Collective resolve is what is needed

Page 6

Recently, I saw a popular film wherein a white man asked a person of color (never mind which one), "Have I oppressed you?" By way of an answer, I saw another film where a bushman, upon seeing destruction caused by whites, stated simply " The evil ones have been here." That is the nature of oppression, politics and violence, three words that today are almost synonymous.

The evil ones are here, white from some nation in Europe, (never mind which one), and there isn't anything our people can do about it. Is there?

Imagine for a moment that you are leading an enjoyable, meaningful life within your own community, a peace-loving community. There exists a purposeful system of rules for the good of all, and, naturally, you have recourse to them as a citizen of this society.

Now you have met all criteria that would entitle you to rightfully claim ownership of a house in this society. This is everyone's dream in your world, because a house is more than simply a structure that shelters us from the cold. Owning a home gives one a sense of security, a sense that you have a place where you belong and cannot be displaced by anyone. And owning a home requires care and maintenance and you are indeed thankful to have the responsibilities that come with being a homeowner.

One day, out of good Christian kindness, you lend someone a hand. The poor ignorant chap doesn't even know how to fix a flat, but while you do what you can to help the rather dirty, ill-mannered stranger, a gang of criminals takes the opportunity to sneak into your home where they proceed to torture and kill your family. They stick you in the basement in a corner and order you to stay there. They give you a book of matches in what they consider to be an act of almost grand munificence.

After completely subjugating the rightful inhabitant, the mob begins tearing apart the once beautiful house in order to sell off the pieces. After all, there is only one of you and several of them. When they become cold, they tear away pieces of wood, indiscriminately, for use as fuel, never giving a thought to the stability of the structure. In the minds of the criminals, the house becomes their property. The usurpers are possessed of a certain basic, profound ignorance and are thereby unable to see it any other way. For them, the fact that they were simply able to assert this control made it right.

The house analogy, or some other similar paradigm, is simply unassailable fact in microcosm.

Native North Americans must see that the singular best way to help is to change our attitudes towards ourselves by changing our attitudes towards our oppressors. Reality has very little to do with what is actually occurring, rather it is the perception of what is occurring that is the key to all things.

Words such as justice and equality will have completely different meanings and connotations depending upon the dominant society's needs because the first mandate of any ruling body is self-preservation. That is, the people in power want to keep their day jobs by staying in power. My people must realize that if a society commits criminal acts, then that society is criminal.

To further lend my position perspective, I submit that my people are indeed oppressed to this day by the very presence of those that invaded our home. Moreover, throughout history there were many holocausts, and one of the first was perpetrated against Native North Americans.

Many NNA's lead very unproductive and unfulfilled lives, and what the white mindset cannot grasp, because of a sort of built-in tunnel vision, is that our suffering is as real as each individual that must face what the dominant society has done to them and their ancestors before them.

White society was built on all the most undesirable human tendencies, and, as I stated before, the best way to help is to simply be aware of these things.

Even the fact that some of their most noted scholars have conceded as must is moot, for a people must, of their on accord, decide in their minds and in their hearts what their lot is before they can realize any true change at all. And my people must say to themselves, we will no longer be dictated to by those that don't have the right to do so. It is this collective resolve that we must embrace as a people. And while righteous indignation does make excellent fuel for the fire, we must first attain a sense of moral outrage over our plight, because there just isn't enough of it.

As one American officer said of the Viet Cong, "It's hard to beat an enemy that believes he can't be beaten."