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<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Thanks Jimmy for this article. I had not seen
it. I have now forwarded it to all my contacts many of whom are so called 'First
Nations' by the colonizers. Collectively, we are by (I don't mind it too
much...they had to give us an administrative collective) UN definitions
'indigenous peoples' and each one of us has our own language or dialect and name
for ourselves in our own language regardless of how we are designated by
politics or anthropologists. Hundreds of our languages have become extinct and
all our cultures have been transgressed by colonizers. We are all struggling to
survive but it is extremely difficult when so many outside experts know how we
should do that.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">This article strikes my feelings as I am a
member of the 'indigenous peoples' of the earth. I am a member of the potowatomi
peoples living in Canada. In reality, we are here as political refugees
from what is now the United States. From the Mississippi river west was
designated as 'Indian Territory' by the US government until gold was discovered
in the Black Hills and all the lands in that 'Indian Territory' were
opened for allotment to the 'settlers' and miners. Our people were one
of the first contacts in that western flood of land grabbers and so we had
to be moved. The army came and at rifle point negotiated a peaceful invitation
for our withdrawal to Kansas and Oklahoma. Thousands of our people died on
that long and horrible march...we remember the stories. Some refused to relocate
and took refuge at various places in out lands, resisted and even fought back.
The army came again, in force, and re-issued the invitation for us to move out.
Again, we refused. The army, in full force, attempted to capture and relocate
those of us(of course I wasn't there) who refused to move. There were a large
number of us and many of the Kickapoo had joined us. Our numbers were too
conspicuous and cumbersome and so we divided ourselves. One group agreed
to come up to Canada and the other half agreed they would go to Mexico and
the Kickapoo would go with them. That is what we did and that is why our
relatives are here in Canada. However, in Canada, we fared not much better...we
just didn't have the army chasing us.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Our people were a very large group and this
was Ojibway lands so we divided up and were taken in by many other Ojibway
communities. That is where we are and how we are to this day. Our culture,
language and relationships were as devastated here in Canada by the same
colonial systems systematically imprisoning our peoples and the Ojibway into
their residential school systems and under the same laws that outlawed our
language, ceremonies and human status. We have survived...we are surviving. We
may be only a message in a bottle at the mercies of this huge ocean of
global discontent and destruction of indigenous peoples and the earth, but, we
are here and we know it. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Now a narrative: Our people, potowatomi,
translates loosely as 'fire makers/keepers' because we carried the sacred
fire of the 'council of the three fires'. We had responsibility for that fire
for the council...for keeping and maintaining it. I was born into all that I am
speaking of and that is how I can speak of it. <EM>'Breast Plate and Buckskin'
</EM>history books might tell you differently but they are not potowatomi. Our
story is not theirs or anyone else's to tell. Anyhow, I was raised knowing
this.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">Some years ago, the potowatomi had a gathering
on some of the land we first occupied when we came to Canada up along the east
side of Georgian Bay. I knew of it but I was not able to make it to that
gathering. A very, very close friend and relative, potowatomi also, knew how
important our history is and how important to me personally. He was able to go
to the meeting. When I returned, he came to visit me with a gift. It was a piece
of charcoal about the size of an acorn. He had mounted it on a piece of wood
inside a square plastic cover. When he gave it to me as a gift, he told me what
it is. At the gathering, the potowatomi who had moved to Mexico, unbeknown to
many of us who came to Canada, had taken the original fire with them to Mexico.
When they heard of our gathering in Canada, they sent up the fire for out
gathering. That small piece of charcoal 'is' everything I am telling
about.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman">When our people were split up during that part
of our our history around the 1840s, the group to Mexico took the fire with
them and kept that fire, our fire, until this day...over 170 years. That small,
black, insignificant piece of charcoal is imbued with the cosmological existence
of our potowatomi people. That is who I am and why I can (perhaps an
assumption) understand many of the survival issues of our
indigenous peoples on a global scale. Our indigenous peoples, globally, are
related in so many ways but that is another story. A short one...lol. I met
Huang Chun, Jimmy on this list a few years ago. We befriended each other and
shared many online conversations with each other. In his traditions and in mine,
and there are common reasons for it, Jimmy writes to me as 'uncle' and I refer
to him as 'my nephew'. That is an incredible honor and I do brag about it to my
family. I could tell more about how our connections were interfered with by
Canadian and American authorities but I think Jimmy lives under somewhat more
'hateful' conditions than I do here in the Americas and so it is much to risky.
All we ever did is to assist each other in sharing our cultures. I
paraphrase how Jimmy put it, ...why would such big organizations be
interested in a couple of insignificant little indigenous people like us.... I
couldn't shed any light on his statement since I don't understand either but it
appears to be happening on a global scale. So, my nephew Jimmy' I am so glad we
met...at least cybernetically...perhaps one day in person. I guess, by the
evidence, we are a part of a very important and elite group of indigenous
peoples globally...why else would they not like us and give us such a difficult
time in our surviving.<BR><BR>-------<BR>wahjeh<BR>rolland
nadjiwon<BR>___________________________________________<BR><STRONG>War does not
determine who is right - only who is left...</STRONG><BR><BR><BR>-----Original
Message-----<BR>From: Indigenous Languages and Technology [</FONT><A
href="mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">mailto:ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU</FONT></A><FONT
face="Times New Roman">] On Behalf Of Huang,Chun<BR>Sent: November-16-11 4:50
AM<BR>To: ILAT@LISTSERV.ARIZONA.EDU<BR>Subject: Re: [ILAT] 2012 ELECTIONS: Tsai
says ‘ pseudo Hakka’ label is ‘unacceptable’ (fwd link)<BR><BR>And Tsai says
that if she is elected the president, she would make a formal, public apology to
the indigenous peoples in Taiwan on behalf of the ROC government.<BR><BR>We
could only hope so.<BR><BR>The KMT party, which founded ROC, and its candidate,
Ma, who is the current president, have not made such a
promise.<BR><BR>Jimmy<BR><BR>On Mon, 14 Nov 2011 15:36:57 -0700, Phillip E Cash
Cash wrote:<BR>> Tue, Nov 15, 2011 - Page 3<BR>><BR>> 2012 ELECTIONS:
Tsai says ‘pseudo Hakka’ label is ‘unacceptable’<BR>><BR>> By Chris
Wang / Staff Reporter<BR>> Taiwan<BR>><BR>> Labeling her a
“pseudo Hakka” for her inability to speak Hakka<BR>> fluently is
unacceptable, since language proficiency should never be<BR>> judged as a
“cardinal sin,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)<BR>> Chairperson Tsai
Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday.<BR>><BR>> She said the Chinese Nationalist
Party’s (KMT) “crude language<BR>> policies” of the past was the reason her
Hakka was not more fluent.<BR>><BR>> Access full article below:<BR>>
</FONT><A
href="http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/11/15/2003518359"><FONT
face="Times New Roman">http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2011/11/15/2003518359</FONT></A><BR><BR><BR><FONT
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