Post by blackcrowheart on Aug 12, 2008 11:56:21 GMT -5
Censored in the USA: Hush words By Brenda Norrell - July 28, 2008
I didn't see it coming. After 25 years of writing American Indian news,
I didn't really expect to be blackballed and censored out of the
business. But, then again, any journalist writing serious news in the
United States should expect to be censored. There are some hot topics
that get U.S. journalists fired, including investigating the war in
Iraq. U.S. Presidents realize the power of words and song to move the
masses. It was Buffe Sainte Marie's "Universal Soldier," during the
Vietnam War that led to her being blackballed and censored out of the
music business in the U.S.
In Indian country news, there are also hush words, words to be used
sparingly, if at all. For editors, those words include two names
"Russell Means" and "Leonard Peltier." Also, in Indian country,
reporters know it is unlikely that editors will publish any serious
criticism of the war in Iraq or the Bush administration. Reporters also
know it is unlikely that their articles will be published if they point
out how the elected American Indian tribal councils sell out their
people and their land, air and water for energy royalties and energy
leases. At the same time, those councilmen and tribal chairmen give
voice to the need to protect sacred Mother Earth.
While on staff at Indian Country Today in 2004, the managing editor, a
non-Indian, demanded that I halt writing about "grassroots people and
the genocide of American Indians." When I continued, I was reprimanded
again. Eventually I was fired without a reason given.
It taught me about history and the soul of America. In the United
States, there is this hole in history, and this hole in the hearts of
the people, which disallows for these facts: the genocide of American
Indians, including the butchering of women and shooting of little
children, and the kidnapping, enslavement, torture, rape and murder of
blacks.
As always, those who forget history, repeat it. The United States now
trains military around the globe how to torture. This torture, in
violation of the Geneva Conventions, targets Indigenous Peoples in
Central and South America and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. This
torture targets anyone whose lands and resources are desired by a
multi-national corporation. The proof was in the U.S. School of the
Americas' torture manual made public in 1996. The latest ploy is to
simply dupe people into the corporate resource scheme, by convincing
people to pay for fictional "carbon credits," the non-factual fee to
pollute.
On the US/Mexico border, where Homeland Security and the Border Patrol
ignore the sovereign status of Indian Nations and all federal laws,
there are death threats for journalists and Indians living on their own
lands.
At ICT, I was terminated after one of my articles was rewritten; turning
the exposure of Donald Rumsfeld profiteering from the bird flu's Tamiflu
into a near advertisement for the product. Also before I was terminated,
I was instructed to never write about, or even investigate, the fact
that the Navajo commercial farm, Navajo Agricultural Products
Industries, has a Raytheon Missile factory on the same land where it
grows potatoes, corn and other commercial crops. The Navajo Nation owned
NAPI also boasts that it uses genetically-modified seeds; seeds leading
to widespread misery for the world's Indigenous Peoples.
I was also told I could not publish a news probe into whether Ben
"Nighthorse" Campbell was actually Portuguese or Northern Cheyenne.
Well, most of the usual suspects received good jobs at the big museum in
Washington D.C.
The important point is not to be fooled by the newspapers, do your own
investigating. The editors, publishers and owners have their own
agendas. These days, very little of it has to do with truth. If you want
to learn about the destruction of sacred places and all the corporations
rushing to poison the land, air and water where you live, you'll need to
search out the information. Don't expect to read about it in your
newspaper.
The non-Indian newspapers have no qualms about censorship these days. In
the spring, I wrote an article about the Longest Walk for a news
publication. A watered-down version of it was published. Here is one of
the paragraphs that was censored:
"It was in Greensburg, Kansas, that another dimension of the west opened
up, the force of a tornado to rip out a town. The debris was still piled
high nearly one year after the tornado of May 4, 2007. I could only
think of the billions of dollars going to rebuild Iraq, after the US
bombed it; the billions going to the corporate friends of the Bush
family. Still, there was hope and abundant love in this town as the
people were rebuilding green, focused on solar and wind power and
sustainable gardening."
Hope -- that's what keeps us going, and readers like you.
Thanks for reading. Brenda
narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2008/07/censore\
d-usa-hush-words
<http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2008/07/censor\
ed-usa-hush-words> -----
Teresa Anahuy
groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews>
I didn't see it coming. After 25 years of writing American Indian news,
I didn't really expect to be blackballed and censored out of the
business. But, then again, any journalist writing serious news in the
United States should expect to be censored. There are some hot topics
that get U.S. journalists fired, including investigating the war in
Iraq. U.S. Presidents realize the power of words and song to move the
masses. It was Buffe Sainte Marie's "Universal Soldier," during the
Vietnam War that led to her being blackballed and censored out of the
music business in the U.S.
In Indian country news, there are also hush words, words to be used
sparingly, if at all. For editors, those words include two names
"Russell Means" and "Leonard Peltier." Also, in Indian country,
reporters know it is unlikely that editors will publish any serious
criticism of the war in Iraq or the Bush administration. Reporters also
know it is unlikely that their articles will be published if they point
out how the elected American Indian tribal councils sell out their
people and their land, air and water for energy royalties and energy
leases. At the same time, those councilmen and tribal chairmen give
voice to the need to protect sacred Mother Earth.
While on staff at Indian Country Today in 2004, the managing editor, a
non-Indian, demanded that I halt writing about "grassroots people and
the genocide of American Indians." When I continued, I was reprimanded
again. Eventually I was fired without a reason given.
It taught me about history and the soul of America. In the United
States, there is this hole in history, and this hole in the hearts of
the people, which disallows for these facts: the genocide of American
Indians, including the butchering of women and shooting of little
children, and the kidnapping, enslavement, torture, rape and murder of
blacks.
As always, those who forget history, repeat it. The United States now
trains military around the globe how to torture. This torture, in
violation of the Geneva Conventions, targets Indigenous Peoples in
Central and South America and the people of Iraq and Afghanistan. This
torture targets anyone whose lands and resources are desired by a
multi-national corporation. The proof was in the U.S. School of the
Americas' torture manual made public in 1996. The latest ploy is to
simply dupe people into the corporate resource scheme, by convincing
people to pay for fictional "carbon credits," the non-factual fee to
pollute.
On the US/Mexico border, where Homeland Security and the Border Patrol
ignore the sovereign status of Indian Nations and all federal laws,
there are death threats for journalists and Indians living on their own
lands.
At ICT, I was terminated after one of my articles was rewritten; turning
the exposure of Donald Rumsfeld profiteering from the bird flu's Tamiflu
into a near advertisement for the product. Also before I was terminated,
I was instructed to never write about, or even investigate, the fact
that the Navajo commercial farm, Navajo Agricultural Products
Industries, has a Raytheon Missile factory on the same land where it
grows potatoes, corn and other commercial crops. The Navajo Nation owned
NAPI also boasts that it uses genetically-modified seeds; seeds leading
to widespread misery for the world's Indigenous Peoples.
I was also told I could not publish a news probe into whether Ben
"Nighthorse" Campbell was actually Portuguese or Northern Cheyenne.
Well, most of the usual suspects received good jobs at the big museum in
Washington D.C.
The important point is not to be fooled by the newspapers, do your own
investigating. The editors, publishers and owners have their own
agendas. These days, very little of it has to do with truth. If you want
to learn about the destruction of sacred places and all the corporations
rushing to poison the land, air and water where you live, you'll need to
search out the information. Don't expect to read about it in your
newspaper.
The non-Indian newspapers have no qualms about censorship these days. In
the spring, I wrote an article about the Longest Walk for a news
publication. A watered-down version of it was published. Here is one of
the paragraphs that was censored:
"It was in Greensburg, Kansas, that another dimension of the west opened
up, the force of a tornado to rip out a town. The debris was still piled
high nearly one year after the tornado of May 4, 2007. I could only
think of the billions of dollars going to rebuild Iraq, after the US
bombed it; the billions going to the corporate friends of the Bush
family. Still, there was hope and abundant love in this town as the
people were rebuilding green, focused on solar and wind power and
sustainable gardening."
Hope -- that's what keeps us going, and readers like you.
Thanks for reading. Brenda
narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2008/07/censore\
d-usa-hush-words
<http://narcosphere.narconews.com/notebook/brenda-norrell/2008/07/censor\
ed-usa-hush-words> -----
Teresa Anahuy
groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FirstPeoplesNews>