The Land of the Dead and The Home of the Forgotten
Some questions for those who so heartly promote the "One America" initiative...
So, to you all...is complacency comfortable?
Is smugness satisfying?
Does having all of the answers relieve you of the responsibility of continuing to look for the truth?
Have it all figured out, do you? Did you figure it out for me too? I guess so...at least from what I can see.
Well, allow me to bring something to your attention. Maybe you could step out of the carefully delineated, painfully constructed place where you live and have a look at this...come closer, I wouldn't want you to mistake what I am going to say for something else.
Ready...? Eyes and ears open...? Well, we'll see... The subject is Genocide. The Genocidal practices of the United States of America. Ah, you say it is too harsh a word to be used here, certainly Genocide was never practiced in this country.
In 1948 the United Nations Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of the Crimes of Genocide was adopted and in 1986 finally, after almost forty years of trying to avoid the issue, was ratified by the U.S. Senate. The Convention in its definition of Genocide speaks of "killing members of a group...bodily or mental harm to members of the group...deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part." It speaks also of "...measures intended to prevent birth" and "...forcibly transferring children of the group to another group."Any of this sound familiar to you? It should, the peoples of the First Nations were victims of every one of the actions mentioned in the United Nations definition of genocide. Yes, allow me to draw your attention to...a certain matter...an under-discussed issue...a bit of unpleasantness...a little matter of genocide...
Where? Why, here of course, this country, my home, your home. The land of the free. The home of the brave. The land of the dead and the home of the forgotten. The dead...murdered as they slept along the banks of the Washita. ...starved as they walked in the snow to the new "Indian territory"...shot as they ran in fear at Wounded Knee. The forgotten...those who live with suicide, alcoholism, poverty, starvation, disrespect, discrimination and hopelessness. These are the dead and the forgotten, members of the First Nations.
One America, one america...oneamericaoneamericaoneamericaoneamerica...Is that how it goes? Can you hear the rhythm...
While the oneamerica band leaders strut down the well lit, nicely paved, carefully chosen route... passing out the song sheets encouraging us all to sing the oneamerica tune...
While the seven member Board of carefully hand picked cheer leaders works the crowd...
While the President pretends...
And while you tell me how important it is for me "to get on board", to "join the effort" to "show my support" for oneamerica...
All the while...there is that matter of Genocide.
Who's buying what you are selling? And, really, what are you selling...? Promises...? Facile solutions...? I say you are selling lies. Lies dressed up as children's history books. Lies dressed up as government agencies. Lies that were dressed as Treaties, and lies dressed in words such as "as long as the grass grows and the rivers flow..." Dressed up lies are still lies... So...spare me your enthusiasm, your rosy view of the oneamerica future, your political evangelism, your righteousness...
Tell me about the Indians, the Native People of this country and what has happened to them in the last 500 years.
Tell me about the Genocide.
Or...continue telling me about the "One America" initiative and how it will heal our wounds, make us all brothers and sisters and how it will wash our sins away.
And guess what...? It won't...because it is just another placebo, another bowl of presidential pablum, a pacifier designed to quiet the restless.
Another dressed up lie...
One America and Cultural Diversity
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Comments may be sent to... Sonja Keohane