Saturday, October 11, 2003

Indigenous Peoples Day QUOTE OF THE WEEKEND "Its hard to see the future with tears in your eyes." - - Mohawk saying THIS WEEKEND IN HISTORY OCT 11, 1972 -- In Seattle, Washington, Roberto Maestes leads Chicano activists in occupying the abandoned Beacon Hill School, which they propose converting into a Chicano community center, El Centro de la Raza. The city eventually cedes the school to them & the center continues to operate there today. OCT 12, 1492 -- In the New World: Christopher Columbus, lost & confused, runs aground in the West Indies & is discovered by the Arawaks. The arrival of Columbus & his men signals the start of the European invasion of the Americas. In the next 25 years all 50,000 Arawaks had died or been shipped out as slaves. OCT 12, 1970 -- Beatnik & American Spiritual Teacher, Stephen Gaskin, and 350 of Haight Ashbury's finest seekers, set out from The Family Dog Rock Hall at San Francisco's Ocean Beach in a Caravan of Mandala painted school buses, committed to re-discovering America. (The Rhino was aboard) OCT 12, 1992 -- Rallies, protests & arrests throughout the Western Hemisphere mark the 500th anniversary of the beginning of the European invasion of the Americas & genocide of its native peoples. WEB SITE OF THE WEEK: The Transform Columbus Day Alliance http://www.transformcolumbusday.org RHINO HERE: Many Indian people consider Andrew Jackson to be the creator of the most brutal U.S. government policies toward the American Indian Nations. Among many blames to fame, he oversaw the forced march of Southeastern Indian people, infamously known as The Trail Of Tears. If one visits Jackson's ancestral home in Nashville Tennessee, called The Hermitage, as you step into the foyer, the first thing you'll see if a large painting of none other than, Christopher Columbus, the other person that so many Indian people consider as having been the most brutal toward North America's Indigenous peoples. So now comes Columbus Day 2003 and what has the dialog between American Indian people & the American immigrants come to? I'll leave you to answer that question, but I'll give you a few interesting articles to help ponder it. Rhino wishes you a peaceful Indigenous Peoples Day.   Native family competes on 'Family Feud' Indianz.com,  10/8/03 From left to right: Don "Gov" Chaino (Kiowa), Shelley McKosato-Haupt (Sac & Fox), Michelyn Thompson (Navajo), Brenda Wahnee McKosato (Comanche), Harlan McKosato (Sac & Fox). Photo Courtesy Wahnee McKosato. Growing up, Harlan McKosato never saw people like him on one of his favorite television game shows. Oh, there were plenty of Smiths and Joneses and Clarks. But no Native Americans, he recalled. That all changes next week when McKosato, the host of the popular radio show Native America Calling, and his family go for the big money on "Family Feud." It's believed to be the first time a Native family has competed on the long-running "survey says" show. http://www.indianz.com/News/archives/001882.asp Columbus and Western Civilization by Howard Zinn, Zmag George Orwell, who was a very wise man, wrote: "Who controls the past controls the future. And who controls the present controls the past." In other words, those who dominate our society are in a position to write our histories. And if they can do that, they can decide our futures. That is why the telling of the Columbus story is important.... More at: http://www.zmag.org/CrisesCurEvts/columbus_western.html 1491 by Charles C. Mann , The Atlantic Monthly, March 2002 Before it became the New World, the Western Hemisphere was vastly more populous and sophisticated than has been thought-an altogether more salubrious place to live at the time than, say, Europe. New evidence of both the extent of the population and its agricultural advancement leads to a remarkable conjecture: the Amazon rain forest may be largely a human artifact... More at: http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2002/03/mann.htm Surviving Columbus in Puerto Rico: the myth of extinction Indian Country Today Editorial: October 06, 2003 The story this week of a new major DNA study showing considerable American Indian ancestry in the population of Puerto Rico is intriguing and revealing. Of course, there has been for over two decades considerable agitation by Taino people of Puerto Rican nationality, on the island and in the diaspora. But now Dr. Juan Martinez Cruzado has shown that as high as 61 percent of Puerto Ricans carry American Indian mitochondrial DNA from their maternal lines. .... More at: http://www.indiancountry.com/?1065463328 8:48:44 AM    comment

RHINO'S BOTTOM LINE - 510 Years of Native Resistance 1492 - 2002: 510 Years of Native Resistance by: Suzan Shown Harjo / Columnist / Indian Country Today, October 14, 2002 Think back to a dozen years ago. The Little Bighorn National Monument still carried the name of Custer. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act was not yet law. The National Museum of the American Indian was only ten months old. Spain, Italy and all sorts of hyphenated Americas were ramping up celebrations for the Columbus Quincentenary. Replicas of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria were being readied for hooplas in major ports of the Americas. Cristobal Colon (a.k.a., Columbus) seemed destined for sainthood. Then Native Peoples rocked the boats.  The 1992 Alliance and The Elders Circle led the charge with a widely circulated statement in 1990, declaring 1992 as the "Year of the Indigenous Peoples" and urging everyone to mourn the more than 500 Native Nations that did not survive the invasion and to celebrate those who did.... READ THE REST AT: http://www.indiancountry.com/?1034601059 Statement of vision toward the next 500 Years Native Currents Indian Country Today, October 08, 2003 On the Columbus Quincentenary in October of 1992, there was a historic gathering of 100 Native American writers, artists and wisdomkeepers at Taos Pueblo. They did not meet to reflect on the past five centuries, but to contemplate the future. They met for four days and issued the following statement: In memory of more than 500 distinct Native Nations and millions of our relatives who did not survive the European invasions, and with respect for those indigenous peoples who have survived, we make this statement.   We, the indigenous peoples of this red quarter of Mother Earth, have survived 500 years of genocide, ethnocide, ecocide, racism, oppression, colonization and Christianization. These excesses of western civilization resulted from contempt for Mother Earth and all our relations; contempt for women, elders, children and Native peoples; and contempt for a future beyond the present human generation. Despite this, we are here.   Since time immemorial, Native nations have lived in harmony with this land and in solidarity with all our relations. Our continued survival depends on this vital relationship. We perpetuate this harmony for our continued survival and world peace. We carry out our religious duties for the good of all. Endangering us endangers us all... READ THE REST AT:   http://www.indiancountry.com/?1065627412 "RHINO'S BLOG" is the responsibility of Gary Rhine. (rhino@kifaru.com) Feedback, and requests to be added or deleted from the list are encouraged. SEARCH BLOG ARCHIVES / SURF RHINO'S LINKS, AT: http://www.rhinosblog.info RHINO'S OTHER WEB SITES: http://www.dreamcatchers.org (INDIGENOUS ASSISTANCE & INTERCULTURAL DIALOG) http://www.kifaru.com (NATIVE AMERICAN RELATIONS VIDEO DOCUMENTARIES) Articles are reprinted under Fair Use Doctrine of international copyright law. http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.html All copyrights belong to original publisher. Tell a friend about Rhino's Blog 7:09:32 AM    comment

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