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I pledge allegance to the flag of the Comanche Nation of America and to the People for which it stands. One Nation under our Creator, undivided, with the persuit of liberty and justice for all.About the song "I Have No Name" : There are many times when we have to fill out forms for various reasons and usually I will see the question about my race affiliation. The choices are usually "White, Black, Hispanic, Other" I guess I'm an "Other" as the US Government doesn't recognize the American Indian as anything but an other. This lack of identity as a people prompted me to write "I Have No Name"..........MichaelColumbus Day???For those of you who still think that Christopher Columbus is still some kind of hero---you may find this interesting as it is what the history books have written about this man. Failing to convince the portugues to finance his quest for a westward route to asia, the Italian mariner sought the aid of the Spanish royalty. The catholic monarchy of king Ferdinand and queen Isabella ultimately financed his vovage. On October 12, 1492 Columbus visited the Arawak people of the island of Guanahani---he thought he was off the coast of asia. there are two theories as to how he named the people---one that he called them Los Indios, meaning the dark ones or that in fact they were named by the Franciscan Monks who Columbus had brought with him. They referred to the kind gentle people as "En Dios" or truly with God. In the usual European arrogant way, he renamed the island San Salvador. Columbus wrote about how generous and loving the Arawak people were and how easy their conversion to Christianity would be. The conversion was begun immediately, and it was only a short time before enslavement practices followed. Columbus captured great numbers of Native people and transported them to Spain and other islands desirous of slave labor. Logically, those Natives, sent back to Spain, discovered Europe. Cruel treatment and foreign diseases all but annihilated the Arawak people. Columbus was arrested for his abuses and retuned to Spain in chains.He was later released and was prohibited from ever setting foot on San Salvador again. Christopher Columbus died in obscurity, to the end, convinced that he had reached Asia. The several 1000 arawaks that he had "discovered" were reduced to nearly zero by 1535. Characterized by the Euro-invaders as somewhere between humanity and animality, the Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island (North America) were doomed to suffer the greatest genocide known to man from the moment of first contact . Still feel like celebrating Columbus day?Being Indian is... Being Indian is feeding anyone and everyone who comes to your door hungry, with whatever you have. Being Indian is having every third person you meet tell you about his great-grandmother who was a real Cherokee princess. Being Indian is being broke all year long because you try to make every pow wow, basketball, and softball tourney. Being Indian is knowing what the pow-wow trail, basketball/softball circuit really means. Being Indian is loving frybread and dry meat. Being Indian is masking your emotions in times of stress. Being Indian is to not pay your phone bill or light bill to feed your family. Being Indian is respecting your elders who have earned it. Being Indian is never giving up the struggle for survival. Being Indian is trading your surplus commodities for something you are in more need of. Being Indian is being known for your great sense of humor and having the ability to make jokes and laughter out of the worse situation. Being Indian is not rioting in the streets but occupying godforsaken places like Alcatraz, Mount Rushmore, the New York-Canadian bridge, etc. Being Indian is to be judged harder by other natives then non-natives. Being Indian is owning land and not being able to rent, leases, sell or even farm it yourself without BIA approval. Being Indian is feeling Red Eagle, Medicine Cloud and Lone Bear are more beautiful names than Smith, Johnson or Jones. Being Indian is watching your daughter give away her only pair of overshoes to somebody who needs them more than her. Being Indian is having your all-Indian school team playing against 7 men on the basketball court. Being Indian is having people ask if they can touch your hair or take your picture. Being Indian is to be asked consistently if you still live in tipis or ride horses every where you go. Being Indian is worrying about diabetes. Being Indian is knowing why the rez car in "Smoke Signals" was funny! Being Indian is knowing what they meant in Smoke Signals by do you have your passports. Being Indian is knowing how to barter or trade. Being Indian is having more cousins than trees have leaves. Being Indian is cutting the mold off the commodity cheese so you can eat it anyway. Being Indian is having to explain *again* why you don't like the mascot. (So don't explain more than once, more than likely,they will abuse your words anyway)Being Indian is cursing F.A.S. Being Indian is knowing the Reservation of Education. Being Indian is understanding that the worst thing the white man could have done is educate us and watching his fear of how much we actually know his world. Being Indian is knowing too many people that have died of cirrhosis, exposure, or an "accident". Being Indian is knowing history started before 1492. Being Indian is laughing with your friends so much your face muscles hurt. Being Indian is singing 49 songs using a garbage can for a drum. Being Indian is road trips cross-country... just because... Being Indian is knowing you treaty rights... 1794, 1855, 1868. Being Indian is having the strength to move your family at any given moment, for any given reason of another and making it... Being Indian is reading about your ancestors and relations in an anthropologist paper. Being Indian is knowing someone in Oklahoma City, Albuquerque, San Francisco, Minneapolis or any other relocation center. Being Indian is losing your job after the grant ends. Being Indian is losing your job because you're different. Being Indian is having a song come to you at the oddest times! Being Indian is counting the number of brown people photographed in magazine advertisements. Being Indian is full of acronyms that affect your world (BIA, IHS, CSBG, ANA, FEMA, CCDBG, JTPA, SYEP, JOM, NIEA and UNITY)... Being Indian is not a right... it's a privilege! Being Indian is knowing your language or trying to learn it. Being Indian is having strangers tell you how cool you are in bars, when they are drunk, and they had an Indian friend when they were young. Being Indian is living the digital divide. Being Indian is hating macaroni necklaces. Being Indian is knowing sovereignty is a two-edge sword full of good and bad. Being Indian is knowing that "per caps" are another form of extermination. Being Indian is hard... Being Indian is pride and forever... It is an Indian thing that some may not understand.I believe we must all pull together in our quest for unity among the tribes. It is not only a cultural aspect, but as well, a survival aspect. The needs are great and many. Here is just one major need among the Lakota people in Pine Ridge, South Dakota. We speak of our pride as a people and that pride needs to extend to a love and concern as well. If you can help, be it great or small please go to my Pine Ridge blog and you will find direction. Thank you so much, in advance. Please do not let one more child, mother, or elder suffer or die simply because of a lack of nourishment or heat in the severe cold. Thru the month of April 2007 if you will purchase a cd "Leather and Feathers" from cdbaby.com and send me an email stating your purchase, I will forward the full amount of that purchase to Pine Ridge Fuel Assistance Program....PLEASE HELP...thank you, Michael Jeans
Fuel Assistance Program Urgent Need: There is an urgent need for heating assistance on Pine Ridge Reservation. The tribe presently has no funds for fuel and the temperature is below freezing every night. Please help ...These anecdotes are true:-An elder gentleman, one of the most impressive people I have ever met, chops wood to heat his small bungalow. He has no hands. They were amputated because of frost bite. -Two Lakota elders are without heat. The man has just undergone surgery for prostrate cancer and the woman has diabetes and is no longer able to work. It is difficult to stay warm and hard to endure cold baths in South Dakota winters. -A family of 10 huddles around the kitchen oven to keep warm while the latest snowstorm blankets the reservation. -An elder teaches her daughter how to wrap herself and her baby in order to keep warm in the winter when there is no heat.The people in these stories are real people. They are not unusual, rather they are typical examples of situations on the Pine Ridge Reservation.We work with propane companies to deliver fuel at the lowest possible price and, we support the efforts of Veterans Organizations to cut, haul, and deliver wood.You can help 100 gallons of propane costs $150.00 and will heat a small house for about two weeks in the extremely cold weather. We can help the Native Veterans provide a cord of wood for $85.00, about 1/2 the current price of wood. Contributions for propane and wood will heat homes twice - once this year and once next year. Money spent by ONE Spirit for propane this year, will be matched next winter by the federal government. Not only are we helping to warm families this year, but we are also investing in heat for next winter. Contributions of any amount will help to heat a home.For More information, contact Myrna Fox at [email protected]
Cangleska Wakan ( TRAILER )