempted genocide.
2. Their political loyalties are to the tribe first, are capable of governing themselves. White settlers settled nothing.
3. They are educated and socialized in western ways, but retain and maintain a cultural identity separate and apart from many of those ways.
4. Western education has afforded them with history, lawyers and guns. The will and determination to keep what they have was already possessed before western encroachment and ultimate removal. Of course, a justifiable distrust of the federal government came after guns, lawyers and history, henceforth, the Tsalagi have educated many lawyers accordingly and many have armed themselves as a result of this history to protect tribal sovereignty.
5. Most important of all, the indigenous peoples of this land never lost their unyielding faith in the 'Great Spirit', a belief they held long before the arrival of early American colonists. That faith is something settlers couldn't give, something impossible for the pale ones to take away; knowing no man can give something he does not himself have to give. The Tsalagi see the goodness of God in all of creation, all of the time…everywhere, in everything; not in little white buildings only on Sunday morning. God may be there in that place, but for the red-man, he knows God is not there unless he brings God with him to that place or any other place anyone red or white wonders on this earth.
*Remember this, republican and democrat alike, you may find forgiveness and you may find sympathy, we are all brothers of the human race, but like the sacred hoop of life….*what goes around…..
Freedom is a state of the mind, not a mind full of the state….
To the brave and the free: Never forget!!
The way things stand…
In this
Our country
Our home
Our land
Keep Fighting the Good Fight - with your minds as weapons!
..................................kosmicdebris............................
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