BY RICEY WILD

So #45 “honored” Navajo Code Talkers in front the genocidal president Andrew Jackson portrait and referred to Senator Elizabeth Warren as ‘Pocahontas’. Senator Warren claims ancestral Cherokee heritage but hey, who doesn’t? The Cherokee Nation is very popular with the Wannabee Tribe, and if the numbers are correct, they were very prolific. I’ll just leave it at they are fantastic Snaggers.

But the whole thing left me with a nasty, aggravating feeling that I can’t shake. 45 is a shameful creature who has no compassion or respect. Yes, I know I’m repeating myself and many other millions of Americans who are now under his rule. He disrespected those fine, honorable men who were directly instrumental to ending WWII and in subsequent wars. I shook with anger and repulsion at 45’s SAD attempt to attack Sen. Warren, and by doing so insulted all Indigenous People as throwaways – which is what happened to the real Pocahontas.

She was a child who was raped and kidnapped by European monsters and died at 21 years of age. How is that tragic history any part of a weak-ass joke by the most powerful man in the world? Ish. Ick. Vile and disgusting is he. I am glad the cable news picked up on this, if only to add it to his long list of ugly, ignorant and hateful speeches. Actually, I want to cry for her, the real Pocahontas. What evil she endured in her short lifetime.

Yet, there is hope and resilience in her Indigenous descendants. I have spoken to one such woman who is maintaining a sacred fire on the Fond du Lac Reservation in Minnesota, USA. The Maa’iingan (Wolf) Camp is near Elborn, Minn., since May 2017 and “Welcomes everyone who wants or needs to be there, to rest, relax, continue a journey and go on,” says Sherry Couture who is the FireKeeper. Sherry was a US Marine and said, “I was an Indian before I was a Marine” and that “This is enough…we sat long enough…100 years from now, someone thought of us!”

Sherry goes on to say, “This is not a small fire!” She went on to say that who are they really? Who are Eco-Terrorists? The ones protecting the land or destroying it? People! There are so many alternatives to fossil fuels like solar vs. electricity, solar chargers and wind power. Pipelines leak, it’s only a matter of time. Yooz wanna drink that water or let your kids drink it? Think. Clean water is a necessity for life, there is nothing that can replace it.

There is another camp on the Fond du Lac Reservation named Makwa (Bear), which is directly opposing the Line 3 pipeline in Superior, Wisc. I give them props too and am thankful for their resistance to further incursions on our lands. They are trying to stop another oil spill which will poi-son our manoomin (wild rice) lakes, which we depend on for life and which feeds our spirits, too. Think of Asian people without white rice. Really. Manoomin is that critical to our existence. Or is this just another form of genocide?

It is very like the bison kill-off by the U.S. of America to rid themselves of the “Indian Problem”. I will quote Sherry Couture again, “This is all I know, I have to protect it”.

Chii miigwech Mz Couture, I deeply admire what you are doing and want to do more. Sherry also said that humor is key; people who know humor is key. Hey! When I’m not clutching my pearls in angst I laugh too!!! One simply must laugh at times in the midst of all this current horror or we would go truly mad. But then we would fit in with 45 voters…NAH!!!

I know I have mentioned before that I am a CAT LADY. Yeah. Purrince got out last week and wanted to beat up the sad little feral cat that I feed. I stupidly dashed outside after him wearing only ballet slippers, bra and harem pants, only to slip and fall. If it weren’t for my friend Lorri I woulda perished out back of my rez house.

Now I’m gimping around my house but happy to be in it because I have FRIENDS WHO CARE!!! So, whatever their reasons or intentions (a birthday party) they came and spruced up, cleaned and decorated my sad little house and made it back into a HOME. I have felt so isolated here – especially not having a car anymore – that I am feeling way older then my age. Bless you ole broads, you have caused much happiness for me. I’m not used to that.

I have so much gratitude for the anonymous gifter; you know who you are. It came at the exact time I needed it most. Bless you!