Category Archives: Arts & Culture

“Into the West” another “dirty Indian” film.

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TO APPEAL TO AMERICAN IGNORANCE.
Why North Americans need to create historical lies!MNN. June 21, 2005. RDT, one of the actors in the series of lies, known as ?Into
the West?, executive produced by Steven Spielberg, was asked by a non-Indian,
?What contributions have Native Americans made to the progress of America??

RDT answered, ?Are you out of your mind? America has been in a downward spiral since you whites got here! I refuse to promote this stupid film. Yep! This period piece has got to be the bottom of the barrel. Steven Spielberg had no passion, no imagination. The production of these lies about Indigenous people
cost $100 million. It is meant to attract an audience at the expense of our dignity?.

This is the most ever spent on a television episode. Whose fault is it? ?It?s
our fault for not making our own films, for not stopping this kind of skank, as a
?dirty film? is called. The average American gets off looking at those sick
little Indians. They have to portray us in a glass display case. We have to be
seen as having been whipped into submission, as degenerates. There is never a
portrayal of the fact that we developed the whole idea of democracy and equality.
They refuse to see us as doctors, lawyers, professors, professional and skilled
hard working people. That?s because they think there?s no ?savagery? involved in
these endeavors?.

The Blacks have Spike Lee who made the great film, ?Malcolm X?; John Singleton who
made ?Boys in the Hood?; Edward James Olmos who made ?American Me?; and the Maoris
have Lee Tamahoori who made ?Once were Warriors?. Indigenous people have good
directors. ?We?re worried that the next one about us by white interests will be
even worse than this one!?

?There isn?t one brilliant moment, not one redeeming gem in any frame of the film.
It has nothing to do with art, vision, historical accuracy or representing
Indigenous people in a positive light?.

Pierre George of Stoney Point agrees. He has been fighting against the releasing
of the film ?One Dead Indian?. This is another ritualistic sacrifice of ?Indians?
on the alter of the North American ego. It exploits the murder of his brother,
Dudley George, in 1995 in what is known as the ?Ipperwash? event. He is trying to
find a way to shut down the Commission of Inquiry into Dudley?s murder that?s
going on right now in Forest Ontario. He has good reasons for doing so.

The commission is an excuse to avoid the rule of law. It?s an old tactic, tried
and true. The Saskatchewan Commission on First Nations and Metis People and
Justice Reform was initiated to look into the murder of 17-year old Neil
Stonechild and other native youth by the Saskatoon Police. When the report was
released, the press conference focused on ?aboriginal crime?. Neil Stonechild had
not even been charged with a crime. So why did they murder him? No mention was
made of the serious problem of police committing crimes and murdering people.

?It?s all a big lie. The Ipperwash Inquiry is set up to look only into ?abuse? by
the police of the Ontario Police Act. The police had no right to be on the
territory in the first place! There was no surrender of our land. We are still
sovereign. There was no agreement with the Stony Point people to allow the police
of a foreign nation to operate here?. They were supposed to give the land back
after the war. Instead the Ontario government turned it into a park.

Pierre says, ?Both the film, ?One Dead Indian? and the inquiry are bought and paid
for by the criminals who are committing genocide and who stole our land and our
jurisdiction. It is illegal and obscene?.

Every time we try to bring up the constitutional question, they bring on inquiries
and make movies that revise history and the law. Answering the law involves
pointing the finger of genocide, the arch crime against humanity. It?s just
disgusting!?

?Into the West?, ?One Dead Indian? and now the ?Mohawk Oka Crisis of 1990? are all
part of the same crime. To date there have been no widely circulated accounts of
any of these events from an Indigenous point of view. Our experience and our
sensibilities are left completely out of an equation now thoroughly discredited
that European invaders were somehow more civilized than the people they invaded.

The Canadian and United States governments are spending big bucks to buy and
manufacture excuses in two coordinated moves. One is to bury the law, the
constitutional question. The second is to rewrite the factual history with these
movies. Why is our point of view left out? It?s meant to continue to advance the
big colonial lie. What really happened cannot be properly portrayed in movies
until the underlying constitutional question is acknowledged and addressed in
Canada and the United States.

As RDT said, ?They do it all the time. The colonists hope that if they drag
around a falsehood long enough, everybody will forget the real facts. They want
to divert attention away from their crimes and brutality by starting fires all
over the place. Eventually the truth disappears into the air like a mustard fart!
They wait it out like a bunch of buzzards flying around their predators?.

The movies and public inquiries are all part of the brainwashing procedure. This
is not a question of whites versus ?injuns?. The real issue is do all people have
a right to be treated equally? Does everyone have to obey the law, including the
constitutional law? Is it okay to keep trashing us? The only possible aim of
these films is to mislead the public and bury the question.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Fear of Thanksgiving

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FEAR OF THANKSGIVING! MOHAWK STUDENTS PROTEST BAN OF PHILOSOPHY. School
authorities call it “a religion”

MNN. May 25, 2005. Wampum 7 of the Kaianereh’ko:wa/Great Law of Peace, the Constitution of the Kanion’ke:haka/Mohawk, provides that the “Ohenton kariwa”te:kwen” shall be recited at every gathering of the people. It means “the words that come before every matter”. Every day we give thanks to all of Creation that helps human life. We thank the Kasastensera’ko:wa sa’oie:ra, the great natural power, for producing these.

The ohenton kariwa’te:kwen is a philosophy, not a religion. It is a form of consensus making that starts before any meeting or activity. The speaker is
responded to by everyone with “henh” meaning “Yes, it’s true”. We place ourselves within an interdependent system of relationships of all elements of the natural world. They are alive and equal, not above or beneath anything. We thank the earth, water, animals, people and Creation. The natural world is our family and we respect all our relatives.

An elder explained, “Creation is perfect with all the forces and facilities necessary to help the people”. The natural world is the perfect reality. The Kaianereh’ko:wa is based on this reality. Once we reach a consensus, we realize that there are things greater than our conceptions or grievances. We never pray or ask for anything. The natural world provides everything we need to live. We are taught to face reality and to give thanks. That is why we must take care of the environment and all our relationships for our future generations.

We are not a minority on our own homeland. The Europeans invaded and occupy our territory. They have become the majority population. According to international law we have a right to learn our languages and history, and to teach them to our
children. We must also teach the majority about our history from our own perspective.

As American schools are on Onkwehonwe/Indigenous land, we have an obligation to teach them the ohenton kariwa’te:kwen. The United States thinks it’s above international law. Judges refuse to respect it and school principles do the same.

Americans are trying to extinguish those elements that are contrary to their hierarchical pyramid style ideology. They try to put a dollar value on every living and inanimate thing.

The whole story is told in one brilliant scene. On Monday, May 23rd, Glen Bellinger, superintendent of Salmon River Central School, Fort Covington, New York
State, suspended some Mohawk students. Around 60 % of the students in this non-native school are Mohawks from nearby Akwesasne. For the past three years the Mohawk students have recited the ohenton kariwa’te:kwen over the school loudspeaker. Suddenly it was decided to interpret this philosophy as a prayer,
which, they say, violates the constitutional separation of church and state.

The students explained that they are pledging allegiance to the circle of life. The non-natives are pledging allegiance to the U.S. Government and the flag. We Mohawks have our own constitution and government. Giving thanks to the natural world goes back thousands of years. Pledging allegiance to the flag is recent. It was not part of the original U.S. Constitution. The practice was added in the late 1800’s.

The school authorities refused to allow the Mohawk youth to use the public address system. They told them to go into the gym and say their “prayer”. The youth went there and completed the ohenton kariwa’te:kwen. Most students left to go to their
classes. About 40 remained in the gym. The authorities turned the lights off and left the students in complete darkness. Parents and Great Law Longhouse people arrived. Ten students refused to budge. They could not compromise the ohenton
kariwa’te:kwen. Some were suspended.

There is nothing more metaphorical than what they did to these young people. What does this act of turning the lights off mean? Instead of celebrating their
thoughtful action, the school authorities feared the intelligence of the Mohawk youth. They cannot understand how social order can be maintained when humans are treated equally. The establishment, in maintaining their ‘mono culture, must have similarity of language, belief and ideology across the globe, controlled from the top.

The opening address says it all. It defines who and where we are. Their hysterical reaction did not quiet the youth. The youth tried to remind them of the perfect reality of the natural world which has a momentum of its own. To shut off the lights and to try to cast the children into darkness cannot stop the
natural world. It is a weak action by those who live in the darkness of their minds and souls. They are trying to put out the flame, the voice of these young people. But they can’t.

Why were the colonizers afraid? In their confusion they tried to control the light inside the children who were defending the way of life, the culture and the
language. The newcomers to our land have been trying to kill our fire, our voice, ever since they arrived. They sense it is glowing in our children today who are the progenitors of our nation.

Our children are not in the dark. The Indigenous people have seen it coming for a long time. All humans must make the journey back to nature. Our children are starting the journey.

The actions of the children frighten them. They are reacting by attacking the ohenton kariwa’te:kwen. They think if they stop the children, they can continue to try to control the environment and the world.

An elder said, “Our people want to send our kids to white schools. We have to create our own schools. Let’s stop mimicking the outsiders who have abused us and our children”. Education has always been used as a weapon, a tool of indoctrination of people into their foreign culture. Today they cannot force Christian religion and doctrines down our throats. But they will keep trying in any way possible.

The pattern is shifting to what is real. It will all be played out. Those who have been raised on the ohenton kariwa’te:kwen will be able to see the big
picture. On Thursday, May 26th, 150 students protested again in the school gym. Five of the 6th grade students were suspended.

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh

 

Mohawk Oka Crisis film exploitation.

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EVERYTIME WE TURN AROUND THERE?S ANOTHER ARROW COMING OUR WAY. NOW SOME NON-NATIVE OUTFIT IS GOING TO FILM THE ?MOHAWK OKA CRISIS OF 1990!?

MNN. April 28, 2005. A guy named Claudio Luca of Group Cine Tele Film in Montreal is embarking on a project funded by Canada and Quebec. He is recreating the Mohawk Oka Crisis of 1990! That’s when Quebec sent in the paramilitary troop of the Quebec Police (SQ) who opened fire on Mohawk men, women and children in
Kanehsatake on July 11th. 1990. This attack in the Pines, escalated to the point that Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney sent thousands of Canadian Army soldiers to surround three of our Mohawk Territories ? Kanehsatake, Kahnawake and Akwesasne. The Mohawks were resisting the building of a golf course by Oka over our burial and ceremonial grounds.

Now they want to exploit our misfortune. They have made no attempt to
determine our feelings about their project. The funders, producer,
writers and researchers are non-native. Let?s hope the Mohawks will
not be portrayed by non-native actors! Canada and Quebec, the
financiers, are colonial powers. They have continually suppressed
indigenous points of view. This kind of bias violates international
human rights law.

The way we responded to the attack on our cultural integrity at Oka
was entirely our collective invention. These non-native entities have
no right to our creation. The constant one-sided way of looking at
our issues proves that they do not understand what we were doing.
They continue to violate the respect that is due to all human beings.

As one of the people who was involved and remained to the last at the
Kanentoken Treatment Center, they do not have my permission to
replicate my actions.

International audience. Since this is being created for French
television it is a transparent attempt to present us in a biased way
and to prejudice international opinion. We are appalled at their
insensitivity towards everything that we Kanienkehaka have suffered.
Since both Canada and Quebec live on our territory, they are obligated
to ensure that our interpretations are presented. The United Nations
Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic,
Religious and Linguistic Minorities, adopted on December 18, 1992 is
supposed to safeguard us. We never gave them permission to depict us
through a story written exclusively by non-native writers, filmed by
non-native filmmakers for a non-native audience. This is cultural
exploitation at its worst.

The Euro-Canadian and European public will be mislead. This film
should not be made because the entire Mohawk population own this story
and they need our permission to use it.

They forget that we are people. This is our story. It is not just a
commodity to be packaged and sold to the highest bidder. They cannot
change facts or add fictitious characters to suit their needs as has
become the established custom in previous dealings between our
cultures.

Misappropriation of our image. It is obscene the way people try to profit from
the one-sided depiction of our lives, our tragedies and our struggles. If they
respected our humanity and took the trouble to get to know us, they would
understand the harm they are doing by appropriating our image, our actions and our
events. If the story is ever to be filmed, it will be by the Mohawk people being
totally in charge of everything.

Their theft of our culture by filming this event brushes aside the
central issue. They think we have no intelligence. This is why they
feel free to exploit us.

What is it that makes them think that the Mohawk people are of no
consequence to their production? What makes them think that it is
cool to ignore what we have to say? Why do they think it is open
season to use our struggles for their commercial and political
purposes to entertain and shock their audience?

We do not want to be used. They would not want to be used this way
either. If they had suffered a personal tragedy as significant and of
the same consequence as ours, they would not want to have it exploited
either. Would they not feel violated?

They should read up on colonialism. They are participating in the
abuse of our people that has been going on for 500 years. When will
this stop?

If they really wanted to help our people, they would do what needs to
be done to give us a voice. Instead, they are telling the story they
want to hear. The story that they wish was there, instead of what
really happened. This is called ?twistory?. The Europeans took our
land and our resources. Now they are taking advantage of us again.

Our issues need to be addressed. We must stand together as Mohawk
people. This is one of the most basic rules of our culture. It is
one of the rules that the non-native culture, with its totalitarian
habits, seems to have the most difficulty understanding.

We believe in respect and honesty.

Stop production. It would be in the best interests of the Mohawk
people and the Canadian public to stop this production completely.

All we ask for is to be treated in a respectful way.

Since they can?t seem to understand our rights according to our
cultural values, we are asserting them on terms that they can
understand. We have copyrighted our story. So now the rights belong
to us under Canadian law. A copy of the Copyright Certificate of
Registration, No. 1024217, dated October 20, 2004 has been sent to
them. It is duly registered under Canadian law and internationally
recognized in over 130 countries.

The right to this story belongs to us. We lived it!

Kahentinetha Horn
MNN Mohawk Nation News

poster: Thahoketoteh