Reflections
from the Ahnishinahbæótjibway (We, the People)
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December 12, 1992
[unpublished & uncompleted]
What
they should be teaching these Indians first, is
English. The language that people speak
here, and call “Reservation English,” is not a very useful language,
and it is
not really English. When I went to
school, they took away my native language and did not give me anything
in
return. They said they were teaching
“Basic English,” but Basic English has a vocabulary of 850 useful words. We were lucky if we got half of that
vocabulary, and a lot of the words that they gave us in return for our
beautiful and ancient language were Anglo-Saxon words like “goddam,”
“shit” and
“sonnuvabitch.” Our half of the Basic
850-word vocabulary was also used up by mutated French Colonial words,
a few
Scandinavian words, and a smattering of German from the Nuns. Maybe we got the dregs of the Melting Pot
Theory. We were deliberately given
scraps of language that made it impossible for us to communicate, so
that we
couldn’t understand their documents, couldn’t talk to people on the
“outside,”
and had a hard time communicating even with each other, except by
violence. If people have ever wondered
why there were so many angry people on the reservation, a big part of
the
problem is that we couldn’t communicate—and a lot of the people on the
reservation still can’t. They’ve lost
their native language, and they don’t have any other language, except a
language of violence, and that doesn’t solve anything.
The
Euro-American Policy-Makers knew exactly what they were
doing. That’s why they built jails, and
why they want to hire a half of a Sheriff.
By their twisted logic, what they’ll probably do is hire a
“half-breed,”
full time under the Indian Preference Act, which they’ll figure will
come out
to about half of the Sheriff of Nottinham.
The Anishinabe Ojibway People are not even eligible under the
Indian
Preference Act, because we are Aboriginal Indigenous People and not
“Indian.” This is some more racism.
The Aboriginal Indigenous People all over the world need to file charges of Human Rights Violations and Genocide—against the Indians (and other mixed-blood colonial puppets all over the world) and against their puppet-masters the United States Government and England. Walking all over Aboriginal Indigenous people using White delegated “Indian sovereignty” is not the answer. We need to make this a better world for EVERYONE.
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