What Use Are Indians Anyway?!

ADVERTISING AND CO-OPTATION!

Indians are not able to fight back quite like we used to. Of course, back in the day, we fought for our very survival before the genocidal U.S. and Pre-U.S. onslaughts out of Europe. Surviving this most horrific form of genocide which has founded this most genocidal nation, it makes it pretty easy for Indians to be taken advantage of without expense to those taking advantage of us...even our own.

I've talked about racist advertising in previous posts on this blog like; Umpqua Dairy products, Chetco Bank, Seneca products, Jeep Cherokee, Nike N7, etc., which just goes to show you that Indians can be easily exploited and taken advantage of without having to send any of that corporate money to the little red savages...WOO HOO! Profits from Red Nig...uh...haha...Native American logos; or do you prefer to be called Indians?

But wait, THERE'S MORE! Not only can you profit greatly from Native logos and names, you can also use them to promote less profitable motives, such as:

THE PEACE MOVEMENT!
Notice the legitimizing red color!

That's right, just attach a Red Nig...uh...haha... Just attach a Native American name or to your peace issue, and it adds a certain legitimacy not found by naming such things as...Whities for Peace. After crushing Indians militarily, with vigilantism, and many other forms of genocide, one can now CO-OPT them to add a legitimizing flavor to whatever issue you want to advertise.

White Feather House in Portland is a good example. Tom Hastings, founder of the White Feather House, alleges to have been a friend of Larry Cloud Morgan, also known as White Feather. Larry was a peace activist and in 1984 got arrested with a handful of others for damaging the lid to a missile silo. That said, and not fully knowing the relationship Tom Hastings had with Larry Cloud Morgan, Tom, to the best of my knowledge, took the name White Feather without asking the family of Larry Cloud Morgan if such a thing was OK. There are, of course, proper protocols to be followed when using a Native Americans name, or for that matter, ANYONES NAME no matter what race they are, but this was not followed. It adds legitimacy to said organization to carry an Indian's name. In co-opting Indian names or symbols, one doesn't have to follow the proper protocols if one chooses not to. This makes it "disrespectful." That means the use of the name was done without respect to Larry's family, let alone his people. Why not call it the Larry Cloud Morgan House? Not as catchy as his Red Nig...uh...haha Indian name.

But, that aside, I was reading TruthOut.Org and came across an article this morning by Kathy Kelly called "The Big Voice." The article is about Dan Pearson from Voices For Creative Non-Violence. They are hosting a walk called "Witness Against War" that is going from Chicago to St. Paul, Minnesota, where the Republican National Convention is being held. Currently they are walking through Ho-Chunk lands. The article nicely conveys a limited scope of the genocide, without using the word, of course.

Read the article, folks, because it seems to me that their is an "insinuation" that this walk is somewhat similar to the death marches forced upon the Ho-Chunks, and so many others ALL OVER THE WORLD! Now, THAT I may be reading too much into, I'll admit, however...

This article is about Dan Pearson and the "Witness Against War" walk that he has formed and is currently participating in and hosting. Good for him! War is a horrible thing. So is racism in all of its forms. Since this article is about Dan Pearson and this walk, one would think it would have a photo of Dan or the walkers. It instead has a picture of a "generic" Indian fella in his dancing regalia. The credit for the photo and the caption mention nothing as to whether the fella in the photo is even Ho-Chunk. But that's OK! It's just fine and dandy to co-opt Indians for whatever cause or product you have without their permission because EVERYBODY DOES IT! I mean, look at the "Spurs" restaurant chain in South Africa.

That is not the worst of this article. The Ho-Chunk name means, "people of the sacred language," or "people of the big voice." The most offensive line in its content to me is as follows:

"The United States is called a democracy. That means "People of the Big Voice.""

What democracy means to me is genocide, mass slaughter, everything for the few, human rights violations, and you get to vote from a handful of would be if not actual dictators to lead your nation. Often times the votes are rigged, and even if they are not, you have few choices.

Not only is it offensive but RACIST in my opinion that Kathy Kelly co-opts indigenous names and cultures to promote an alleged peace walk. However, like White Feather House, Umpqua Dairy products, Seneca products, Jeep Cherokee, Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) and Itasca RV's, etc., using Red Nig...uh...haha...Native American (or do you like to be called Indians?) names adds a little legitmizing flavor to ones issues like it does to ones highly profitable products, like the Nike N7.

So go out and get yourself some Red Nig...uh...haha...Native American products or issues! Why, it will almost make you feel like the genocide and illegal occupation of Native lands is justified...no matter what nation you're in.

Hey, you need something legitimized or a product logo you think mine or my wife Shusli's face or "Native Names" might make highly profitable or legitimized, send us an e-mail, maybe we could make a deal...

JUST KIDDING!

We are not that kind of human being. We don't sell out. In fact, we want it all back.

[My wife's, Shusli, was used without her permission. But that's OK. I mean, look at what race she is!]