The Right To Be Anywhere On This Continent

[Blackbear]

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Forwarded Message:
Subj: THE RIGHT TO BE ANYWHERE ON THIS CONTINENT Date: 17/06/2006 12:20:38
PM Eastern Standard Time From: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected])
To: [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected]) Sent from the Internet
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COLUMN OF THE AMERICAS
BY ROBERTO RODRIGUEZ & PATRISIA GONZALES
JUNE 19, 2006 (Media Release upon receipt)
"THE RIGHT TO BE ANYWHERE ON THIS CONTINENT"

* SPECIAL DOUBLE EDITION

Along the U.S.-Mexico border, the body count continues to pile up
daily. Meanwhile, the Minutemen patrol the U.S.-Mexico border and
shameless politicians find it easy to denounce illegal immigration as
the cause of all the nation's problems – including linking it with
"the war on terror."

Amidst all the clatter, the only views not being heard are the ones
that matter most. Thus here, we bring you a truly historic column,
featuring the views of the nation's only non-immigrants: American
Indians:

"The immigration issues are many and are so very complex; however, we
cannot have a productive dialogue about anything when we begin the
conversation, thinking it is "us against them" or when the "truth" is
only half true or we only use rhetoric to back our claims. We can't
resolve any of these complex issues if we label our neighbor as an
"immigrant" and not as a relative, friend or human being."
Nadine Tafoya, friend and colleague
Mescalero Apache -Salt River Pima -Maricopa

"I feel that as Native Peoples of the Americas, we have the right to
be anywhere on this continent as we have for generations. To hear
people telling my relatives that they are "illegal aliens" and
criminals and to get out of our own land is very disturbing!"
Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, PhD
President/Director, The Takini Network

"Indigenous peoples haven't known any borders. Colonial borders are
new. It's ironic that essentially white men of privilege who created
the category of white - that it is they who determine who gets
permitted into our lands."
Winona LaDuke, founding director,
White Earth Land Recovery Project

"From the point of view of the laws of the indigenous nations of North
America, the Europeans are the original illegal immigrants in the area
of North America. The United States… has, for more than 200 years,
methodically and militarily violated indigenous law, and even solemn
treaties, in order to take over and occupy the vast majority of the
lands of Indigenous nations and peoples.… it is hypocritical in the
extreme for the people of the United States to now pretend that it is
paragon of virtue, and a country that has always conducted itself on
the basis of the rule of law."
Indian Law Scholar, Steven Newcomb

"The movement to try to force the Mexican people to learn the English
language and the culture and traditions of America to stay in this
country may not be totally successful. I can tell you from firsthand
experience that when the federal government tried to strip me of my
language and traditions, it did only a partial job, because of my
resistance to being subdued. Today I am glad I have retained my
culture, traditions and the Keres language, for that is where my heart
and soul belong….
Katheirne Augustine - Laguna Pueblo,
retired nurse, excerpts from Albq Tribune

"Too bad WE didn't think of insisting that European arrivals speak OUR
language. We'd all be speaking Ojibwemowin right now."
Patty Loew
Assoc. Prof., UW-Madison

"In an important and emphatic way, the indigenous peoples of the
Americas are reclaiming their continent, whether with the ballot, by
boat, by air, or on foot. Let us call it repatriation on the march."
Shirley Hill Witt,
Coauthor, El Indio Jesus

to be cont...

[Blackbear]

"The white supremacists masquerading as patriots are building a fence
at the southern border to keep out the brown people. Notice that they
aren't building a fence at the northern border… Recall too that the
9-11 terrorists were here legally, complete with freakin' flyer
numbers. I'm for all the Native people to have cross-border
privileges up and down our hemisphere, and would close the borders
against all the peoples from other places who look down on us."
Suzan Shown Harjo - Cheyenne & Hodulgee Muscogee
Dir., Morning Star Institute

"The argument used by the Minute Men, that their mission is to keep
terrorists out of the U.S., cannot be ignored: With terrorist training
camps recently found just north of the U.S.-Canadian border, their
mission makes little sense and gives weight to my belief that the
Minuteman movement is clearly racist. So is the new U.S. policy to
keep our southern relatives out by militarizing the border to the
south. Not that troops are wanted on the northern border either, but
why send 6,000 troops to the southern border when no terrorists ever
have been detained there?"
JoKay Dowell, Quapaw-Peoria-Cherokee, OK
Eagle and Condor Indigenous Peoples' Alliance

"Indigenous peoples are brothers and sisters, regardless of which side
of the line drawn in the desert sand they are from. Our historic
relations pre-date any European conquest. Our 'free trade' was much
less conflictual, and was on more of an equal basis. Corporate 'free
trade' is the driving force behind American politics and international
actions…. It continues to be, contradictory to the interests of
humanity."
woliwon chi miigwech,
Karen S., Ypsilanti

"Are 'immigrants' the appropriate designation for the indigenous
peoples of North America, for enslaved Africans and for the original
European settlers? No. Are 'immigrants' the appropriate designation
for Mexicans who migrate for work to the United States? No. They are
migrant workers crossing a border created by US military force. Many
crossing that border now are also from Central America, from the small
countries that were ravaged by US military intervention in the 1980s
and who also have the right to make demands on the United States. So,
let's stop saying 'this is a nation of immigrants.' "
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz – mixed-Cherokee
(Excerpted from The Nation)

"… False and violent borders have been imposed upon our many peoples
and upon the landscape, dissecting our Mother Earth, our home
continent, in two and attempting to sever our deep connection with the
land, and with each other… We maintain our recognition and respect
for all our Indigenous brothers and sisters of the Western Hemisphere,
with whom we traded, learned from, loved and laughed with for a
millennia. We are Indigenous, of this place on Mother Earth, called
Turtle Island, the Middle Place, Abya Yala and the Fourth World. And
we remain bonded together forever, knowing ourselves as the K'iche and
Karuk, Saraguro and Cheyenne, the Cherokee, Xicano and Chumash, we are
all relations."
Tia Peters
Zuni, Seventh Generation Fund

"If America is a shining beacon of hope for legal immigrants perhaps
the laws should be adjusted to make it a reality for the illegal
immigrants. They also see America as a place where dreams can be
lived. Ironically, most of the illegal immigrants are Indians, or
Indios as they are known in Mexico, and in Central and South America.
Most of their ancestors did not come over on the Mayflower or on the
Spanish galleons. They were indigenous to the Western Hemisphere."
Tim Giago, president
Native American Journalists Foundation

"Americans can say, surely not with pride, that our country knows from
centuries of personal experience how unchecked immigration devastates
life and why it's an issue that deserves the best of our thinking and
empathy. These are thoughts that cross some of our minds when we hear
rhetoric about the so-called invasion of illegal immigrants (many of
whom are -- gasp -- Indians) and calls to protect "our" land. If we
smile in response, it's not so much out of agreement. We see a payback
coming home to roost."
David House - mixed Cherokee/Scots-Irish
Fort Worth Star-Telegram

"It's never been clear to me why animosity exists toward today's
immigrants, considering the founding fathers arrived as immigrants.
Are today's anti-immigration voices afraid of a new Manifest Destiny?
… Many Native prophecies foretell the demise of U.S. indigenous people
from European invaders. But the stories also speak of a time when the
land will be reclaimed by indigenous people."

Perhaps the time has come."
Jodi Rave reports on Native issues for Lee Enterprises.

On Haudenosaunee citizenship & naturalization:
"Naturalization was not race-based as the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois)
granted citizenship to other ethnic groups. Once a person became a
Haudenosaunee citizen they were expected to discard any previous
connection to their birth nation. They had to speak an Iroquoian
language, dress as Iroquois, contribute to the security of their host
nation and provide for the well being of their new families and
communities though a host of activities ranging from hunting, fishing,
food preparation and home building. They took part in the elaborate
ceremonies which defined Haudenosaunee spirituality and were given
extensive instruction into the history, customs and beliefs of their
new nation.

In the end, the Haudenosaunee people expected the new citizen to
undergo an almost complete transformation; physically, mentally and
spiritually. This process worked extremely well… [it] secured our
survival and provided for our prosperity...."
Doug George-Kanentiio
Mohawk writer

The Popul Vuh– one of the most important books ever written on this
continent -- offers us a valuable lesson and roadmap about migration
disputes. The volatile conflicts among the Maya finally ended when
those who were new to the land accepted those who were here before
them as their guides. In this spirit, we do the same. So too should
the general public, Congress and the president.

* Feel free to send us your views at [email protected] or
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Info regarding our Amoxtli San Ce Tojuan documentary and
origins/migrations research can be found at:

http://hometown.aol.com/aztlanahuac/myhomepage/index.html