Reflections
from the Ahnishinahbæótjibway (We, the People)
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September 20, 1992
[uncompleted and unpublished]
Norman
Draper, of the Minneapolis Star Tribune
reported on Sunday, September 20 that, “Ancient Indian burial mounds
pose
problems for homebuilders. “Indian” is a weasel-word invented by
Europeans. The word “Indian” refers to
a stereotype and a stigma. “Indian” is
a Catch-22 category used by the Euro-Americans to steal the land,
resources,
Sovereignty and Eminent Domain of the Anishinabe Ojibway and other
Aboriginal
Indigenous Peoples of this Continent.
The word “Indian” is an inaccurate and racist term: there were
no
“Indians” here before the European invaders invented them.
The people whose graves pose such a
“problem” to the descendents of Europeans who are trying to claim our
land are
Aboriginal Indigenous People, not “Indians.”
Euro-Americans
have a powerful vested interest in maintaining
the ugly identity that they invented, “Indians.” The
Euro-Americans who are heir to England’s colonial occupation
of our land, including the “United States,” are making up titles to
land which
does not belong to them. Their
strategies of theft have always depended on “Indians.”
The
United States claims to this land are based, according to
the history books, on “Conquest and Treaty.”
Most history books do not admit to the details.
The Republican Party’s intolerantly arrogant
claims that “this is a Christian Nation” have to do with the United
States’
fraudulent title to this land. As one
real estate book puts it,1 “as to the title of the
...
property prior to 1803. Please be
advised that in the year 1803 the United States of America acquired the
Territory of Louisiana from the Republic of France by purchase. The Republic of France acquired title from
the Spanish Crown by Conquest. The
Spanish Crown had originally acquired title by virtue of the
discoveries of one
Christopher Columbus, sailor, who had been duly authorized by embark
upon the
voyage of discovery by Isabella, Queen of Spain. Isabella,
before granting such authority, had obtained the
sanction of His Holiness, the Pope; the Pope is the Vicar on Earth of
Jesus
Christ; Jesus Christ is the Son and Heir apparent of God.
God made Louisiana [Territory].”
U.S.
coins are all stamped with the disclaimer, “In God We
Trust,” because the U.S. monetary system is based on Aboriginal
Indigenous
Peoples’ land and resources stolen in the name of the Judeo-Christian
patriarchal father-figure, “God,” who was an arrogant and genocidal
Johnny-Come-Lately. The Fundamentalist
Christians, who say they have a “hotline to God,” claim that God
created the
world less than seven thousand years ago.
This is probably historically accurate in the sense that the
ancestors
of the Judo-Christians destroyed the environment of Eden about five
thousand
B.C.—but they are not the only people in the world.
The Anishinabe Ojibway religion, the Midewiwin, goes back in the
history of the Anishinabe Ojibway People on this Continent for more
than four
ice ages. The Midewiwin has been the
theocratic foundation of the Anishinabe Ojibway Nation for a very long
time—longer
than Judaism, Christianity, and Islam put together.
Christianity,
particularly Genesis 1:28 and Genesis 2:20 (in
which Adam tried to claim “dominion” by naming everything), is being
used to
justify the violent theft of land and resources belonging to the
Anishinabe
Ojibway people, and is also being used to justify genocide.
1Alfred Ring, Real Estate Principles and Practices, 1972
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