Native American Punditry
Native American Punditry
By Julian Lang
Personally Friday evenings are special for the punditry on Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). I rarely watch the Sunday morning talking head programs for many reasons (we are not cable or satellite people). Besides that, on Sundays I prefer to go to my life drawing class at the local arts organization, the Ink People. I thought I might use Fridays to reflect on the news of the week, to the headlines, and to what I’m hearing hear in my own Native community here in northwestern California.
Ft. Hood: There is a curious situation that occurs while we are participating in our multi-day ceremonies hereabouts. Those of us who conduct the ceremonies are left out in the mountains for weeks without any connection whatever to the outside world. When we return to the everyday world we are often startled by the events that happened during our ceremonial respite when we were transported to our own indigenous Nirvana. We discover that wars have started, debacles of all colors and categories topped the headlines: political, social, educational and environmental cataclysms are endemic.
On Thursday I heard about the killings that occured at Ft. Hood. What a splash of ice water to the face. The act itself is horrendous, but the details are completely perplexing. There is fear of a backlash aimed at the Muslim people among us. A very real concern in my opinion. But what about the reason for the attack?
Fear and dread of being sent to Afghanistan. This fear must be bad enough if you are an American, but what pictures might flash through your head when you are a Muslim, albeit and American Muslim? Clearly the perpetrator, who is mortally wounded by gunshots, had gone over the edge. His fear of being sent to Afghanistan was so overwhelming that he killed those to whom he would likely would have been providing emotional and psychological therapy sessions! The real bugaboo, in my opinion, is stress.
It is a sad, a truly sad event for us all. And it illuminates that we continue to be a nation in a war mode versus one of peace. I’ve seen the effects of the overwhelming pressure that a war can have on a once “normal” person. Who do we blame when we lose a loved one to a nation’s war, when they are not a casualty on the battle field, but come home psychically battered and even crippled? The shootings at Ft. Hood reflect the complexity of war, its effects on the individual and the stresses that a war demands of our military leaders and on us as citizens.
Economy: The recent announcement that our Nation’s unemployment rates have once again increased is troublesome at least. It’s obvious that the economy will remain the number one concern for Americans for some time ahead. The “professionals” had been expecting the increase and what’s more they expect further increases. Some expect rises for 6 months, some for 15 months and still others expect that the rise will continue somewhere in between or even further into the near future.
The economy is a personal concern. Most of what I do is contracting with other groups and organizations, providing for them with services that will ultimately cost them less if they hire me rather than do it in-house. Well, the fact is that awarding contracts has become pretty stagnant. That’s my reality. We are all in the same sail boat, for the near term, and unfortunately our boat is caught in a doldrums. The waves rise and fall but without wind any progress will be the result of blood, sweat and tears. Tightening our belts until we look like wasps is the future that we can expect.
The Alaska Heritage Foundation announced the winners of its contest to award 6 $10,000 checks for Native writers who were asked to write essays on the subject: Recommendations to stimulate the economy that Native people can provide to the President and Congress. It will be interesting to read the essays. I submitted an essay and didn’t make the cut. As a result I am very interested to read the essays that won. As an aside our local Native community included several writers that made the cut. One person, Jacquelyn Dyer, won! Congratulations to her.
Native News: The much anticipated Native American Summit with the President occured this week. I will be contacting several individuals that attended the Summit to get their reactions and assessments of the historic event.
The Water Summit occured in Sacramento this week. I’m not well informed on the subject. Nevertheless there is a great concern, or at least there should be, for Native tribes to be involved in these discussions. Our lives are connected to the land. As we all know water is the essential ingredient for life on Earth.
It is a fact contained in our mythology. We, the Karuk People, believe that the Klamath River, for instance, was created when one of our most important Spirit People, viewed the Earth that had been created. It was a sandy, hilly landscape without “substance”. This Spirit Person considered the paltriness of what had been created and the Human Beings who were going to inhabit this Earth. He created rock so as to help keeping the land from being swept away.
He looked at the Earth once again and nothing was growing. There was no food for the Human Beings. And he sat on the highest peak and cried for us all. “They will have a hard time”, he thought. And then he cried for us. His tears flowed and from his tears the major creeks of our local land filled and flowed down to the path that was created when the Sun walked on the Earth. (Before he was flung up into the sky.) The sun’s path filled with his tears and the Klamath River was formed.
Our point of view and responsibility is undeniable. Our river is the testament of the Spirit’s love for us all. It is our job to protect it. It is our duty to make the waters fully flow once again.
A Final Note: Many of us are artists. We are singers and painters and creators of objects that possess the meanings and life spirit that will carry us forward. The idea that we can bulldoze our way forward is contrary to our indigenous sensibility. Ours is a process that is not invented, not conceived, but applied using knowledge that has been provided for us.
Peace to all
Julian Lang