|
We
Americans-of-color need to have an epiphany, an edification, alas
enlightenment. The 50,000 watt light needs to come on and “we”
need to realize and agree upon one thing – we have an
historical common oppressor, exploiter, and abuser – and it is
the White male power structure that has pimped, punished, and
pummeled people of color for the last half-a-millennium...and that’s
just the ice-cold truth baby.
I
just spent a few days at one of the jewels of the US National Park
system, Lake
Powell, with
more shoreline than the state of California. It is an outdoor
person’s Disneyland,
a sportsman paradise, and water-sport capital: Houseboats, speed
boats, Jet-skiers, hikers, campers, and folks fishing. I had another
great vacation there. It’s located across Northern Arizona and
Southern Utah...in Indian Country.
“Indian
Country…” ain't
“denial” something? I thought the entire nation was
“Indian Country.”
But
what struck me again was the stark differences between the haves,
the
have-nots
and the have
not a … thang
American Natives. The National Park borders and parts of it are
located within the Navajo Indian Reservation. May I state the obvious
sharp and blunt truth: these people, the proud Navajo and Apache
people who were hunted like the buffalo to almost the point of
extinction – call it genocide
- the
conditions they survive
in is, to me...insulting, degrading, unfair and reflects a blatantly
racist and elitist mindset.
The
exploitative scene was so reminiscent of the Caribbean and Central
America, White folks own everything,
and
folks of color do all the heavy lifting.
This
is the American Indian’s land, they were robbed, at gunpoint by
the Great White Fathers up on Mount Rushmore...and by the like’s
of General
John Powell,
whom the giant twisting lake is named for, and whose views towards
the Native populations, along with his scientific approach, was built
on social Darwinist thought; he defined Native Americans as
‘barbaric’, placing them above ‘savagery’ but
below ‘civilized’ white Europeans. His words, not mine.
Let’s
change the name of
Lake Powell to Lake Apache, Lake Navajo, or Lake Geronimo –
just based on decency
and common
courtesy – two
noble concepts lacking today in Trump’s ignoble America. Half
the nation would agree with the change, and that other half, you know
who would vehemently oppose it. How predictable!
Look,
let’s not play games: Unquestionably settlers, pioneers, and
cowboys were the “bad” guys, while American Indians were
the “good” guys – homeland
security, the
“little people” who got “shafted,” “screwed,”
“used” and “left to die” by the diabolical
forces of European
Colonialism,
so-called American
Exceptionalism and
the contrived notion of Manifest
Destiny – which
all these big pretty words translate into is “all I see is
mine, the world is mine, and all these red-skinned savages need to be
eradicated and erased in the name of… white domination and
supremacy”
It
sure seems that way, yes?
Trump’s
America, mainstream USA wants Indians/injuns to get the hell out, to
go back to where they came from... But wait, they are America! They
deserve their piece of the pie, a pie they provided the essential
ingredients for. Being caged on urban and rural reservations isn’t
enough, being permitted to stay isn’t rough, they deserve what
we all know they’re due Reparations.
Indians,
like Black Americans, are due payment for the generations of our
families which made White folks here in America “rich” in
so many ways.
In
the construction of this shameless empire sits two groups –
American Natives and enslaved Africans who paid for it, and paid for
it with interest. Indians provided the land and natural resources to
exploit and maximize. The Natives fought back resisting white
colonization of their homeland in the Southwest with
all
they had, to the point where we see them today almost caged.
Enslaved
Black people provided endless stream-of labor; the backbone, the
blood, sweat, tears, and the agriculture expertise to quickly craft
the infrastructure and foundation of what is White-man
Land.
An empire where the game-of life is unquestionably “rigged”
- White folks seem to have endless access-to all
matters which matter,
and have monopolized everything:
security, prosperity, good health, a solid education resulting in
occupation choices which underwrite home options that produce
“wealth” which is passed on from generation to
generation. ….. While the majority of both Black folks –
the direct descendants of slaves dwell in poverty on Urban
Reservations,
and American Indians, the vast overwhelming majority live in
obsequious poverty on Indian
Reservations.
Forgive
me...I don’t believe this extreme contrast in the quality of
life is merely coincidental,
or
simply happenstance.
No, I believe it’s somewhat orchestrated.
The horrific conditions are the logical outcomes for people whose
genocide was waged-upon, who have been deliberately treated like
subhumans and denied their human-hood and the civil rights which come
with it, for a half-a millennium.
What
also struck me as I traversed the majestic Rockies and the high
deserts of the Southwest from Denver to Lake Powell, was the Trump
Flags I saw flying high all along the road there, and then a-top
million-dollar Houseboats at Lake Powell’s Wahweap Marina. It
seemed striking and contradictory in so many ways: these wealthy,
country club fat-cat Trump backers living well
n’ swell
on Indian land along with the rank and file rednecks, the good ole
boys who’re playing hard in their dune buggies...while the
structural and systematic inequalities were so-very vivid and
undeniable, the winners and losers all so clear, the oppressors and
the oppressed far beyond obvious.
Trump
was unquestionably anti-Native Indian, from attacking water and
mineral rights to opposing their operations of casinos to using them
as props to enhance his political fortunes. All those Trump cult
members I saw understand and still support that bigoted mindset and
mentality. The whole scene just screamed of the hypocrisy.
I
could only think how both
Black
Americans and American Indians are due, long due, “overdue”
reparations for the hell
we were put through, and for far-too-many who still endure today. Our
ill-treatment both warrants and demands acknowledgment and economic
compensation. Correcting what can only be described as wrongs
committed against a whole class of people - today in 2021 demand
restitution and redress for well-documented injustices which have
generated consequences and negative repercussions across generations
of Native and Black Americans.
By
the way, I’m an absolute fan of the US Calvary's mighty
Buffalo Soldiers,
but I do understand they were sadly manipulated as desperate pawns
pitted against other oppressed people.
|
