ARIKARA CONSCIOUSNESS

Minding the Indigenous Mind: How the practice of mindfulness can contribute to Indigenous Education

2011-11-13T21:26:00.000-08:00

Mindful Greetings Friends and Relatives,

The Buddha once said, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.” In this column I want to advocate for the use of mindfulness practices in schools that serve and educate Indigenous youth. I believe that mindfulness is an activity that teachers, administrators, school boards, parents, and students should regularly engage in; it can be easily incorporated into the health and wellness curriculum of the school. Mindfulness is a practice that enables one to improve their thinking and to train their mind and attention to attain greater levels of awareness, stability, concentration, and calm. In this column I will define mindfulness, its significance, and its linkages to neuroscience and Indigenous cultural traditions.

An Exercise in Mindfulness

Before launching into the reasons why mindfulness is appropriate in schools that education Native youth, I want readers to experience for themselves a simple breath counting exercise that is commonly used in mindfulness practice. It is an exercise that helps establish a foundation for deeper attention and awareness. If you start to fall asleep or find it difficult to concentrate due to racing thoughts, twinges of anxiety or restlessness, pleasant or unpleasant memories, and body aches and pains during this exercise, just remember that this is normal when you are beginning to learn how to “tame” your mind. However, as you gently press yourself into a consistent routine of practice, you will find yourself entering into deeper and more sustained states of awareness, calm, and well being. The distractions in your life will gradually become quieter and less troublesome.

To begin with find a quiet place where you won’t be disturbed.

Get into a comfortable position sitting in chair or cross-legged on the floor. If you choose the floor you can sit on a pillow or a cushion to help support you and to reduce the strain on your knees. As you get into your sitting position make sure that you keep your back straight but relaxed and your neck aligned with your spine. Your head should be held as if you are balancing a ball on top. If you choose to sit in a chair make sure that both feet are resting flat on the floor.

Relax your shoulders and rest your hands, palms down, on the top of your legs if you’re sitting in a chair. If you are on the floor rest your hands on your lap, knuckle side down. One hand can rest inside the other, with palms facing upward, fingers slightly and gently curled up, and thumbs lightly touching. Take a deep breath and settle into a relaxed, balanced position that feels grounded and calm.

Close your eyes and bring your attention to your breathing. Settle into your breath but don’t force it. Just allow it be as natural as possible. Allow yourself to experience what this natural, relaxed breathing feels like for a bit.

When you are ready begin counting silently to yourself: Count 1 on your first in-breath, 2 on the out-breath, 3 on the in-breath, and 4 on the out-breath. Repeat this pattern and continue counting for the next five minutes.

If any thoughts come up that distract you away from your counting. Observe their content and how they make you feel, but do not get attached to them or judge them. Just allow them to be and as soon as you remember return to counting your breaths. It’s important not to get frustrated or judge yourself when you get distracted. Just stay relaxed and continue to return to your breathing and counting, remembering that it is your anchor.

When you are ready gently open your eyes, continue to let your breathing be relaxed and natural. Take a deep, cleansing breath and observe how you feel and what your surroundings look like. Write down what this experience was like. Was it pleasant, difficult, or relaxing? How did it make you feel? If you are an educator or parent, after you try it, you might help your students or child(ren) practice this exercise.

What is Mindfulness?

Mindfulness refers to being deeply aware of what is happening from moment to moment outside and inside us, without judging or attaching to the content, feelings, and emotions that arise. It refers to living deeply and richly in the present moment and not responding to life in a distracted and mechanical manner. For instance, when a student learns how to mindfully count his or her breaths, she or he will develop a greater awareness of his or her breathing. She or he will notice if the breaths that are taken are long, relaxed, and deep or short, rushed, and shallow. With this awareness she or he can make adjustments to so that their breathing more tranquil and efficient. After some time the student and teacher will notice that the deeper calm, awareness, and ability to concentrate that is acquired can be carried over to other activities in and out of school.

The Significance of Mindfulness

Mindfulness is one of the fasting growing approaches in the helping and healing professions. In a book entitled “The Clinical Handbook of Mindfulness,” (2008, edited by Fabrizio Didonna) several of the contributors to this text share how mindfulness approaches are becoming well-known in the field of psychology due to growing body of evidence that shows the positive effects these interventions have when treating a number of behavioral and psychological conditions. In the book, “Mindfulness-based Treatment Approaches,” (2005, edited by Ruth A. Baer) mindfulness-based treatment approaches are credited with successfully treating anxiety, depressive relapse, eating disorders, psychosis, and borderline personality disorder. In a paper entitled, “The benefits of being present: Mindfulness and its role in psychological well-being,” (2003, written by Kirk Warren Brown and Richard M. Ryan), mindfulness is credited with improved self-regulated behavior, positive emotional states, and declines in mood disturbance and stress.

A growing number of K-12 schools in the U.S., with students from many different ethnicities and socioeconomic backgrounds are using mindfulness practices to improve academic performance and deal with student stress and behavior. For instance, The Garrison Institute, an organization dedicated to transformation of society through contemplative methods, compiled a major report in 2005 on the use of mindfulness in grades K-12. Several schools participated in this study and reported that students who learned mindfulness practices developed a number of noble qualities: emotional balance and intelligence, peacefulness, well being, compassion, gratitude, empathy, confidence, a sense of safety, forgiveness, and love. Teachers also benefited: reduced stress, more alertness and patience, and less reactivity.

Linking Mindfulness Practices with Neuroscience

The value of mindfulness practices such as meditation is supported by a wealth of scientific findings. One important discovery linking mindfulness and the brain is neuroplasticity, which refers to our brain’s ability to change its neurons and reorganize its networks and functions due to new experiences. When a student learns something his or her brain forms new connections between brain cells. As she or he practices and memorizes what was learned, networks become stronger, enabling the person to become more accomplished at whatever task has been undertaken.

When a student practices mindfulness a number of important circuits in the brain are positively affected. For instance, the Amygdala, a region in the brain that is associated with fear, anxiety, and aggression, quiets down and the left side of the prefrontal cortex of the brain, an area located approximately behind and above the left eyebrow, is activated. Research has shown that this area is associated with happiness, well being, and an enhanced immune response.

In the book, “How God Changes Your Brain,” (2009) neuroscientists Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman state that “As neural functioning begins to change, different circuits become activated, while others become inactivated. New dendrites are formed, new synaptic connections are made, and the brain becomes more sensitive to subtle realms of experience.” Newberg and Waldman report that the research has consistently established that mindfulness practices such as meditation, positive thinking, and visualization change the structure and function of our brains and improve our health, optimism, and performance. In one study, renowned neuroscientist Richard Davidson and colleagues (2007) concluded that, “When the framework of neuroplasticity is applied to meditation, we suggest that the mental training of meditation is fundamentally no different than other forms of skill acquisition that can induce plastic changes in the brain.”

The Linkage between Mindfulness and

Indigenous Cultural Traditions

Although many people associate mindfulness and meditation with eastern spiritual traditions, almost all human cultures have engaged in practices that include the use of deep, focused thought, listening, and attention. This is particularly true of Indigenous Peoples throughout the world. When spiritual leaders taught sacred rituals to the uninitiated members of the tribe (mainly the youth), it was required that the novice engage in concentrated, uninterrupted attention to what was being presented, its meanings, and how it was connected to the traditions of the people. Among some tribes, before youth would be introduced to certain sacred practices they might be required to undergo a purification process where they would be spiritually cleansed so that their minds and hearts would be in a good place (without negative thoughts or feelings). Children were reminded that bad thoughts and lack of focus would taint their experience and their ability to learn.

When young people were passing into adulthood many would be guided into the formal process of “vision-seeking” to understand their purpose in life and how their actions would contribute to the well-being of the tribe. The preparation for vision-seeking was long, intense, and challenging. It required deep mindfulness and long periods of meditation, which focused on what was being sought (a vision, special healing powers, or insights). It also required one to focus on the process: an uninterrupted, steady focus and awareness of the special prayers and songs that were to be used, and an interpersonal humility and maintenance of pure, compassionate thoughts.

In closing, many Indigenous youth are not given the opportunity, nor are they pressed, to engage in formal mindfulness practices to improve their well being. While it may not be appropriate for school personnel to direct students in cultural mindfulness practices, they can implement mindfulness into the school setting. Developing mindfulness is not easy but it is worth doing since it is culturally appropriate, easy to implement, low cost, and it works. Mindfulness involves systematic training and practice and is a process that takes place over time. However, dramatic, positive changes can occur when one gently and consistently practices mindfulness. It is a journey that is well worth it for native students and those that teach them; for when they are invited to enter into states of deep awareness and concentration their worlds, experiences, and lives become much richer, less fearful and angry, more vivid, creative, peaceful, and healed. Raising the educational success and well being of Indigenous students is just one mindful breath away.

Michael Yellow Bird, MSW, Ph.D., is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes and a professor and the director of graduate education in the Department of Social Work at Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA. His teaching, writing, research, and community work focuses on social work with Indigenous Peoples, neurodecolonization, neuroscience and social work, and employing mainstream and traditional Indigenous mindfulness practices in tribal communities to promote health and well being. He leads a regular morning mindfulness practice for staff, students, and faculty in his department. He can be reached by email at: mjy9@humboldt.edu

Counting Coup! A Fictional Halloween Tale of Suspense and Cultural Awareness

2011-10-31T22:01:00.000-07:00

I was out doing the tricks or treat thing this evening and saw a couple dressed up like Indians. I did a double take because they looked like an old traditional enemy tribe...so I attacked them, counted coup, war whoops; all that Hollywood, John Wayne stuff. When I realized they were just a couple of little white kids, I ceased my attack. After they got up, broken fake feathers and all, I told them I was "honored" that they were dressing up like Indians. They didn't say much and ran away before they could thank me for honoring them. Yeah, right. Gratitude!

I left and went around the corner and saw another couple dressed up like Indians; looked like an enemy tribe again...so I attacked. Kicked the hell out of them; gave 'em a couple of pretty hard, stiff Tomahawk chops - all that Atlanta Braves, Washington Redskins, Indian Mascot stuff, and they went down. When I realized it was an old white couple, the grandparents of the little kids I attacked earlier, I put away my weapons and helped them up and told them I was "honored" that they were dressed up like Indians. Between their moans of pain they were shouting something to me; sounded like F this and F you. Yeah, right. Gratitude!

But, I actually didn't hear what they said because I saw another person that was dressed up like an enemy tribe; had to attack him too. Turned out he was some little white dude from HSU. I helped him up and told him I was sorry that I had mistaken him for an enemy tribe. Before I could tell him I was honored by him dressing up like an Indian, he started apologizing; something about taking a diversity training and he should have known better... What a night!

When I go back home to my rez and tell my folks what I did tonight I'm pretty sure they're gonna give me some beautiful Pendleton blankets, a feast, and 3 eagle feathers. Probably dance all night. Probably make me a Chief! I was thinking that out here if I actually did this I would get 5 years in jail for assault. Man, it's tough being from another culture; but still can't wait till next year. Happy Halloween!

Minding the Indigenous Mind - Decolonizing Social Work, Snatching Indigenous Children

2011-10-30T12:04:00.000-07:00

Mindful Greetings Friends and Relatives,

In this column I share a story about how a social worker removed children from my home when I was a child. These relatives had come to live with us during times of hardship and my parents, especially my mother, had embraced them with a strong, unconditional, abiding love. And even though I already shared a close bond of friendship and brotherhood with my younger cousin who came to stay with me that summer, after living with us during this time, I believed that my bond of loyalty and friendship to him was unbreakable; until he was snatched away by a social worker.

I was moved to share this story after reading an article entitled, “Native Foster Care: Lost Children, Shattered Families,” that was posted on October 11, 2011 on the National Public Radio (NPR) website. The article reported that “Nearly 700 Native American children in South Dakota are being removed from their homes every year, sometimes under questionable circumstances.” The NPR investigation found that the state is failing to place the children according to the Indian Children Welfare Act of 1978 and that 32 other states also are failing to abide by the law as well. Although what is happening to these Lakota children and their families is unlawful and outrageous, having been a social worker for five years and a social work professor for nearly 20, I am not surprised, but yet I am outraged, that the illegal abduction of Native children continues unabated.

There are four main issues that I believe contribute to this situation: First, there has been no significant enlightenment in colonial society’s attitudes towards Indigenous Peoples and our rights. Second, Indigenous child welfare is situated in the colonial social services industrial-complex which is corrupt, broken, racist, genocidal, ineffective, and inefficient. Third, the system profits from the sickness, marginalization, and oppression of Indigenous Peoples. Fourth, the system’s engines are fueled by paradigms of Western social work that are embedded in the fantasies of American Exceptionalism, a belief that the United States occupies a special place among or above all nations of the world.

Because Schools and departments of Social Work are strategic cogs in the machinery of the social services industrial-complex, in truth, very few programs are interested in truly equipping their students, the next generations of social workers, to overthrow this racist, oppressive structure. Don’t get me wrong: there are honest, courageous, ethical social workers fighting for the rights of those they work for. But, in most cases, social work programs do little to teach students how to decolonize themselves or their profession. For instance, very few programs teach their students how to directly and intelligently subvert the racist rules of the system. Indeed, social work has no equivalent of “The 48 Laws of Power” that they can use to instruct their students to radically reform the racist, colonial structure. Few programs teach students they must stand side-by-side with Indigenous Peoples against the machine called the United States of America. Few programs teach them that they must “occupy” the imperialist social services and social work, and when necessary go to jail for standing up for the rights of Indigenous Peoples. This is beginning decolonized social work and it is an antidote to prevent the snatching of Indigenous children.

The Abduction

My first experience with social workers happened when I was about six or seven years old. When I recently reminded my mother about this encounter, even though what had happened occurred more than fifty years ago, she winced in distress and said, “Yes. I remember that day. It was awful. I still don’t like to talk about it.” I was quiet for a while respecting the fence she had suddenly erected to protect herself from that time. When it seemed that the tenseness had left her I continued by saying, “I think I was about eight years old when that happened.” She replied, “You were only six or seven; maybe younger. You were just a little boy. When I used to think back to that time and all that happened I used to wonder what ever made you want to be a social worker.”

In my community, we all knew that the light, green-colored car with black lettering on the doors belonged to the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). We knew the tall, bald-headed White man that drove the car and smiled and waved at us was the BIA social worker. We knew he took children from our community and sent them away to boarding schools or to live with White families, especially those kids that had parents that were poor or drank a lot. We knew that what he did broke the hearts of many parents.

Sometimes the kids that he took away came home; sometimes they didn’t. Off and on, over the years, as we grew up we would hear about someone from our community that had died and how their relatives had brought them home to be buried. But we didn’t really know them, only the family name, since they had been adopted out to a White family or gone to a boarding school and then went to live in the city, never to return until their death.

It was a hot, shimmering summer afternoon when the green BIA car drove up to my house. As usual, my Mom and Dad’s place was bustling with many relatives laughing, eating, and carrying on multiple conversations in English and Arikara. The aromas of fresh baked bread, corn soup, and coffee drifted pleasantly throughout the house. My cousin and I had walked into all of the activity by way of the back door after spending much of the morning playing out back in a nearby row of trees. As the day warmed we positioned ourselves out in the open, away from the shade of the trees to enjoy the gentle heat of the Sun on our shirtless, little brown bodies.

Our conversations that morning had centered on two things. The first was whether some of the older men in the community would stop by my mother’s house for lunch and, after eating, organize another “Indian Dance” contest among the neighborhood kids. They brought a hand drum and sang several traditional dance songs in the yard behind the BIA house we lived in. They laughed and laughed as we did our best dance moves and picked out the best dancers and paid them. Third place won a nickel, second a dime, and first a whole quarter (big money in those days). The second topic was arguing about whom was the best and most accurate mud ball thrower of all of the neighborhood kids. It was a critical question since our most important boyhood game was playing war; and if you had the best mud ball thrower on your side chances were you might survive the battlefield carnage.

As my cousin and I walked into room amid all the activity, from the living room window, which was squarely in front of me, I could see the bald White man getting out of the BIA car. I watched him as he studied the different the cars in front of our house, looking at the license plates and then looking inside each one as if someone might be hiding in one of the cars. After a few moments he turned towards our house, walked up to our front door, knocked, and entered without being invited in. Once inside, he glanced around at all of the activity, smiled, reached into the back pocket of his pressed black pants, and took out his handkerchief and wiped his nose. He put folded it and tucked it into the front pocket of his white shirt. He continued scanning the room until he made eye contact with my mother.

“Hello Mrs. Yellow Bird,” he yelled over all of the noise. “I’ve come for the children. Are they ready?” With that remark all conversation immediately ceased and everyone looked at him. There was a long pause before my mother spoke. “Yes. They’re ready,” she said as she got up from the kitchen table where she had been visiting with several of my aunts.

She slowly walked toward my cousin standing next to me, gently put her arm around his shoulders and guided him toward my other cousins that had gathered in a small, tight circle in the middle of the room. She gazed at them with intense pain in her face, while at the same time trying to smile at them.

“It’s time to go with Mr. Herman,” she said. “He’s going to take you to a real nice school.” Then all hell broke loose! My cousins started screaming and crying and began hiding behind my mother, who burst into tears. My sisters, girl cousins, and aunts all started crying too. But us boys just stood still, frozen with confusion, paralyzed by what was happening. I wish I could say, all these years later, we boys fought back with everything we had; little brown fists flying and hard mud balls striking and disabling the enemy. But there were no warriors among us this day. There was no resistance, no defense; just little boys suffering from the paralyses that war sometimes brings to those that have been engaged for too long.

As my cousins were led outside by the social worker and my weeping mother, I unfroze enough to move to the window to watch them loaded into the green car. They continued crying holding on to my mother’s dress, fighting hard against the grips of the bald White man as he forced them into the backseat of the car. One by one he put them inside the mobile prison; and once they were in all of the fight dissipated from their little bodies, which enabled him to slam and lock the door. He looked at my mother as she stood there crying, looking in the windows at my cousins. He ran quickly to the driver’s side, got in and began to drive away.

I don’t remember my mother coming back into the house, but as I turned away from the window after the green car went out of sight, I saw her sitting back at the table with her face buried in the palms of her hands crying uncontrollably, rocking back and forth, loudly repeating, “I wanted to keep them! I wanted to keep them!”

All around her stood my aunts, sisters, and girl cousins deeply sobbing and wiping the tears from their eyes. But us boys, we just stood there, unable to cry, glancing at one another and the floor.

Michael Yellow Bird, MSW, Ph.D., is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes and a professor and the director of graduate education in the Department of Social Work at Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA. His teaching, writing, research, and community work focuses on social work with Indigenous Peoples, decolonizing social work, neurodecolonization, neuroscience and social work, and employing mainstream and traditional Indigenous mindfulness practices in tribal communities to promote health and well being. He can be reached by email at: mjy9@humboldt.edu

Minding the Indigenous Mind - How Negative Are Tribal Communities?

2011-10-24T00:12:00.000-07:00

Mindful Greetings Friends and Relatives,

The Buddha once said that, “Holding onto anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one that gets burned.” Contemporary neuroscience research supports this nugget of wisdom. Continuous negative thinking, feelings, and actions promote the release of stress hormones, such as cortisol, into the body which keeps one in state of high alert, flight, fight, and panic. The longer one remains in a negative state the more compromised the immune system becomes. Depression, anxiety, heart disease, cancer, overeating, digestion problems, allergies, memory lapses, and drug abuse, among other things, are indicators of one’s level of stress and negativity.

On the other hand, positive thinking leads to optimism and happiness. The degree of happiness, how often one is happy, and how long their happiness lasts, especially in the face of adversity, is strongly associated with a positive sense of well being and good health. Happiness is an excellent predictor of how long and well one will live.

The subject of this column is, “How Negative Are Tribal Communities?” I wanted to write about “how happy are tribal communities,” but felt I should first explore the domain of negativity. This particular column is inspired by the many discussions I have had with Indigenous folks about the high level of negativity in their communities. I hear this most often when I am doing presentations on my writing and research about the connections between mindfulness, oppression, health, neurodecolonization, and Native Peoples. Much of the time the topic of negativity in tribal communities is raised by our young, idealistic university students that want to return home to help their communities but are concerned that the negativity will take its toll on them. For the purposes of this column negativity can be regarded as actions, thinking, and feelings that are hostile, obstructive, disagreeable, gloomy, and pessimistic. Before launching into an estimation of how happy tribal communities are, it is important to examine negativity since it is the counter-force to our happiness.

From neuroscience studies we know that the human brain is wired for negativity. Of all species, humans are the Olympic champions of negativity. While we humans do display many acts of compassion and kind respect to the people and things we’ve come to trust and love, in most cases research shows that we are much more likely to take the low road of negativity when we get annoyed or upset. In the book, Buddha’s Brain: The practical neuroscience of happiness, love, and wisdom, Rick Hanson, Ph.D. and Richard Mendius, M.D. discuss the human brain, its functions, and its evolutionary history. While they delve into the many beautiful attributes about our brains they conclude that we are programmed for negativity, which is a bit depressing. Oops. There goes my negativity.

Still, there is strength in brain negativity according to Hanson and Mendius; without negativity it would be difficult for our species to survive. For instance, imagine one of our ancient ancestors hiking along the Missouri river heading home after a long visit with relatives downstream. After many miles and hours of not eating, she or he suddenly comes upon a bush that is loaded with bright, beautiful, plump berries, which have never been seen before. Two alarms in the brain go off. The first is “Wow!” “Food!” The second is more measured, thoughtful, and pessimistic: “Hmmmm. Looks tasty but what if they’re poison? Better to wait and eat when I get home; I wonder what mom has for dinnar?” In the second scenario negativity certainly becomes an attribute if, in fact, the berries are poison: disaster averted.I think about our negative brain bias as functioning as an on and off switch that is most often, or most easily flipped to the on position.

While negativity resides in our feelings and behaviors it is most abundant in our thoughts. For instance, the National Science Foundation (NSF) has estimated that we humans have between 12,000 to 50,000 thoughts a day; some folks may have as many as 60,000 (note: I’ve only found this information in second hand sources so I am not sure how factual it is. I am continuing to look for the original study). It is also estimated that up to 80 percent of our thoughts are negative – some of them little irritants like “I don’t like the color of the paint on my bedroom walls,” or “I don’t like how her perfume smells,” or “I don’t like how my teenager wears his pants.” On the flip side, negative thoughts can be horrifying beyond belief. For instance, one can have sustained, intense traumas that they have contracted a deadly illness or that the world is going to end in a fireball of destruction, or after they die they will be doomed to spending an afterlife in extreme, eternal suffering. This last example, in my opinion, is when negativity become a liability, a burden, and unhealthy since the brain has wandered into and imagined a future that may never be.

Let’s define negative thinking a bit more. Negative thoughts arise as we continuously reflect on the many mistakes, guilt, failings, regrets, and secrets we hold from the past and present. They arise because of our uncertainty of the future as we constantly imagine how it may or may not be (which was certainly the case at the end of the last paragraph). Finally, negative thoughts come up because of what we are taught to appreciate, be fearful of, and to devalue regarding our own or another’s gender, race, social status, and perceived intelligence and attractiveness.

In all, many of our negative thoughts about ourselves, others, and the future have no merit or basis of truth whatsoever. And for that matter, they have only limited value when we consider our past, since it is the past, and in order for them to have value we must use the “negative” experiences in ways that create positive responses to similar situations that may come up. For instance, if you’ve said or done something to someone that was hurtful in the past due to your negativity, in the present be mindful to not repeat that action. Much of time easier said than done due to the negative bias in the human brain.

The negativity bias is well-supported and documented by the research of Dr. John T. Cacioppo, a distinguished professor and the director of the Center for Cognitive and Social Neuroscience at the University of Chicago. Dr. Cacioppo used sophisticated imaging technology to show that the brain reacts more strongly to stimuli that is considered negative. His studies show that there is a greater surge in electrical activity when one is exposed to what is perceived as negative versus what is considered to be positive or neutral. In other words, our views are much more likely to be shaped by pessimistic news than positive news.

The last bit of information that I believe is important for us to know about our negative brain bias is that it has been around for hundreds of millions of years. Evolutionary brain biologists refer the oldest part of our brain the hind brain or reptilian brain which we share in common with all other species that have a backbone. So, our ancestors were right – we are related to all life. Our reptilian brain is on duty 24/7 and is in charge of our survival. It controls our body functions such as breathing, heart rate, balance and body temperature, which are essential to life. This part of the brain is regarded as being reliable but rigid and compulsive. It is most often associated with what some neuroscientists refer to the five F’s: fighting, feeding, fearing, fleeing, and fornicating. Defending territory, ideas, beliefs, and your girl or boyfriend, husband or wife from other suitors using aggression is a key function of this part of the brain. In other words, “might is right!” Sexual behavior is instinctive and responses are automatic and our emotions are more stimulated and negativity and anxiety are higher.
When our reptilian brain is in charge, which is a good part of the time for most of us, it is much harder to access the neural networks in our brains that are in charge of compassion, self-awareness, and emotional intelligence.

In the book, How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist, authors Andrew Newberg and Mark Robert Waldman tell us that the anterior cingulate is a special part of our brain that is involved with some of our deepest levels of humanity. For instance, our compassion, social awareness, and ability to recognize the feelings of others (emotional intelligence) is located here. This region of our brain is associated with our ability to decrease our propensity to express and react with anger and fear. It is where our deepest feelings of love reside. Newberg and Waldman are quick to point out that the neurons in this area are very vulnerable to being overridden by our reptilian brain which has been around much longer. In their view, we are much more likely to engage in fighting, aggression, anger and fear than we are in acts of love, compassion, generosity, and acceptance.

There are many ways out of our negativity brain bias. Some of them are as old as Indigenous culture itself: positive thinking, speech, actions, and feelings; mindfulness meditation; forget ruminating on the hurtful past and uncertain future; engage in contemplative prayer that is personally loving and extends love to all creatures and sentient being on the planet. Be careful of how you pray. According to Newberg and Waldman, prayer that centers on retribution and punishment from a fearful, critical, “I’m going to get you (and your little dog Toto too)” kind of God activates the neural circuits of fear and negativity in the reptilian brain and blocks access to one’s compassion, love, and acceptance. In this sense negativity and happiness are about one’s ability to control their mind.

So, how negative are tribal communities? I’ll leave that one for each of you to decide. I would suggest by asking yourself this same question on a personal level and then enlarge it to include your family, friends, and community members (and maybe the tea party too. Oops. Another negative from me).

In my work and research on Indigenous Peoples, mindfulness, neurodecolonization, and health, I have “argued” (another negative word) that tribal communities are very likely more unhappy than other communities due to their experiences with the various oppressions inherent in colonialism. I have used health statistics such as the amount of depression, anxiety, suicide, substance abuse, and life expectancy as measures of negativity and happiness among Indigenous Peoples, which suggest that we have much higher rates of negativity than happiness. However, I truly do not know how unhappy or happy our communities are.

Several happiness and negativity surveys have been conducted throughout the world, but I cannot find any that tell us much about our tribal communities. In response to the absence of these data, I think it is time for each of our communities to conduct our own surveys on these two traits. With respect to happiness, I believe it is important to focus on what makes one happy, what is the level of our happiness, how often are we happy, and what can we do to sustain our happiness?

In closing, the Buddha once said “Let your love flow outward through the universe, to its height, its depth, its broad extent, a limitless love, without hatred or enmity. Then as you stand or walk, sit or lie down, as long as you are awake, strive for this with a one-pointed mind; Your life will bring heaven to earth (from Sutta Nipata)

Minding the Indigenous Mind - Winds at Sundance

2011-10-23T22:50:00.000-07:00

Mindful Greetings Friends and Relatives,

In this column I share a personal story about my first trip to a Sun Dance ceremony that was held on Fort Berthold in the summer of 1991 (twenty years ago). I provide a sampling of how the mind and brain were involved in this experience.

June 3, 1991

I awoke this morning to the sounds of rain covers rhythmically slapping the front of my tent. North Dakota is nearly always windy; and when you’re camped on top of a large clay Butte for several days of ceremony, the winds continually remind you that you have entered their world of movement, violence, and calm.

Underneath me the earth is hard and uneven. It has not had a drink in a long time. I open my eyes and my brain waves begin climbing towards a low Beta state as I become conscious of my surroundings. I adjust my body position slightly in my sleeping bag and feel several small pointed rocks imprinting my body, despite the generous thick carpet of buffalo grass underneath the tent. All night my brain rested in a calm theta sleep and I dreamed of the wind. I stare at the side of the tent and watch as the light from the sun grows brighter and brighter. In perfect sync with the brightness of the sun, my brain’s visual cortex, my occipital lobe located in the back of my brain, activates with a harmonic electrical response. It’s as if my brain and the rising Sun have become one.

Outside seagulls dive bomb into the camp at first light and begin fighting over the sacred garbage and used pampers on the ground. I lift my arm out of my sleeping bag and look at my Timex Ironman sports wrist watch. It’s 5:30 a.m. Time to run or meditate.

June 1, 1991

I left Madison, Wisconsin at 3:09 p.m. on Saturday. My three youngest sons, Michael Jr., Peter, and Matthew, and I are going to the Sun Dance that is being held on a Butte overlooking the Missouri river on our reservation, just outside of New Town, North Dakota. My oldest son, Jason, my Adventurer, did not come this time and is hanging with his friend Ethan. Maybe next time.

I have never been to this ceremony and do not know what to expect or if I am prepared for what’s coming. As I experience both excitement and fear, regions in my brain’s deep limbic system activate and then calm. As we drive west on Interstate highway 94 from Madison, the loud, constant vibrating, clunking sounds from somewhere underneath our 1985 mini-van unnerves my sons and me. I experience bouts of anxiety knowing we could breakdown long before we reach our destination.

As we rattle along, Peter, asks, “Do you think we’ll make it Dad?” Matt, my Philosopher, looks up quickly from his theories of human nature book to gauge the expression on my face as I respond. Michael, my Warrior, quickly intervenes in the conversation to avoid having it get out control. He responds by saying, “Man, Peter. You worry too much. Dad’s got it under control!” I smile and look at Peter and say, “No Buddy. We’ll make it. We’re doing something holy.”
He smiles and looks away. Still, after having paid a few hundred bucks to the Firestone automotive shop, earlier that day, to get us road worthy for this trip I am hoping that all will go well.

The sounds of vibration are soon overridden by the myriad of questions from the boys about the Sun Dance, the reservation, our relatives, and where a good place will be to take our first break. Our active conversation has boosted our brain waves to a mid-high Beta range as we listen and respond energetically to all that is being said. We have a couple of loaves of sliced white bread, two packages of the good kind of baloney, a couple boxes of ding dongs, a big bag of barbeque chips, two six-packs generic soda, a gallon of water, and a thermos of coffee: road food fit for a Chief!

Our first break comes not long after the boys finish their first can of soda. I pull over and get out and stretch as they hustle out of the van into the restroom to flush their small, soda-pop sugar coated kidneys. As we drive off I notice how the dome of the sky, the green trees and grasses, and the interspersed browns in the toiled earth shimmer beautifully in the setting sun.

At 7:00 p.m. we cross the line between Wisconsin and Minnesota which brings cheers from the boys who excitedly look to see if they can determine any subtle differences in the landscape.
After a stop in Rogers, Minnesota, about 40 miles north of Minneapolis, we cruise nonstop into Fargo, arriving at 11:30 p.m. The boys are sleeping and I glance at them and smile, wondering what they may be dreaming about. I watch several cars speed by us as we pass through Fargo; I wonder if any of these folks are headed to our Sun Dance destination.

Midway between Fargo and Bismarck I am drawn from the darkness of the road to the flashes of lightning in the dark heavy clouds in front of us. I’ve always loved lightning at night. One of my nieces, when she was a little girl, used to tell me that the lightening was caused by God lighting matches in heaven. I would tell her that, “God is too old to mess around with matches. I think it’s probably some naughty Angel kids trying to start a fire. When they play with matches they pee in their beds up in heaven.” With a puzzled but serious look on her face she would ask, “is that where rain comes from?”

June 2, 1991

Nearly three hours later we arrive in Bismarck. It’s early Sunday morning. I exit onto highway 83 north towards home. The shift in speed wakes Peter, my Sensitive one. He climbs upfront and asks where we are. "Buckle your seatbelt,” I tell him. “Did you have good dreams?” “I was dreaming about being chased by bees,” he replies. It’s time for gas and I turn into a station to fill up, noticing that the sounds of our van’s bumble-bee vibrations are much quieter.

We drive off from the station; another eighty or ninety more miles till White Shield. Peter remains awake watching the road before us. We begin a conversation about the night and the creatures that depend on the dark for life. He tells me about bats, nighthawks, skunks, and deer and their preference and suitability for darkness. I listen intently to his gentle, well-informed descriptions.

All of a sudden our headlights reflect two shining eyes in front of us, at about the height of the windows of our van. Peter sees them first and says, “watch out Dad!” I’m already slowing down, “I see them.” We slow into a calm, quiet rolling stop and stare at the deer as she walks onto the road. She moves to the middle of the highway and pauses. Although, our encounter lasts only seconds we take in the shape of her large beautiful ears as they shift back and forth, listening, trying to determine what or whom is behind the bright, blinding light on her right side. She faces us for a moment and then gracefully turns her long beautiful neck and body away from us and walks elegantly back down into the ditch.

At 3:35 a.m. we turn off highway 83 and head west on highway 23, the old Lewis and Clark trail road. We are about 30 miles from home. At 4:07 a.m. we cross the line that separates the State of North Dakota from our reservation and turn right onto the dusty gravel road going north to my mom and dad’s place, which is about a mile away from the paved highway. There are several cars in the yard, no dogs barking, and no lights on in the yard or the house.

I pull over the car, park, and turn off the motor. I get out and walk up to the door and turn the doorknob, which is locked. I turn around and return to the car, deciding not to disturb whoever is home. I tell Peter that we will sleep in the car for a few hours and then head inside when it gets light outside. We settle back and I drift between awareness and sleep as Peter pulls guard duty.

June 3, 1991

I sit up in my sleeping bag and zip it open as I listen to the seagulls crying and the rain covers gently tapping outside. The boys are asleep. I can feel the heat of the summer morning building as I slip on my running shoes, tee shirt, and shorts. I brush the bits of grass out of my hair and put it in a ponytail. I fold my red bandana into a headband and wrap it on. I set the timer on my watch and zip open the front of the tent and step out. I stretch lightly and begin running to the North East, the semi-cardinal direction of the winds and all life in the air. As I pick up speed my body relaxes into my run; the wind greets me. I begin my prayer: “Winds be with me. Carry me. Protect me. Winds bless us all.” My right temporal brain lobe (the God spot in my brain) begins to activate.

Minding the Indigenous Mind - Brain Spirits

2011-10-23T22:43:00.000-07:00

Mindful greetings friends and relatives,

In this entry I share a short personal narrative called, “Brain Spirits,” that I wrote some time ago that features some fiction and real life experiences. I’ve added material that shows how the mind and brain are involved in the story. I hope you enjoy it.

Brain Spirits

As a teenager I often felt compelling urges to isolate myself so I could deeply contemplate the world, the cosmos, and the varied challenges that life and death presented before me. My meditation of choice was a journey through the rolling hills, lonely buttes, and lush valleys in our part of the reservation. In seeking my place of solitude and insight, I would mindfully move through these landscapes, sitting down from time to time, immersing myself in the sounds, smells, and sights to find an acceptable pitch of spiritual resonation.

As I soaked in the sensations of each place, I imagined who or what had been there before me or what or who was there now, that I was not aware of. I closed my eyes and allowed the sun and wind to touch my face. My mind and body relaxed, enjoying these sensations, and my reward-seeking dopamine (brain neurotransmitter) levels began a steady unimpeded rise. The right side of my brain, the creative side, opened up and my imagination became a conduit for communicating with those spirits that had passed this way long, long ago. Entelechy (perfect realization), however, remained elusive.

On one particular calm summer morning, feeling the call of the wild, I packed for a journey. My pilgrimage was no doubt driven by the late night conversations that I had had with my mother about the direction of my life, the meaning of God, the force of the Devil, and good and evil; nothing too heavy. My mother is such a serene, philosophical spirit that harbors gentle doctrines of truth that she imparts with the love and generosity of a warm, summer rain. Her placid dogma, however, can be overridden by her intuitive intelligence and cognitive flexibility when she is offered meaningful insights.

Following our long talk that evening I went to bed, my brain circuits noisy with the aftermath of our conversation. Through the open window near my bed a gentle breeze entered, bringing the sweet, earthy scent of an approaching summer rainstorm. As I listened to its low rumbles and watched the accompanying flashes of lighting far off in the distance, I begin to feel warm and drowsy. My brain waves soon began descending from the high beta waves I was using to converse with my mother, to a lower relaxed alpha, then to a very relaxed, calm theta, and finally into a deep, cosmic, no dreaming delta sleep.

I was suddenly awakened by a loud crash of thunder. The rain was falling heavy and I could hear the crack of the water as it fell from the roof onto the hard, black earth. The lightning flashed constantly. In my sleepy, dreamy theta state I saw the saintly spirit that visited our house during those nightly, crashing and flashing summer thunderstorms. She floated through the house sprinkling holy water in each room, stopping to whisper a prayer, before moving on.

I awoke the next morning to the smell of coffee brewing and the gentle murmurs of my mom and dad visiting about the day that lay before them. At daybreak my three youngest brothers and sister were still in bed, leaving me the first servings of a breakfast of fried potatoes, deer meat, toast, and canned USDA orange juice. If I ate too much of this feast my little sibs would be forced to savor the taste of hot USDA cornmeal mush with powdered milk, sweetened with white commodity corn syrup; I paced myself taking only a single serving.

As my mother moved away from the stove and sat down at the table to butter more toast, I saw the first streaks of white in her thick, wavy, coal-black hair that was tightly held together underneath a white doo rag style cotton diaper that she wore on her head. Without looking at me she asked me how I slept and if I remembered to say my prayers before going to bed. Between bites and drinks I answered “good” and “yes.” Remembering my dream I said, “Mom. I dreamed about that spirit lady again last night when it was storming out. I could see her moving around the house each time there was a flash of lightning. Before she could respond, my right temporal brain lobe (the God spot in the brain) mildly seizured and found myself sitting on a high hill, at night, watching as lightening cast jagged spears into the horizon and the thunders rumbled toward me from the southwest. I could smell the fragrances of sage, purple cone flower, little blue stem grass, and earth as I sat in my silent world. As my parietal brain lobe quieted down the separation between the plants and I faded. I became the flowers, the stems, the leaves, and fragrances. As I looked about I felt the warm night winds suddenly replaced by a cool airstream as the storm moved closer. A bright flash of lightening suddenly transported me from this place back to the breakfast table.

My Dad looked at me, quietly sipping his coffee; his brain’s mirror neurons were well aware of what had gone on in my mind and that I had visited this place. My mom didn’t notice and continued talking: “it’s good you prayed last night; maybe your prayers helped bring that spirit lady here to help watch over us.” My dad smiled ever so slightly, knowing she was the secret spirit lady. Something caught his hunter’s eye and he looked away from us out the window. My mirror neurons picked up on his shift in emotion and body tension. I followed his gaze just in time to see a large white dog cautiously trotting across the road in front of our house carrying a box of USDA commodity powered milk. My mother who was also watching said, “Now, there’s a good mom; taking extra milk to her babies.” My dad relaxed his gaze, sipped his coffee, and then replied, “Yeah, and it looks like she shops at all the right places.”

The dog slowed and stopped. Looking to the side it suddenly loped over the road out of sight. Moments later car lights appeared, speeding toward our house. It was my older brother coming home after a long night out. We watched as he braked hard and slid in the graveled driveway, creating his own little pig pen cloud of dust. In silence we wondered if he was drunk and incoherently obnoxious or half-shot and full of drunkard jokes.

My mom stood up and tensed like a mother lion watching a cape buffalo. She looked out the window at him for any sign of stumble or weakness. He smoothly exited his car, closed the door, looked up and saw her. He made a funny face, waved and smiled, and then walked up to the front door. Her body relaxed and she smiled saying, “He’s sober. I think.”

As he sat down at the table my mother poured him a cup of coffee and fixed him a plate of food and then asked him where he had been. Before he could answer, she said, “I suppose you were out drinking last night.” She waited for his answer; again watching for any signs of weakness or stumble.

A trickle of blood ran out of the deer meat as my brother cut into it. “I was with Willie and Sam,” he answered. “We were down by the river last night, just talking; they were drinking. I wasn’t. I told them that I quit. I’m giving it up; at least the hard stuff,” he laughed. “Both of them say they’re going to enlist in the army and go to Vietnam. Neither want go to college so they’re pretty sure they’re going to get drafted.”

Now my dad tenses. My mother stares at my brother watching him salt his food. With a faraway look she answers saying, “I hope they don’t go. They’re both their mother’s oldest children. The first born are always the hardest for a mother to let go. They’re the ones that open the way for the other brothers and sisters to come from the spirit world to this world.”

Upon hearing the word spirit, my brother suddenly looked up and said, “Mom. As I was driving up to the house just now I saw a white figure crossing the road. I saw its glowing eyes but couldn’t make out its shape. I thought it was a deer but as I got closer it disappeared. I think it was a spirit.” By now my little sister and three little brothers had entered the room, eyes open wide saying, “We could hear you talking about spirits.” My mom smiled as they sat down at the table. My dad, listening to all of the commotion, took his last drink of coffee, set down his cup, and stood up. He walked to the front door and grabbed his car keys and leather work gloves that were sitting on the TV. As he walked out the door he said, “I’m going to work before you ghost busters have me seeing spirits.”

Michael Yellow Bird, MSW, Ph.D., is an enrolled member of the Three Affiliated Tribes and a professor and the director of graduate education in the Department of Social Work at Humboldt State University, Arcata, CA. His teaching, writing, research, and community work focuses on social work with Indigenous Peoples, neurodecolonization, neurosci-ence and social work, and employing mainstream and traditional Indigenous mindfulness practices in tribal communities to promote health and well being. He can be reached by email at: mjy9@humboldt.edu

Minding the Indigenous Mind

2011-10-23T22:35:00.000-07:00

The Buddha once said, “Your worst enemy cannot harm you as much as your own thoughts, unguarded. But once mastered, no one can help you as much, not even your father or your mother.” Although I dearly love my mother and father, what Buddha said more than 2,500 years ago is correct. In fact, the role that our minds have in our well being has become common knowledge in some branches of present day neuroscience. In my work to improve the health of Indigenous Peoples, I understand the importance of a healthy, well balanced mind and brain, and the activities that are necessary to achieve such a state. I refer to this as minding the Indigenous mind.

Mindful greetings, my relatives, my name is Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, Sr. I am an enrolled member of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara nations and a professor in the department of social work at Humboldt State University in Arcata, California. I am also the director of graduate studies in our department. On my academic side I have a Bachelor of Social Work degree from the University of North Dakota; a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; and a Ph.D. in social welfare from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. I was trained in quantitative research methods and have focused on the health of Native peoples for my entire academic career. I am presently living on the territory of the Wiyot peoples in northern California, so I want to respectfully acknowledge them and the fact that I am visitor on their homelands.

I have been invited by the MHA Times to contribute a column that spotlights my academic interests, teaching, writing, experiences, and research. I will be submitting this column every two weeks and I will occasionally have guest columnists. Since this is my introductory column it is longer than the ones I will write in the future. The topics I plan to focus on include health, Mind Body Medicine (MBM), mindfulness, neuroscience, social work, and nutrition. Occasionally, using the lens of neuroscience, I will discuss my views on subjects such as religion, war, politics, oppression, trauma, God, education, music, and contact sports (like boxing, mixed martial arts, and football). I am especially excited to share the research that describes what happens to our brains during and following different experiences (some of it good and some of it not so good). I will also share what I know is being done to help improve the function of the brain. I am hoping the information that I share in my column will be helpful on a practical level. Moreover, I hope it will inspire two things: (1) the implementation of a Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara mind/brain policy to protect and enhance the minds and brains of our people for the purposes of greater well being, creativity and intelligence; and (2) the formal implementation of mindfulness practices in our education, health, and social service systems.

In this piece I want to introduce myself and talk a bit about my interest in Mind Body Medicine, especially how “mindfulness” fits into what is known as “Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). I define these two topics later in this column. I would love to hear from readers about what you are getting out of my column and other topics that you want me cover. You can either contact me through letters to the MHA Times, friend me on Facebook, or email me at mjy9@humboldt.edu.

To begin with, I was raised in White Shield and lived there for most of my early to middle teen years, although I have always made time to come home for regular visits with family and friends. I return once or twice a year, generally during the summer months, although I do come home in January for my mother’s birthday. Like many others who no longer reside at home, I keep up with what is going on through Facebook, online newspapers, various tribal webpages, email, and telephone calls with family and friends.

My parents are Magdalene (Young Bird) Yellow Bird and Willard Yellow Bird, Sr., (deceased). My grandparents on my mother’s side are Benjamin Young Bird and Jessie (Everett) Young Bird (both deceased); on my father’s side are Charles Yellow Bird and Nellie (Red Fox) Yellow Bird (both deceased). I have 15 siblings (four sisters and ten brothers) and I am right smack in the middle of the birth order. I have loads of nephews and nieces and a growing number of grandkids, and many, many Arikara and Hidatsa relatives. I have four grown sons from my first marriage: Jason, Michael Jr., Peter, and Matthew; and two daughters from my second: Arundhati (4 ½ years) and Solana (2 ½ years). My partner is Erin C. Stanley. She is a member of the Quinault nation in Washington State and has a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Washington, but is mostly, by choice, a stay-at-home mom.

My scholarly and community work centers on helping folks understand the connections between the mind and brain and mindfulness (meditation) practices, and how mindfulness can be used to heal mental, emotional, physical, and spiritual traumas, addictions, and disease. I write on this topic, do presentations, and have an active research agenda. I have taught undergraduate and graduate social work and mindfulness classes at my present university. As far my personal health life is concerned, I am a born-again Indigenous person, which means I eat healthy meals, with mostly whole, organic foods, lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, whole raw nuts, and I take probiotics and other key supplements. I refrain from sugar, as well as gluten and dairy, and have a low or no intake of meat; for weeks (sometimes months) at a time I practice a vegan lifestyle. My family also eats this way and we maintain an active lifestyle, swimming, hiking, walking, and playing outside.

Like our ancestors, I strongly endorse the detoxification of the mind, body, and spirit by doing ten day or two week water-only fasts at least twice a year. I practice yoga, tai chi, and walk and run and do weight-bearing exercises every day. I don’t smoke or abuse alcohol. I am certified as an advanced level practitioner of meridian tapping (or what is called emotional freedom technique) and have been practicing mindfulness meditation since the mid 1970s when I was in college. Although our family uses mainstream medicine, we use it sparely and wisely, and it often takes a backseat to our use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine. I have many stories about how some main- stream doctors have mindlessly prescribed drugs to my family members when not needed, and how we successfully addressed the condition using complementary medicines and therapies.

At home we engage in formal daily family mindfulness sitting meditation practice. Erin and I sit nearly every morning with our daughters. Our oldest girl, Arundhati (4 ½ years), is becoming very accomplished at meditation and can sit, quietly with her eyes closed, in a semi-lotus position, on her cushion, without distraction, for up to 30 minutes at a time. She has been practicing since she was about a year and a half old. Her little sister Solana, on the other hand, tries but at 2 ½ years she is still a work in progress. We embrace mindfulness meditation for our children and have normalized it as something we regularly do in our home since the research shows it will help them build important neural connections and functions in their developing brains. There is an excellent neuroscience literature that discusses how (helpful) brain circuits are engaged and (unhelpful) ones are quieted down when one practices mindfulness. This literature is referred to as the neurobiology of mindfulness, which roughly means, “This is your brain on mindfulness.” I’ve posted pictures of my daughters meditating on my Facebook and use their experience to discuss why mindfulness practices are important for children.

So what is mindfulness? In short, mindfulness refers to being deeply aware of what is happening from moment to moment outside and inside us without judging or attaching to the content, feelings, and emotions that arise. It refers to living deeply and richly in the present moment and not responding to life in a distracted and mechanical manner. For instance, when we mindfully eat we slow down the pace of our eating and become deeply aware of the taste, texture, smell, and hot or cold sensation of the food, and when we are full. When we mindlessly eat we miss most of these rich experiences with our food; many times we do not taste it and often end up overeating or maybe eating something that is bad for us. After mindless eating we often end up not feeling well. Mindless eating is one of the major reasons why there has been such meteoric rise in food-related obesity, hypertension, cancer, heart disease, and diabetes.

Developing mindfulness involves systematic training and practice and is a process that takes place over time. However, it is a journey that is well worth it because when we enter into states of deep mindfulness and awareness our world, experiences, and lives become much richer, less fearful and angry, more vivid, creative, peaceful, and healed. As I’ve said, much of what I do involves teaching about the scientific evidence-base of how and why mindfulness works and its connection to the mind and brain. What is most exciting about this work is that research shows that particular mindfulness practices can significantly help improve a person’s health and well being by reshaping important neural circuits in the brain.

Mindfulness is incorporated under Mind Body Medicine which focuses on the connections between the mind, brain, and body, and behavior, and how this knowledge is used to engage the mind to improve physical functioning and well being. It is important to remember that Mind Body Medicine is a “complementary medicine" that is used together with conventional medicine. For instance, mindfulness meditation (a mind body medicine approach) is being successfully used to help individuals recover from (radiation and chemotherapy) cancer treatments. A number of studies show that mindfulness meditation can greatly reduce the side effects such as nausea, diarrhea, and fatigue.

The rise in the use of complementary medicine is almost all patient-driven; and for good reason. Many people choose complementary medicine because it has fewer or no side effects, is safe, and it works. While conventional medicine can be very effective in some circumstances, in others it can be debilitating, dangerous, and even cause death. Conventional medicine is largely about treating symptoms and diseases with drugs, radiation, and surgery. It has little to do with preventing disease, addressing the emotional and spiritual needs of the person, or using mind body approaches for healing. Don’t expect your conventional physician to know much about complementary medicine or take it too seriously. Most, but not all, have been narrowly trained and have very cozy relationships with the pharmaceutical industry, which would prefer we buy and use their drugs instead of our own healing powers to attain better health.

The number of recalls, safety alerts, warnings, and side effects of many of today’s drugs is disturbing to say the least. In fact, in the book, Our Daily Meds, written by Melody Peterson, one study found that 100,000 people die each year from the side effects of the prescription drugs they take. Peterson says that this doesn’t take into account the number of folks who get deathly ill or suffer a disability, or die because the doctor made a mistake and prescribed the wrong drug, or the pharmacist made a mistake in filling the prescription, or the patient accidentally took too much.

Mind Body Medicine (MBM) is one of five systems in what is known as Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM). CAM is recognized and supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health. It is a rapidly expanding field that includes the use of “non-conventional” approaches to aid in the promotion of health and healing of individuals, families, groups, and communities. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine lists five major CAM systems: Whole Medical Systems (Indigenous/ Native American, naturopathic, homeopathic, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Ayurvedic medicine); Mind-Body Medicine (mindfulness, transcendental medita- tion, guided imagery, hypnotherapy, deep breathing, and the relaxation response); Biologically Based Practices (the use of herbs, foods, and supplements); Manipulative and Body-Based practices (osteopathic medicine, physical therapy, and yoga); and Energy Medicine (qi gong, emotional freedom technique, therapeutic touch, and the use of electromagnetic fields).

A national study from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine shows that nearly 40 percent of U.S. adults use some form of Complementary and Alternative Medicine; and that number continues to rise. Although, complementary medicine is marginalized by conventional medicine in the U.S., outside this nation as much as eighty-percent of the world’s population engages in the use of various alternative forms of medicine and healing. It is clearly up us consumers to continue to increase the role that complementary medicine plays in our health care system.

Over the past year I’ve been following the building and completion of the new Three Affiliated Tribes Elbowoods Memorial Health Center. It is impressive and I am grateful to all of those individuals and groups, past and present, who dedicated their energies to making this Center a reality. I believe it would be a wonderful tribute to our ancestors that resided in, and before the time of Elbowoods, to include a Complementary and Alternative Medicine department in the new health center. The Center could develop collaborations with the Fort Berthold Community College and create an academic curriculum for individuals that want to learn how to use or practice one of the many forms of complementary medicine.

When I reflect back on what our ancestors knew about health and healing, I am reminded that they knew much more about alternative therapies then we do today – because they lived them and they were not “alternative,” they were mainstream. Some of the strongest medicines they had included (natural) biologically, mind body, and energy-based approaches.

The Buddha, who was Indigenous, once said that, “What you think you become.” That said, when we deliberately train ourselves to mindfully engage our brains in positive words, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, incredible possibilities perennially bloom in our lives.

I Can't Sleep and Neither Should You

2009-08-31T11:45:00.000-07:00

I have a number of unpublished poems, essays, and thoughts regarding the war in Iraq that continues... and continues under American occupation. Following the United States invasion of Iraq, I've been putting together my works in a publication I call "I Can't Sleep and Neither Should You." Here's a poem in this book that I wrote when I was on research leave from my faculty position in the School of Social Work at Arizona State living in Sante Fe, New Mexico in 2003.

JUST WAR?
Whether
there can ever
be such a thing as
a “just war” remains
open to speculation,
debate, and the highest
levels of political and
moral interrogation/
Ever since the human
species could put together
the thoughts or words or
actions to prosecute war
on whatever or whoever
was an obstacle to their
desires or needs, we have
been embroiled in long,
bloody conflicts with one
another/ Despite the spiritual and philosophical rhetoric of religious and intellectual leaders arguing whether such a thing can exist the first-hand accounts of survivors of brutal dictators and democratic regimes teach us lessons about how not to do on to others as was
done onto them/Seamless
doomsday predictions
by ancient and new-age
prophets about spiritual
implosion that war brings,
our species continue to
find divinely-inspired
reasons to continue
murdering, maiming,
torturing, cheating,
pillage, and
manipulating
one another/
So, goes the upcoming U.S.-led war against the
Iraqi Peoples/ “A bunch of tribal peoples,” says NBC news anchor
Tom Brokaw on the David Letterman show/
I pray
for Iraq

michael yellow bird, 15 march 2003, 3:15 a.m. from I can’t sleep and neither should you

Social Work 634 Community Practice: The Mind Is Everything, What You Think You Become

2009-08-28T15:57:00.000-07:00

What a delightful and engaging start to our Tuesday and Saturday SW 643 classes. Thanks for your ideas, participation, and SLANT

Neuroplasticity and Community Social Work Practice

At the front end of our class will continue each session with our positive thinking/awareness neuroplasticity exercise. Breathe deeply. Focus. Become aware. Concentrate. Recall.

As you'll recall one of the things I stressed was that becoming an "effective" community social work practitioner requires that we delete old ineffective neural connections associated with distraction, fear, doubt, and complacency and replace them with new empowered neuropathways that embody creativity, hope, clarity, courage, focus, compassion, and success. To do this, of course, requires that we undertake specific repeated, empowered, focused thinking, feeling, speaking, and doing to change our brain structure and function. As you all know by now, our brains have an immense capacity for positive change, (referred to neuroplasticity) according the quality of information we supply to it.

Eating disorder expert Dr. Irina Webster, M.D. (http://bulima-cure.com/) says that our brain changes in four ways:

1. By responding to the world in a certain way
2. By perceiving the world in a certain way
3. By acting in the world in a certain way
4. By thinking and imagining in a certain way

When we take charge of how we do each of the above, our actions can be referred to as "self-directed neuroplasticity." If we respond to the world in a courageous, peaceful manner our brain will change to accommodate our response. If we perceive the world as a place full of opportunities rather limitations our brain will view the world in this manner. If we act with confidence and curiosity, neural networks will develop and strengthen according to the amount of confident and curious acts we undertake. Finally, if we thinking and imagine in a positive manner, overriding negative thoughts with a cascade of positive thoughts and images, our brains we will change our brains to accommodate this type of thinking.

Of course we can change our brains in a negative manner as well. In his book, The Brain That Changes Itself (2007), Dr. Norman Doidge notes that there exists a plasticity paradox: the longer that we perform "defective" thoughts, perceptions, responses, and actions in our encounters with the world, the stronger these neural networks/connections become. Doidge believes that is the reason we have such a hard time stopping bad habits.

SLANT

Sit up, Listen, Ask questions, Nod your head, and Track the speaker with your eyes. Slant is a system for classroom behavior invented by David Levin and Michael Feinburg (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/26/magazine/26tough.html?_1&pagewanted+6&ei=5087). Interesting.

Not sure that Levin and Feinburg can comfortably lay claim to this system since my first grade teacher used this same process when I attended the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) elementary school in White Shield, ND back in 1960. Only thing is that she'd whack and smack and abuse the hell out of us whenever we deviated from her classroom behavior system.

Despite the controversy with its origins, I find that SLANT is a very powerful neuroplasticity exercise which engages an shapes the function of the brain in a number of critical ways:

Sitting up

that is mindful and focused triggers a cacophony of communication in our neural networks that talk to major muscle and nerve groups throughout the body reminding it to maintain our pose, position, to keep muscles engaged. If we keep our backs pressed up to the back of our chairs for support on our lumbar region and elevate both feet in front of us on a short stool or other raised support we will, additionally, take a lot of stress off our spines and lower back muscles. As we sit in healthy poses our brain will develop the necessary neuropathways to support our sitting up skill. Sitting up is a pose of alertness, readiness.

Listening

is a very complex task and key to our learning.

Neuropsychologist David Rose says that "Listening is qualitatively different from hearing. Hearing seems effortless, automatic and nonselective. Our brains recognize and categorize sounds even when we are sleeping, which is why we wake to a faint but unexpected noise in the next room but sleep peacefully through the blast of the regular midnight train. On the other hand, listening feels intentional; it is effortful, focused and selective. We need to be awake to listen. Hearing is reactiver, while listening is strategic. The strategic, effortful, selective aspect of listening recruits a different part of the brain than the posterior regions with which we recognize sounds (http://www.learningthoughlistening.org/)

Asking questions

is an important natural neuroenhancer (a strategy that increases our ability to think: retrieve the issue you want to get clarification about from your memory, open your mouth, and ask your question).

Asking questions in response to our classroom discussion, lecture, or reading, enables us to tap into our memory which is located in our hippocampus. The hippocampus has an key role in the formation of new memories about experienced events (what you heard in class, what you read, and what your classmates say about what they heard or read). The hippocampus is the also thought to be part of the medial temporal lobe memory system responsible for our declarative memory (which are our memories that can be explicitly verbalized, for instance, our memory for facts.

Nodding your head

Psychology professor Richard Petty says that Nodding your head may influence our thoughts and shaking our heads serves as "self-validation" of how we feel about our thoughts."If we are nodding our heads up and down, we gain confidence in what we are thinking. But when we shake our heads from side to side, we lose confidence in our own thoughts.” Petty's research found that nodding ones head up and down is, in effect, telling yourself that you have confidence in your own thoughts – whether those thoughts are positive or negative. He also says that, “Nodding your head doesn’t mean you’ll agree with whatever you hear. One of the most surprising things we found is that if you’re thinking negative thoughts while you’re nodding, this actually strengthens your disapproval.” http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/headmvmt.htm

In an experiment observing school children counting a large number of asterisks using their fingers for an accurate count, Richard Calson, et. al., (2007) found that when students were not allowed to use their fingers count they switched to using a nod as they counted. When viewers weren't allowed to point, they nearly always nodded as they counted. Carlso, et. al., state that "non-pointers who nodded were significantly more accurate than non-nodders. It's beginning to look like the body movements themselves are somehow assisting in the counting process." In conclusion, the authors suggest that "using your body, like using your voice, can help you work through arithmetic problems -- but some parts of your body help more than others.

Tracking

the speaker or performer with your eyes is directly connected to our learning. Esra KELEŞ1, Salih ÇEPNİ2 (2006, p. 33) state that "Attention is a basic element in learning and remembering." It is the task of "focusing to think of an object or an event during a definite time." These authors say that "If a person does not exert upon a definite attention biologically, learning materializes difficulty. Learning can be increased with augmentation of attention. A learning environment must be designed in order to keep attention. Environment has very important role in the development of brain. An environment which provides students with sufficient health conditions, safety, regular nourishing, feedback, acceptance of the students as different individuals, giving permission for research and adapting neuroscientific data to learning environment is defined as a brain rich environment or an enriched environment. Many researches also indicate that sensations have influence."

Not In Kansas Anymore

2009-08-19T15:59:00.000-07:00

On 8 August, 2009, after five years, I left the University of Kansas so that I could begin my new faculty appointment in the department of social work at Humboldt State University. I am very happy with this decision since it will allow me to more fully engage in direct community work with Indigenous communities on the west coast and to focus on topics that I wish to write about and research as part of my activist and academic work. Obviously, it's been a while since I've updated my thoughts and work on this blog. In any event, I plan to begin making regular posts on some of the things that I've have been working on and will be focusing on in my new position.

In December of 08' a co-edited book (that I did with Dr. Mel Gray, University of Newcastle and Dr. John Coates, St. Thomas University) came out. The title of this work is Indigenous Social Work Around the World: Towards Culturally Relevant Education and Practice (Ashgate Press, 2008).

An edited book that I did with Dr. Waziyatawin Angela Wilson, For Indigenous Eyes Only: A Decolonization Handbook (School of American Research, 2005) continues to do well.

What is the Highest Form of Patriotism? I Say Acknowledging our Addiction to War

2007-06-25T13:42:00.000-07:00

I was one of three invited speakers at the Kansas City (Missouri) Peace Vigil and Rally held on June 24, 2007, at Mill Creek (near J.C. Nichols Fountain at 47th and Main Streets). The theme of the event, "What is the Highest Form of Patriotism?," was sponsored by the KC Iraq Task Force & the American Friends Service Committee and drew about two dozen people.

When I am asked to speak at such events concerning the U.S. war on terror I find myself focusing on the "tough love" approach that interrogates and deconstructs some of the most beloved U.S. ideas (freedom and justice), documents (Constitution, Declaration of Independence), leaders (Founding Fathers), and slogans (God Bless America, Peace is Patriotic). My approach parallels that of Buddhist writer, practitioner, and teacher Noah Levine who says that in order to obtain happiness and true freedom from the confusion and suffering of this world one must defy the lies. "Everyday we are lied to by the world. Our families, our societies, our relations tend to be filled with delusional ideas. Human Beings have created a deeply dysfunctional culture. The insecurity of the human condition has led to the creation of many violent religions and scientific rationalizations. We have been destroying each other and this planet for too long. Human ignorance is the status quo; even in the most highly educated or religious people we see the unnecessary suffering of ego identity, lack of acceptance, and greed for power.

In America we like to talk about equality and human rights, but this country was founded on violence and oppression. Our forefathers stole this land for the native peoples, waging war on the rightful inhabitants of the continent...this is just not an American phenomenon of course;"

(Against the Stream, pp. 118-119, 2007).

Of course my challenge is to use this approach while at the same time extending loving kindness, compassion, and wisdom (right understanding and intention), and conduct (right speech and action). My aim is to bring about freedom from our dysfunctional thinking, actions, and beliefs so that true, compassionate change may take place to alleviate the suffering for all sentient beings.

What is the Highest Form of Patriotism? I Say Acknowledging Our Addiction to War

Identity as Patriots

A patriot is someone who loves his or her nation and is willing to sacrifice for that nation. There are of course different forms of patriotism that many of us subscribe to and there are those of us who eschew the label and the behavior that goes with it since it creates a certain divisiveness of identity and loyalty that can and often does degrade into an us versus them thinking and behavior. War correspondent Chris Hedges speaks of the danger of nationalism stating, “Most national myths are racist at their core. They are fed by ignorance. Those individuals who understand other cultures, speak other languages, and find richness in diversity are shunted aside. Science, history, and psychology are often twisted to serve myth. And many intellectuals are willing to champion and defend absurd theories for nationalist ends” (War is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, 2003, p.24).

All of us have one or more identities that shape our views, behaviors, and contributions in this world. Our identities are fundamental to our existence as humans, teaching us how we should feel because of who we are, and how we should engage the world around us and within us. It is clear from the history of many Indigenous nations, histories which long predate those of later nations who came to these lands, that rigid personal and national identities can bring us into peace or conflict with one another. And, generally it is the latter. If one truly desires to study all aspects of war and peacemaking and peacekeeping in this hemisphere, one needs to begin with a formal, exhaustive, and appreciative examination of how our nations treated successfully and unsuccessfully with one another. There is much to be learned about humility, arrogance, diplomacy, and the making of relations and enemies between our tribes.

When we see ourselves (and foster in our children) peace, compassion, honesty, enlightenment, and equality (toward all nations, including the animal nations that fly, swim, crawl, or the plant nations that pose upright before the sun, or all the nations we cannot see) we naturally gravitate toward views and behaviors that are just, supportive, accepting, respectful, and whole. When our identities and our societal discourses center on inculcating in ourselves and our children with the belief that we are “the greatest nation on earth,” “the moral compass and beacon of hope for the rest of the world,” and that the “founding fathers” serve as the moral standard of not only this nation, but for all nations who must aspire to our idea of democratic rule, we certainly will find ourselves in conflict with other nations, other tribes, other people, and other beings. When we so arrogantly or ignorantly see others as separate and less than us because they were born in another nation, grew up in a different culture, learned a different language, and possess a different consciousness we willfully destroy what the great Lakota elder Black Elk called the great "hoop of life."

We must see that we are only a part of the whole; we are not the whole. Instead we are what Chief Seattle called referred to as a link in the web of life. "Whatever we do to the web we do to ourselves." And, because of our self-declared importance and our continued, deliberate, unyielding efforts to place ourselves at the top of the food chain, we are now facing extreme global crises living in what ecologists call an "overshoot and collapse" society of unsustainability where our cravings, addictions, consumption, waste, and anger and disrespect for ourselves and all other beings can no longer be supported on or by this planet.

For many of us Indigenous Peoples who are surrounded by the American occupying forces which are composed of more than 500 years of broken treaties, stolen lands, stolen children, stolen resources, stolen religions, and unfulfilled promises, we continually find ourselves coming into conflict with the American identity and patriotism that looms large upon these lands. Many of us come into conflict with your Constitution which claims equality and liberty for all, yet clearly has and continues to control our commerce and participation in the international community by declaring that only this nation had the right to regulate the business and political affairs of our Indigenous nations. Many of us come into conflict with your Declaration of Independence which refers to our nations when it states, “The present King of Great Britain...has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers; the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.” Soon, on July 4th to be exact, many American patriots will be celebrating the words, spirit, and ideas this most sacred American document. In fact, as a reminder that they reside in the greatest nation in the world and that their government was founded on the most egalitarian ideas, some of the most "progressive, liberal" individuals and organizations will proudly give public readings of this document in their Churches, public auditoriums, and city parks. Will this nation again affirm my status as a savage on July 4th, 2007?

Many Indigenous Peoples come into conflict with this nation’s symbols. For instance the American Flag, which so many American patriots were (and continue to be) willing to give their lives for, was carried by U.S. soldiers when they rode into many of our villages to commit savage, bloody massacres of unarmed women, babies, children, and elders. For many, but not all Indigenous Peoples, this Flag has come to symbolize oppression for our nations and has left deep spiritual and psychological consternation whenever it is paraded around in our ceremonies or sacred lands. Still, there are many of our Indigenous nations that pay homage to this Flag for their own national or personal reasons, which serves as a consternation to me. This Flag will also be present at many Fourth of July celebrations in just a few days. Finally, your slogan “God Bless America,” which is often found on a bumper stick alongside a picture of the American Flag has brought conflict to many. I ask is the arrogance of this nation’s patriotism such that it can order God to bless it? How about saying please, or we’d be honored, or we humbly beseech your blessings?

Peace is Patriotic

It is difficult to believe the slogan, peace is patriotic, or that this nation desires peace when it possesses the largest military budget in the world, spending 554 billion dollars in 2005. How big is this expenditure on a global military expenditure scale? The US military spending was almost 7 times larger than the Chinese budget, the second largest spender in the world, and almost 29 times as large as the combined spending of the six so-called “rogue” states (Cuba, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Sudan and Syria who spent $14.65 billion. And it is two times larger than the Indigenous (Individual Indian Monies, IIM) that this nation has stolen, lost, or misspent when it assumed control of our economic lives back in 1887 through its Department of War and later Department of Interior. In fact, many of you probably know very little about how much money this nation has stolen from our people while it was legally responsible to hold this money in trust. If you think that the money wasted and fraudulently obtained by U.S. contractors in Iraq is large I invite to please examine all the resources, lives, monies, and territories what this nation has stolen from us.

When this nation proclaims itself to hold the highest moral position in the world and wants others to accept this belief, it is obvious that it will need the weaponry to enforce and create this reality. When you become a warrior nation bent on imposing your will upon those you deem less than you, and you do not acknowledge the terrorism of your actions and genocides that you undertook to achieve your political, economic, and moral standing, and when you do not make apologies, restitution, or peace and disarm, and when you take that ignorance of your history and the fantasy of the founding father’s to the rest of the world, I can assure you that you will meet conflict and resistance from others you mean to rule or deceive. You will meet resistance; as much as you experienced when you invaded Vietnam; as much as you are seeing today from many of the tribes in Iraq; and you will see resistance if we attack Iran. And when we believe our own dysconscious racist myths and false patriotism – it is we who become the terrorists.

The conflict that we see raging today in Iraq, and possibly soon to be raging in Iran or some other nation that resists and confronts the imperialist, racism of this nation, must be mediated by those individuals in our tribes and nations that have attained and possess states of enlightenment that teach us we are truly all one nation of humans who must depend, assist, and love one another for the sake of our common humanity and destiny, which is impermanent but nonetheless as important as each breath we are taking at this moment.

Presently, the presidential democratic and republican front-runners will not be capable of stemming this nation’s addiction to war or patriotism. Nor do they seem capable of breaking their addiction to this nation's false history. Few visit with our tribes, except in very superficial instances, and none will seek counsel from our peacemakers. None will advocate to change the Constitution or Declaration of Independence on our behalf, and none will apologize and make restitution for stolen lands, resources, monies, and genocide. So, even if the new U.S. president and Congress end the war in Iraq in 2008, the lies of the past and contemporary U.S. history, the aversion to the truth of what happens and continues to happen to Indigenous Peoples in the U.S., and false teachers of American patriotism will continue into the next generation; and this soft war of truth versus deception will continue to smolder in these lands.

If we do not look after the welfare of one another as a loving, concerned family member would for his or her brothers and sisters, especially for those we consider to be different, or from another nation, race, or tribe, we will continue to find ourselves on that slippery slope of the downward descent to that place where there are no friends or allies; It is the place where there is no peace or quiet or sanity; here there are only enemies, addictions, anger, greed, and dangers which envelop all of our being - creating within each of us abundant dissatisfaction, hatred, and suffering. Are we there yet? We must now at this time in our history, more than ever, make it a priority to shape our identities to include truth, love, compassion, understanding, and empathy for our common struggles as we continue in our efforts to become fully human in this life. There are few alternatives at this point.

I am Sahnish and Hidatsa. I am Indigenous and I am tribal and, thus, one of my fundamental realities, which have been shaped by the views of my people, is that “We’re In This World A Short Time.” It is a reality that is deeply reinforced whenever this phrase is sung during our ceremonies, especially during the burial of our people and at their memorial which is held a year later. The acknowledgement through these words concerning their life and death and what they did while here serves as an important reminder to all the people in our tribe that we have only a brief window of opportunity to do what is good, just, right, and loving toward ourselves and all others. We believe that our spirituality leads us toward a larger ontological accountability that we pay here and in the hereafter. Through this phrase it has become exceedingly clear to generations and generations of our people that, while we’re here, we must become fully present and mindful to the fact that the difficulty and ease with which we pass through this world must be done with the highest degrees of sincerity, honesty, humility, wisdom, intelligence, compassion, and love. We seek peace with all nations of the world. We seek truth with all nations.

I have given my thoughts on the theme of this gathering and I hope that you take my words as they are intended, as a "tough love" approach on this nation’s addiction to war, sidestepping truth, and the patriotism that fuels those wars and lies. Freedom from this suffering is possible in this lifetime. And, if we are end or reduce this suffering we must calmly and assertively encourage this nation to complete a "searching and fearless moral inventory" of itself. In this spirit, in closing, I want to suggest that the highest form of patriotism during times of war and peace is comes from several of the twelve steps of Alcoholics Anonymous. I will only briefly focus on the first step, but remind you that when an individual or a nation is addicted it must be confronted by those of us who are "clean and sober," and continue working hard to maintain our sobriety for the sake of ourselves and all sentient beings. The use of the twelve steps perhaps makes more sense than any approach at this time because when this nation elected George W. Bush as president it chose an addict to lead this country. Of course, this is not the first time it has done so and with the way things are going and overall addiction of folks in this country to material resources, it won't be the last.

The first of the twelve steps is, "We admitted we were powerless over alcohol—that our lives had become unmanageable." Now more than ever it is important for this nation to make an admission that is powerless in its ability to avoid colonization, war, distorting or ignoring truth, and imposing its beliefs, values, and ideas upon other nations without regard and respect for their individuality, diversity, culture, and history. It is a nation whose passion and addiction for war and patriotism has created the most destructive nuclear weapons in the world, which presses all nations towards the brink of extinction. The powerlessness of this nation has all life on this planet hanging in the balance. And this is what addicts crave: complete control over others because they have no control over themselves.

Let's help this nation with its addictions. Let's help one another with our addictions and let's see beyond the lies. Let us serve the truth and see beyond the false teachers and let's come together to intelligently, assertively, and compassionately confront this runaway nation for the sake of all being on the planet. Thank you.

Indigenous Soldier Body Count

2007-06-20T13:16:00.000-07:00

I have read and re-read War is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2003, Anchor Books), by Chris Hedges. This book is a must read for all Indigenous Peoples. Much of what he writes should haunt all of us who are seduced by war's intoxication. Two passages in his book should be especially disturbing to many of our tribal communities that have been socially, politically, economically, and intellectually pushed to the margins of this (American) society and forced to find meaning through the enterprise of war:

"The enduring attraction of war is this: Even with its destruction and carnage it can give us what we long for in life. It can give us purpose, meaning, a reason for living. Only when we are in the midst of conflict does the shallowness and vapidness of much of our lives become apparent. Trivia dominates our conversations and increasingly our airwaves. An war is an enticing elixir. It gives us resolve, a cause. It allows us to be noble. And those who have the least meanilng in their lives...are all susceptible to war's appeal (pp. 3-4).

"The myth of war rarely endures for those who experience combat. War is messy, confusing, sullied by raw brutality and an elephantine fear that grabs us like a massive bouncer that comes up from behind. Soldiers in the moments before real battle weep, vomit, and write letters home, although these are done more as a precaution than from belief. All are nearly paralyzed with fright (p. 38)."

The following passage in Hedge's recent essay, The Death Mask of War, illuminates the voices of the Indigenous soldiers that have have been killed and wounded in the U.S.-led war against Iraq:

"Prophets are not those who speak of piety and duty from the pulpit - few people in pulpits have much worth listening to - but it is the battered wrecks of men and women who return from Iraq and speak the halting words we do not want to hear, words that we must listen to and heed to know ourselves. They tell us war is a soulless void. They have seen and tasted how war plunges us to barbarity, perversion, pain and unchecked orgy of death. And it is their testimonies alone that have redemptive power to save us from ourselves."

Chris Hedges, The Death Mask of War (AdBusters, July/August, Vol 15, 4)

IRAQ: U.S. Deaths By Ethnicity

The latest (June 20, 2007) overall bodycount for all U.S. soldiers is 3,525 (an additional 6 deaths are pending confirmation by the Department of Defense for a total of 3,531.

Iraq Casuality Coalition Count reports the following deaths in Iraq up to June 6, 2007:

American Indian/Alaska Native......................37 (1.06%)
Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander................37 (1.06%)
Asian...................................................50 (1.43%)
African American....................................332 (9.49%)
Hispanic or Latino...................................376 (10.75%)
Multiple races, pending, or unknown................58 (1.66%)
White............................................... 2,608 (74.56%)

Total......................................................3,498

(http://www.icasualties.org/oif/ETHNICITY.aspx)

Happy Father's Day

2007-06-17T05:28:00.000-07:00

National Public Radio reports that twenty-five percent of the soldiers returning from war in the Middle East are suffering from mental health problems, including posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Only forty percent are seeking treatment. No breakdown by age, race, socioeconomic status was given.

One marker that may indicate how Indigenous soldiers are faring in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars comes from the Matsunaga Project which assessed the readjustment experiences of American Indian, Japanese American, and Native Hawaiian veterans of the Vietnam War. This particular study found that Native Hawaiian and American Indian Vietnam in-country veterans had relatively high levels of exposure to war zone stress and high levels of PTSD. About one in three American Indian Vietnam veterans who served in-country suffered from full or partial PTSD at the time of the study, a quarter century or more after the war. More than two in three American Indian Vietnam veterans suffered from full or partial PTSD sometime since Vietnam. PTSD prevalence for American Indians is very high, more than twice as high as for White or Japanese American Vietnam veteran's.

http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/ncmain/ncdocs/fact_shts/fs_native_vets.html?opm=1&rr=rr40&srt=d&echoor=true

Indigenous War Talk

2007-06-15T15:41:00.000-07:00

“An American Indian friend of mine who lives in the Indian Nation of Alcatraz put it to me very succinctly. He told me how as a boy on an Indian reservation he had watched television and he used to cheer the cowboys when they came in and shot the Indians, and then suddenly one day he stopped in Vietnam and he said, ‘my God, I am doing to these people the very same thing that was done to my people,’ and he stopped.”

Vietnam Veterans Against the War Statement by John Kerry to the Senate Committee of Foreign Relations, April 23, 1971

It has been 36 years since John Kerry (now U.S. Senator Kerry) delivered this critically conscious, non-cryptic message to the American public on behalf of one Indigenous soldier who was able to recognize the contradictions (and perhaps the horrors) of his actions: killing other brown, poor, oppressed, Indigenous Peoples like himself. This young man’s statement, however, is by no means unfamiliar to many Indigenous soldiers, tribal government leaders, and communities members who have asked ourselves this same distressing question: Why do our people serve in the military of the United States of America and assist it do to others what it did to us? The answers to this question are difficult at best for many of us. But for the sake of our own tribal humanity, and that of all others we share this planet with, it does require us to answer this question in an in-depth, precise, just, and honorable manner.

Some common responses such as the “lack of employment on the reservation,” “to uphold our warrior tradition,” “because it’s a family or community custom,” “to serve my country,” “to get the military education benefits for college,” or “because I need discipline,” appear remarkably insufficient when one considers the carnage, suffering, and horrors produced by war. These responses seem even more inadequate when we find out that the “enemy” we signed up to fight did not attack us, did not pose any threat, and was invented to serve the interests of others. Painfully and conspicuously absent are justifications as, “we have proof they plan to attack our reservation,” “because they blew up our tribal government building,” “we have proof that they are planning to steal our lands and children” or they have outlawed our languages and traditional tribal ceremonies.”

Below are three documents I wrote focusing on Indigenous Peoples (Native American) and the Iraq war. I had hoped that each paper would help to ignite numerous formal, open debates in tribal communities regarding the participation of Indigenous soldiers in this war. So far they haven’t had the desired effect.

The first paper, We Oppose the continuing U.S.-led War Against Iraq: A Statement from Native University and Tribal College Professors, was written in April of 2003 shortly after the US-led invasion of Iraq. At the time I was living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, on sabbatical leave from my faculty position in the School of Social Work at Arizona State University. The statement, published as a quarter-page ad in the tribal newspaper Indian Country Today, stressed that our role as Indigenous academics is to contribute to the intellectual conscience of our tribal nations and the world community “by providing honest and intelligent assessments of what is truthful and just, and what is not.”

In our assessment of this war we concluded that there was no compelling moral or political justification for it and, in fact, it was an illegal, unprovoked, and inhumane attack upon a sovereign nation. We asked “our tribal nations to join us in condemning and resisting all future unjust, illegal wars and aggressions and instead use the wisdom of our tribal traditions to promote policies of peace and diplomacy throughout the world.” While fifty Indigenous professors from several different universities across the US and Canada signed on to this statement, it received little response from the general Indigenous public.

The second paper, written and sent out shortly before the Fourth of July, 2006 celebrations in the United States, is an open letter to all Indigenous Peoples entitled, Why Are Indigenous (American Indian) Soldiers Serving in Iraq? The major aim of this work was to strongly urge “all of our nations to hold critical and independent discussions on why we are committing our young people to serve the U.S. military in its occupation of Iraq.” I was hoping that the shocking, brutal war crimes (murder, torture, and rape committed by American soldiers), in addition to all the other illegal, wasteful, arrogant, and unjust aspects of this war that I discussed in this letter would be enough to get tribal leaders and communities to immediately launch critical dialogues assessing the participation of Indigenous soldiers in the Iraq war. My greatest hope was that our tribal leaders would exercise their sovereign powers to deploy our people out of this war and “impose a moratorium upon any further enlistments of our young men and women into the U.S. military.”

With the help from friends and colleagues this letter was sent to several Indigenous and non-Indigenous websites, listservs (email mailing lists), and individuals who were asked to forward the document to their family, friends, and tribal representatives. I put my email address on the letter in the hopes of hearing from tribal leaders and representatives. To my surprise and delight many individuals, veterans and non-veterans, Indigenous and non-Indigenous from around the world wrote me to express their appreciation and support for this statement. Several posted it on their organizational websites, some posted it and discussed it on their blogs, and others posted it on their personal pages in venues such as the popular social networking website - MySpace.

Of the group that I hoped to hear from most, elected tribal political leaders, only one individual wrote me - telling me that he was a veteran and he would not hold discussions in his community on this topic because it did not support the troops. He said that being a warrior (which constituted serving in military) was the ultimate achievement for Indigenous men and women and this letter did not respect that. He also so told me that since I was not a veteran I had no right to talk about this topic, which created a flurry of emails between us. In the end, I told him that I was not interested in changing his worldviews, but merely hoped that tribal leaders would read the letter and hold formal meetings with their constituents to hear what they had to say about the participation of their tribal members in the Iraq war, given all that I discussed in my letter. Again, he told me he would not do that and we ended our string of email conversations.

A shortened version of this open letter was published in one magazine and two tribal newspapers (see: Indian Country Today (http://www.indiancountry.com/).

The final text is a BROWN PAPER (short version) expressing the need for Indigenous communities to take a formal position on their participation in the U.S.-led war and occupation of Iraq (support or condemn). The paper points to several problems with this war, including that it is illegal and unjust, has caused intense suffering for the Iraq people, has made the world more unsafe and Iraqis want the U.S. out of their country, and that it has very little support. It briefly proposes solutions such as the importance of debating Indigenous participation in this war and calls for tribes to create and implement tribal just war principles and war powers within their individual tribal constitutions. The longer version BROWN PAPER (is available upon request) discusses each of these topics in more detail, including the role of tribal citizens in community debates and the creation of just war principles and the steps that can be taken to gain a critical perspective of this and future wars. (For longer version write to me at ArikaraConsciousness@gmail.com).

Indigenous Professors Against the U.S.-led War and Occupation of Iraq

2007-06-15T15:35:00.000-07:00

We Oppose the continuing U.S.-led War Against Iraq:
A Statement from Native University and Tribal College Professors

We the undersigned Native professors, from many different tribal nations, educational institutions, and academic disciplines, unequivocally oppose the continuing U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. As Indigenous academics, we believe that one of our major responsibilities is to contribute to the intellectual conscience of our tribal nations, and the world community, by providing honest and intelligent assessments of what is truthful and just, and what is not.

We find no plausible moral or political justifications for this U.S.-led war and join millions of people of conscience worldwide who stand with courage in opposition to this illegal, unprovoked, and inhumane attack upon a sovereign nation. There are many reasons for our position:

• We oppose this war because U.S. policies such as “pre-emptive strike,” are unjust, threaten stability and security throughout the world, and have set a dangerous global precedent. For instance, on April 11, 2003, India’s Defense Minister George Fernandes stated that Pakistan, a major adversary, was a prime candidate for a pre-emptive strike and that India had a much better case than the United States had in Iraq. India and Pakistan are two nations with nuclear capability, which if used, could affect the well being of our entire planet.

• We oppose this war because large numbers of innocent Iraqi people are being killed, maimed, and severely traumatized and many more will die and suffer long after the war has ended. This war has destroyed hospitals, major water, communication, and electric power systems critical to the health of the people.

• We oppose this war because Iraqi people have suffered long enough. Since the Gulf War of 1991, U.S.-led attacks and sanctions against Iraq have been directly responsible for the death of one-half million Iraqi toddlers and approximately 1.5 million older children and adults who have died from starvation, lack of medicine, trauma, and drinking contaminated water.

• We oppose this war because, although the United States’ military claims that it has overthrown Saddam Hussein’s regime, its actions have now thrust Iraq into chaos. Anarchy and mayhem are widespread causing more death and destruction. Critical humanitarian efforts have been obstructed by the instability and additional violence.

• We oppose this war because the Bush Administration has carried out a massive campaign of deception and disinformation to mislead the public into supporting this illegal act of war. Mainstream media institutions have assisted this campaign of disinformation through uncritical coverage and the exclusion of diverse and dissenting views.

• We oppose this war because the Bush Administration did not use civilized diplomacy when the world community counseled more peaceful solutions. Instead, it resorted to threats, intimidation, bribery, and brutality.

• We oppose this war because the U.S. uses weapons of mass destruction, including missiles containing depleted uranium, which will have immediate and long-lasting, devastating effects on the health of the Iraqi people, humanitarian aid workers, and American soldiers.

• We oppose this war because of its numerous contradictions: its claim to being fought by a "coalition" of countries, when the war itself is an American-led invasion conducted in violation of the UN charter; its stated purpose to depose a dictator, when Saddam Hussein was supplied with weapons by the U.S. when it served American interests; and its overall inconsistency, since the U.S. has supported and participated in overthrowing democratically elected governments in various countries and currently supports many repressive regimes, dictators, and countries with known arsenals of weapons of mass destruction.

Furthermore, we find many parallels between the current U.S.-led war on Iraq and past actions of the United States against Tribal peoples in America:

• We, too, remember being the objects of "pre-emptive strikes." For instance, in 1811 William Henry Harrison marched an army of 1,000 troops to Prophetstown, Indiana to start a war with Tecumseh in order to prevent his unification of the tribes and burned Prophetstown to the ground.

• We, too, remember the slaughter of our civilians in the name of "Homeland Security," for instance, the massacres of Horse Shoe Bend, Washita, Mystic River, Bad Axe, the Trail of Tears, Bear River, Marias, Sand Creek, and Wounded Knee;

• We, too, remember the American use of genocidal polices promoting the mass slaughter of bison herds designed to starve Plains nations into submission and the use of biological warfare in the form of smallpox-infected blankets to create terror and widespread death in our communities;

• We, too, know what it is like to have the United States exercise "trusteeship" over our lands and governing bodies in the aftermath of military aggression. We have lost many millions of acres of land and countless natural resources and even today are compelled to take judicial action against the United States government because of its theft and mismanagement of billions of dollars of our trust funds.

• We, too, remember being the objects of dehumanizing, racist stereotypes created to instill in the American public an automatic fear or sense of superiority over of our peoples, and we continue to live with such stereotypes.

We believe that the United States has engaged in an illegal and brutal war against innocent Iraqi
Peoples. Iraq has done nothing to the United States and this is a war of choice not necessity. It is an unprovoked attack that is causing untold suffering. Many throughout the world, and here at home, continue to strongly condemn the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq. Feelings of mistrust, hatred, and fear of the United States continue to rise as the U.S. has claimed the right to “preemptively strike” at anyone who is suspected of being a threat to American security or interests. Moreover there are strong concerns about the possibility of U.S. pre-emptive aggressions toward Syria, Iran, Libya, and North Korea.

As the children of Indigenous Peoples who survived, and continue to face, the oppressive policies of the United States, we have much to teach this nation about the horrors of war, racism, hatred, and inhumanity. We are courageous peoples who have provided proportionally more military service to this nation than any other group. We are also are peaceful peoples whose ancestors created some of the most sophisticated and effective forms of peace-making and peace-keeping the world has ever known. We have much to teach this nation and the world about peace, acceptance of differences, and justice.

As people of conscience, and people who have been on the receiving end of American imperialism, we call for the end of the U.S.-led aggression and occupation of Iraq, along with immediate humanitarian and rebuilding efforts. We ask our tribal nations to join us in condemning and resisting all future unjust, illegal wars and aggressions and instead use the wisdom of our tribal traditions to promote policies of peace and diplomacy throughout the world.

Dr. Michael Yellow Bird (Sahnish-Hidatsa), Arizona State University
Dr. Angela Cavender Wilson (Dakota), Arizona State University
Dr. Cornel Pewewardy (Commanche-Kiowa) University of Kansas
Dr. Chris Mato Nunpa (Dakota), Southwest State - Veteran
Professor David Anthony Tyeeme Clark (Cherokee), University of Kansas
Dr. Scott Richard Lyons (Leech Lake Ojibwe), Syracuse University
Dr. Carol Miller, University of Minnesota
Professor Pam Creasy, University of Washington
Dr. James Riding In (Pawnee), Arizona State University – Veteran
Dr. Jane Hafen (Taos Pueblo), University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Dr. Kate Shanley, University of Montana
Professor Priscilla Settee, University of Saskatchewan
Professor James Treat (Creek), University of Oklahoma
Professor LeAnne Howe, (Choctaw), Hollins University
Dr. Susan Miller (Seminole), Arizona State University
Professor Jeanette Bushell (Pembina Chippewa), University of Washington
Dr. Judith Vergun, Oregon State University
Dr. Michelene E. Pesantubee, University of Colorado
Dr. Jeff Corntassel, University of Victoria
Dr. Myla Vincenti Carpio (Jicarilla Apache Nation), Arizona State University
Professor Mishuana Goeman (Seneca) Stanford University
Professor Michael Horn (Cherokee), California State University, Fullerton
Dr. Joseph P. Gone (Gros Ventre), University of Michigan
Dr. Anne Calhoon (Cherokee), University of New Mexico
Professor Michael Two Horses (Sicangu Lakota), University of Arizona
Professor Corrine Mount Pleasant-Jette, Concordia University
Professor Carol Minugh, Evergreen College
Professor G. Leis (Tahltan Nation), University of Victoria
Dr. Jennifer Nez Denetdal, University of New Mexico
Dr. Jeanette Haynes Writer (Cherokee), New Mexico State University
Dr. Raymond Pierotti (Comanche), University of Kansas
Dr. David Kekanlike Sing (Native Hawaiian), University of Hawaii at Hilo
Professor Nelrene Yellow Bird (Sahnish-Hidatsa), Minot State University
Professor Alyce Spotted Bear (Mandan), Cornell University
Professor Narciscol Aleman (Mexica), University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Professor Kim Roppolo, Baylor University
Dr. Franci Taylor (Choctaw) Montana State University
Professor Randy Lund, Saskatchewan Indian Federated College
Professor Andrea Smith, University of Michigan
Dr. Selene Phillips (Lac du Flambeau Ojibwe), Purdue University
Dr. Inez Hernandez-Avila, University of California-Davis
Dr. Cynthia L. Marshall (Seneca), Community College of Beaver County
Dr. Anne Waters (Seminole, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee), SUNY, Binghamton
Dr. Ronald G. Lewis (Cherokee), Eastern Michigan University
Dr. Malea Powell, Michigan State University
Dr. Joyous Bethel, University of Southern Mississippi
Dr. Apanaki Buckley, Heritage College
Dr. Joely De La Torre (Luiseno), San Francisco State University

This statement was written in April 2003 by Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, Arizona State University. It was published in the newspaper Indian Country Today. Special thanks to Dr. Scott Richard Lyons for his comments and suggestions.

Why are Indigenous Soldiers in Iraq?

2007-06-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

Why Are Indigenous (American Indian) Soldiers Serving in Iraq?
by
Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, Ph.D.

June 26, 2006

Open Letter to all Indigenous Peoples:

As the United States prepares for its annual Independence Day celebrations, I strongly urge all of our nations to hold critical and independent discussions on why we are committing our young people to serve the U.S. military in its occupation of Iraq.

The recent reporting (including revelations of a cover-up) of the murders, executions, and massacres of innocent Iraqi citizens by United States troops prompts me to ask, "Why are Indigenous (American Indian) soldiers serving in Iraq?" I wonder why our tribal communities have not had critical debates on the immorality of this war, on the lies of the present Bush Administration that got us into this war, and on the spiritual, economic, social, and psychological costs that both our people and the Iraqi people will pay for this war. It is clear from the history of many of our tribes that our people understood the grave costs of war and so took this act very seriously. Before engaging in war, many of our tribes initiated peace councils and sent emissaries to negotiate goodwill and friendship with the "enemy" in order to avoid war. As sovereign Indigenous nations, we did not do this before or during the invasion of Iraq. We instead let the United States make the decision for us as to whether we should or should not enter into this war. I wonder when was the last time that the United States asked our people for our opinion about war and its costs.

Our history tells us that because war was so destructive on many different levels, many of our tribal nations—before committing to war against another tribe—consulted our elders, peacemakers, women, youth, philosophers, intellectuals, spiritual leaders, children, warriors, and veterans to weigh the costs of war. This is something that many of our nations have not done for some time. Many of us have “outsourced-our-thinking” to the United States with respect to when and why we should or should not go to war. We are sovereign nations with very intelligent and moral people who do not need to rely on this country to interpret for us the meaning and the costs that war will bring to our communities. Most of us already know the answer to this. And we know that we should decide for ourselves, after careful, deliberate, and intelligent discussions, whether we must commit our people and resources to the wars of the United States.

Along with the U.S. invasion of the lands of our respective nations, the last two major conflicts of the United States, Vietnam and now Iraq, were based on lies created by the U.S. government. Their track record makes it even more imperative that we rely upon our own thinking, experiences, and morality when we enter into discussions on why our tribal nations should compel our people to go to war. The Vietnam lie was very expensive and horrific; it was responsible for the deaths of 58,191 American soldiers and 153,303 wounded. One million Vietnamese combatants and four million civilians were killed for this American lie. The missing in this war includes approximately 2,300 American soldiers and 200,000 Vietnamese. In Iraq, over 100,000 Iraqi civilians have been killed since 2003. After so many lies told to our people by the United States, do we trust this nation to be honest with us? Do we trust it to care about life as much as we do?

If we are to have discussions about this war, topics must include:

§ Our belief that all people and beings are related to us so what does it mean to make war on our relatives;

§ The fact that we value all life so, therefore, war truly must be a last resort;

§ The fact that we value Mother Earth as a living being and the fact that the United States military is contaminating the lands, waters, trees, plants and people in Iraq through the use of biowarfare, landmines, and depleted uranium which will kill innocent people and will poison much of their territory for many years;

§ The fact that we believe in the great circle of life (e.g., what goes around comes around and what we are doing to the Iraqi people is what the U.S. did to our ancestors);

§ What are the effects that all of the killing, maiming, poisoning, and torturing will have upon our people, especially on the psychic and cosmological levels;

§ How the U.S. has treated us in the past and the present, and how it has conscripted our minds and hearts so that we are participating in their same oppressive behavior of another group/race of humans;

§ What other nations has the United States overthrown for its own interests? How many innocent non-U.S. peoples have been killed by this country’s covert operations, and who is it planning to attack in the future? Why?

§ Who benefits most from war and who are the biggest losers?

§ Finally, there are many other reasons that we can discuss and analyze.

It seems that we cannot rely on corporate media or the U.S. government to tell us the truth or to give us the facts about why we should go to war or who we should consider our enemy. John Stockwell, the highest-ranking CIA official to leave the agency and go public with information about CIA-sponsored activities, once said that the U.S. neither does “bloody, gory operations” in Europe nor does it spend its time attacking these countries. Rather it performs such operations in countries that are filled with people of color who do not have the military strength and resources to protect themselves from U.S. invasions. I am convinced that Stockwell is suggesting that the U.S. government has a clear racist war ideology and readily employs it against people or races that are not white. So, we must use all the available evidence to independently decide for ourselves if and when we should go to war and who is our enemy. An enemy should not be invented because of the color of its skin or religious beliefs.

I believe that it is time for us to demand that our tribal governments call for critical and independent discussions, and we need to tell the United States to immediately call for withdrawal of its military forces from Iraq. Most importantly—and independently of their decision or indecision—we must immediately pull our people out of this quagmire. Countries such as Japan, Honduras, Tonga, Nicaragua, Spain, Dominican Republic, Philippines, Thailand, New Zealand, Portugal, and Moldova already have pulled out their troops and many other nations are planning to reduce their troop commitment in the near future. So why are we still in Iraq fighting the U.S.’s illegal war? It also is time for our tribal leaders and communities to impose a moratorium upon any further enlistments of our young men and women into the U.S. military. The United States has abused our trust and has coerced us to fight its illegal, immoral wars long enough.

Many things about this war trouble me to the very core. One of the most disturbing questions is why does it seem that of all the countries that have been, or continue to be, in this war, it is only U.S. soldiers who are committing the murders of, and atrocities against, innocent Iraqi citizens (the unarmed, the disabled, the defenseless elders, the women, and the children)? Is it because the U.S. is serving in larger numbers? Is it because the U.S. is serving in more hazardous situations? Is it because the U.S. is more trigger happy? Is it because of poor oversight and supervision by the upper ranks of the military? Is it because U.S. troops are a more violent group and enjoy killing more than do other soldiers? Is it because the architects of this war, including President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, and former Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, care more about profit than "just war" principles? Is it all of the above?

As I write this, two national guardsmen are being investigated for killing an innocent Iraqi man earlier this year; seven Marines and one Navy corpsman were charged with the shooting death of an Iraqi man, whom they had kidnapped from his home, forced into a hole, and shot to death—they then left a stolen AK-47 near his body to make it look like he was firing at them; three soldiers and one non-commissioned officer were charged with killing (in May 2006) three unarmed Iraqis who were in military custody. And many more Iraqi people have been abused and tortured to death in U.S. custody (especially in the military prisons). Many of these atrocities have been covered up or are “under investigation.”

The story currently receiving the most press is the November 2005 massacre of the twenty-four innocent civilians (including women and children) in Haditha by U.S. Marines. This mass killing is being compared to the 1968 My Lai massacre in Vietnam. A “Washington Post” article reported that "Aws Fahmi, a Haditha resident […] said he watched and listened from his home as Marines went from house to house killing members of three families, recalled hearing his neighbor across the street, Younis Salim Khafif, plead in English for his life and the lives of his family members. ‘I heard Younis speaking to the Americans, saying: “I am a friend. I am good,”’ Fahmi said. ‘But they killed him, and his wife and daughters.’ The girls killed inside Khafif's house were ages 14, 10, 5, 3 and 1” (Saturday, May 17, 2006).

Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), a former Marine who maintains close ties with senior Marine officers despite his opposition to the war stated, "Marines overreacted . . . and killed innocent civilians in cold blood." Murtha already has called for the withdrawal of the U.S. military from Iraq and has called the war "a flawed policy wrapped in illusion" (Larry Downing, Reuters, Nov 18, 2005).

There are many reasons why we must immediately get our people out of this war:

War is not a moral act. The occupation, torture, mutilation, killing, and murder of innocent Iraqi people are acts of immorality. Our people should not be complicit in atrocities.

The invasion of Iraq was based on lies. Iraq was accused of having weapons of mass destruction by the Bush administration; it did not. Iraq was accused of having ties with Osama Bin Laden; it did not. Our people should not be complicit in lies.

The war against Iraq does not meet the standards of a "Just War" that evolved among "civilized" societies. Our people have enough struggles and battles, and should not be complicit in unjust global activities on behalf of the United States.

The war on Iraq was for "regime change" which is not legal under international law, Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. Our people should not be complicit in lawlessness.

After two decades of wars, invasions, and sanctions, Iraq did not have the military power to pose a clear and present danger to the U.S. before or after being invaded in 2003. Our people should not be complicit in oppressing and occupying a nation that never attacked us.

Many people in the U.S. and throughout the world oppose this war. Our nations should exercise their right to voice their opposition to U.S. military operations, conflicts, wars, and occupations.

The U.S. soldiers who have murdered Iraqi civilians must now stand trial. Several of them could receive the death penalty. Will more death and life sentences follow or will the deaths of innocent Iraqis be ignored or covered up? Do we want our men and women involved in situations that might conclude in such trials or cover ups? Our people should mentor their young into just and moral activities that benefit their nations, while encouraging conflict-resolution when possible.

This war is creating new "terrorism" and retribution that will be directed at the U.S. for its invasion of Iraq and its torturing and killing of innocent people. Our people should not contribute to U.S. creation of hatred.

There is no end in sight for a U.S. military exit out of Iraq. Many sources report that the U.S. is establishing permanent military bases in Iraq which would keep troops in Iraq for many years. Our people should not contribute to the expansion and maintenance of U.S. militarization, colonization, and occupation.

Invading Iraq is extremely financially costly and takes resources away from many badly needed priorities at home. At present, it costs nearly one billion dollars a week to wage this “War on Terrorism.” Our people should not be complicit in U.S. activities that waste money.

Billions of dollars have been authorized by the U.S. congress to be used for occupation and reconstruction. There is evidence that billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have been lost through waste, abuse, and fraudulent billing. In a June 8, 2006, article published in “The Baltimore Chronicle,” Dave Lindorff reported that twenty-one billion dollars "has gone missing without a trace in Iraq." Who is responsible for this? I am reminded that our people are fighting for, in part, accountability of billions of lost dollars in the Eloise Pepion Cobell, et al. v. Gale Norton, Secretary of the Interior lawsuit in the United States. Our people should never be complicit in U.S. theft, fraud, and dishonesty.

The U.S. is supposed to be rebuilding Afghanistan but it is not; rather, it is targeting most of its focus and resources on Iraq. Our people should not contribute to unilateral U.S. policy and doctrines.

Despite billions of U.S. dollars spent in Iraq after its invasion, very little promised rebuilding of the Iraqi infrastructure has been accomplished. Our people—who are familiar with broken promises and treaties—should never be complicit in the lies of the United States.

The rebuilding of Iraq is not happening. Many U.S. firms that went to Iraq to perform reconstruction services have been accused of "bilking" funds intended for reconstruction. In an April 16, 2006 news story, the “Boston Globe” reported that "American contractors swindled hundreds of millions of dollars in Iraqi funds." For instance, in March 2006, a Rhode Island-based company called, The Custer Battles, was found "liable for $3 million in fraudulent billings in Iraq." Stories such as this are outrageous and numerous. Many of these companies had/have ties to the current Bush administration, especially Dick Cheney, the current Vice President of the United States. Cheney was the CEO of Halliburton from 1995 to 2000. Halliburton has made hundreds of millions of dollars from this war and occupation. Our people should not be complicit in helping the rich, like Cheney, get richer.

We must no longer allow our nations to remain in the fog of war, participating in the U.S. continued colonization and destruction of the world. What this country has done—and continues to do—to the Iraqi people is unconscionable and must stop. The U.S.-led war in Iraq is wrong, immoral, illegal, unjust, a lie; it is about profiteering for a very small, corrupt, elite sector of the U.S. population. Our people, many of whom occupy some of the lowest levels of decision-making in the U.S. military, are considered expendable and are being used for cannon fodder so that the rich, especially in the United States, can become richer.

We must realize that many of the people in the highest levels of the United States government suffer from an addiction to war, power, and colonization. Many, but not all, Indigenous Peoples have become co-dependent in this addiction as demonstrated by not holding public meetings and councils that question the U.S. invasion, and by allowing our people to participate in this unjust, illegal war that is creating suffering for untold numbers of innocent Iraqi people. In the Fall of 2004, the academic journal Wicazo Sa Review published a paper I wrote entitled “Cowboys and Indians: Toys of Genocide, Icons of American Colonialism.” In that article, I stated that "it took me some years to understand that colonialism is a sickness, an addiction to greed, power, and exploitation....Colonialism has taught many Indigenous Peoples to be silent, passive, compliant victims who participate in, excuse, enable, or ignore the colonizer's addictive behaviors. Left unchecked, colonialism has continued to flourish, devastate, and suppress Indigenous Peoples, keeping them in a the perpetual role of 'the Indian,' causing many to say, do and think things they never would if their minds and hearts were free from American colonial rule." Today this addictive behavior or the drug of choice of this country is its illegal, dishonest, and brutal invasion of Iraq. I urgently ask each and every Indigenous Person to quit enabling the addictive behavior of the U.S.

In this same article, I also wrote that there are "antidotes to colonialism that Indigenous Peoples can and must employ: courage, intelligent resistance, development of a counterconsciousness and discourse, and a fierce critical interrogation of American colonial ideology." It is incumbent upon our peoples to employ these antidotes in order to condemn and get our people out of this war. We must commit all of our intellectual and truth-seeking energies to this objective and not let any one, Indigenous or non-Indigenous, hijack our need for such critical and independent discussions. A key democratic principle of our peoples was our willingness to allow our people dissent from popular opinion so that we might consider all of our options. We must not let accusations that our "honor and courage as warriors is on the line" prevent us from deciding to leave Iraq—and the U.S. military. After generations of service in the U.S. military—and its numerous wars—our people have repeatedly proven that we are brave and courageous beyond compare. However, our ability to think morally, critically, and independently about our participation in this war is another matter that we now must undertake ever so seriously.

Maybe, just maybe, if we act using our traditional Indigenous forms of morality that value truth, intelligence, honesty, life, and dignity—and refuse to be a enabler to the U.S. addiction to greed, war, power, and colonization—we can help it overcome its unhealthy, destructive obsession for war, conquest, and killing of others. And, as it recovers from this addiction, maybe we also can help it overcome its two greatest phobias: dikephobia (the fear of justice) and hypegiaphobia (the fear of responsibility). I pray that that you will take this open letter (or a statement of your own) to your tribal leaders and communities and immediately begin the important critical and independent discussions that will promote and act upon the well-being of all of our people.

Truth, Justice, Peace

Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, Ph.D.
Founder and Director, Center for
Indigenous Peoples' Critical and Intuitive Thinking
Associate Professor of Indigenous Nations Studies
Indigenous Nations Studies Program
1410 Jayhawk Blvd, Room 105
The University of Kansas
Lawrence, KS 66045
Email: ArikaraConsciousness@gmail.com
www.ku.edu/~insp

BROWN PAPER

2007-06-15T13:50:00.000-07:00

on the importance of Indigenous Peoples debating their participation in the Iraq war

Background

Overwhelming numbers of people and governments around the world and in the United States regard the Iraq war as a mistake and unjust. However, it is not clear where American Indian peoples stand since most have not organized formal community-wide discussions to assess the legitimacy of this war and its consequences for their communities, the Iraqi people, and Mother Earth. It is not clear where tribes stand regarding the participation of Indigenous soldiers in the U.S. military occupation and war against Iraq. It is not clear whether tribal communities do or do not support the “surge” of another 30,000 troops into Iraq or a U.S. war against Iran. Furthermore, it is has become exceedingly clear that this war violates several important American Indian values and beliefs that are necessary to the survival of Native Peoples: honesty, competent leadership, the sacredness of all life, relatedness to all peoples and beings, respect for Mother Earth, the Great Circle of Life, and war as a last resort.

1. The U.S.-led war against Iraq is illegal and unjust

Native American soldiers serving in Iraq are engaged in one of the most unpopular, illegal, mismanaged, and unjust wars in the history of the U.S. The Bush administration launched the war for “regime change” (removing Saddam Hussein) which is not legal under international law, Article 2 (4) of the UN Charter. The Bush administration launched the war by falsely claiming that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction and ties to Osama bin Laden. The war was never endorsed by the United Nations Council and most nations wanted the UN inspections for Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) to continue until there was evidence that they did or did not exist. However, the United States invaded Iraq before inspections were completed. Before the U.S.-led invasion, UN weapons inspectors agreed that 90-95 percent of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction capacity had been eliminated by 1998 and what remained were only bits and pieces of that program which constituted no threat to the United States.

2. The Iraq war has caused intense suffering and death for innocent Iraqis

Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi people have been killed, maimed, and tortured during the U.S.-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. In 2004, as many as 100,000 Iraqis had died as a result of the war. In October of 2006, The Lancet medical journal reported that the death toll among Iraqis had climbed to an estimated 655,000. In June 2006 alone the UN reported that over 3,000 Iraq civilians were violently killed. The organization Iraq Body Count reported that “(March 2006 – March 2007) has been by far the worst year for violence against civilians in Iraq since the invasion.” For instance, “mortar attacks that kill civilians have quadrupled in the last year (from 73 to 289)” while “fatal suicide bombs, car bombs, and roadside bombing attacks have doubled (from 712 to 1476).”A national 2007 ABC News poll taken in Iraq indicates that seven in 10 people report multiple signs of traumatic stress, more than half of Iraqis, 53 percent, have a close friend or relative who’s been hurt or killed in the current violence and eighty-six percent worry about a loved one being hurt; two-thirds worry deeply. In November 2005, 63 percent of Iraqis felt very safe in their neighborhoods. Today just 26 percent say they feel safe. In Baghdad eighty-four percent feel unsafe.

3. Invading Iraq has made the world more unsafe and Iraqis want the U.S. out their country

In a report entitled, “Trends in Global Terrorism: Implications for the United States,” published in April 2006, 16 different American intelligence agencies concluded that the U.S. invasion and continuing occupation of Iraq has worsened the threat of global terrorism. A 2007 ABC News poll revealed that very few Iraqis believe that the U.S. and Iraqi security forces can change the terrible situation in Iraq and many feel that if the Americans left that things would improve. The poll found that 78 percent of Iraqis now oppose the presence of U.S. forces on their soil and 51 percent now say it is “acceptable” to attack U.S. and coalition forces. In early 2004 only 17 percent felt this way. Nearly 60 percent of Iraqis say that they believe that the U.S. controls things in Iraq. In a rejection of the Bush administration’s belief that a “surge” of U.S. troops will stabilize Iraq, less than 3 in 10 Iraqi’s feel that sending more U.S. troops to Baghdad and Anbar will improve security. Almost everyone in Anbar believes it will make security worse. Despite the billions of U.S. taxpayer monies sent to Iraq for post war rebuilding, 67 percent of Iraqis say that postwar reconstruction efforts have been ineffective or nonexistent.

4. The Iraq war has very little support

National U.S. polls indicate that the Iraq war is now more unpopular than the Vietnam War. Nearly 60 percent of the U.S. population now believes that it was a mistake to send U.S. troops to Iraq and an even larger number disapprove of the way that President Bush is handling the war. In an ABC/Washinton Post poll taken after Bush addressed the nation on Iraq on Jan. 10, 2007, Americans by 65-34 percent opposed his plan for a surge of 20,000 troops. A CBS/New York Times poll taken during February 23-27, 2007 showed that 74 percent of the respondents thought that U.S. efforts to bring stability to Iraq were going somewhat badly or very badly. In his most recent major policy shift to try to stabilize Iraq, Bush has proposed sending almost 30,000 more troops to Iraq. However, nearly 60 percent of the American public want Congress to block his plans, while 70 percent say he doesn’t have clear plan for handling the situation in Iraq; almost four in 10 Republicans agree.

5. Beginning Solutions

Indigenous communities are sovereign nations with all the powers of self-government. Tribal sovereignty resides in the tribal membership and predates that of the United States. The use of War Powers represents the ultimate act of sovereignty. Article I, Sec 8, Clause 11 of the U.S. Constitution, the War Powers Clause, authorizes the U.S. Congress exclusive authority to declare war. The sovereignty of tribal nations enables tribes to create their own War Powers within their tribal constitutions.

Debates can help tribal communities to formally discuss and act on their support or disapproval of the U.S.-led war against Iraq. Debates must be held to create awareness and clarity on the war and how it supports or contradicts the cultural beliefs and values of the nation. All citizens must be represented in the discussions to give an accurate picture of the views and opinions of the nation. Tribal elders, spiritual leaders, youth, women, veterans, educators, activists, and peacemakers, must strongly encourage these debates. Time is of the essence since the U.S. could soon launch a war against Iran, Venezuela, or North Korea, which would further entangle Indigenous soldiers and communities in another war.
Debates can also assist Indigenous communities to create Just War principles that can be used to determine: (1) How to prevent war, (2) When the use of force is appropriate, (3) How can war be waged in an honorable and humane manner, (4) How and when war can be ended, (5) What can be done to keep peace, and (6) How to honorably reconcile with the “enemy.” The power and of tribal self-governance has existed “from time immemorial” and enables Indigenous communities to (a) formally discuss the costs and realities of war and, and (b) to create and use principles of peacemaking and just war. It’s time to use these powers.

This (short version) BROWN PAPER was prepared by Dr. Michael Yellow Bird, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Indigenous Peoples’ Critical and Intuitive Thinking and Associate Professor of Indigenous Nations Studies, University of Kansas. Comments can be sent to Dr. Yellow Bird at: 1410 Jayhawk Blvd, room 105, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, 66045 (phone 785.864.2661, Fax: 785.864.0370, E-mail: mybird@ku.edu). A more detailed version of this BROWN PAPER is available upon request. Lawrence, KS, June 10, 2007.