Post by Okwes on Sept 23, 2006 11:07:21 GMT -5
Indian people mark 500 years of terrorism
by Tim Giago
By way of www.indianz.com
*Tim Giago: Indian people mark 500 years of terrorism *
Monday, September 11, 2006
Posted by request of *Tim Giago, Nanwica Kciji. *
This morning as I drove through downtown Rapid City I realized that
many of the signs that appeared all over this city several days after
9/11 and months thereafter, flags, banners and magnetic stickers on
automobiles, SUVs and pickup trucks were nearly all gone.
I suppose it is because most Americans have a short memory. Most
Indians do not. The terrorism that struck at the very heart of the
Indian people for several centuries is still in their hearts and
minds. I wrote about this three years after 9/ll and for those folks
with short memories, I repeat those words on this 5th anniversary of
that horrible day.
The Indian people never knew what act of violence or terror would
befall them from the invaders. But death did come. It came in the form
of biological warfare when small pox tainted blankets were distributed
to the unsuspecting victims. It came to them from the muzzles of
guns that did not distinguish between warriors, women, elders or
children. It came to them in the ruthless name of Manifest Destiny,
the American edict that proclaimed God as the purveyor of expansion
Westward.
Indian people were often slaughtered like animals often while waving
the American flag in pitiful efforts to convince their killers that
they were not bad people. At Wounded Knee in 1890, a slaughter
took place that the white man often called the last great battle
between Indians and the United States Army. It was not a battle. It
was one the last heinous acts of terror against innocent men, women and
children.* The attack by Islamic terrorists on 9/11 was another.
The Indian people died not knowing why as did the people in the World
Trade Center.
*
The Lakota died in fear. They died in the frozen snow of that bitterly
cold December day at Wounded Knee while fleeing to find safe harbor
amongst the Oglala Lakota. These Lakota experienced terrorism by a
government that did not consider them to be human beings. *They died
in the Twin Towers at the hands of a radical people seeking revenge*
for reasons the victims did not understand. When human beings can
be labeled as less than human their deaths become meaningless. This is
the apparent belief of the *[US-British-'israeli']* terrorists and the
early settlers.
By portraying all Indians as murdering savages, rapists, kidnappers and
worse, the national media of the day laid the groundwork for Wounded
Knee. In article after article urging the government to remove the
Indian people by any means from their homelands, the media stood
guilty of fomenting acts of terrorism. Similar articles in the media
and speeches in the mosques in the Nations of Islam expressed similar
views of Americans. * This laid the groundwork for 9/11*. A lie
repeated often enough becomes a fact in the minds of impressionable
people. Indians are savages, Americans are infidels and Arabs are
heathens.
Do you see how this logic works? Just as the Crusaders believed it
was their Christian duty to conquer and kill those Arabs they
considered as sub-humans and heathens, so too did America duplicate
their misguided logic against the First Americans. The people of the
Islamic Nations never forgave nor forgot. The Indian people have
largely forgiven, but they have not forgotten. The Christians of the
Crusade de-humanized the Arabs, the early Americans de-humanized the
Indians and *the People of Islam now de-humanize Westerners.
*It is a vicious cycle that is centuries old. Just as news
stories and movies about Arabs portrayed them as less than human, so
did the media portray the indigenous people of America. Their lives
then became expendable and meaningless and therefore easily
sacrificed for what is believed to be a greater cause. *Westerners are
now fitted into this same category by the Islamic terrorists*.
I think America missed a mighty lesson and opportunity when it did not
learn how to treat the rest of the world after its mistreatment of
its indigenous people. America has still never settled its debt,
either morally or financially, with its indigenous people. America,
as a nation, wept when nearly three thousand of its citizens died at
the World Trade Center on 9/11.
The Indian people still weep for the thousands killed in the more than
five centuries of terrorism foisted upon them by a Nation that did
not care. They also weep for those lives lost on 9/11 and for the
lives of the many soldiers lost in Iraq. A philosopher once said,
"Great Nations are judged by how they treat their indigenous people,"
*and I am sad to say that America has failed to pass* * the test of time*.
After 500 years the Indian still lives in fear of the terror that
is still lurking just around the corner. The Indian people have lost
so much in the past 500 years and they still live in terror of what
will come next for them.
When the Indian people pray in song, they sing for the lives of all
who have come before, for all who are here now, and for all that are
to come. To the Lakota life is "hocoka," a circle. *They know that
what goes around comes around.* It is a lesson that America
should learn and live by. "Great nations are judged by how they treat
their indigenous people." If America had treated its indigenous
people fairly and justly and had taken this lesson to heart in the
way it treats the indigenous people of other worlds, *would 9/11 have
happened? *It is something to ponder. The signs, posters and stickers
may be gradually disappearing, but I hope the deep feelings that caused
them to be exhibited are never lost.
Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, *is the former editor and publisher of
Indian Country Today*. He is the founder and first president of the
Native American Journalists Association. McClatchy News Service *of
Washington, DC* distributes his weekly column. He can be reached at
najournalists@rushmore.com <mailto:najournalists@rushmore.com> or by
writing him at P.O. Box 9244, Rapid City, SD.
His new book "Children Left Behind" is available at
harmon@clearlightbooks.com. --- You are currently subscribed to
wi-aislist as: sadoptee@yahoo.com. To unsubscribe click here:
lists.wi.gov/u?id=89041R&n=T&l=wi-aislist or send a blank email
to leave-wi-aislist-89041R@lists.wi.gov
by Tim Giago
By way of www.indianz.com
*Tim Giago: Indian people mark 500 years of terrorism *
Monday, September 11, 2006
Posted by request of *Tim Giago, Nanwica Kciji. *
This morning as I drove through downtown Rapid City I realized that
many of the signs that appeared all over this city several days after
9/11 and months thereafter, flags, banners and magnetic stickers on
automobiles, SUVs and pickup trucks were nearly all gone.
I suppose it is because most Americans have a short memory. Most
Indians do not. The terrorism that struck at the very heart of the
Indian people for several centuries is still in their hearts and
minds. I wrote about this three years after 9/ll and for those folks
with short memories, I repeat those words on this 5th anniversary of
that horrible day.
The Indian people never knew what act of violence or terror would
befall them from the invaders. But death did come. It came in the form
of biological warfare when small pox tainted blankets were distributed
to the unsuspecting victims. It came to them from the muzzles of
guns that did not distinguish between warriors, women, elders or
children. It came to them in the ruthless name of Manifest Destiny,
the American edict that proclaimed God as the purveyor of expansion
Westward.
Indian people were often slaughtered like animals often while waving
the American flag in pitiful efforts to convince their killers that
they were not bad people. At Wounded Knee in 1890, a slaughter
took place that the white man often called the last great battle
between Indians and the United States Army. It was not a battle. It
was one the last heinous acts of terror against innocent men, women and
children.* The attack by Islamic terrorists on 9/11 was another.
The Indian people died not knowing why as did the people in the World
Trade Center.
*
The Lakota died in fear. They died in the frozen snow of that bitterly
cold December day at Wounded Knee while fleeing to find safe harbor
amongst the Oglala Lakota. These Lakota experienced terrorism by a
government that did not consider them to be human beings. *They died
in the Twin Towers at the hands of a radical people seeking revenge*
for reasons the victims did not understand. When human beings can
be labeled as less than human their deaths become meaningless. This is
the apparent belief of the *[US-British-'israeli']* terrorists and the
early settlers.
By portraying all Indians as murdering savages, rapists, kidnappers and
worse, the national media of the day laid the groundwork for Wounded
Knee. In article after article urging the government to remove the
Indian people by any means from their homelands, the media stood
guilty of fomenting acts of terrorism. Similar articles in the media
and speeches in the mosques in the Nations of Islam expressed similar
views of Americans. * This laid the groundwork for 9/11*. A lie
repeated often enough becomes a fact in the minds of impressionable
people. Indians are savages, Americans are infidels and Arabs are
heathens.
Do you see how this logic works? Just as the Crusaders believed it
was their Christian duty to conquer and kill those Arabs they
considered as sub-humans and heathens, so too did America duplicate
their misguided logic against the First Americans. The people of the
Islamic Nations never forgave nor forgot. The Indian people have
largely forgiven, but they have not forgotten. The Christians of the
Crusade de-humanized the Arabs, the early Americans de-humanized the
Indians and *the People of Islam now de-humanize Westerners.
*It is a vicious cycle that is centuries old. Just as news
stories and movies about Arabs portrayed them as less than human, so
did the media portray the indigenous people of America. Their lives
then became expendable and meaningless and therefore easily
sacrificed for what is believed to be a greater cause. *Westerners are
now fitted into this same category by the Islamic terrorists*.
I think America missed a mighty lesson and opportunity when it did not
learn how to treat the rest of the world after its mistreatment of
its indigenous people. America has still never settled its debt,
either morally or financially, with its indigenous people. America,
as a nation, wept when nearly three thousand of its citizens died at
the World Trade Center on 9/11.
The Indian people still weep for the thousands killed in the more than
five centuries of terrorism foisted upon them by a Nation that did
not care. They also weep for those lives lost on 9/11 and for the
lives of the many soldiers lost in Iraq. A philosopher once said,
"Great Nations are judged by how they treat their indigenous people,"
*and I am sad to say that America has failed to pass* * the test of time*.
After 500 years the Indian still lives in fear of the terror that
is still lurking just around the corner. The Indian people have lost
so much in the past 500 years and they still live in terror of what
will come next for them.
When the Indian people pray in song, they sing for the lives of all
who have come before, for all who are here now, and for all that are
to come. To the Lakota life is "hocoka," a circle. *They know that
what goes around comes around.* It is a lesson that America
should learn and live by. "Great nations are judged by how they treat
their indigenous people." If America had treated its indigenous
people fairly and justly and had taken this lesson to heart in the
way it treats the indigenous people of other worlds, *would 9/11 have
happened? *It is something to ponder. The signs, posters and stickers
may be gradually disappearing, but I hope the deep feelings that caused
them to be exhibited are never lost.
Tim Giago, an Oglala Lakota, *is the former editor and publisher of
Indian Country Today*. He is the founder and first president of the
Native American Journalists Association. McClatchy News Service *of
Washington, DC* distributes his weekly column. He can be reached at
najournalists@rushmore.com <mailto:najournalists@rushmore.com> or by
writing him at P.O. Box 9244, Rapid City, SD.
His new book "Children Left Behind" is available at
harmon@clearlightbooks.com. --- You are currently subscribed to
wi-aislist as: sadoptee@yahoo.com. To unsubscribe click here:
lists.wi.gov/u?id=89041R&n=T&l=wi-aislist or send a blank email
to leave-wi-aislist-89041R@lists.wi.gov