SLAYING THE DRAGON

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MNN. Oct. 26, 2013. The people were concerned. Their lands were constantly under attack by invaders. Warriors were sent out to find some answers. One ended up at a big stone house with a big watchtower on top of a high hill. He wanted to find out who lived there and entered. He encountered large unattractive people with scales all over their bodies. He saw that they slayed each other for fun and to get prizes.

Senators: "We just come here, sit in our chairs, sleep, and collect our pay checks."

Scaly people: “Mostly we sleep in our chairs and collect our ‘sustenance’ til we die.”

In a pond next to the big stone house lived a huge dragon that had to be fed everyday with the bodies of the true people of the nation. When they are all gone, then the subjects and their children would be thrown into the pond to be eaten by the dragon. The true people nearby told the warrior that everyone was living under great distress, because the dragon and his keepers are ravaging the land. They are taking all the sustenance to the bigger stone house far away over the bigger pond. 

Dragon: "You don't believe us!!! That you just stay quiet and everything will be alright!!"

Dragon: “Here’s a back room deal. Just stay quiet and everything will be alright!!”

The beast overheard them talking. He jumped out of the pond roaring like thunder. His head was immense and his tail was 50 ft. long. The warrior showed no fear.  

The warrior and the dragon fought. Its scales were so thick and hard his arrows broke into thousands of pieces upon impact. He took shelter beneath the Tree of Peace where no poison can prevail and no dragon can hurt us. With the arrow in his hand the warrior rushed at the dragon and pierce it where there are no scales. The dragon fell dead at his feet. He had found the dragon’s weakness and went everywhere to tell his people about it.

Warrior: "Hey, Dragon. You got soft spots all over!"

Warrior: “Hey, Dragon. You got soft spots all over!”

The true people can come together under the Tree of Peace for the protection of all mankind. 

The Irish Rovers sang about dragons. When he has no believers, he dies .. “Without his life-long friend, puff could not be brave, So puff that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his cave. oh!  Irish Rovers: “Puff the Magic Dragon”. 

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com  For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

PEEPING UNCLE TOM

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MNN. Oct. 25, 2013. US President Obama has been caught cyber stalking 35 world leaders and millions of others worldwide. He was caught with his eye looking through the hole in his shithouse wall! Like any sick voyeur, he is trying to induce fear. He is a predator who wants control and have secrets or embarrassing information about his victims. A voyeur gets a kick out of looking at other people’s suffering or distress.  Obama wants to know what everyone is doing, like back in the “hood”.

Obama's war room and peeping throne.

Obama’s war room and peep pot!

In an Indigenous communal society we have a responsibility to openly look out for each other for the sake of our survival. Secret surveillance violates the code of survival as he is looking out for Number One and all his criminal cohorts.

Obama secretly watches others, in effect hiding in the closet, under the bed or looking through windows. It is illegal and can carry a hefty fine and jail sentence.

Such stalkers won’t take “no” for an answer and don’t think stalking is inappropriate. Stalkers are charming and think everybody loves them. Obama is upset that now no one trusts him.

Did Obama have cameras installed in the most intimate rooms, like public washrooms to watch women using the toilets or in store change rooms? Were these images transmitted to a monitor in his bedroom in the White House? He should be careful not to fall through the flimsy ceiling and crash onto the desks of his political friends and opponents.

German mural of "Obama the Stalker!"

German mural of “Obama the Stalker!”

With modern technology, Obama uses fancy means to spy on us. After he’s not the prez, he could start a service called “PeepingUncleTom.com” to show other stalkers how to terrorize us.

Edward Snowdon let the cat out of the bag. He thinks snooping like this is not right. People could file police reports and get restraining orders against Obama. We can change our email addresses, phone numbers and passwords to get out of his clutches. Obama needs to see a therapist or a support group for his addiction.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Obama: "Get away from me, you creep!"

German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Obama: “Get away from me, you creep!”

It’s hard for ordinary people to stop the crime when the US president is committing it. He says he didn’t get any useful information! We know all Indigenous nations are on his list. [We’re going back to smoke signals!] We have nothing to hide. We can openly answer any one of your questions. Can you truthfully answer any of ours?

Obama should take Michael Kennedy and his friends advice:

“Please don’t burn our shithouse down/Mother is willing to play/
Father’s been run out of town/ 
And Nell’s in the family way”.“Please don’t burn our s–t house down”

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com  For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L

 

 

 

 

 

US Honey Boo Boo

mnnlogo1MNN. Oct. 3, 2013. The display on the Learning Channel of a 6 year old low class Hill Billy child and her family in all its poverty and grossness is not new to us Indigenous people. The visitors were always Red Necks and fat people. Today they are objects sold on the public entertainment chopping block, to make fun of themselves. Their American Dream is a glitzy gaudy obscene world of rampant commodification and sexualization. Anything can be exploited to satisfy their rapacious greed and vanity. 

Real all-American family!

Real all-American family!

They came from Europe, sickly, mistreated, malnourished and ignorant. Their rootless culture has been camouflaged. The collapse of the US economy is bringing out the truth of who they really are. Their system is guilt-free lethal opportunism off our backs. We’ve been carrying these parasites since they arrived. “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is dismantling the carefully crafted false image of the white United States, which is actually racist, homophobic and shallow. They are called “white trash”. 

toddlers tiarasRules of moral behavior are being cast aside. Baby beauty pageants like “Toddlers and Tiaras” and others display their tiny tots for the sexual satisfaction of the morbidly sick viewers. Pedophiles love to see parents prostituting their own children. Honey Boo Boo is all about sex, drugs and money. Everything is for sale, even their babies. Their beauty pageant kids are drinking Red Bull mixed with Mountain Dew, wearing Go-Go shoes and wiggling their hips to sexually arouse the judges. 

Onowaregeh, Great Turtle Island, is riddled with mass inequality, racism and imperialism to feed the needs of the bankers’ war corporation. They’ve allowed their rulers to mis-educated and manipulated them from kindergarten on up. Their fake “American Dream” pop culture is changed daily by their p.r. spinners. 

Honey Boo Boo is not an under class, criminal, unemployed exaggerated negative stereo type. She  represents the real American that kills and abuses worldwide so they can get their cut of everybody’s money. The corruption is being exposed. 

Recently pedophile drove around Kahnawake trying to lure children into his vehicle.

Recently in Kahnawake: “Come here, little Indian girl. I have something for you!”

Honey Boo Boo expresses the real mentality of the Americans. They came here to make money, not to work and to help kill and steal from the original people. Just below the surface they are Jack Daniels, prison tattoos, trailer parks and uneducated. More people watched Boo Boo than the Republican National Convention! 

We pitied and helped them. We did not want their slave mentality that allows their corporations to exploit them for sex, money and drugs. 

We have no hatred, only deep disappointment for the illegal settlers who are on our land. They continue to destroy the environment for all of us, without any guilt. They reneged on their promise to live by the Great Law of Peace. For doing this they will destroy themselves. 

"Stay away from our kids if you know what's good for you!

SE NE RI TA IEN: [translation] “Stay away from our kids if you know what’s good for you!

Pedophilia has long been part of American pop culture, as the popularity of 5 year old Shirley Temple shows when she sang in the 1930s: I’ve thrown away my toys/Even my drums and trains/I want to make some noise/with real live airplanes. Some day I’m going to fly/how would you like to be my crew”. Shirley Temple. “On the Good Ship Lollipop”.

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

ROLLER WAR

mnnlogo1MNN. Sept. 21, 2013. The goal of corporate rulers is to kill as many as possible as soon as possible to bankrupt, defeat and control nations. A few “major” multinational states control various sectors of every economy: transport, Food, Communications, Housing, Luxury, and Energy.

Not this!

Not this!

 

Corporate society is the consumer. Wars happen elsewhere. Dreams are created and fed to the masses. Politicians, sports and entertainment stars live out the glamorous luxurious lifestyle for them. People are made to chose between ‘nice things’ in exchange for giving up their freedom. Corporate rulers need war to avoid providing for the real needs of the people, like food and shelter.

Lacrosse, Creation's game.

Lacrosse, Creation’s game for fun.

The dream world is falling apart. The “real world” is multinationals, bankrupt cities and nations, sexism, class bias, 1% controlling 99% and watching the violence on Saturday Night Hockey in Canada or Monday Night Football.

Sometime large-scale war may become too expensive. Films like “Hunger Games” show gladiator sports to the death between the have-nots for the entertainment of the elite.

crashBlood sports and murder shows on prime time promote a taste for wars and violence. People constantly point guns, dead bodies everywhere, brutality against women and children and vicarious violence. We are being conditioned to fear our innate needs, which we are told are barbaric.

Millionaire elite athletic stars are groomed to create the diversion and feed society’s appetite. They may eventually be made to fight to the death, especially when the rulers’ psychological control of the masses is threatened. If the game is too mellow, the rules are changed to generate more violence. Penalties will not be called. The time limit will be removed. The game is over when everyone is dead.

As life gets harder by design, these violent games become more vital. Scoring and fighting re-directs the violence into entertainment. Today some youth are physically and mentally destroyed or injured for life in organized sports.

The elite are concerned about their highly paid stars becoming more demanding. Even they want freedom and basic human values. Those stepping out of line are “dealt with”.   

Sport is war surrounded by rules and a track or field or spectator venue. Changing the game rules shows the rulers’ weakness. When the corporate rules can’t direct the violence, the game and society become infected. Rules vanish. Violence becomes careless. People destroy and kill. Fights break out in the stands and on the streets. Violence becomes futile, undirected, self-indulgent. Control breaks down. The pattern in mass shootings is similar: lone heavily armed gunman, shooting unarmed people in a public venue and then death of the gunman. Most televised!

Rather dance than fight!

Rather dance than fight!

Natural laws don’t change. Traditionally our sports are spiritual. We are competitive. Even in so-called Indian warfare, we did not kill. Counting coup is not murder. It is riding against the enemy and touching him. Nature does not have a taste for death! Even Stompin’ Tom sang that sport is for fun: “the Stanley Cup is all filled up for the chaps who win the drink-
Now the final flick of the hockey stick and a one gigantic scream-
The puck is in!”Stompin’ Tom: “Good Ol’ Hockey Game”. 

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L

 

 

 

STICKS & STONES

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MNN. Sept. 9, 2013. The Indian Trust Fund was set up in 1704. In 1867 and 1876 the Corporations of Canada and US were set up under Admiralty Law of the Seas and illegally placed on our land. Canada made itself the illegal trustee of our funds and calls giving us a few cents of our own money “sharing revenue from Indigenous resources”. Canada covers its debt from the ever growing $390 trillion Indian Trust Fund. 

Scrooge: "Hey, Indians! You ain't never gettin' it back!

Scrooge: “Hey, Indians! You ain’t never gettin’ it back!” [He thinks.]

A meeting took place in 2004 between Indigenous lawyer Art Manual and Naomi Klein and Wall Street’s Standard and Poors.  Poors is the credit agent that issues Canada’s top notch AAA rating to assure investors that the country can pay its debt. Indigenous people, land,  resources and funds are Canada’s economy. Poors agreed. “Sure, the entire debt is owed to you, but what army will enforce it? How are you going to get it from us?” 

Canada's credit getting flushed.

Canada’s credit getting flushed.

Instead of paying it, Canada has developed plans to “eliminate” the Indigenous obstacle, with the help of their incorporated band/tribal council and national “Injun” sell-outs.  

Bankers don’t want to come out of their high rise boardrooms to meet with us in the bush to talk about paying their full debt to us. 

In 2005 we objected to various mega projects like the Northern New York power grid and St. Lawrence Seaway expansion on our land. We sent copies of the objections to the stock exchanges of the world telling them that we are the natural people who never ceded our land and resources anytime anywhere on Great Turtle Island. Thus anyone raising money by putting up our land and resources as collateral for investment is committing fraud. Stock exchanges are bound to protect their investors. The NYS energy grid and Seaway expansion have not taken place. 

Obama: "We gotta get this war going!"

Obama: “We gotta get this war going!”

US has to start a war to “save” its economy! The world is onto this scam. 

$50 Cent tells it like it is with those gangsta’s on Wall Street: “I got a lot of living to do before I die
And/I ain’t got time to waste”. 50 Cent. “Wangsta”.

 http://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2013/apr/26/indigenous-rights-defence-canadas-resource-rush 

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Thahoketoteh@hotmail.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0  For free download of Mohawk music thahoketoteh.ws

 

TICK TOCK

mnnlogoMNN, AUG. 27, 2013. In today’s Postmedia News, Natural Resources Minister Joe ‘the-clock-is-ticking’ Oliver said, of course, the “clock is ticking”. Extractions and exports of Indigenous resources have to be done asap before it’s too late [for what?]. It’s a “once-in-a-lifetime” opportunity [said Oliver, following the used car salesman hard sell approach]! These dudes have been watching too much sci-fi! They want to make one of those faster-than-light moves on us. It’s too late! They can’t spin everything around us so fast while their corporate Injuns try to sign away the natural world. She’s not for sale! 

Resource Minister Oliver: "Hurry up before it's too late!"

Resource Minister Joe Oliver: “Quick! Corporate band council Injuns, sign here before your people catch on!”

The bankers have no “birthright” to economic prosperity and to capitalize on our resource bounty. “Listen. Things have to be set up now! Pipelines and export terminals have to go up fast as possible”. The bankers’ fake corporate grid “will not last forever”, says Oliver. They know we Indigenous People are part of everything. We and our Mother have all the power! We constantly remind the settlers that we, the natural people of Great Turtle Island, are sovereign and that international law supports our position. We must be fully informed and will never give our land and resources. 

Canada wants to speed up resource extraction and transportation to markets to line their own pockets as fast as they can. They think they have to squash and annihilate us, the caretakers, who are naturally connected of the land. Not able to steal nature, the illegal Corporation of Canada will dissolve. They will declare bankruptcy, leave Great Turtle Island and return to their Fatherland to become paupers again as they were when they arrived here. 

Onowaregeh, creation of Great Turtle Island.

Onowaregeh, creation of Great Turtle Island.

Also  “free energy” may soon be available which will impoverish all these freeloaders. https://mohawknationnews.com/blog/2013/03/07/free-energy/ Oliver said, “Canada was not built by nay sayers”. No, the corporation was built by greedy murderers who methodically carried out the genocide of millions of our people! Our Mother Earth is going to have the last say! 

Those wishing to live in peace may follow the roots to the source, take shelter and be of one mind.

Those wishing to live in peace may follow the roots to the source, take shelter and be of one mind with us.

As Neil Young reminds us all: “Respect Mother Earth and her giving ways/Or trade away our children’s days.” Mother Earth, Neil Young.

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com  For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada J0L 1B0]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Decisions, Decisions

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MNN. July 27, 2013. How do we resolve issues using the Mohawk consensual decision-making process? Divide the group into three clans, Wolf, Turtle and Bear. Sit in a circle and face each other as equals. Use the basic criteria – peace, righteousness and power. 

Great Turtle Island decisions are in the best interests of all.

Great Turtle Island decisions are in the best interests of all.

The issue: pretend to be people of an Indian reservation where a train rammed into the center of the community. Ten people died. They are going to be overrun by the FBI, social workers, media, grief counselors, helpers, curious people, assorted authorities and the train company’s representatives. The people need to gather before the world spotlight is put on them. 

The Wolf Clan deliberates first. After discussing the many facets of the horrendous event, they come up with three good ideas. First, ask neutral observers to deal with the outsiders. Second, ask a neutral group to be on the front lines as a buffer. Third, the clans will deal with the victims, families and community. Everyone wants peace. These 3 decisions are passed over the fire to the Turtle Clan, who then discuss them. They agree with the three ideas and expand on the third one. Then it is passed over the fire to the Bear Clan who discuss it and sanction the decisions of the other two clans. 

Everyone is equal and everyone has a voice.

Everyone is equal and has a voice. All have a duty to put their ideas into the process to come to one mind – an agreement or a complete understanding.

This is a traditional Haudenosaunee way of resolving issues. Each person must participate so the level of knowledge is raised and discussed until it is understood. A resolution is reached which is in the best interests of all. It is essential that they come to one mind.  

The structure of decision making in international law and the rule of law come from the Iroquois constitution, Kaia’nere:kowa/Great Law of Peace. It is meant for the whole world to stop war. The US Constitution was based on this philosophy of equality and everybody has a voice. The tools for resolving issues is based on our relationship to the natural world. The problem is the US maintained their hierarchical commercial system within it. The Charter of the UN is based on the US Constitution with this flaw. Everybody has the duty to save the true rule of law for the world. 

In the corporate system the banker bribes everybody and makes the decision.

In the corporate system the banker bribes everybody, keeps information and makes the decision.

The decision-making process gives each a voice. Their thoughts and feelings are validated. They don’t wait for fabricated information and then decisions are made by a few people, which are then implemented by force. Each must seek the real truth. As the Mavericks sang: “I want to know everything..” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DlUpmv4oZrY

Consensus Decision Making http://www.seedsforchange.org.uk/consensus

 

 

 

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Thahoketoteh@hotmail.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go tomohawknationnews.com More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada J0L 1B0]

 

INJUN SUMMER

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MNN. July 31, 2013. Settlers’ version:  As John T. McCutcheon wrote: Injun summer is when all the homesick Injuns come back to play; long ago there used to be millions around here. Reg’lar —not  cigar store Injuns. Don’t be skeeredhain’t none around here now. They all went away and died. Every year, their sperrits come back across the hazy misty fields out yonder, marchin’ along an’ dancin’ in the sunlight. Them tepees kind o’ look like corn shocks. That smoky smell in the air is the campfires a-burnin’ and their pipes a-goin’. Th’ Injuns are hoppin’ ’round ’em… Tonight when the moon is hangin’ over the hill an’ the harvest fields is all swimmin’ in the moonlight, an’ you can see the Injuns and the tepees… When the leaves turn red is jest another sign o’ redskins, when an old Injun sperrit gits tired dancin’ an’ goes up an’ squats on a leaf t’rest. Once’n a while a leaf gives way under some fat old Injun ghost and comes floatin’ down to the ground. That’s the war paint rubbed off’n an Injun ghost. Soon all the Injuns’ll go marchin’ away agin, back to the happy huntin’ ground. 

These misrepresentations are ending. Indigenous are restless and educated!

These misrepresentations are ending. Indigenous are restless and educated!

Government’s version: Oh, oh. Let’s start a flare-up so we can kill or arrest them. Give ‘em a criminal record! The Indigenous want everything that we stole from them. Their land, resources, money. International law supports them. The Indigenous demand respect for their  sovereignty, all resource revenues, decent communities, release their people from prisons, and full control of their ever growing $375 trillion Indian Trust Fund. Our corporate banker bosses told us to ignore them. They say, “It’s not logical for us to give them back what we stole! We’ll control the “Indian Summer” of protests by our old, but more aggressive, genocide program. We’ll beef up security, safeguard critical transportation infrastructure and super arm the police. We‘ll crack down on their trade or business that gives them any economic advantages or a voice. Our corporate media won’t cover anything unless it’s negative.” 

Summer of fun.

Summer of fun.

Indigenous version: Hot summer days. The pow wow trail. Canada’s Indigenous population is growing faster than the general population, increasing by 20.1% from 2001 to 2006. Drumming, corn soup and bannock makes our women fertile. Especially the Métis, with an increase of 33.3% between 2001 and 2006. The median age of the Indigenous population is less than 25 years, which is 15 years lower than the non-Indigenous. No slave gene exists in our DNA. Only the freedom and talk back gene. Ya-hoo! As the Red Bull Singers remind us: “Darling don’t cry. We’re going to leave the USA and take you home … ” Red Bull Singers.

Our women dancing!

Summertime! Everybody heeds the call of the drum!

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Thahoketoteh@hotmail.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go tomohawknationnews.com More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada J0L 1B0]

 

 

 

  

 

  

 

HIGH STEEL

mnnlogoMNN. June 26, 2013. The Haudenosaunee ironworkers “Ratiristakehron” worked on nearly all the big structures of greater New York: Empire State Building, George Washington Bridge, Chrysler Building, World Trade Center, Triborough Bridge, Verrazano Bridge, Pulaski Skyway and West Side Highway. They worked all over the world, even helping to rivet the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco and the Panama Canal. Mohawks were sent to California to teach ironworkers how to erect with a guy derek. 

Ratiskerakete, our men.

Ratiskerakete, our men.

 

In 1886 Dominion Bridge of Montreal was building a cantilevered bridge over the St. Lawrence for the Canadian Pacific Railroad. It was partly set on the Kahnawake Mohawk community on the south shore. The Mohawks demanded jobs. Dominion Bridge agreed – assuming they would unload box cars and do other menial tasks. The Indians climbed all over the bridge, “as agile as goats”. They wanted to try riveting. As the work progressed, the Mohawks were found to be at ease at great heights. 

Keepers of the Eastern Door of Great Turtle Island.

Keepers of the Eastern Door of Great Turtle Island.

Riveting is difficult and dangerous. Rivets were heated until they were red-hot, tossed thirty to forty feet through the air, then caught and forced through steel beams with a pneumatic riveting gun, all standing on a narrow beam 500 feet or more above the ground. 

Soon 70 iron and steel riveters were working projects throughout Canada. Men from all Six Nations joined. Mohawks worked 10 years before the international Iron Workers Union was formed. They had always adapted to highly skilled building trades. They were guides for fur trappers, rode rafts for lumber companies, shot the rapids, circus performers and even ‘snake oil’ salesmen. 

In 1907 the Quebec Bridge collapsed, killing 96 workers, 35 of them Mohawks. Instead of quitting, Mohawk boys became even more determined to become steelworkers. Construction companies preferred Iroquois iron workers.

Haudenosaunee hands in NYC skyline.

Haudenosaunee hands in NYC skyline.

 

By the 1910s they arrived in New York. In the 1930s over 700 Mohawks lived in the old North Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. Local Italian grocers carried their favorite cornmeal. They hung out at the Spar Bar and the Wigwam Bars. It is said there was a sign, “The Greatest Iron Workers in the World Pass Thru These Doors”. 

Their ties to their families and communities were very strong. On Friday nights the steel workers made the twelve-hour trip home to a joyous reception and drove all night back to the city on Sunday nights to be on the job on Monday morning. 

Eagles at the top of Tree of Peace.

Eagles at the top of Tree of Peace.

Their skill remains a mystery. Some thought it was genetic. Others said they knew how to deal with fear. By the late 1960s riveting had all but disappeared. The Brooklyn community dissolved. The lure of high steel did not disappear. The graves of men who died on the job are marked with steel girders. By the 1990s 20 to 25 percent of Mohawk men were in steel work again. Men who want to do it are rare and men who can do it are even rarer. 

As Joni Mitchell sang, “Little Indian kids on a bridge up in Canada, They can balance and they can climb, Like their fathers before them, They’ll walk the girders of the Manhattan skyline … Song for Sharon.

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Thahoketoteh@hotmail.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0. Download free Mohawk music at Thahoketoteh.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MNN: SMALL CONDOLENCE

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MNN. June 25, 2013. Indigenous people can be manipulated in front of their peers by ridicule. It activates the  fight or flight syndrome. In native culture everyone is equal and we each have our own individual strengths. We use this for the good of the people. Disrespect of one is a threat to the rest of the group. Those who conserve the integrity of the group survive. Those who do not are ostracized. anxiety stress

A public insult can cause someone to become so angry that they go blank and react instantly. They can strike or leave to avoid a confrontation. It looks completely irrational. 

Those usurping our rights take advantage of this phenomenon. A strong adversarial atmosphere is created. Insults are hurled to upset and confuse the target. The youth are inexperienced in dealing with such indignities in front of our people. Some can break down or react sharply and swiftly. The attacker gains power by getting others to publicly attack their enemies. 

anxiety-symptomsThe attacker loses their power when the target stands there calmly and does not fall apart. They sometimes say something degrading to their victim like, “You are the most horrible Indian on the face of the earth”. This is an incredible violation by an older person who wants to destroy a young Indigenous person. 

Our people developed a way of dealing with this phenomenon. At a meeting, especially over a contentious issue, we do a “Small Condolence” ceremony. Because we are aware of our volatility, ground rules are set down which we all follow to resolve an issue. 

A piece of soft doeskin wipes the eyes of each person so they may see issues clearly; an eagle feather wipes around the ears so they may listen and hear what is being said; and a glass of clear water is drunk so their words will be as clear as the water, without sharp edges. 

Meetings begin with Ohenton Kariwatekwen and Small Condolence.

Meetings begin with Ohenton Kariwatekwen and Small Condolence.

 

The higher our Indigenous students go academically and competitively, the more pressure they face. They will find themselves in situations of hostility, aggression, being yelled at, insulted and treated unfairly. Today they cannot respond as normal warriors to fight back or leave the situation. They have to understand and deal with it. As the Artists Against Bullying say, “When you need anyone to talk to, someone is always there”. Artists Against Bullying.

MNN Mohawk Nation News kahentinetha2@yahoo.com Thahoketoteh@hotmail.com For more news, books, workshops, to donate and sign up for MNN newsletters, go to www.mohawknationnews.com  More stories at MNN Archives.  Address:  Box 991, Kahnawake [Quebec, Canada] J0L 1B0