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Bury My Casino at Wounded Knee

On December 29, 1890, at Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment finally took their revenge against the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes for the Battle of Little Bighorn that took the life of Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer, and 268 others, 14 years previous. 300 unarmed Indians were surrounded by the 7th at Wounded Knee and summarily shot. 25 of the 7th were killed by friendly fire. The “Indian Wars” had finally come to a bloody conclusion at Wounded Knee massacre.

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How to Make a Paper Indian

It is always a fascination learning what materials artists use for creating their inspiration.  Allen and Patty Eckman live in South Dakota and since 1987, they have been making life-sized paper sculptures of Native American Indians.  This artistry has, so far, netted them a cool $5 million USD.

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Going Tines-Up: The Immigrants Among Us

I find it horrifically fascinating that we, The United States of America
— a nation born of immigrants — and yet, when the same immigrants
reach out to our shores and cross our borders searching for a better
life of well-being, we shun them as cravenly as the Original
Native American Founding Fathers shunned us with guns and defense
lines.  Arizona should be ashamed of its Racist immigration policy that
only damages and harms and does nobody any good.

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Teaching the Native American Lie

I wasn’t too different than most children who grow up in the United States and take lessons in history — specifically, the history of the United States, and how it came to be. We learned about the pilgrims and the Native Americans, and how wonderfully everything went when the pilgrims settled the colonies in an effort to escape religious persecution. We learned about the first Thanksgiving meal and how the Pilgrims learned so much about growing new crops and making homes.

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The Lesson of the First Number

The Lesson of the Singing Bowl is one of my favorite articles. Today, I will share with you another story taught to me by my Indian yoga guru — The Lesson of the First Number — where I learned about intent, self-determination, and divination.

I added some detail to make the story my own so I could share it with you here.

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The Mark of Cain and the Mountain Meadows Massacre

As an avowed atheist — I prefer to worship art and nature — it may seem strange that I have a long list of religious friends. Of my many Mormon friends, I have discovered there are two topics that, when mentioned, will cause them to give you the stink eye and turn away from the conversation. If you press the matter, they will refer you to the LDS website for official commentary.

The first verboten topic is colloquially known as “The Mark of Cain” and it is an interesting and undeniable stain on the Mormon church where Blacks — men of African descent — were denied the priesthood because of their “mark”… their skin color.

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Terror in the Homeland: The Fort Dix Six

I thought the whole reason we are slogging through the war in Iraq is to keep the Terrorists “there” and not “here?” That, at least, is the war drum President Bush has been beating and still beats. In a 2003 interview — published on the White House website — Bush makes it clear the Terrorists will remain “over there” as long as we stay there engaging them in Iraq (emphasis added):

Q: Well, what about the suggestion from your critics that while you won the war, the peace is being bungled? THE PRESIDENT: They’re wrong. We’re making great progress in Iraq. We’ve got a pretty steep hill to climb. After all, one, we’re facing a bunch of terrorists who can’t stand freedom. These thugs were in power for awhile, and now they’re not going to be in power anymore, and they don’t like it. And they’re willing to kill innocent people. Their terrorist activities — we’d rather fight them there than here.

 

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