Divide and...?

Rhonda, Felicia, and I all went to the Siletz Powwow on Saturday. We ran into family from both sides, which was nice. We also saw this wonderful hoop dancer and the game of "Shinny" being brought back for the first time to the Siletz. It is a stick game played with two balls tied with a string. The idea is to touch the opposite teams goal post with the balls. What was great was the older kids would let the younger kids scrimmage for the balls quite a bit. Boys and girls were both playing. Thank you Carol Logan for your efforts in bringing this game back to our folks.

When Rhonda questioned a friend about Dennis Banks and AIM, this man had nothing good to say about these folks. He brought up Dennis' many kids many of whom he claims Dennis has never paid child support on and is still wanted as such. He also stated that AIM were poverty pimps and stole from the elders. He also claimed that the violence on the rez's was started because of AIM, not the Native oppressors who wanted to be more like whitey.

Truth is, I've read that there had been Indian on Indian violence, between traditionalists and the sell-outs since pretty much the rez system began. I've read about how Indians hunted down, and in many cases killed, Indians performing traditional ceremonies back in the day when such "freedom of religion" was ILLEGAL! Not, of course, taking into consideration racism, sexism, spousal abuse, child abuse, Indian on Indian violence, etc., has been rampant on pretty much all rez's to this day. Saying AIM brought the violence is pretty much like blaming the victim. Of course, my slow mind didn't think of these things until yesterday.

That said, this man is also doing work with Dino Butler. Dino was one of the two men aquitted for killing the two FBI agents that Leonard Peltier is doing life for, for reasons of self-defense. Dino was also a member of AIM back in the day, and I don't recall any stories of poverty pimping and stealing from elders of this man. Hmmm!

Then...the director of "Native Nations" TV show, of which I am one of the hosts, had invited Rob Robideaux to be on the show to talk about his art this Thursday. I've been living life half awake lately, but when I first heard about this I was concerned but just didn't take any action. Rob was supposed to come down and talk about his art. However, for those of you who don't know, Rob was the OTHER of the two defendents in the case of the killing of the two FBI agents beside Dino Butler.

The thing about AIM these days is that pretty much all have been accused of being FBI informants by other AIMsters with absolutely no evidence to substantiate these allegations. Recently, Rob accused John Trudell in a Portland Indy Media article of being an FBI informant. Divisive!

The story I'm hearing going around is this. About 10 years ago, I did an interview with Dino Butler. He talked about how Rob Robideaux wanted him to go along with the Mr. X fiasco (a man calling himself Mr. X claiming to be the actual killer of the agents but never showing his face) in an attempt to free Leonard Peltier. Dino said he told Rob that the only way they will get Leonard out of prison was with the truth, not lies, and Dino refused to play along. My understanding is that Rob and Dino no longer speak to each other, but that is unsubstantiated as of yet, as I plan on talking with Dino once I get is phone number.

I've heard, too, that John Trudell had something to do with Oliver Stone not making the movie about Leonard Peltier. Rob Robideau was supposed to be a consultant on the film, and I guess it had something to do with the Mr. X bullshit and John wasn't going to play along.

So I cancelled Rob being on the show. I may have to do the talking directly. David Liberty is scrambling for a CRITFC guest, and all shall be well.

But folks, look at this shit, would you! All this great energy going into pointing fingers at each other, tearing down each other, etc. We are doing "the man's" work for him so he doesn't have to. We greatly outnumber "the man," but hey, he's harder to get than say...EACH OTHER!

So Rhonda and I were joking about how "Native Nations" would become the "Jerry Springer Show" of the Native world with Rhonda claiming she just might be the first one throwing a chair after she does more research (CAN YOU ALL SEE WHY I LOVE THIS WOMAN SO MUCH!).

So, violence is still happening on the rez's and in the cities, though with "a kinder gentler machine gun hand" as Neil Young might say. And what is the best we can get out of our communities? Divisiveness? Yet...look at the Beauty!

Look at that hoop dancer. Shinny has been reintroduced to the Siletz Nation! There is so much Beauty in our communities, and so much REVOLUTIONARY energy! If we'd just stop beating ourselves and our community members up, maybe we would find ourselves FINALLY storming the Bastille!