BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'

Subject: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 28 Oct 11 - 06:26 PM

"Kill the Indian, Save the Man"


It will take just 80 minutes of your life.
It has taken decades from theirs, sometimes almost their *entire* lives.

'Our Spirits Don't Speak English' - Full film


Can't say anymore....too many tears and a Tsunamic Anger rising in me!

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Oct 11 - 07:35 PM

Yes, Lizzie. You should live near one of the Reservations and visit others. The anger among people living The West -- of all races -- about this is quite intense. It was thought at the time to be for the best and was especially espoused by churches "back in the States."

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 28 Oct 11 - 08:06 PM

Indian boarding schools, at which native languages and customs were forbidden, were maintained by both Catholic and Protestant orders, in both the U. S. and Canada, as well as by the governments.
The object was to, as much as possible, turn the Indian into a white clone.
The Carlisle Indian Industrial School, Pennsylvania, a boarding school, was considered to be an especially fine place to turn Indians into an approximation of white men.
Its story is briefly given here.
Carlisle


Of course Latin America was no different; the 're-training' was done in a different way, perhaps more brutal.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Oct 11 - 09:26 PM

Also, the "assimilation programs" of the 1950s and '60s worked MASSIVE injustice by moving Indians off the reservations and into cities. They were NOT ready for this and all it produced was more alcoholism, fetal alcohol syndrome, unemployment, and division between rez and non-rez members of the same Nation.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: ollaimh
Date: 28 Oct 11 - 09:53 PM

i could go on a speach here, but i will just suggest every one interested look at kevin annett's hidden from istory website. it has lots of the details.

white folk committedd cultural genocide and probably physical genocide against natives and refure to give a fair remedy evern now. on another discussion about leonard peltier people wer mostly ignoring that the united states was at war with the traditionalist on pine ridge and area. there were over fourhundred murders of traditionalist that were never investigated. why? because they knew who did it. the bia goons and cronies with fbi help.

in canada the gustaffson lake standoff resulted in thousands of shots fired into a native encampment that was just trying to keep a spirit fire going in the wilderness. this led to loo9ngest and most expensive criminal trial in canadian history where 61 natives were charged with offences up to attempted murder and 19 (i think) were actually cobvicted of disturbing the peace--the rest aquited. try as they might they couldn't hide the idiocy of nthe government response from the jury

when faced with native resistance both the united states and canada throw all the laws and rules out the window and destroy everyone and any one in their way.

there was a roughly fifty percent death rate in canadian and american residential schools, from neglict of health care, food and from violence. the deaths speak volumes for what out governments and their estasblishment supporters really care about.

out spirits don't speak english. i often hear other languages spoken in my dreams--but i usually don't understand them, i think thats a bad sign

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: GUEST,999
Date: 28 Oct 11 - 10:59 PM

Bullshit about 50% death rate. Saying it doesn't make it so. You speak on our behalf and lie about our history. There is NO need to tell untruths. The figure is closer to ten percent, and if that doesn't make the whites ashamed, why do you think fifty will.

The Shuswap are a good people. There is no need to exaggerate as you have.

Peace is only a treasure when anger was not the goal. No, our spirits don't speak English, but neither do they speak Mohawk or Sioux or Seneca. They speak truth, or they should not speak, at all.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Rapparee
Date: 28 Oct 11 - 11:05 PM

Right on, 999 my friend!

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: GUEST,999
Date: 28 Oct 11 - 11:17 PM

Hey, Rap. Been some time, huh? I've missed you.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Oct 11 - 12:16 AM

Spirits speak in pure thought and it translates automatically from pure thought into EVERY language when received by the listener...the listener simply hears it in his OWN language.

(For instance, the medieval church attempted to trap Joan of Arc at her trial by asking her what language the Angels used who she said spoke to her in visions. They figured it would have to be Latin to be legit! Idiots. And they knew that Joan could not speak or understand Latin. She said that she heard it as French....naturally...French was the only language she KNEW how to speak...so what the heck else WOULD she hear an Angelic communication in?)

This is true of all people...we hear a Spirit communication normally in our own most familiar language, because it is automatically translated that way as it passes through our minds. We are all of one Spirit, regardless of cultural differences or other surface differences.

To use the past as an excuse for present frenzies of hatred, guilt, blame, recrimination, accusation, revenge, and other negative emotional drama is foolish and unproductive.

We have all, in my opinion, lived inside the skin of many races in many times. We have probably all been both victim and perpetrator in some of those past historical times. The only useful thing to do with that NOW is forgive yourself, forgive others too, avoid repeating past mistakes, and get on with your life NOW by practicing love in every way you can.

I identified at the heart level with Native Americans from the time I was old enough to walk, and I used to get very angry on their behalf over the many historical injustices and over present injustice as well. I still get angry sometimes about it....but I no longer let that anger consume me and make me bitter, because I know that such a fire eventually consumes the vessel that contains it...and burns other people too before it's done destroying its host.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 29 Oct 11 - 03:52 AM

Well said, Little Hawk.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 29 Oct 11 - 05:43 AM

"To use the past as an excuse for present frenzies of hatred, guilt, blame, recrimination, accusation, revenge, and other negative emotional drama is foolish and unproductive."


I agree to a certain extent, Little Hawk, but...there are some things from The Past which need to be acknowledged by some Nations, taught in schools etc, so that all know what happened, in the hope it will never happen again.

Sometimes, surely you need to Heal The Past to Heal The Future?

We can never go back, but getting the word out this happened in the first place, apologising and supporting those whom it hurt so deeply and still does to this day, has to be the way forward.....?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 29 Oct 11 - 06:01 AM

Of course it is only a valid statement for those who belive in spirits in the first place.

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 29 Oct 11 - 08:58 AM

"Of course it is only a valid statement for those who belive in spirits in the first place."


Please, don't make light of this atrocity.

There are *real* people out here who are hurting like hell because of this. I am honoured to have come into contact with some of them...and trust me, I'm in no mood for this being being taken lightly.

And *still* to this very day, The State takes their babies, re-homes them out of their own culture...

Why do they take them? Well, you'll find more than a few answers in this article:

The Continuation of the Genocide?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 29 Oct 11 - 10:02 AM

Oh, believe me, I am not making light of any attrocity. Including those that were committed by peoiple who believe that spirits were speaking to them.

I have not had 'contact' with the victims here but being of Polish/Russian/Welsh parentage I think I can safely say I have as much right to comment on oppressed peoples as anyone. My Welsh grandmothers people were maginalised for using their own language and customs in my own memory. My Polish grandmother fled from oppression by, first, the Germans and then the Russians. My Russian grandfather fled to Polad after being jailed and beaten by the communist regime for hiis religion.

Don't talk to me about righteous annger at people who neither want nor need your patronage and don't try to shut me up with the usual tirade on imagined victimisation.

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 29 Oct 11 - 10:34 AM

This is NOT about you, or me, Dave. Please, do not start this up again.

This thread is host to a very important subject, one that is tearing many American Indians apart, to this day, to this moment, as I write!

If you want to start a thread on your own family, then please do. But right now, I'd appreciate it if you could leave this thread to the subject of this very important, and moving film.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 29 Oct 11 - 11:10 AM

OK - I'll stick to the point. As I did in my earlier post that was rejected on the basis that it 'made light'.

The point was a very important one. If people want to be taken seriously, as they should be on this very serious subject, they should not trivialise the plight by refering to spirits that speak to them. By doing so half the audience is lost in the film title. I would not watch a film called 'Our spirits don't speak English' any more than I would attend a KKK knees-up. And I know I am not alone. If the plight of any repressed people is to be taken seriously they need a better approach.

If they want to appeal to new age hippies and the generaly powerless internet feeders then by all means go for the spirit angle. If they want to make a real difference use a different approach.

Now, just to make it clear this is not about any individual person just ask yourself how many people watched this film compared to how many watched 'Soldier Blue'. How many have been affected by this film and how nay were affected by that one. And how much difference did either of them make to anyones plight in the end?

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Little Hawk
Date: 29 Oct 11 - 11:27 AM

I fully agree, Lizzie, that we need to acknowledge and understand what happened in the past. And I'm all for that. I spent the whole early part of my life finding out everything I could about what happened between Whites and Native Americans in the period of White migration to the Americas. I went through all the outrage, sorrow, and similar reactions.....but I never felt guilty for being who I am, because I do not carry guilt over things other people did before I was born...or over the race I happen to belong to. I did feel angry about what happened, though, that's for sure. I reacted to it as if I were among the victims, not the perpetrators, because I don't think on the basis of racial identity, I think on the basis of morality.

I'm a bit puzzled by people who carry a load of emotional guilt around just for being White, given that it was other White people, not them, who committed various atrocities against Indians or Blacks or whoever suffered in some historical situation. Why would one feel guilty over something somebody else did? I don't get that at all.

But I do get why someone would feel angry about it.

In any case, further study made it pretty clear to me that virtually every race of people out there has committed terrible atrocities against other groups at one time or another...or even against their own people. Native Americans also did terrible things to their enemies in war. Blacks in Africa did terrible things to their enemies in war. It seems that whoever temporarily has the edge in military power is often very willing to use it in the worst ways possible....such abuses are not limited to the White race.

Consider what the 12 tribes of Israel did to the inhabitants of Palestine when they arrived out of Egypt. They exterminated entire groups of people and took their lands....and they were proud of it! They claimed that God had given them that land. That strikes me as a highly suspicious claim, but it's typical of the way people think when they gain a military victory, isn't it?

Indians sometimes did stuff like that to other Indians too, and to Whites as well. And Whites did it to Whites...and to Indians...and to Blacks...and to Asians.

Everybody's done it to everybody by now!

Knowing this, I don't see why anyone has to carry racial guilt on behalf of the past. We are all capable of being devils or Angels...but the choice is entirely up to each one of us. We are not bound by the past unless we decide to be...and that doesn't strike me as a wise decision.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 29 Oct 11 - 11:53 AM

Little Hawk - You are the wisest and best advocate of reason that I have seen in a long, long time. Thank you. If only everyone would realise that there are good and bad people in every race, colour and creed we may be able to move forward.

I personaly believe that the good outweigh the bad in every case. It is just unfortunate that the bad often have the loudest voice and cause most people to see them as representative of whatever race, creed or viewpoint they are shouting about.

Live life on the basis that everyone you meet is good, unless they prove otherwise, and we will not go far wrong.

Thanks again.

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 29 Oct 11 - 12:09 PM

No, George, this is not about guilt, on my part...it's about being really, REALLY pissed off!

It's about a world that doesn't seem to care. They have shoved the American Indians out of their conscience and that's that.

Yes, I know there are many good people who haven't done this, and who work hard to bring harmony and healing wherever they can, but in the main, it's 'out of sight, out of mind'...and THAT is what has to change.

Did you read those articles about the children, to this day, right up to this day, being taken from their Mothers, put out for fostering, then adoption?   The States doing this are even breaking their own laws! They are also putting the children with White families, not even *bothering* to ask the American Indian Foster Homes to take them in!

George, there's Serious Shit going on out there!

Did you know they've just moved Leonard Peltier, again, to USP Colman, in Florida? He's now hundreds of miles away from his family and friends and they are having terrible difficulty even getting to see him now, because the bloody system is making them dance through hoops..Even his lawyers can't get to see him easily any longer!

They've put him in a top bunk bed, knowing that he has a permanent leg injury, making it really, really difficult for him to get up there...

He's only recently out of solitary...after being stuck in there for almost 4 months, in temperatures of around 120 degrees at times!

They don't want to let him out because he's one of the Leaders of the AIM..and God Forbid they should EVER do ANYTHING that may give the American Indians their Strength, Passion and Pride back...So they keep him locked away, as a message to them all that this is what they think of them...

This is so, SO wrong, George!!

Last week I rang USP Colman. The young man I spoke to didn't even KNOW who Leonard Peltier WAS!   He finally found him on his list...then I told him Leonard's story. He was actually filled with compassion afterwards..and said he'd try and pass my concerns 'up the line'...

WTF aren't they paying the money they give to the States who take the Children, into making life SO much better for the American Indians???? These States get paid a small fortune for every child they take into Care! DOUBLE what they get for many other children, as ALL American Indian children are classed as 'Special Needs' children, apparently..

And WTF are they still described as 'Savages' in the Declaration of Independence???


No, There is something rotten in the State of America!!

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 30 Oct 11 - 05:16 AM

"I would not watch a film called 'Our spirits don't speak English' any more than I would attend a KKK knees-up. And I know I am not alone."

I missed this earlier on. So you're actually making judgement on a film you've not even watched? If you cannot even be bothered to watch the clip below either, then I have nothing further to add to any of your comments, for they are built on hollow ground.

Here is the most moving 5 minutes of the film 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English' and it is from this clip the title was born. Andrew Windyboy speaks, with tears streaming down his face, of how he cannot even remember any of his Cree language, for they beat it out of him. If *ever* he spoke his Native Tongue he was beaten for it, by those who deemed themselves to be acting for 'God'...and the reason he is so deeply distressed is that he now feels he can no longer speak to The Spirits in his own language, in the language he feels they understand, so therefore, I'd imagine he feels entirely cut off from a huge part of his Soul.

It is one of the most moving things I have ever seen.

The Short Version

And I should imagine that even trying to re-learn Cree again would be beyond agony for him, with the terrible memories it may bring back.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 30 Oct 11 - 05:28 AM

Ah, but you see my folk music moves forward with The People...it is constantly changing, despite the roots still growing all the way through it...

English 'folk' music is wrapped in aspic, stuck in a museum and guarded by Folk Riot Police who feel themselves to be The 99%, when in actual fact, they are merely the 1%


Show of Hands, Dave?

yeah, sure, ask them about me, for once, in a land far away, **someone** used to write about them, get masses of others talking about them too...

Now.......?

But I'm still waiting for you guys to start up about them, as you're the New Followers of them. And meanwhile, whilst you lot are being silent, I'm still putting their music on the Occupy Wall Street/Canada/Britain/The White House Facebook pages......

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 30 Oct 11 - 05:31 AM

Oh bums, wrong thread! Could a kindly Mudelf remove this please. xx

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Oct 11 - 07:50 AM

If you cannot even be bothered to watch the clip below either, then I have nothing further to add to any of your comments, for they are built on hollow ground.

That is indeed a very fair comment. So I watched it. Now I am fully convinced that my first judgement of the film was correct.

Yet another load of people damaged by others. Exactly the same as the oppression or even worse, extermination, of one group of people by any another. I am far from hardened to anyones plight but I cannot bring myself to feel anger at it. Sympathy, yes. But what good is that? None at all. No amount of media generated anger will mend the past or heal the present. Like I said before, there is good and bad in every group of people. Inciting anger at one set of people because a small minority did some attrocious things is tantamount to racism and I will have no part of it.

Incidentaly, I did watch Ken Loaches 'The wind that shakes the barley' because that has a lot more meaning for me. And I left that in the same mind. Anyone that portrays one whole group of people as demons and another as angels is trying to fool you.

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 30 Oct 11 - 08:40 AM

If you cannot even be bothered to watch the clip below either, then I have nothing further to add to any of your comments

Damn! Just realised what a trick I missed there! Ignore the post above. If I promise never to watch it can I rely on the promise that my comments will be left in peace from this day forward? :-)

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 30 Oct 11 - 08:56 AM

What good?

Well, the more people who know about it, the better..Surely?

The more people who know about it, the more will contact the White House, or try to help in whatever they can...Surely?

If you let everyone remain in utter ignorance over what happened to the American Indians, and sorry, but I feel a lot of people are in ignorance, then their plight will continue for longer and longer.

Many of them live in absolute poverty, drink, drugs, depression, suicide are rife...

To this day their children are taken away from them, against the laws of the States that are doing this. Read up on the Fostering of American Indian Children...I'd put the NPR link in, but you'd probably not bother to read it...

What's happening still is just awful...

Obama promised them many things, many promises...and whilst he has now achieved some, he has a very, very long way to go.   He could, and should, have freed Leonard Peltier almost immediately on becoming President...

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 30 Oct 11 - 09:16 AM

"We are invisible because the majority of people in this country are not educated properly about American Indians and grow up thinking we're historical beings who exist only in museums." Rosemary Richmond, Akwesasne Mohawk of the Bear Clan

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Little Hawk
Date: 30 Oct 11 - 10:54 AM

You say there is something rotten in the State of America, Lizzie?

Darn right there is. I call it fascism. I also call it imperialism. I doubt that Obama has any thought to spare for Leonard Peltier, I think he is far too busy practicing "business as usual" and running the great militaristic American Empire for the benefit of his rich controllers.

I appreciate your concern about the issues you are raising here.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 31 Oct 11 - 05:52 PM

Investigations of Mohawk children's graves continues; Kevin Annett adopted into Mohawk Nation

Taken from the above link:

>>>>>"Investigations of children's graves continues; Kevin Annett adopted into Mohawk Nation, given name and protection; Excavations spark similar actions in other native nations
Posted on October 09, 2011 by itccs

Brantford, Ontario
Test dig in forest near Mohawk Institute residential school

Both pro- and anti-government groups in the Mohawk Nation united this past week to endorse the independent investigation into mass graves of children at the former Mohawk Institute Indian residential school. The inquiry was initiated last April by nine elders of the Wolf and Turtle clans.

Chief Bill Montour of the government-funded Mohawk Band Council said publicly at a council meeting on October 4,

"This dig is long overdue and it's needed. I back this thing one hundred percent."

Meanwhile, the Men's Fire, a traditional group of warriors from all of the Six Nations, arrived at the excavation site the same day to provide security and protection for the inquiry members, especially for Kevin Annett of the ITCCS, who was asked by the Wolf and Turtle elders in writing to organize the inquiry into the missing children of the Brantford school.

As a sign of their support for Kevin Annett and the ITCCS, these elders formally adopted Kevin into the Turtle Clan of the Mohawk (Ongyahonway) Nation at a ceremony on October 6, and gave him the name Rawennatshani, which means "One who warns the people with a strong and wise voice".
Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey of Mohawk school grounds

The inquiry into the fate of many hundreds of missing children at the school continued this week, through Ground Penetrating Radar surveys that revealed that graves of children on school grounds were buried under tons of soil; and that suspected grave sites extend into the wooded perimeter of the former school, which was founded by the Crown and Church of England in 1832.

"We're looking at a massive investigation into an enormous crime site, but at least it's begun" commented Kevin Annett today.

"We hope to have a preliminary report issued before the new year once we have samples and other evidence analyzed forensically. We've already assembled an archaeological team to do a professional study of what's being uncovered."

Earlier this week, traditional Mohawk elders announced that they were imposing their own jurisdiction over the graves of residential school children, and declared that the government of Canada, its police and courts had no authority to intervene into their investigation.

Elsewhere in Canada, groups among the Maliseet, Anishnabe and Sovereign ©Skwxwú7mesh-Squamish™ indigenous nations announced this week their intent to launch their own digs and inquiries at suspected mass grave sites at former residential schools on their territories, independently of the government's stage-managed "Truth and Reconciliation Commission."

"The Mohawks have inspired all of us" said Jeremiah Jourdain of the Anishnabe nation in Winnipeg today.

"Now we have to spread this movement to bring the children home on our terms – and prosecute those who killed them."

Nearly half of all Canadian Indian residential school students – more than 50,000 children – died or went missing between 1832 and 1996, when the last school closed.

A You Tube presentation of these events will be forthcoming this week. Images follow."

For updates on the Mohawk digs and more information, see www.itccs.org and contact Kevin Annett at [e-mail] . The Nine Elders can be contacted through Bill Squire at 519-757-3624.

Issued by ITCCS International Office, Brussels
9 October, 2011<<<<<

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: GUEST,999
Date: 31 Oct 11 - 08:12 PM

From CBC archives:

"Initially, about 1,100 students attended 69 schools across the country. In 1931, at the peak of the residential school system, there were about 80 schools operating in Canada. There were a total of about 130 schools in every territory and province except Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick from the earliest in the 19th century to the last, which closed in 1996. In all, about 150,000 aboriginal, Inuit and Métis children were removed from their communities and forced to attend the schools."

So am I to understand from this that the investigation intends to locate the remains of 75,000 people?

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: BTNG
Date: 31 Oct 11 - 08:19 PM

These may account for some of the missing (right hand column)

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: GUEST,999
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 01:41 AM

Thanks, BTNG.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 01:01 PM

EXCELLENT site here, with many, many good links...

But there is also one helluva video on here to watch....

My God, what they have had to endure! And still endure to this day, so very often...


The American Indian Holocaust

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Megan L
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 01:32 PM

Live in the past

I cannot change yesterday
I have to let it go
I cannot free a tobacco slave
Or open Auswitch doors

I cannot change yesterday
I have to let it go
I cannot unblight the tattie
Or reroof the shieling burned

I cannot change yesterday
I have to let it go
I cannot cure the black death
Or bring the inquisition dead to life.

But I will make tomorrow
Far better than today
I will feed the stranger
And help whoever comes my way

I cannot save the world
I'll drown in pain if I try
But I will what err I can
When I see someone cry.

I cannot change yesterday
For it is far away
But I will make tomorrow
Far better than today

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 01:54 PM

Megan, I would agree with that, but only if this had been recognised in the first place, and were not continuing to this very day.

Read up on how many Indian children are being fostered out, or adopted into, non-Native American Indian homes, right up this day...See how the States that do this get paid DOUBLE for American Indian children, as they are ALL registered as 'special needs' children...There are American Indian Foster Homes standing *empty*, ready and waiting to receive youngsters, to care for them until their parents are better....

Talk to me of a once proud people, of whom so many are now heavily into drug, drink and depression, the high suicide rates etc.....

Look up 'Vanishing Prayer'...the entire film is on Google.

I'm sorry, but the Native American Indians need recognition that this has happened, that it is STILL happening to this day, that they have had a terrible, dreadful ordeal to endure, which still touches their children to this day....and they need compassion and promises that this will all be put right, as soon as possible, not false promises from Obama which either fade away entirely, or take so long to bring to fruition that all have lost hope....

And please, look up Leonard Peltier, for he has spent 36 YEARS in prison for something so very many, including many, many eminent people, feel he did NOT do.

It is not only a National Disgrace to the USA, but it is a Global Disgrace!

And as one of the men says in that brilliant, heartbreaking film there are Geronimos all around the planet, fighting for their people.....of which Chief Raoni is just one, fighting for his People and his home, in the Amazon Rainforest, and if Brazil builds their insane bloody dam, along with 60 others which will follow Belo Monte we will all be in very deep shite.

We cannot CHANGE the Past, but..we can bloody well ACKNOWLEDGE it happened in the first place, that it is STILL happening today and then we offer out our hands in Love, Support and Compassion.

This race need their Pride back. They need their Culture back. They need their History back. They need their LIVES back!

And, they need their RESPECT back, from all of us!

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 01:56 PM

Staying silent is no longer an option!    It merely contributes to the Evil that has been done to the American Indians..

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Greg F.
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 02:55 PM

That's Native Americans to you, white girl.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 02:56 PM

No, I think you'll find they prefer to be called American Indians now....hence the AIM, the American Indian Movement. :0) x

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 03:50 PM

Oh no...someone will object to the American part.

Here is my song about probably Cowichan Indians on Vancouver Island..lots of graves near a churchyard of very young people.

I suspect the buildings nearby were once a boarding school, but I don't know for sure. I am suspecting the deaths were from measles.

I probably posted this before..can't remember.
Refrain is Lord have mercy in 4 languages.

Jimmy Joe is now my name
Lord have mercy on us
That's what they told me when I came
Lord have mercy on us

They taught us how to milk and plow
Lord have mercy on us
But foreign ways won't help us now
Lord have mercy on us

They taught us how to sing and pray
Miserere nobis
But only in the white man's way
Miserere nobis
The boys who once were fleet as deer
Miserere Nobis
become so slow and solemn here
Miserere Nobis


The girls who once were bright and gay
Kyrie eleison
Have had to learn another way??
Kyrie eleison
The fever spread from bed to bed
Kyrie eleison
Every day another dead
Kyrie eleison

If at last I can't be saved
Namen twee natala
Put a ring of stones around my grave
Namen twee natala
And point my feet towards the sea
Namen twee natala
For that is where I'd rather be
Namen twee natala

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: olddude
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 04:33 PM

I liked reading that we gave the kids blankets infected with small pox .. Nice huh ... One thing about the sins of the past .. hopefully we can make damn sure they are not repeated ... Ever again

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: olddude
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 04:34 PM

And we can only look around and see what the white man has done to the sacred lands also ... another great gift .... so sad

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Mrrzy
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 06:42 PM

Ever think about Mount Rushmore? Carving dead white men into those sacred hills? If that was Navajo territory, even worse, but I am posting in partial ignorance, I'm pretty sure they weren't in the Dakotas, or we'd have North and South Dinee instead, I guess...

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 06:56 PM

And all four of those men had many American Indians murdered...There's a great photo out there of Mount Rushmore, with four Chiefs carved above the White folks....

And of course, there is now Crazy Horse looking out from his mountain..

Just in, from The White House

>>>>>The White House

Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
November 01, 2011
Presidential Proclamation -- National Native American Heritage Month, 2011

NATIONAL NATIVE AMERICAN HERITAGE MONTH, 2011

BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

A PROCLAMATION

From the Aleutian Islands to the Florida Everglades, American Indians and Alaska Natives have contributed immensely to our country's heritage. During National Native American Heritage Month, we commemorate their enduring achievements and reaffirm the vital role American Indians and Alaska Natives play in enriching the character of our Nation.

Native Americans stand among America's most distinguished authors, artists, scientists, and political leaders, and in their accomplishments, they have profoundly strengthened the legacy we will leave our children. So, too, have American Indians and Alaska Natives bravely fought to protect this legacy as members of our Armed Forces. As service members, they have shown exceptional valor and heroism on battlefields from the American Revolution to Iraq and Afghanistan. Native Americans have demonstrated time and again their commitment to advancing our common goals, and we honor their resolve in the face of years of marginalization and broken promises. My Administration recognizes the painful chapters in our shared history, and we are fully committed to moving forward with American Indians and Alaska Natives to build a better future together.

To strengthen our economy and win the future for our children, my Administration is addressing problems that have burdened Native American communities for too long. We are working to bolster economic development, expand access to affordable health care, broaden post-secondary educational opportunities, and ensure public safety and tribal justice. In June, I signed an Executive Order establishing the White House Rural Council, to strengthen Federal engagement with tribal governments and promote economic prosperity in Indian Country and across rural America. This comes in conjunction with several settlements that will put more land into the hands of tribes and deliver long-awaited trust reform to Indian Country.

To bring jobs and sustainable growth to tribal nations, my Administration is connecting tribal economies to the broader economy through transportation infrastructure and high-speed Internet, as well as by focusing on clean energy development on tribal lands. First Lady Michelle Obama's recently launched Let's Move! in Indian Country initiative will also redouble efforts to encourage healthy living for American Indians and Alaska Natives. These actions reflect my Administration's ongoing commitment to progress for Native Americans, which was reaffirmed last year when we announced our support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Through a comprehensive strategy where the Federal Government and tribal nations move forward as equal partners, we can bring real and lasting change to Indian Country.

This month, we celebrate the rich heritage and myriad contributions of American Indians and Alaska Natives, and we rededicate ourselves to supporting tribal sovereignty, tribal self-determination, and prosperity for all Native Americans. We will seek to strengthen our nation-to-nation relationship by ensuring tribal nations have a voice in shaping national policies impacting tribal communities. We will continue this dialogue at the White House Tribal Nations Conference held in Washington, D.C. next month. As we confront the challenges currently facing our tribal communities and work to ensure American Indians and Alaska Natives have meaningful opportunities to pursue their dreams, we are forging a brighter future for the First Americans and all Americans.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2011 as National Native American Heritage Month. I call upon all Americans to commemorate this month with appropriate programs and activities, and to celebrate November 25, 2011, as Native American Heritage Day.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of November, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.

BARACK OBAMA" <<<

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: GUEST,999
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 07:15 PM

Two things.

1) I hope this investigation is carried through, is thorough and complete.

2) I hope that victims of tuberculosis, Russian flu of 1889 and Spanish flu of 1918 (both waves of it) can be identified. Even today, Indian deaths at infancy and within the first year are double to four times the national average. If indeed genocide was practiced by any of the churches or our government, "we're so sorry" will not be enough.

Most of us in my family test(ed) gram positive for tuberculosis, so it was not just a disease of reserves. It was also a disease of people less well off financially. That said, if genocide is proven, it will change this country in the eyes of well-meaning Canadians, forever.

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: olddude
Date: 01 Nov 11 - 08:04 PM

Mt Rushmore is the greatest piece of American Graffiti that ever existed. It is a desecration to the Native American's sacred mountains and was carved by a well known artist who was a KKK member also .. There was a whole documentary on TV about it on the history channel

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Lizzie Cornish 1
Date: 02 Nov 11 - 03:59 AM

Maybe it's time they blew it apart, Dan...seriously.

Floyd Red Crow Westerman talking about The American Indian Holocaust


I found out about the story below from the 'Support Chief Raoni' page, which I help to run in Facebook. A sweet soul left the message below after I'd put the video of Andrew Windyboy on there, the short version, taken from 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English' to show what Indigenous People around the planet have had to endure, are still having to endure today...There are many kind people from 'Occupy Wall St' on that page now, so I knew it would reach them too. I didn't expect it to lead me to yet another great sadness though.....


From Annemie De Deyne: Dear one, there is indeed to much media blackout on this story. All those relocations, the tearing apart of families and communities, so much genocide and it is all done in the name of greed. I was invited 7 years ago to the reservation and see with my own eyes, or be the feel with my soul, what is done to the first people. I was deeply ashamed and more deeply touched, about how they where treated and the outside world just let this happened. The tribe, called the 'Dineh' gave me a video and you can find it on you tube, it is called 'vanishing prayer', every time i look at it i cry. Thank you for bringing this matter up. Many Blessings and warm hug! ♥


There are no words that I can say about this story, because it breaks my heart. Once you have watched this, you will understand why. Both videos, together, will take up only 18 minutes of your day. Please, watch.

'Vanishing Prayer' - Part 1

'Vanishing Prayer' - Part 2

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 02 Nov 11 - 12:10 PM

Thread name game -

BS: Things that get up your nose    164* d        02 Nov 11 - 04:04 AM         
BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English' 45       02 Nov 11 - 03:59 AM

You can't make thise things up can you :-)

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: BTNG
Date: 02 Nov 11 - 12:13 PM

Some human beings can't speak English

Subject: RE: BS: 'Our Spirits Don't Speak English'
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 02 Nov 11 - 03:30 PM

More thn some, I should think, BTNG

If around 7% of the world are native English speakers and up to 20% speak it as a second tongue; then 73% of the world cannot speak English! At last count I think that equates to 5,110,000,000

Quite a few!

DtG