I Can't Sleep and Neither Should You

I have a number of unpublished poems, essays, and thoughts regarding the war in Iraq that continues...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

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

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

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

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

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

“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).