Let me say this. I was raised with my Native American heritage. My mom was proud of her Cherokee, Chickasaw and Choctaw roots. We would go to powwows and reservations whenever we got the chance. Not looking for meaning or truth. But to listen to people. Listen to the stories the elders wanted to share. Listen to the people on the Rez who wanted to share their stories about struggle. I knew how they felt. Not in a sense of living on a reservation but I did grow up in the ghetto. We struggled a lot. So in a way I felt I could relate to them. Duct tape on shoes, socks on the hands in cold weather, duct taping our coats. My mom and dad did their best. Just like the Natives we met did their best too. One beautiful Lakota woman sat down with me at a powwow and told me how she left the Rez and went to college to be a nurse. She didn't get free money to go. She paid for it out of her own pocket by working two jobs and going to school. No help from the tribe or government. She wanted to have a family one day and wanted to be financially secure. There are many people like her that we met through the years that have done the same to get away from the troubles of reservation life.
My mom was a person who didn't want to hide her Native roots like her grandmother did. Her grandmother told her never to tell anyone she was Native American. "When they ask you're white." Although clearly my great grandmother looked Native. Here is a photo of her with my great grandfather Arthur Johnson.
It was from growing up on the reservation that she hated her heritage so much. My mom would tell me stories that she would get angry if my mom questioned her. She would tell my mom that whatever she told her was between them. No one was to know. In a way I understand where my great grandmother didn't want anyone to know what she was but in another way it makes me sad that she felt she had to hide her identity. She could've passed down her culture, the languages she knew, how she made medicines for pain etc. My mom said "this little woman had remedies for headaches and toothaches. She would even have a remedy for colds. But she refused to show her grandchildren anything because she didn't want them to be like her. She wanted better for them is what my mom said.
I would've loved to have heard the stories, learned the remedies and languages of my ancestors but sometimes things happen in life that can change a person and I think growing up on the reservation changed her. My mom would tell us how much she hated alcohol and if my great grandfather came home drunk she would chase him through the woods with a broom yelling at him. She hated cars. Said they were evil. The more stories I heard of her the more I wish I had met her.
The other day my friend Glenn posted a link to this video. When I watched it I absolutely loved it. Of course there was a comment that said:
" These real Americans you just named were wiped out by various colonists from everywhere around the world a looong time ago, and so today we got modern "America" that we built in blood. So I can just laugh to this lol, I am not American, but it is a known fact most of old Europe made todays "America"
" These real Americans you just named were wiped out by various colonists from everywhere around the world a looong time ago, and so today we got modern "America" that we built in blood. So I can just laugh to this lol, I am not American, but it is a known fact most of old Europe made todays "America"
Shows the ignorance that doesn't surprise me. First of all most of the tribes named in the video still exist today. Of course that person also says he isn't American. So it really shows that before you speak such ignorance do the research. Its not that hard people.
The point of the video is to show people that we need to change the Redskins mascot. For those who don't know the name "Redskin" is a derogatory term used towards Native Americans for hundreds of years. Or if you want to get technical some believe the name Redskin came from scalping and skinning of slaughtered Native Americans. Whatever you believe. I think the Native American community has a right to express their voice in the matter. Just like the NAACP did the the N word. Its America. Freedom of speech right? Well to a lot of the comments on the video apparently not.
And... That's what irks me the most. People will express their opinions but when you disagree with them.. Your rights to Freedom of Speech are revoked in their close minded minds. You cannot think this way, argue with them and you can't think or speak for yourself. You think by now people would grow up.. Hello! We're adults here. Lets agree to disagree and leave it at that show we? So here is the video that I was speaking of. In my honest opinion it made me smile. Its very powerful and rather you like or dislike it. At least you will see why these tribes want their voices heard.
