Indigenous

A Taste of Mittocrisy

DEAR MISTER ROMNEY, I really appreciate your steadfast commitment to your faith. I've heard people choose these types of ideologies because it grounds a person in morality and integrity and human values. And of course I can admire that. With all the hate- and fear-mongering filling the public square today, I welcome men of your caliber.

I only have a small question. Given that a central tenet of Mormonism is that the Indians of the Americas are descended from the Lost Tribes of Israel, how do you reconcile your current anti-immigrant stance with the fact that Mexicans are descended, too, from these same people? How do your actions fit into the theological framework now that you are the one trying to stop them from wandering?

and furthermore—

Christmas for a Wounded, Pretty Bird

YOU MAY RECALL, I posted a request for Olbermann last week or so, passing on the wish/hope/dream that one person in the Native American comunidad expressed for a greater level of exposure of their particular need. That need was that a home be bought, a refuge home for Native American women who have been victimized and have nowhere to go, especially as the law is arranged in such a way that there is very little protection or recourse for them in these times they would need such a shelter.

My request for Olbermann's platform was that he highlight this case because it represents an epidemic in the reservations. And because, well, face it. He has a large, virile platform. I know I can't take my eyes off it. And more importantly, who the hell are we to ignore the pains and suffering of the Native American community? Don't make me point to one of my dreaded "brown" diatribes! (Damn, I did it anyway!)

Unfortunately, Olbermann did not respond to the plea I passed on, nor the charge I made that his comments were getting a bit "frothy" except for a week later with a sudden explanation and defense of his much-needed and "vociferous" Special Comments. (Keep the faith, baby, estoy de acuerdo). And hey, okay. I knew the chances were slim. But really, this ain't about Keith, and we know that. And it's not about the way some issues are highlighted in Big Media and some are never really seen (well, okay, it is, a bit). Primarily, and today, this is about the women in the reservations. And really, helping them doesn't have to have anything at all to do with the past. Because here in the Now, people—people just like you or your mama—are hurting. And have nowhere to go. And guess what? Last time I posted on this, many of you chipped in and we helped bring these women $1500 closer to their goal. That is a real world effect of your actions. I thank you. And so do others.

Submitted by Nezua Limon Xol... on 19 December 2007 - 2:01pm.
Activism | Indigenous | Olbermann | Pretty Bird Woman House | Violence Against Women

Pretty Bird Woman House

OLBERMANN, I already know you read me, dawg. Stop LYIN'. And we all know you are down with tha populace, and have been a beacon of hope to many of the voiceless. You have put that pretty mug in front of the camera and scoffed forth many important statements on many crucial topics. (The War on Billoism is fun to watch, too.) So yeah. We're in this together, and even tho you iz da elite, you have positioned yourself in the endzone of social justice lately. Please push your envelope (sorry to abandon the football metaphor, I roused it in your honor, but I just feel too damn corny to continue), let's get that OlbermannÂ® brand up there with the hardcore truth-to-powers, let's get all Historical on their asses. Let's bring attention to an epidemic of violence and poverty among those who have already suffered too much at the hands of this nation's "development" (forgive the gross euphemism, indigenous friends, I'm trying to butter up Olbermann sssh).

Keith, you and I don't need to quibble at the ubiquity of violence that seeks women in our culture. We know it is a reality. And in the American Indian Reservations, this violence flourishes in disproportionate numbers. And consequences for those who would harm these women—as well as protection and justice—withers, caught between indifference, legal complications, and/or hostility. There are at least shelters on-rez for them. It's not a cure. But it is something. A place to go to be safe, to learn, to find some comfort and figure out what to do next.

Except when there is no money for such a place. Then, where could these women hope to find help?

Submitted by Nezua Limon Xol... on 9 December 2007 - 4:48pm.
Activism | Indigenous | Olbermann | Pretty Bird Woman House | Violence Against Women

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Words to live by

These new-found tensions which are present at all stages in the real nature of colonialism have their repercussions on the cultural plane. In literature, for example, there is relative over-production. From being a reply on a minor scale to the dominating power, the literature produced by natives becomes differentiated and makes itself into a will to particularism. The intelligentsia, which during the period of repression was essentially a consuming public, now themselves become producers. This literature at first chooses to confine itself to the tragic and poetic style; but later on novels, short stories and essays are attempted. It is as if a kind of internal organisation or law of expression existed which wills that poetic expression become less frequent in proportion as the objectives and the methods of the struggle for liberation become more precise. Themes are completely altered; in fact, we find less and less of bitter, hopeless recrimination and less also of that violent, resounding, florid writing which on the whole serves to reassure the occupying power. The colonialists have in former times encouraged these modes of expression and made their existence possible. Stinging denunciations, the exposing of distressing conditions and passions which find their outlet in expression are in fact assimilated by the occupying power in a cathartic process. To aid such processes is in a certain sense to avoid their dramatisation and to clear the atmosphere. But such a situation can only be transitory. In fact, the progress of national consciousness among the people modifies and gives precision to the literary utterances of the native intellectual. The continued cohesion of the people constitutes for the intellectual an invitation to go farther than his cry of protest. The lament first makes the indictment; then it makes an appeal. In the period that follows, the words of command are heard. The crystallisation of the national consciousness will both disrupt literary styles and themes, and also create a completely new public. While at the beginning the native intellectual used to produce his work to be read exclusively by the oppressor, whether with the intention of charming him or of denouncing him through ethnical or subjectivist means, now the native writer progressively takes on the habit of addressing his own people.