I don't get it.
See he's not from here ~ as in 'born in the U.S.A.', so he has NO SHAME in 'stickin' up the po Indians for their wampum'. He has no idea of the history of pain men like him have wrecked upon these very deeply sensitive people. America has a prominent place in my Museum of Genocide, as the success of the program of ethnic cleansing this nation waged upon the Native peoples is legendary. The history of this period has been so strikingly portrayed, that even Japanese and Italian filmmakers wanted in on the fun of making Western movies. Spaghetti westerns and some of the most notable samurai classics are based on the battles between Cowboys and Indians.
All these years..... robbed, driven to drink and go crazy. Made the butt of jokes, the recipient of physical abuse, and most popularly used as team mascots. Outcasts in their own land....Finally they have something going that's good for them, and that gives them a chance to revive themselves. And here come the White Man again.
In my book, anyone with any conscience, would have a hard time fixin' their mouth to ask the Indians for Anything.....so much is still owed to them for genocide and theft.
No body says anything.
What?!?!?! Am I the only one here thinking, questioning the ethics of this? Am I alone in wondering just 'What the (@#%8!) Bleep is going on?!?!
The ads are run, to make you feel like Arnold is such a great negotiator. "He got money from the Indians to help balance the budget". So white folks (the tax paying/voting majority) are happy, because they don't have to have their taxes increased to settle the misappropriation and stupid expenditures of their own white legislators.
My non-melanated brothers and sisters, don't fall for this. All voters do not fall for this. He's playing to a vile side in human nature. Arnold is practicing extortion, plain and simple. And he's presenting it so that you feel good that he accomplished this for your economic benefit. He's saving you from a tax increase. Rear-end released Buffalo Patties!!!
Why should the Native American Nations have to pay to help out the budget?
Tax the oil companies doing business in California. Tax Hollywood- the film and the music industry. Tax the amusement parks in California. Tax the auto dealers and manufacturers. Tax the Sports owners and their respective team organizations. There's a million huge entities I could think of that have made and continue to make tons of millions of dollars here in California. Tax them. Let them bail out the California government.
Native Americans had no part in making the decisions that created the budget fiasco, little part in reaping the benefits of that spending, and no rewards from the flimflam games of politicians, industry and high finance that resulted in scandals like California's recent electric and insurance debacles.
Leave the Native Americans and their assets for income alone.
Arnold and his crew are no better than the Mafia. Using the threat of the ballot box to limit what Indians can do/or how much they can make, on their own National Lands....
if they don't pay up for protection that is.
What do you think of that?
Kentke
I've been trying to make sense of those ads on TV. I know they're always deceptive but this time it was hard to tell who was who from the list of endorsers of the bill and the bills list of detractors. Send me some more info....
ReplyDeleteIf you have articles send them..or blog sites...I want to know more. I never trust Arnold...NEVEr, so I couldn't figure out why such a diverse democratic alliance was sponsoring these ads.
Kaeli
I am both hurt and outraged. Hurt that our native brothers continue to
ReplyDeletebe assaulted by the culture that dominates all that it encounters. And
outraged by the ruthless continuum of murder, rape, thievery, and
economic exploitation. This evil that seems to dwell in the hearts of man
does not have to be remembered
just exposed in its present disguise. This is the kind of stuff that
often causes me to squirm while sitting in the privileged circles of
those who have inherited the booty of all these years of pillaging
and unspeakable crime and say such things that the cause of all human
suffering is caused by our thinking and that we have brought it on
ourselves. Now what evil thoughts could have possibly been going on in the
minds of Africans, Native American, Asians, and all of the indigenous
people of the world to have brought on such calamitous devastation. The
past is actually myth it is really the present in its full view. The
governator and his ilk are merely the current manifestation of an ancient
crime that continues to be commited with impunity...Back to your
question. I think that your observations are astute and your conclusions are
absolutely correct.
Let the lightning rod of truth illuminate the dark womb of creation and
germinate the seeds of new thought and compassionate ways of being,
dedan
Thank you for this... I have been hearing the ads and
ReplyDeletewondering what was going on... now I see it more
clearly.
Janice
Thanks very much Kaeli, Dedan and Janice for your comments.
ReplyDeletePlease pass this post on to others, that will also hopefully start to think and raise questions about what's going on here.
Kentke
A hard-hitting post, kentke, and an eye-opening aspect of it all. I, too, remember playing "Cowboys and Indians" as a boy, did not matter whether I was a Cowboy or and Indian, it was the interaction that was the point of it all. And it was a game of lets-pretend elimination of each other. And pretend playing sets patterns for "real" life, of what is considered "normal."
ReplyDeleteI had not thought of the expansion of "the white man" into lands formerly occupied by various American Indian tribes, as "genocide" but more like people expanding into a place of less oppression than was ongoing where they came from, but the new lands they were committed to live upon were sometimes found to be, "eek, there is someone already out there and they don't seem to like us." The various Amerind tribes were in a constant state of war with each other for territory, and the "white man" was probably just one more rival for space to live upon, by the hunter-gatherer tribes especially, who needed lots of land upon which to forage. So as families headed West to homestead some land upon which to farm in peace, they found there were those who already needed that space for hunting, and did not understand farming, and was familiar with dealing with those who wanted to take over their land. Conflicts ensued, yes, Cowboys and Indians and not so nice either. Each side could quote real horrors done by the other. Misunderstandings were rampant, so rumors could make monsters of the other side, quite easily. But the major cause of loss of life among the Amerinds was not deliberate, that of the introduction of pathogens to which the Amerinds had no resistance. Accidental biological warfare was the major Terminator among the Amerinds, as it was in South America, as brought there by the Spaniards, again no doubt unknowingly. The survivors were few and with little resistance to repel the invasion of their lands, and eventually a balance was achieved re ownership of lands, and the American government made effort to enable the lives of the Amerinds, by building schools and hospitals, particularly. And effort was made to provide for hunter-gatherers rubbing shoulders with industrial and agricultural folk, not easy to do. "Future shock" galore; if you have trouble setting the clock on your VCR, think what a problem it must be for hunter-gathers, as an example. Turns out that the Amerinds are just like all other people, in general; they had warred on their neighbors, for example, and the largest tribe got that way by grabbing off the women of neighboring tribes, one at a time, not enough to start a war over that way, but long term population growth trends definitely happened. They are not proud of having done that, but history is history. So they all are much like the "white man" even in the ways of some groups. They really are just ordinary people, sometimes friend, sometimes foe, mostly just unconcerned and disconnected, like the rest of us, getting on with their own life best they can.
Opportunities for livlihood are few, for the ones who have been put on the fringes of society. Establishing an industry on their lands that is legal in some other places but not among their neighbors, and appeals to the gamey side of people, might seem to be excuse to tax them heavily, as if it were smoking that they were taxing, the taxes supposedly also helping to suppress the behavior, they might think. Said taxes might be more conscionable if 100% spent on establishing more suitable means of livlihood on Indian land for the Indians to use, if "we" do not approve of the gambling livelihood on Indian land. As if it was "our business." Quite probably those whose ancestors took over the Indian lands have a moral responsibility to really help the remaining Amerinds live well on their lands and among the rest of the country, all of which was once theirs, and mostly we did not buy ownership rights but took it by force. What does our laws say about such behavior, forceably taking others' real estate, simply because we need to live there? Not a comfortable question.
It might be said that the Spaniards had already conquered the California Indians, and we just took it away from the Spaniards from Mexico; does that make it alright? Did we free the Indians and give them all their land back? Is the free-for-all conflicts that was the actual history, honorable compensation to the "losers?"
It is not likely that the Amerinds would be great businessmen, so as to compete on equal terms in the new "free enterprise" system touted nowadays. Remember we bought Long Island for a few glass beads, $24 worth. Anybody know about "karma?" Better we make amends and do it quickly and fully. First the Amerinds need to be understood and honored maybe even a bit more than our other neighbors. Earning their friendship would be a cherished thing.
Jim
Hey Jim,
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking the time to read and respond to the post.
I do strongly disagree with some of you assertions. In an effort to find some authority on the matter of whether genocide was purposefully pursued, or as you state, "....the main cause of death among the Amerindians was the introduction of pathogens.... accidental biological warfare....no doubt unknowingly", I quickly located what looks like an excellent source you might enjoy reading for a more objective understanding of the history that transpired. I'm surprised at you Jim. Everyone knows that when settlers had smallpox, blankets that had been used on infected and dying settlers were sent to the Indians, under the guise of gifts.
What you asserted rather sounded like the rhetoric we were taught in our public school history classes. We've got to know that those books were written from only ONE SIDE of the situation. That of the conqueror, justifying the means he'd employed to achieve his ends.
Check out this quote that speaks to the policy debate on handling the Indians at the national level:
"President Grant led the element opposed to the military's control of Indian strategy and favored the employment of other means. Grant's view was a great disappointment to senior Army leaders who had believed he would strongly advocate Army control of Indian policy. On 4 March 1873, at his second inaugural address, he stated:
My efforts in the future will be directed to the restoration of good feeling between the different sections of our common country ... by a human course, to bring the aborigines of the country under the benign influences of education and civilization. It is either this or war of extermination. Wars of extermination, engaged in by people pursuing commerce and all industrial pursuits, are expensive even against the weakest people, and are demoralizing and wicked. Our superiority of strength and advantages of civilization should make us lenient toward the Indian. The wrong inflicted upon him should be taken into account and the balance placed to his credit. The moral view of the question should be considered and the question asked, Can not the Indian be made a useful and productive member of society by proper teaching and treatment? If the effort is made in good faith, we will stand better before the civilized nations of the earth and in our own consciences for having made it.9
While sounding a high moral tone, Grant had addressed the economics of a strategy of extermination, which he saw as the alternative to the diplomatic solution executed under the auspices of the Department of the Interior."
An earlier quote from the same source is even more telling of the sentiments of leadership at the statewide level of government. Here we are presented with a view into Colorado's state government and agencies.
" The Utes took an entirely different view of their new agent. Largely oblivious to the whites' violations of the treaty of 1873 (which had secured for the Utes 4,000,000 acres of Colorado), they viewed themselves as allies to the United States government. As Ouray, the most prominent of the Ute chiefs expressed: "The army conquered the Sioux. You can order them around. But we Utes have never disturbed you whites. So you must wait until we come to your ways of doing things. "3
Both the representative of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs and the government of the state of Colorado did not provide for the assimilation of the Ute tribe into mainstream American culture. Rather, they advocated the isolation of the Utes. Because of this, the relationship between Meeker and his "charges," the White River Utes, had deteriorated to the point that Meeker felt his life was in jeopardy. Finally, Meeker was confronted by the Utes, who suspected him of direct involvement with the anti-Ute movement in the state.
At this time, articles headlining "The Utes Must Go" were being prepared by members of the staff of Governor Frederick W. Pitkin. Pitkin was a former miner who used his wealth (acquired from a gold mine in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado) to influence the revision of the Ute treaty in 1878 and to become the first governor of Colorado on its statehood in 1876. His view of the Utes was an expression of the statewide view among whites that they were an impediment to the development of the richest part of the state and should be removed to the Indian Territories or elsewhere. William Vickers, an adviser to the governor, wrote in the Denver Tribune:
The Utes are actual, practical Communists and the Government should be ashamed to foster and encourage them in their idleness and wanton waste of property. Living off the bounty of a paternal but idiotic Indian Bureau, they actually become too lazy to draw their rations in the regular way but insist on taking what they want wherever they find it. Removed to Indian Territory, the Utes could be fed and clothed for about one half what it now costs the government.
Honorable N. C. Meeker, the well-known Superintendent of the White River Agency, was formerly a fast friend and ardent admirer of the Indians. He went to the Agency in the firm belief that he could manage the Indians successfully by kind treatment, patient precept and good example. But utter failure marked his efforts and at last he reluctantly accepted the truth of the broader truism that the only truly good Indians are dead ones.4"
Hope that this is enough to whet your appetite to expand your understanding of the relationship between White settlers and Native Americans.
One last thing,..... You made some mention of 'Amerindians warring for territory'. That just doesn't seem consistent with the way they regard the Earth. I don't feel that Native Americans feel that the Earth can be owned....by anyone.
This has always been at the crux of the difference in the two cultures. This idea of possession of Nature.....That, and of couse that wonderous 'Forked Tongue that most White Men sent to negotiate treaties with the tribes all seemed to speak with.
Again, I appreciate your hanging out with me, reading the blog and really making it a discussion by commenting.
Here's the website to check out:
It's the U.S. Army Combined Arms Center - Command and General Staff College;
http://www-cgsc.army.mil/carl/resources/csi/santala/santala.asp
Still can't leave comments on the site as is, browser probs I think. But anyway,
ReplyDeletemy thoughts on the American Indians are complex and troubled. Essentially their official status is as defeated hostile nations, but unlike, say, Japan, their lands have been annexed or circumscribed...sorta like Puerto Rico. The BIA has all sorts of rules and regulations, but it takes forever to appeal or fight anything using their bureaucracy. Even the definitions of formal "tribe membership" in and off of reservations are controversial and suspicious. I think tribes would have to win another war--or revolution--to gain any real autonomy from U.S. state and federal governments other than the token legal isolation they experience at present.
Carol
I agree that Arnold is extorting the Native Americans.
ReplyDeleteAaliyah
In the email and blogs internet stuff, you are getting into what is left of my world, up here with high speed fiber internet but little else in this desolate unfriendly snowed-in small town location.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if there is a way to reply to your reply, instead of getting lost at the end of other replies and no longer in context. If so, my main thought was recalling that one of the purposes of the famous Lewis and Clark expedition across the country up here to the Pacific Northwest coast, was to bring vaccine to some of the northwest Amerind tribes. But during the trip, their boat overturned in a river and only the heroic effort of their Indian guide, Sachajewa, saved much of their precious resources, but unfortunately the vaccine was not among those she saved. Sachejewa had been bought from one of the tribes along the way, who had stolen her as a child from a neighboring tribe; but when the Lewis and Clark crew arrived at her original home village, she did not want to stay in the village with her tribe of origin, but instead chose to stay with the expedition.
Anyway, glad to add a bit to the spice on your blog.
Cheers,
Jim
I think you are trying to overwhelm my brain...I've read almost everything on the blog, in one sitting. A lot to digest, but stimulating and interesting and fun.
ReplyDeleteAndy