James Craven singing to Dick Gaughin's "Stand Up for Judas."
Shusli Baseler-Johnson, wise and wonderful.
Lana Jack, Celilo Village activist.
Warren Robinson, long lost co-host of "Mitakuye Oyasin."
The Great Carter Camp
A whole lotta wisdom at the mics, I'm tellin' ya.
Shusli lookin' sweet in a Billy Jack/Wovoka type hat.
This years "Genocide Cover-Up Day," we had a whole lotta wisdom in the room.James Craven, Blackfoot Solicitor General and Economics Head at Clark College doled out a whole lotta knowledge to the folks listening, and sure hope a lot of you were listening. His biggest message, we have to unite.
Shusli, man, I'm tellin' you folks, I married a wise and wonderful woman, and she shined this day. Her messages that Indians aren't tokens to be used by ANY community, let alone as mascots. That people should work WITH us, and not just to get their "Indian Badge" [my wording]. And we need to get back to the land.
Lana Jack, of Celilo Village, is a testament to determination. She was slated to be kicked off of her land at Celilo Village where her family had lived for THOUSANDS of years. Why? Because she is not considered Indian by those that committed genocide against us. That's right! She is not "federally recognized."
It was good seeing Warren Robinson, long lost co-host of "Mitakuye Oyasin" again. He is an amazing poet, but we didn't have time to let him read any.
Carter Camp joined us for the second hour from the Rosebud Reservation. They are having a big suicide problem there. At least one young person a week. The most recent a mother of five, about 34 years old, just couldn't take not being able to provide for her family. Carter is a sundance leader and AIMster and was at the occupation of Wounded Knee in '73.
And then there's me, Eugene Johnson, resident loud mouth, hoping that genocide will finally be over and we won't be doing this again next year...but I know we will be.
This years message was strong. That message was pointed out strongly by Jim, and I paraphrase:
It's nice that you all care about the genocide in Darfur and other parts of the world. We all should. But there is a genocide happening right here under your noses that needs something done about it.
Get out there, folks, and do what you can to bring down the whole system and rebuild a new one that actually honors people instead of greed and the wealthy.
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