Psychological Effects

Rhonda and I got to talking about the psychological effects of genocide through a recounting of some of her personal family history. It took me a while to remember his name, but Clifford Allen of the Nez Perce has done some work around this issue. I think it is a good time to try to get a hold of him again.

Anyway, both Rhonda's and my family have suffered greatly under alcoholism. We have lost many good people to this stuff. Don't give me the personal resposibility lecture especially since the U.S. doesn't take responsibility for any of its numerous genocides nor do most of you folks take responsibility for your racism. Alcholoism is one of the many medications used to deal with the destruction we have and currently face.

So now, the U.S. is creating such great damage in the Middle East that the effects if they stopped right now would be felt for CENTURIES. Centuries from now it would still be hurting the people. And the U.S. is about to do it to Iran, and I'd say a majority of folks are or will just turn their backs. The slaughter doesn't end when the bullets stop flying. And the U.S., in staying with its regular genocidal pattern, will blame the victim and will also blame the victim for the medications they choose in order to numb the persistent genocidal pain.

The U.S. is very knowledgeable and creative about its destruction of entire peoples. They've been doing it for so damned long. Here are some kids who will be damaged the rest of their lives and their kids will be damaged by this and their grand kids and so on.

Feelin' the fight, yet?

Photographers...?

Photographers are a buncha flippin' WEIRDOS!

Details About Downtown Portland I Never Noticed Until I Got a Camera

Crystals

My friend and co-producer of "Native Nations," Kelly Labonte (sp?) owns and runs a crystal stand at Saturday Market in downtown Portland, on the weekends, of course. She asked if I could take a few pictures for her to send out to various places for her to sell. I liked these ones in particular, but undoubtedly could do a more professional job, as it were. But, here you go!

GET UP!: A Fight Poem

GET UP!

GET OFF YOUR KNEES!
PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!
LIVE ON YOUR FEET!
CELEBRATE ON YOUR FEET!
FIGHT ON YOUR FEET!
DIE ON YOUR FEET!

My one armed
never over five feet tall grandma
screamed in a bar fight:

"GET UP!
GET UP!
YOU WANT SOME MORE!
GET UP!"

Saul Williams screams in a poem:


"WHAT HAVE YOU BOUGHT INTO
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST TO BUY YOU OUT?!
WHAT HAVE YOU BOUGHT INTO
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST TO BUY YOU OUT?!
WHAT HAVE YOU BOUGHT INTO
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST TO BUY YOU OUT?!"

We are safe
and our fears are meant to be faced

Face your fears
get off your knees
before the king

Live on your feet!
Celebrate on your feet!
Fight on your feet!
Die on your feet!

"GET UP!"

"WHAT HAVE YOU BOUGHT INTO
HOW MUCH WILL IT COST TO BUY YOU OUT?!"

Find your fight...
you're gonna need it.

Beacon Rock, Skamania County, Washington

BEAUTY AND HELL

Healing is a word I can use
to describe my journey from abuse.

Bigger words
I wish could be found
for to those chains
I am no longer bound.

[Beacon Rock and High Bridge are not only a few of the most beautiful places in the world, they are also associated with the verbal abuse I suffered under my previous wife. She would scream so loud and in my face she would often be spitting on me. "I could just HIT you!" and "Sometimes I wanna KILL you!" were words often heard from her by me about the last years I was with her. That view to Beacon Rock on those picnic tables is where it happened about a quarter of the time as part of the daily attacks. It was a semi-peace zone. She also told me I was good looking, but it was hard to believe because no one that I knew of treated a lover they thought as good looking as she did me. And then, one day, I came to my senses with the help of my wonderful daughter, Felicia, and I left, never to return.

Felicia and I visited these places that summer. All the places where we were both abused and amazed by the Beauty of our surroundings. I wanted to enjoy these places without the psychological or verbal attacks with my daughter who was also verbally abused and still suffers from it.

And then along comes Rhonda, who was, sadly, at work yesterday. But in a way, I guess this was a journey I needed to do on my own. A little washing away and cleaning of old wounds. But yet, so much more, as I am reminded of the Beauty that surrounds me and the Beauty that is Rhonda, my sweetie, Felicia, my daughter, and so many of my fellow human beings.]

High Bridge, Carson, Washington

This bridge, High Bridge, out of Carson, Washington.

Before Rhonda and I met, I was living with my friend, Heidi. We were heading to Angel Falls in the Giff. As we drove across the bridge, I got somewhat nostalgic as I had crossed that bridge many times previously. "I've always wanted to walk across that bridge," I told Heidi. She slammed on her breaks and pulled over to the side of the road just on the other side and said, "OK." We walked across, and I could sweat that it was the first time. It cured me of my fear of heights, although I was absolutely terrified at the time. I decided then that some day I would do a photo shoot of this bridge. Some of the photos are through the drain holes. A couple looking directly over and a few down at the Wind River. The two over the rail shots that you can see gerters on, I got a bit nervous as I didn't pay attention to traffic and a big pick-up went whirring by and shook me. The rail is only about waist high.

A week or so after Heidi and I walked across, I regained some memories I wished I hadn't. I had walked across that bridge before...with my ex-wife. With her, she was in the middle of a verbal attack on me. Screaming and yelling and I wasn't happy. I wasn't happy at all. But in dealing somewhat with that monster on this trip, I strongly realize that the damage from that relationship is in the past. It was healing for me. And this journey was quite enjoyable.

LUNCHTIME!

Osprey would make good Indians as much as they Love fish...River Indians that is!

I LOVE MY NEW CAMERA!

Cruelty

Rhonda and I watched about 2/3 of "Beloved" last night before we got too tired and had to go to bed.

I must say that the history of this nations alleged greatness comes on the back of such amazing cruelty...the stealing of other peoples freedom. Of course, the stealing of other peoples freedom to create someone else's freedom is not freedom at all, but privilege. This privilege is criminal and immoral.

The whippings, lynchings, murders, massacres, smallpox blankets, etc., have all taken on different forms today. Some kinder and gentler, others just as cruel.

The kinder gentler cruelty, if you will (because it isn't really all that kind or gentle), can be seen in academia. As has been discussed here about Ward Churchill, what Prof Black Woman and Chanda have got through, what my friend Jim Craven goes though (constant challenges to his tenure to where he has fighting back down to a science). Could you imagine if our "free thinkers" were actually allowed the freedom to think instead of being forced and coerced into propping up the status quo.

And of course, the lynching, murders, massacres stuff still exists. What do you think is happening in Iraq and Afghanistan? How do you think the U.S. creates the willingness of other nations to just give up their resources? That's right! ABSOLUTE CRUELTY! The willingness to do amazingly horrific things, and in many cases actually doing them, in order to steal other peoples resources to prop up the elite and the status quo IS NOT FREEDOM. In fact it's a crime. This, we are porpagandized to believe as "freedom."

If I put a gun to your head, would that be freedom? If I told you that your intellect can be only used to prop up the status quo, would that be freedom? If I raped your children for speaking their own language, would that be freedom? America has one f***ed up sense of freedom. In fact, American alleged freedom comes with a cruel cost to others, mostly unseen by "americans." Those that are seen are reasoned away. Cruelty to others is the price paid for the privilege america enjoys.

Yesterday, I saw a flag waving party for the killer arm of the U.S. government. A bunch of soldiers all lined up ready to kill for the ultra elite, ready to kill to help maintain the status quo. Of course, they won't benefit from that as we all have seen George cutting off all their benefits piece by piece to the troops he wants us to support but won't support himself. And it amazes me, all these people who won't do their own killing, heaping great praise on those that will so they don't have to. That is privilege.

I have more compassion for the soldiers than I do the rank or U.S. government. I have the least amount of love and compassion for the flag waving bastards who refuse to do their own killing lining the streets to heap great praise on the killer arm of the U.S. government. I repeat: "Never support a war you are not willing to take up arms in and fight in yourself because you are asking others to do your killing for you."

Cruelty...it's what makes america great.

It's A Camera!

This is my new toy. I'm gonna spend my lag time at work today figuring this sweet thing out instead of cat nappin'. So you can expect brighter, clearer, pictures of my sweetie, Rhonda. Maybe a few other folks and other things as well.

By the way...excellent coffee cake this morning, Sweetie! If I had my new camera figured, I'da taken a picture.

I have a few photo shoots planned for Sunday, so be prepared. I told Rhonda about them, but I'll surprise you all!

Dang! Rhonda! You are so Beautiful!

"Planned Parenthood Kills Babies"

There were a couple of activists holding signs on a local busy street last night stating "Planned Parenthood Kills Babies." No mention of other baby killers:

Madeline Albright
David Lesar
Bill Clinton
George Bush
Dick Cheney
Al Gore
Condeleeza Rice
WAY TOO MANY TO TAKE THE TIME TO NAME HERE.

Some baby killing good! Abortion type baby killing bad.

There is only one person that should have control of a woman's body, that is the woman whose spirit resides in one.

Many blessings to you, our mothers, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, friends. If the folks holding those signs really cared about children, they would do something about the folks whose decisions and actions are killing babies who are wanted, loved, and already born.

With Many Thanks to the Ultra Elite

I have yet to delve too deeply into the issue, yet, but was informed of something very interesting by Jim Craven as we talked out front of KBOO.

Rhonda asked Jim what he thought of the bridge collapse. These kind of things immediately bring her her suspicions about state control, because that is what usually comes from such things. Jim informed us of this.

That the stadium that has been built or is being built was built from funds taken from road improvement monies slated to do things like...help maintain the bridge that collapsed. Hmmmmm?!

Like I said, I haven't looked into this too deeply myself, but I do know that Paul Allen who profits greatly off of the Rose Garden here in Portland, used I believe about $340,000,000 in state taxes to do so. We "beasts," as the elite enjoy calling us, have yet to gain any benefit from the construction of that piece of shit. There have been a few jobs "created" but there would have been jobs anyway. Knowing this bullshit, I wonder what member/s of the ultra elite are profitting greatly from the new stadium at the expense of, say, the folks dead, dying, and wounded from the collapse of the bridge that the funds used to build the stadium were supposed to help maintain?

So, does anyone know the details behind this deadly game with human lives for the profits of the ultra elite in Minnesota (and elsewhere, if you want to go there)?

Ward Churchill Interview

So we interviewed Ward Churchill yesterday. We being:





Jim Craven (in the front room of KBOO and behind the mic)
David Liberty
Rhonda Baseler (who was there to listen and only said "Hi")
and me (not pictured)

I invited Jim down because Jim has done a lot of work with Ward Churchill. Jim is the Blackfoot solicitor general and has indicted the U.S. and Canada for the crimes of gencoide on behalf of the Blackfoot nation.

David Liberty is a former Ph.D. cadidate in archaeology and anthropology and has struggled much through the alleged legal system and the bullshit academic arena in the Kennewick Man case.

Rhonda is a radical nurse and long time activist who struggles from her Indian peoples from Norhtern California and Southern Oregon especially along the Rogue River.

Me, pudgy loud mouthed Indian fella with a mic and an audience.

The first half of the program we mostly focused on not only the kill the messenger and the message. You see, this is not only an issue of stopping Ward Churchill's voice. The man isn't gonna shut up anyway. It's a matter of destroying the usage of his academic work within academia. You see, his work is an indictment of the U.S. and Canada for the crimes of Genocide in and of itself. It is an indictment of the U.S. breaking many laws to supply its ultra elite with greater amounts of money at the expense of the masses. His body of work can be put in the position of not being able to be used in the works of people who could use it to FURTHER damn the occupational government of the United States. You see, the United States has the desire to LOOK good while NEVER having to behave in such a manner. If they behaved in a good manner, that would take capital away from the ultra elite, and we all know how wrong that is, right?

The second half of the show was focused on politics. I brought up the issue of Madeline Albright and I will always wonder why people won't struggle against horrific criminals such as her. I just don't understand. Complacency, I guess.

It was a good interview. I have it on CD if any folks are interested in a copy. (I warn you, however, that I have a tendency to take my time on this shit, but I will try not to if you are truly interested in this work.)

So...LET'S BRING DOWN THE EMPIRE BEFORE IT TAKES US ALL WITH IT!

I'm just sayin'.

PS Pardon the blurriness on the photos, I'll be getting a new camera today!

Fight Songs

For a while now, and I've been meaning to post about it, I've been thinking that what a movement needs to help it along is songs, good FIGHT songs. The IRA have a lot of good fight songs and when folks get together, they start singing them. I've been thinking of putting the call out to all musicians to see if any can come up with some fight songs. That still stands. However, I found a couple of groups that have put up a couple of good fight song CD's.


This is an excellent CD, and I plan on starting out tomorrows "Mitakuye Oyasin" with a couple of these diddys. There is no mention of the artists on the cd, but I am going to try to contact them for a future show. They are hip-hop and I love almost every song, and like just a few. One line I really like from "Ancestors (family mix)" is "I'd rather die standing and fighting than to live on my knees." My favorite line from Rhonda, my sweetie, as well. That cut also has kids on it. Nothin' like a bunch a little militant kids to really work up your soul for the good fight, enit? A must hear cd that you can get from CDbaby.com.


Blackfire has a new CD and they too have filled it with fight songs. SWEET! "[Peaks Song]" will be played during the middle of "Mitakuye Oyasin" tomorrow. One part of the lyrics that caught my ear is, "So you want to fight terrorists? Well there's the FBI the CIA and the Forest Service!" Every song on this CD is absolutely excellent and a must for your collection of militant Indian music (I know you all have one, right?). I Love this Dine (Din-ay) punk band. They haven't been to Portland in a long time, so be sure to e-mail them and talk them into coming to town. I'd like to see them play at the new NAYA building on Columbia Blvd. BUT WAIT! THERE'S MORE! They come from a centuries long tradition of fight songs. That's right! It's a double CD. CD 1 is their sweet punk stuff, and CD 2 is traditional fight songs! Absolutely wonderful! Don't pass this up. Buy these cd's, listen carefully, then get your...and let's hit the streets.

Don't forget, tomorrow we will also be interviewing Ward Churchill on "Mitakuye Oyasin." Controversial figure. Both Hated and Loved. Oddly, folks will bravely stand up and fight this man, but still, NO WORD about David Lesar, Stan Spotted Wolf, Earl Old Person, Madeline Albright, etc. "[SILENCE] IS A WEAPON! VIOLENCE IS THE MESSAGE!"

The Psychological Damages of Genocide

Rhonda asked me a question last night when we came home. "Why is it that Indians make up 1% of the Oregon population and 12% of our kids are in foster care?" I told her I believed it to be in part due to the psyochological effects of genocide.

Indians have endured a 98% reduction in our populations in general. There has been a study sited by Spalding Gray in the film "Swimming to Cambodia" that a 10% reduction in a population causes irreversible psychological damage. (I haven't found this study, yet.) In this case, it was the Khmer Rouge who had a 20% reduction in their population by the U.S. They then started a holocaust in Cambodia with no attempt by the U.S. to stop it. Sound familiar?

I have observed many things I believe can be linked to the psychological effects of genocide. Then I realized as I got older and read the Genocide Convention, that indeed, the Indians are still suffering under conditions of genocide. It is odd to be a member of a group that there is a continued system that attempts to still wipe us off the face of the earth.

Like with childhood sex abuse (read "The Courage to Heal") the shit just doesn't simply leave you. It brings up or enhances all sorts of issues within individuals and communities.

I talked with Stephen Feinstein, head of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota (he also found out for me that Peter Brzika made it to the states in the mid '50's under an assumed name), and asked if there had been any studies on the psychological effects of genocide. Indeed, there have been none that he knows of.

Hey, Amerika...

...ouch...

Institutional Racism

On the Automatic Preference blog, I went off on a fella I considered institutionally racist. Having dealt with this form of racism my whole life and undoubtedly to my death, it has a tendency to get on my nerves as people who are immersed in it will defend it to the death.

I am often recommending to said people that they read Inga Muscio's wonderful book, "Autobiography of a Blue Eyed Devil." It is an excellent piece on institutional racism.

The overt stuff, like the Skinheads, etc., is easier to handle for me because it is honest. These folks are racist and proud of it and in some cases, change their hearts and fight against racism. The institutional shit doesn't die, won't die, and no one to the best of my knowledge and in my experience has even come close to changing their hearts on the stuff. I have a tendency to react to this racism the most because this type of racism is the most damaging. It allows things like:

Reservations where Indian lives are controlled and oppressed by the state.

The Jena Six.

Garbage dumps on Indian reservations and brown fields in black neighborhoods.

It is allowing the sexual abuse of aboriginal children by John Howard.

It allowed and seeks no justice for the systematic sexual abuse of Indian children in boarding schools.

It allows lung cancer on reservations where uranium was mined.

It allows the war in Iraq to continue.

It allows George Bush to take us to war with Iran (and he WILL take us to war with Iran).

There is so much complicity in institutional racism that people of color don't have a chance and what is allowed is just way too long to list. Can't fight it with kindness, can't fight it with education, can't fight it with verbal attacks. No one immersed in it has changed their hearts. No one ever will. It's an insidious monster that allows many horrible things to happen, even to white folks.

Now, if you also want to talk about institutional sexism, Inga wrote another wonderful book that ALL MEN should read as well, not that you will since you all already know everything. It is called, "Cunt: A Declaration of Independence." Inga, awesome human being and one of many of you wonderful folks out there struggling for a better world for us all.