Decolonize your lies.

It’s not about losing faith, its about coming to terms with those that are beyond your grasp of reason. That are too arrogant for logical compassion. Too self-absorbed to be genuinely concerned about those that look to them for solution. When we need to be looking beyond them for solutions. Where the advice of others has no value amongst their self-aggrandizing short comings they have convinced themselves is their strength. Leech lake has been idling no more towards their fiscal cliff for decades. Being punked around by those with money within the MCT while languishing in their scraps. Cobell, nelson, and every other so-called leader that has put themselves up for sale are being validated by those frivolous few that have condemned themselves the chiefs of this vanishing market of misery and suffering. It’s not hard to differentiate who cares from those pretend to care. Where they can throw a little of their easy money at the problems of those they stand on the backs of to give themselves this false sense of superiority. Superiority complex must be the consequence of an long term life of pampered privilege where opportunities are handed over rather than earned. These people have lost sight of themselves or have never actually seen themselves for who they are. Distancing themselves from those they make effort to manipulate into their grandiose delusions. Constantly putting energy into authenticating themselves as 'one of the people' rather than actually living as one of the people. But yet I, like my father am a man of patience. And if my friendship and solidarity is abused as weakness, then the teeth will come out and the gloves will come off. It’s not that hard to be applauded for speaking on the intentions of moving forward while maintaining the status quo mentality that has given these individuals their false sense of success in an unsuccessful world they have accustomed themselves to. Maybe I do belong back in the jungle amongst the people they treat as livestock they never tend to. You can’t control the free spirit of the pillager. It’ll put up with you, but it will eventually tire of the insulting mannerism and scalp you for what your worth. Eventually an authentic leader will be cut out of this constant war and conflict. They will rise to the occasion and subject those traitors of our dignity to their knees with the weight of the people’s breath blowing them to the ground. This isn’t the time for good will and brotherhood because these things have no meaning as of now. Our priorities have been corrupted for far too long to all of a sudden realize the value of words like ‘tribe’ and ‘decolonization’. Yes there are those striving to obtain the true nature of these words, but we have those that exploit these words to glamorize themselves as the make believe warriors they never were. And how do you confront that without turning them away in shame, anger and resentment? You can’t because you, the teller of truth are not the owner of those feelings. You are not the one who has to as of yet come to terms with those character flaws. Those with excuses and justifications are not the people prepared to confront the oppressors of our rights. They are too busy oppressing themselves with excusing and justifying their own inappropriate behavior. And I’m not judging them, they have settled the verdict upon themselves before we could even consider their character. And yeah, they might be a okay guy once in a while, but their never a good guy all the time. But what I’m getting at is, is we can’t move forward until we go back and fix the things preventing us from getting there. And the dynamics of these ‘things’ are tremendous. But the initial problem it narrows down to is our own personal inability to find the courage to confront these out of control problems we refuse to analyze, emphasize, prioritize and articulate solutions towards. Sometimes it’s simple, sometimes it’s complex. And nothing comes easy. Not even the illusion of success. Decolonization is a hard concept to identify, and we cannot identify that aspect for anyone else but ourselves. Because colonization isn’t initially a matter of how we act, but how we think, how we live. How we act and carry ourselves is the benefit of those efforts we put forth to decolonizing ourselves. Nobody can tell you how much indian you are, we’re the ones that determine that. But what are the limits and standards on being indian? Whose the authority? Your name sake? The intellectual elites? Nobody should determine your indianess. We must come to terms with who we are and who we’re not on our own accord. There is no set standard to achieving this fulfillment of self. This feeling of balance is evident once we obtain it, just remember nobody can obtain it for you. They can only inspire you. And so far our so-called leaders are as of yet to even do that. But I’ll continue to be patient. At least for now. Because there is a time for patience and a time for disappointment and indignation.

You are the answers.

Much has happened, but nothing accomplished. Not yet at least, but we have taken the first step in the right direction. We are well on our way. Acquaintances come in and out of my life, but only the strong survive. And as I mentally scroll the catalog of my allies, genuine friends, foes, and potentials. I don't see much prospect outside a few dedicated individuals I consider reliable sources of transition. Agents of possibilities, thee awakened few, the solid foundation of that change yet to come. We will proceed with Caution, and victory is on our side. This is obvious. Because success speaks for itself. And now that I have applied myself to the situation, there's no turning back now. There isn't much standing in our way except ourselves. We, the fighting few are on different levels of consciousness, but at least we are conscience. We refuse to let the old ways of ruining things infect our potential, we won't let status quo jobbery, and bureaucracy bog us down. We won't let narcissistic, pompous, pretentious, self aggrandizing characters delude us from our goals. And we will not be distracted by pathetic attempts being re-applied to prevent the change most are either affriad of, resent, or lost sight of. Wrestling our interests out of the hands of those abusing, misusing, and refusing to do anything productive, or progressive with them is our duty. Not to ourselves, but for one another. Most importantly, for our children. We need to set examples, lead with innovation, courage, and compassion. Inspiring each other to think, not how to think. And our dignity does not have to be sacrificed in the process. That is a fallacy upheld by those that envy us for our potential. We are the way, it is time to believe in ourselves. Building the self respect, the confidence to accomplish what has to be done is not an impossible task. In fact, it is in our favor to succeed. We are those we have been waiting for. We are the new models of leadership that will light the way to our prosperity, our destiny. I'm not trying to hype you up beyond your capabilities. I'm trying to hold you accountable to your responsibility, because you are capable of much more then you have been lead to believe. You are much more important then you have been told, and it is time to awaken this energy that has been laying dormant. And I'm talking to everyone except those that have fooled themselves that they are the ones in charge. It is time those that think their in charge start answering to us, but first we need to assert the questions they are unable to answer. We are the answers, we are in charge, we are the people, we are the power. They've intentionally robbed you of your responcibility only to prove their incompitence. They would be foolish to not anticipate our realization of this fact. But then again they have fooled themselves into believing much worse. It is time for them to have a awakening of their own, hopefully it will not have to be a rude one. But most have been born into this illusion, or invested themselves into it. So it might be somewhat of a task to encourage them to abandon this treacherious lie, despite how seductive it may be to those mesmerized by aspirations of prestige and power, even at your expense. So when will enough be enough? Only you know. But lucky for you there is a committed few that will assist you to your feet and help you articulate your discrepancies. We've been waiting for you, and your just in time.

LET ME SEE YOUR WARFACE!

Anyone else tired of these misinformed, undereducated, poorly educated, ignorant, overrated, overly opinionated people running around, imposing their obnoxious stupidity on you like your suppose to be impressed? Me too. Tired of all these phony, insincere, disingenuous, condescending, want to be politicians trying feel you out so they can pander to you? Just to gain access to your utmost desires so they can take advantage of you? If the answer is no, then that's disappointing. Because by the looks of your facebook walls, most of you seem Pretty vulnerable to bullshit. I'm not the type to be investing all these expectations in people anyways. Sure I'll give them the benefit of the doubt, but I'm not going to set them up to let me down any worse then you let yourselves down, and gave up on trying to maintain any sort of genuine dignity, or integrity. I'm not for sale, nor am I as loyal as my options. I won't let you limit me, or my people who you've seemed to have targeted, or devalued with your greedy aspirations. I'm not a parasite looking for handout. Nor am I your scapegoat, or your excuse to justify your own character defects. I'd feel like a empty, piece of shit if that was the case. I probably feel just like you. Externally trying to reflect your bullshit on me, or anyone's else unfortunate enough to cross your path. Trying to hold everyone else accountable for your treachery, corruption, and lack of character. Yeah, I'm not really concerned if this offends you. I'm not really trying to be friends, asscociates, or a acquaintances with comprimised people, with fucked up, or no priorities at all. Yeah, I'll try to influence you to be a better person, but my patience is reserved for my family. Not selfish assholes wasting my time, stuck on stupid, being counterproductive, running in place. I'm bold, courageous, progressive, proactive, I strive on innovation. Yet I'm compassionate, considerate, empathetic. I'm not trying to pride a stubborn, conservative ignorance against you, your interests, or your needs. I'm here to try to serve as a voice of morality for those that obviously haven't any. I'm here to hold you accountable, to threaten your desires you try to entitle yourselves to at anyone else's expense. I'm here to foil your plans, your plots. I'm her to expose your treachery you try to sabotage, and infiltrate the movements to bring enduring justice to our people. I'm not going to play stupid for you, and let you get away with a bunch of bullshit. Not on my watch. I'm her to destroy the establishment you take comfort in. I'm her to rebuild it with concrete ideals, with a foundation of solid people. People you can not identify with, because they do not share in the lack of virtues like yourself. People that make you feel threatened for all the right reasons. Don't get me wrong, I'm threatened by you as well, but for all the wrong reasons. Because you possess the ability to fuck things up worse, or help reenforce the stability of the status quo establishment. Your delusions of grandeur has pulled you more out of touch then your probably willing to admit. So instead of trying to get along with all the other pathetic folks using each other for instant, self gratification. How about you? step away from the herd, and reclaim your independence from the status quo ignorance. And that definition "status quo" has lost a lot of meaning in the exchange of rhetoric. So let's reclaim this word as our weapon against those misusing it, misconstruing it, taking it out of context, and perverting it to serve their own selfish means. The hypocrisy of it's use is disgusting. But anyways. Just had to let people know I haven't forgot about you. I'm still trying to help free those oppressed. Internally, or externally. Still trying to bring justice, even to those participating, or veiling themselves in this injustice system. get your shit together people, it's the forth quarter, and we're not looking so good. Time to pick up the slack, and get our heads in the game. Our hearts too, we ain't going to win this without any heart. LET ME SEE YOUR WARFACE!

Pandering Pillagers.

We have a few inauthentic, out of touch candidates pandering to "the people" on issues they have little to no experience in, or very little concern about. Generally a candidates for office is drawn from a socially and economically elite who presently have no real life experience with the typical struggles of the people they seek to represent, and often seldomly have. But today we have an entire new crop of undeserving, inept, disengenuous candidates coming after your vote. It is not unusual for the candidates to do or say something to show just how out of touch they really are. They have a lot of flowery rhetoric intended to seduce you into supporting their extravagant promises, and outrageous falsehoods. We even have superfial candidates that encourage your imaginations to run wild with their unmet exspectations. So when they fail to meet their unmet exspectations, all you got is yourself to blame. We do not currently have a showing of couragious candidates, boldly challenging their opponents to a duel of wit. Rather we have a bunch of ridged, bitter, cynical, naive, foolish, arrogant, or just straight up ignorant folks trying to represent us. But I feel particularly uncomfortable about the conservative minded candidates we have vailed in the mist of tribal politics, trying to push forth their small minded, self serving agendas. These inconsiderate candidates are only trying to test the waters with their little selfish, political experiment. These inexperienced, would be politicians try to throw the public off their conservative scent by proclaiming their distaste for status quo jobbery(kind of like the tea party). Yet their blatant hypocrisy and their inability to see past their inherent, self centered ideaology speaks for itself. These people don't think tribal, yet they want to cast the burden of decision making upon the misinformed masses so its prevents them from holding the blame entirely. They want to promote the privatization of services and businesses against the collective effort of a struggling tribe. Even in times of uncertainty, when the tribe should be pulling together to prevent economic calamity. Yes, we all want to see successful Leech Lakers out in the world. But first we must build a means to encourage more of these stories of success. Now is not the time to be promoting entrepreneurship, and personal success. The success of our leaders should belong to their people. We are a tribe, it's about time we start acting as one and reject these ideas of personal accomplishment that contributes to many of our people falling out of touch, and becoming insensitive, apathetic towards their fellow countrymens needs. If there was ever a need to call for disenrollment of ones tribal status, it should be when that word "tribe" loses all meaning, or there is no personal desire to become familar with that word. When they take advantage of their tribal status, or help themselves to the vulnerabilities of their fellow countrymen. When they start promoting themselves above the efforts of our people trying to pull together. We see that a lot. People preverting, misconstruing, and diluting it's meaning. That is not only a disservice to those that share tribal affiliation with these inconsiderate indiviuals, but to themselves most of all. They rob themselves of a genuine relationship with their people, of a greater understanding of the problems we face together. It will take years for some of these individuals to come to terms with their flawed ideals. Mostly because their pretentious, or too stubborn, and stuck in their ways. These people will not lead us out of these times of hardship and uncertainty. They will selfishly drag us all down the wrong treacherious road they are unable to navigate. In four years we will be worse off then we currently find ourselves if we do not come together and make the right decisions for us all, and most importantly, our children.

Sleeper cells of status quo treachery.

When will these status quo people quit selling us out, and quit buying into the overpriced ideals their obviously to morally bankrupt to afford? The people that lack the resiliency to actually resist the absurdities conditioned against the will of our people really have their work cut out for them. Feeding into ideals of the predomant white premium that in reality doesn't keep their needs in mind just to feel validated against those of us realistically approaching, challenging the broke system they take comfort in. They create a false bravado to make it seem as if their current on the needs of our people, when in actuality their just trying to gain acceptance from those directly threatening their self centered interests in order to infiltrate and sabotage the movement against their inherent, status quo treachery. They do their best to deny their status quo, when in fact that is all they reflect is status quo ideals and values. Once they realize those they are unable to Abate from their principles Are too keen to their obsolete, self centered ideals, they become resentful, demeaning, spiteful, degrading and stand offish. They'll try to demonize, vilify you in the company of other self centered treacherous status quo cowards. Them and their co-conspirators form a coalition of treachery just to maintain their status quo jobbery, this is the core root of their motivation to "be involved" and get" organized". A lot of inconsiderate, short sighted, instant gratification taking place, over shadowing the actually needs of those they try to utilize for their own opportunistic endeavors. Some of these obviously treacherous, corrupt people give themselves more credit then the deserve. Delusions of grandeur. Fact is, they've been involved for years with no progress made in favor of those they try to represent in order to exploit just so they might gain opportunity and audience with those that utilized them to maintain status quo oppression over the matters of our people. That's why I am fine with not having the approval or acceptance of all those claiming their involved, because most are only involving themselves for the wrong reasons. These people are only making fools of themselves trying to covertly uphold their devious, narrow, self centered ideals against us. These people are some of the biggest hypocrites you'll encounter if you decide to genuinely take a position in the interests of our people. They'll welcome you with open arms just stab you in the back while their condescendingly embracing you in a false sense of fellowship. This might not even have been their conscience decisions. They might just be conditioned, indoctrinated, assimilated into thinking this is how we go about matters. That's why I say inherently treacherous, they might be carrying on a legacy of shame they try to shroud with their supposed dedication to our people. That's why I think qualifications and credentials are overrated. Who wants to be qualified or have credibility to uphold broken ways of thinking diminishing our way of life as Anishinasbeg? Educate yourselves to their broken ideals so we can dismantle them, don't dedicate and condition them into your own. Don't let them disconnect you or make you fall out of touch with our people. I'm not condemning these people to their treacherous ways, I just want them to come to terms with themselves so they can achieve their potential to becoming a actual asset to our struggles. The counterproductive individualistic ideals polluting our tribal issues has to eventually be discarded if they want to become effective in helping our people rise out of hopelessness and despair. But first they need to quit thinking they can rise to opportunity on the backs of the downtrodden. Their worse then the drug dealers that keep our people accessible to their treachery, their the gate keepers, the agents of oppression, sleeper cells of treachery that activate when a probable threat emerges to confront their broken way of thinking robbing us of the solutions we deserve. They have compromised far too much to realize they have inadvertently made themselves a enemy of our people, or way of life. They have convinced themselves they are beyond reprisal, or being held accountable for their selfish ways. They broken system we take a stand against empowers these traitors, gives them the means to enforce it's oppressive bureaucracies against us. These people need to become aware of their treachery, or aware we know they knowingly operate from treachery. That's not hard to determine. Whats hard is facing these people on the battlefields in front of us. Yeah they might be at a systematic advantage, but we have virtues at our disposal They think treachery can compensate for. We are the guerrillas of this war to reclaim our integrity, our dignity from these individuals that have decided to take advantage of our situations. We have watched them, studied them long enough. The time for action is now. The odds might not be in our favor, but when has that ever stopped our people from achieving what we require for survival?

Undeserved apathy of the Anishinaabeg

Oh I'm sorry, I must have mistaken you for someone who genuinely cares, someone who appreciates the truth, someone I can count on when I need your support on confronting issues that effect us all. I thought you'd realize the importance taking a stand, defending our rights, taking initiative to improve them, not settling for what little we are allowed. As first Americans we should be the most privileged, acknowledged, the first to be considered when policy and legislation are being handed down. Why? Because we have lost, sacrificed, bestowed the most in regards to any race of people in america that has of yet not been compensated in the value of rights, nor equality that we have all paid, and continue to pay so dearly for.


It is not as if we have outrageous demands that can't be met with compassion and consideration. No, we have to endure insensitivity, dehumanization, apathy, relentless attacks on what remains of our dignity, our integrity, our sovereignty. And most times these attacks come from our very own people. The agents of oppression indoctrinated, and administered to uphold the continuing onslaught against our humanity. It's nauseating, discouraging, disheartening to witness our own people selfishly dedicating themselves to the injust system pit against us. As first Americans they should be the most conscience, the most compassionate, the least subordinate of the bureaucracies intended to diminish what little we are forced to fight for to obtain.


How can anyone who identifies themselves as Anishinaabe lose sight of who we once were, dishonoring our ancestors, and most of all our children by feeding into the absurdities Intended to suppress us into even more disparities and disadvantages. I don't understand the mentality that leads these people to believe they were doing right by any assumption when they made themselves knowingly available to justify the intolerances and ignorances that are blatantly intended to injure our struggle to regain our composure in today's hostile world. They even feed their ignorances on the fallacies that help them justify their self centered, unwarranted self preservation that they take at the expense of our already besieged, and diminishing opportunities. They feed into and try to adopt the ideals, the standards, the premiums, and absurdities of the status quo. Allowing themselves to become bitter, cynical, pessimistic, intolerable, incompassionate, justified, loathing, and mostly, hopelessly out of touch with their own people.


What caused these Anishinaabeg to lose or pervert their identity, their dignity, their compassion for their countrymen? What's going to bring them back from the brink of nihilism to where they reinvest in their self worth, their precious energy to will of their people? Each and everyone of us are very valuable to our plight to reassert ourselves as human beings that have a right to participate equally within the society. that has discriminately held us hostage with it's inherent ignorance long enough. The ideals most of those that are vulnerable to these absurdities are out of date, obsolete. We are no longer to be romanticized or depreciated as the noble savages challenging the colonization of the territories of our wilderness. We are not conquered, culled, Defeated unless we insist on being. Together we are disenfranchised, discriminated, degraded by the predominant standards that rejects us for being who we are.


We need to return to those visionary, bold, compassionate models of stalwart defenders of our people like our ancestors. We need to quit taking the easy way out and embracing colonization, assimilation, indoctrination, and surrender. We were born into this struggle, perhaps for a reason beyond our comprehension. Yet we are here, and we have a responsibility to one another as Anishinaabeg. Maybe it's time we start living up to these responsibilities instead of looking for excuses to dismiss them. That individualistic mentality does not belong to tribal people such as ourselves. We are not that far removed from our tribalistic ideals to lose sight of who we really are and our purpose to one another. Yes their are some that are hopelessly far too invested into this broken thinking that is only meant to contribute to our decline and eventually the disappearance. But we can not let the casualties to these ideals discourage us from our goals to reignite our potential as Anishinaabeg. We need to prepare ourselves for the tasks in front of us and quit handing over our worth to those that have no use for it.


It is time to reject and abandon the ideals forced upon us that are preventing, and discouraging your potential. We haven't come this far as a people just to let opportunist saboteurs infiltrate our movements for their own selfish benefit. the ideals I share are considered racial, drastic, and unacceptable amongst those that abide by the status quo's demand of our lack of humanity. It's time to revolt, rebel, uprise and break those chains they have shackled to your mind. It is time to reclaim our self worth from those that devalue us. The person responsible for your undeserving depreciation of yourself might just be yourself. Some of us have been forced to think our entire lives we are no use to the society that constantly refuses us our dignity. We must use the momentum of these anti wall street movements to assure our demands are going to be acknowledged and confronted as well. Those non-Anishinaabeg people courageously taking to the streets in disapproval of this broken system are honoring the vibrant tradition of resistance that our ancestors assured our survival with more then most of us are. Their making you look bad people, just keep that in mind when apathy overwhelms you like I witness it doing to you all everyday.

The Broken ones.

Some can not fathom the call for change the younger generation is calling for. Most of us have as of yet indoctrinated, lost hope to the bureaucracies, To have dedicated ourselves to this broken system much of the older generation has forced itself to take comfort in. The bureaucratic and politicians call us confused, misdirected. They would like to think we have no demands or purpose. Well, let’s set the record straight. It’s not that we don’t have demands; it’s that we speak them in a different language. We speak them with our struggle. Our movement is made up of people fighting for jobs, adequate education, for financial stability, housing, as well as adequate healthcare. We are resisting oppression, ecological destruction, imperialism, racism, patriarchy, and capitalism. We are doing it all in a way that is participatory, democratic, fierce, and unwavering. There is nothing very vague, confused, or misdirected about it.
 
 
But we will not stop there. That, perhaps, is what sets us apart from those who wish to use our tremendous and growing power for small selfish gains or modest reforms. We want more. We want it all. Not for ourselves, but for OUR children. Some self serving individuals can not comprehend this because they have been simply self centered, opportunistic, and self absorbed. You can not tell anything of rationality to those that selfishly insist on themselves against the will of the people.


We want a political and economic system that we all actually control together, one that is equitable and humane, one that allows for people to self-manage but act in solidarity, one that is participatory and democratic to its core. We want a world where people have the right to their own identities, communities, and cultures, and the freedom from oppression and constraint. We want a world with institutions that take care of our youth, our elderly, and our families in ways that are nurturing, liberating, and consensual. We want a world in which community is not a hamper on individual freedom, but rather an expression of its fullest potential. We want identity those that take comfort in this broken system and poor leadership will not recognize. Sure they will claim we reflect their old ways of broken thinking, but that is only because they no longer have the desire to see it any other way. They try to inconsiderately simplify a very complex matter that deserves more then their willing to give the predicaments that we now face. They only do this in order to try to discourage the less incline of the next generation with their pessimism and cynicism, to rob their energy from the solutions our children deserve. Greedily, selfishly clinging to their broken ideals they take comfort in against the needs of the next generation, all the while trying to justify and excuse corruption assimilated themselves into. They think they have taken the easy way out against the problems we face together, little do they know that not only are their compromised ideals obsolete, but so is their ignorance's as well.
 
 
As we keep fighting, we will continue to ask ourselves difficult questions as these broken people only ask what they can get out of their participation in this broken system. We will ask what world do we envision? What kind of world does our children deserve. What values do we want to live by? What institutions do we need in order to live those values? What structures will we build to protect what we’ve won and create a platform for continued struggle? What will we win for generations to come? How will we fight these enormous battles in a way that is both effective and reflective of the new world we are ushering in that those broken people are doing everything within their selfish power of prevent.
 
 
Make no mistake about it though, we are not aimless; we simply speak a different language – a language of mutual respect(even if it is not reflected by our opposition that enjoys provoking unneeded conflict, and when we re-act to their treachery, they find it convenient to perpetuate their behaviors on anyone unfortunate enough to engage their ignorance), participation, self-management, and action. We make our demands in this language that screams that we are here for the long-run, that our goal is not merely reform, that our vision is deep and radical, that we will not be bought off or co-opted, and that we are prepared to struggle in order to win not only those gains we can pronounce now but also those we can’t even fully articulate yet. We claim our space through actions that shout that we are here to stay, that this movement isn’t going home, that we are winning already, and that there is no turning back. We build this movement through the firm and fearless declaration that another world is possible, and that anything less is unacceptable.
 
 
You will see our demands plastered on facebook walls, scrawled on hanging banners, tweeted across oceans, marched on the shoulders of hundreds of thousands, shouted in unison from millions of streets, windows, and computers screens. You will see them all over the world, from post-industrial cities to the ghettos of our reservations, from capitals to the country side. You will see them expressed in the streets, out in front of the institutions of oppression that has colonized our communities and minds of these broken people and their broken system and we will re-decorate it with our humanity. The world is revolting against the repulsive, inconsiderate, self serving behavior of the broken. Now is their opportunity to return to their drawing-board and re-evaluate their worth to the inevitable change they will soon witness and fail at preventing.
 
 
 
Yes, we speak a different language they can not understand, a fearless and visionary one. We are shouting, with every ounce of passion and strength we can muster: Of course there is an alternative. It is us. Victory is certain.

Moccasin Mockery and their hypocritical hyperbole

By writing this response to cowardly attacks against my reputation and character I have gone against the advise and wisdom of my elders. I have been experiencing some serious verbal attacks from people(some anonymous)hiding behind a keyboard,some of these people don't even have the guts to stand on their supposed own words. Yet I wear as a badge of honor their insults because that means I am doing something right or they wouldn't be attacking me. Some people just don’t have the self-awareness to recognize how out of the realm of acceptability their thoughts really are, so they put them all over the Web. Most that have seen my work over the last four years, and judging my work it should be clear that my life is committed to fighting for justice and against injustice. But recently these individuals that have been effectively identified for what they really are have paid money to publish my criminal record and post it on their slanderous, defamatory site dedicated to protecting the corruption of our tribal government, The Leech Lake band of Ojibwe. I also wear as a badge o honor most of my criminal record because it reflects my dedication of clearing gangs out of my community. Back in 1998 I embarked on a vigilante campaign to confront gang members that were lawlessly terrorizing the community of the Mill lacs Indian Reservation. The law enforcement agencies eventually could no longer turn a blind eye to my extreme violence against these individuals disrupting the safety and harmony of this community and charged me with multiple acts of violence. The courts in my eyes showed me leniency for succeeding where these agencies where failing us as a community and I was convicted and repaid my debt to society. Years later, with more knowledge and more self restraint I returned home to the Leech Lake area to continue my campaign against gangs in our Anishinaabe communities. I was welcomed with open arms by many that were fed up with these criminals running a muck, and endangering the safety of our children. So I worked with whom ever was willing to help us rid our communities of these people putting us all in danger and putting our youth a risk. Including the very same law enforcement agencies that criminalizing me for the justice they were unable to provide for the communities I took up to protect. Although I am still very leery of certain law enforcement agencies because they have been supposedly working in effort to remedy this problems that are still very prevalent within our communities. I figured I would help empower these agencies to work in our favor instead of further damaging the relationship they have with Native people. I'm aware of the stigmas and paradigms of authority against native people, but I gave my assistance over to these agencies to now help them help my people. Yet our chairman, Arthur"Archie"Larose has systematically dismantled the relationship between the Band and the Gang/Drug task force agencies funded to approach these problems so he could protect his position within our tribal government he obtained by utilizing these criminal organizations. My colleagues and I started to confront these blatant acts of treachery against our people by our elected officials(mainly Arthur Larose, yet he used the criminal organization of the "Native Mob" to ensure a few other of his hand picked candidates into office as well)But in 2006 our efforts were disrupted by the untimely loss of my best friend who was more like a brother to me, who also worked in effort with other and myself against this treachery against our people. He was violently killed due to the very gang violence we were confronting. Grief stricken I fell back into my alcoholism worse them ever before. The following year I hit rock bottom. Stricken by the loss of yet more close friends, relatives and a spiritual advisior I fell even harder. At the end of a year long binge I woke up in a jail cell. I was guilty of trying to scare my fiance out of a van I owned by violently rocking it because I was blackout drunk trying to drive myself to the liquor store. Neighbors of ours witnessed this and called the police to intervene, I later thanked them(our neighbors)for saving my life. I incriminated myself by admitting I was attempting to scare my fiance out of the van so I could commandeer the vehicle, that alone was enough to convict me of domestic violence which I take full responsibility for. This final incident helped me out of the grief stricken rut I couldn't have gotten out of on my own, so it came as a blessing in so many ways. Now these despicable people are trying to use these valuable life lessons against me to sully my reputation because I speak the truth against their treachery the corruption against our people they have some how have come to appreciate. These people are being encouraged and enabled to Attack me by the powers that be that we have been directly confronting and threatening to dismantle against our people. This stinks of John McCarthy and Randy Finn because Archie lacks the intellect to orchestrate such cleverly, sinister attacks against those of us that are effectively working to overthrow their oppressive hold on the Leech lake people. This treachery goes much further than reservation politics, these pawns will twist and pervert whatever they can get their slimy hands on to discredit those working against their well established, status quo corruption. So don't allow yourselves to be distracted and drawn in by such sinister, petty acts meant to disrupt the progress we have all been making against this corruption. Miigwech for your time and consideration. Our victory is certain.

Do yourself a favor...

Some people can not comprehend the urgency of our situation, they have some how become too complacent with this broken system that was never intended for our survival. Some people have willingly surrendered their inherent indignation, only to find they are disingenuous, and superficial to anything we should be standing for as a tribal people. Sometimes this is beyond conversation, it's requires confrontation. I for one get tired of seeing my people so pathetically colonized, and assimilated to the point were they only misdirect, and harbor hypocritical judgement outwardly against their fellowman instead of saving some of that judgment to constructively resolve their own inward shortcomings preventing us all from moving forward. Some of us are more critical of ourselves then we are of others. Yet some of our very own people have the audacity to intentionally misconstrue, misrepresent one another's valid frustrations to try to demonize one another,and sabotage us all further from solutions. This in itself is a act of treachery against us all, our children, our nation. Instead of tryings to lash out, or putting up our unwarranted defensives against one another, we should be evaluating ourselves first and foremost to identify were we as individuals are failing each other and betraying our children. In my opinion this is what I see more then anything else. Excuse me, but its getting sickening. And I have of yet to encounter an excuse to justify any of this treachery. The divide and conquer mentality is well conditioned within some of our people, do them a favor if you happen to overcome it and confront them on it and hold them accountable for it before their children inherit it and continually infect our communities with it. It's very frustrating when other perpetuate Their shortcomings on others as if that's suppose to distract us from the source of misunderstanding of the situation. Or they try to over exaggerate claims against others because their threatened, and are not ready to come to terms with these shortcomings. Only if they had the ability to be honest with themselves and confront these shortcomngs that might cause our ancestors to rejoice in them once again instead of abandoning them to their own demise. This country is erupting in revolution, why are some of us still sitting around acting naive to it? Sometimes revolution starts from within, so do yourself a favor and revolt against your ignorance, and bias. Those of us paying witness to you squandering your abilities would appreciate this more then trying to defend ourselves from these shortcomings you admire more then the reality and truth put before us all. I really do hope some of you find some clarity and come to the self revelation you could serve our people more effectively by finding the courage to confront your own bullshit before you force someone like me to do it. But here I am, at your service. Some people don't deserve consideration of those of us unable to help them deal with their inner demons devouring their spirit. They require ceremony, or maybe a psychiatrist, heavy medication, or perhaps institutionalization to help them from further damaging their own reputations or themselves and most of all our struggles. I don't know, I'm no authority on mental illness. I think banishing these people to the wilderness might have been the only remedy available to our ancestors if these people were beyond the help of ceremony or medicine, and I could understand this conclusion. But I'm suspious that some might be using a fabricated mental disorder to guise genuine treachery, and corruption. Passing themselves off as crazy so they can't be held accountable for their obvious sinister duplicity, ignorance, and treachery. But yet some of us operate on higher levels of conscience, some on lower levels of ignorance. To each their own, but these foolish people will soon find out they have sold out their own dignity and honor for all the wrong reasons. But I doubt there's even a good reason to betray these virtues, least most of us have too much self respect to ever find out.

This isn't about you, this is about all of us.

I been very impatient lately, grinding my ax, waiting for some of these phoney bastards to slip up and fall out of their costumes. All these disengenuous people acting as if I'm stupid enough to fall for their half assed bullshit don't even understand their own ignorance let alone the dynamics of our problems, yet they insist on imposing themselves just to sabotage us even further from solutions. Shit pisses me off. Why in the hell would I want to identify with someone who isn't ready to be realistic about anything? Let alone themselves? I been accused of "having all the answers" so the fuck what. If I was empowered to change the world, I wouldn't be consulting flimsy, self centered assholes that are currently fucking things up or not doing anything at all. I don't know who made these morons a authority on anything they obligate themselves to. The system is built for these fuck ups, thats why they waste their lives indoctrinating themselves into it. Cowards. Ain't even got the fucking courage to stand up for themselves or perhaps their children. They might as well be hand delivering their kids to these assholes so they can raise your kids to be the fools they enjoy you being for them. I'm not going to sit here and candy coat turds for you chicken shits that like being lied to to feel better about yourselves, this isn't about you, never was. So don't get all bent out of shape thinking I'm picking on you. It's not you, it's your stupid ass ideals you shelter yourselves in, it's your dumb fucking actions or lack there of, or those stupid fucking words you let fall out of your mouth. Why don't you put your energy into something constructive rather then promoting your self serving bullshit. And you know what, don't flatter yourself thinking I'm telling you these things because I have somehow found a reason to hate you. I don't hate you, I pity you. I feel sorry for your punk ass. Get the fuck up off your ass and quit trying to find convenient excuses to be the self preserving coward you some how have convinced yourself your not. Quit acting as if your the king or queen of assholes, because your not, your just a peasant like the rest of us. Quit trying to help others for recognition, help them because you genuinely care for fucks sakes. Sorry I don't have the patience to give you the fancy words to make you feel enlightened n shit. I'm at my wits end, and I plan on staying here until the rest of you assholes get real with yourselves and wake the fuck up.

The Lodge Mirage.

It is very disheartening when I witness my people trying to claim a false sense of pride in artificial rights or freedoms that only serve as condescending gestures to fill up empty people that have been gutted out by the capitalist market culture. They try to adhere to labels and let those labels consume all their worth, their dignity, their identity, their integrity. We allow ourselves to be subjected to a inadequate standard, and use this standard to justify our fellow Anishinaabeg failures to live up to these absurdities. Individualism has overthrown the tribal mentalities that has weathered our ancestors through the harshest of storms. Now that we have allowed ourselves to be stripped of our survival instincts, we have regressed even further from the valiant, virtuous people we once were. We have given the spirits of our ancestors little to nothing to rejoice in us, how can they even recognize us? Because we today do not resemble anything they were familiar with. We have lost sight of that. And some selfishly misconstrue our teachings into cultural constructivism with backwards ideals that only serves to hamper or prevent us from making the progress our children require. Why do our people try to conform to political ideals that haven't their interests in mind? Why do our people surrender their dignity to ideals that comprise the essence of who we really are? Why do they invest and dedicate themselves to overcomplicated ideals that rarely if never keep them in mind when decisions are made? These overcomplicated ideals are meant to keep us confused and distracted. Are they just trying to play the game? If so, they would have been disqualified for being unprepared before "the game" ever commenced. I am not trying to discourage my people from taking a stance on matters that effect us, only trying to inspire them to innovate and improve their stance against the issues we face together. We have a lot of Anishinaabeg that allow themselves to misrepresent us and re-enforce stereotypes against us. These so called Anishinaabeg are more a threat to us them those utilizing them as tokenism. Once you comprise your dignity in the name of conformity, what use is it to consider yourself Anishinaabe? I don't believe there is a premium established in determining this, but if you knowingly betray the ideals of our ancestors and the reality of our situation today, shouldn't that discount you as someone who is supposedly upholding the honor of our people? A lot of people are only exploiting our teaching to gain status. I have witnessed time and time again undeserving people misuse and abuse our teachings only to elevate their status or credentials. They obviously haven't absorbed these teaching for their true meaning when they walk around constantly disregarding them. Yet holding them over their heads as if their actually going to live up to them one day. And they can, those teachings are within their reach, all they need is the courage to apply them to where they are needed. It's sad to watch others try and market our culture as some sort of commodity to use against others that are too bankrupt to afford these teachings. These teaching are available to us all regardless on how exclusive some try to promote them. All we need is to support and dedicate ourselves to helping others find their way back to these teachings. Some might use our teaching for self promotion, self indigence, but we all have the ability to resist these seductive abominations perverting our teachings amongst these people. These teaching hold all the answers we require, whether they be political, spiritual, emotional or whatever. So don't sell out to the glamorization of the falsehoods these people utilize to misdirect you or take advantage of you through. We are all pitiful people, some more them others. And we mustn't allow ourselves to be utilized as a opportunity for some of these more pitiful people that do hold teachings but misuse or abuse them. This is a way of life, not a religion, so don't feed into others misconceptions or self induced fundamentalism's of our teachings as well. They'll feed you lies or self serving propaganda to mislead you from the true essence of our teachings. The solution is simple, put out your asemaa ask for help and follow your heart. For it will not mislead you from the path on who you must be for the people that desperately need your direction. We must inspire other to find their way back to the true meaning of our teachings to find their own true meaning for themselves. Anyone trying to prevent or take advantage of this is not only doing a disservice to you but also to themselves.Once you let others interfere with your personal relationship with these teaching, we lose sight of who we truly are. Once others start dictating teaching to you they have obviously lost sight of those teachings as well. Not everyone's problems are the same, so be warry of those that insist upon themselves for supposedly knowing the direction others must venture. Yes, some might need help or encouragement of embarking down that path, and there are those who will genuinely put you on your path. But it is those that impose and try to drag you to, or try to force you to see the path as they see it that offer only a test to you and your sense of direction. It is very bothersome when I witness others taking advantage of our people only to foster their own pitiful egos or false sense of worth. Gathering around the abundance vulnerable, broken spirits of our communities and deifying themselves by the misuse of our teachings. These people have earned my contempt regardless of their holier them thou attitude they operate from. I am immune to their falsehoods and to situations to were they might exercise them. I am not fooled or even a bit amused by their charlatanism. And I am helping and encouraging my fellow Anishinaabeg to become resistant of these pitiful people as well. Hopefully we can inspire them to become the Anishinaabe that they actually believe themselves to be. Or at least deter them from their bad habit of trying to take advantage of people or situations by purposely misinterpreting or misconstruing our teachings for their selfish benefit. The authentic Anishinaabeg are out there, we will all encounter false one's just to be shown how not to conduct ourselves. But be thankful for them as well, for they are serving their purpose as well if they like it or not.

Revolution born of fire.

There has to come a time in everyone's life when they realize they have been either lied to or come to terms their living a self induced lie. Some might resent this moment of clarity and reject it only to spiral further into fear and ignorance, jealousy or envy. Once your morally bankrupt, whats the use of trying to recuperate from a default on your integrity and dignity? The truth is restricted, diluted, tailor made, compromised, and altered. The truth today is a recipe for destruction. Destruction of the broken order subconsciously pandering to your fears, your desires, your greed, your unwarranted ego. In this world where the media controls the truth though the process of exploiting vulnerable minds that have all flocked to the television screen to help them cope with their insecurities, its frustrating to witness those you care for fall casualty to ignorance. Most times its hard to work within the experiences of the people when they have restricted, and have found reasons or inane justifications to shelter themselves from whats out their waiting for them, wanting to devour their inept, naive, scared little souls. Knowledge is power, and its sad to say some don't want us to empower ourselves so that those they prey on then reject and refuse to rely in these peoples misinformation that has conjured up our dependency in their charlatanism. So that is why I am very grateful for those that have inspired me to embrace truth and use it to cast out the darkness consuming my people. I to now carry this torch, and I will light the fire my people need to warm themselves by in this cold world of lies and propaganda laying waste to them. Embers in the ashes, that is what we are today. It's time to refuel this fire with hope and fan these embers to get this fire blazing once again. It's time to douse yourselves in truths and set yourselves ablaze, run into the crowd of those adorned in their combustible garments of lies. This fire will consume any and all who are fortunate enough to be caught in its path, because it is we who are the eighth fire.

Inconspicuous Indians

Instant gratification, That is where most of our people operate from these days. Why? because they want everything right then and now or else they don't want it not all. We have lost the ability to struggle and strive for progress we deserve, we are too quick to compromise, to give up and give into simplicity or the illusion of it. We have lost sight of our radiant tradition of Resistance and traded it in for a life of assimilation, and the conditioning of ourselves into internally oppressive behaviors for the pursuit of selfish benefit of our own comfort. People rather take comfort, defend and re-enforce their flaws rather then exert energy to correct them or even prevent the passing down of these flaws to their children or grandchildren. The spurious grand tradition of self inflicted, self loathing oppression and comprise all in the name of personal achievement and self preservation. No longer a tribal mentality, but a every man for himself attitude imposing itself obnoxiously to sabotage, and damage the progress of our struggles we currently face today, at this very moment. The urgency to improve our stance to defend ourselves against these assaults more effectively has been upon us for quite some time, perhaps prior to the existence of most of us embattled in theses enduring struggles we are fighting today. We live in a society of convenience, why disrupt it right? And most take this fact for granted rather then appreciating the ability we are afforded today to confront our perpetuating problems more effectively. The older generations show more envy and resentment against us then consideration and compassion. They call us down and try to belittle us for our youth and energy because we refuse to take comfort in their backward, stubborn, ignorance of solving our problems from their now obsolete, out of touch point of views. The world has passed them up and they refuse to addapt to the requirements it is now calling upon us. Information is practically free and ready at our finger tips if we're only but to notice it. But the fact of the matter is the problems we face today as Native people are unprecedented, we were raised into a more hostile world that they have failed to prevent from desensitizing us from its brutality. This rift in the generations is a costly consequence to the problems we face today. Because from one end of the spectrum we have those of us trying to innovate the solutions our children require, and on the other we have those trying to conserve and promote the ineffective ways that have contributed to further pushing our communities to the brink. When no wisdom, but only criticism remains from these cynical individuals, I have found in my short years on this earth that it is wiser to continue forward to the next glimmer of hope rather then trying to breath life back into defeated and diminished spirits. Even if they might not be wise as of yet to realize I struggle forward for them as well, with the strength of wisdom they were able to spare us. Each day we grow stronger, more aware, more intelligent, more effective, more astute. Are these not reasons to rejoice and invest your approval of this fact of our potential? Or am I not yet wise enough to no longer believe in myself as well? Maybe I to will become an inconspicuous Indian as well one day, but not until they break my spirit as well or kill me. I prefer the latter of my options. Not for glory, but for the assurance my children might live better lives then I was afforded.

To those trying to turn our struggles into their stage.

Empowering the masses to allow them to access information they are normally excluded from will allow the oppressed to become being for themselves rather than enslaved to the dictates of others. We must all envisage a society in which people are liberated and are able to mold their world. This requires some ability to criticize and make decisions. Decision making will require access to information with the use of critical thinking. Many people make decisions without criticism. Many are trapped within the dogma which belonging to or originated from an would be elite group. These would be elitist then in turn purloin our struggles under the hypocritical false bravado of a nationalist sentiment to close ranks around their egotistical mannerism, all the while promoting a predominantly oppressive influence of the academic that tries to put a premium on intelligence to protect their own self serving interests. They do this to demoralize and stifle aspiring activists they assume are threatening their status. One who is effected daily by the rigors of racial inequality does not require a degree to understand the common knowledge of oppression we are all subjected to. That would be as if a citizen of central American pursued a degree in Spanish, we as oppressed people are all fluent in the language of discrimination no matter what problematic paradigm egotistical saboteurs try to place in front of us. These threatened egotistical hypocrites simultaneously attempt to legitimize their accomplishments in academia in order to enhance their self image as a objective inquiry of relentless criticism all the while trying to disarm or empty out the more political and worldly substance of radical critique. We should all want the oppressed to make decisions which will change the world, not just maintain the current status quo. We are all objects created by history, once we realize this, we can begin to be apart of it and change it. Also once an individual realizes that they are products of their education and society, they will be able to participate objectively and effectively within it. The process of change towards liberation is a conflict and doesn't accept any partial solutions. The media is than used as a tool of alienation utilized to divide us all. It is responsible for filling empty and receptive minds with propaganda of the dominant culture. Teachers and students will become jointly responsible for the education process in which all will grow. This process is not teacher centric with imposed knowledge used to domesticate others into the status quo. The content should originate from the learner, no participial method is the best, rather we should all be concerned with the ways in which knowledge is presented and processed, and be wary of misinformation as well. Students of liberation should be given the necessary tools to act decisively. We must educate each other through the meditation of the world. A community based interaction should produce a two way flow of education between the student and the teacher, the school and the community. to recreate/reform our society to meet our needs as oppressed people we must also realize we are in fact subjects of this process ourselves. In other words, the people involved must know about themselves and the processes that shaped them as well. Community education should provide local input to any organization created to represent the plight of the subjected populous. This will provide a knowledge based in which individuals in the organization learn about the community they are apart of, and how they are influenced by it. At the same time members of the community will learn about the impact of education on their own development. A community aspect of the institution should help unite, rather then alienate it from society. Unification is an aspect of liberation against oppressive minority rule, community focused education within a democratic society(not just government) is a more viable solution. Social engineering and the conception of human society should not be determined by a minority of educated theorists. However education is required so that every individual is equipped to make logical decisions without accepting other's dogma. We all have emotional needs: the need to love, to beloved, to be accepted, to feel a sense of accomplishment, to feel a sense of self-worth, to feel important, to feel needed, to protect ourselves, to attain status in our own eyes and in the eyes of others, to be secure. These needs in turn conceal other fragile and sensitive emotions. These emotions are easily tampered with and manipulated. One who knows how to appeal to these vulnerable emotions can deceive us, manipulate us, and get us to accept things as true that which is untrue. What is important is that you recognize that the emotional appeal may reflect some unstated feeling or belief, that there may be a bottom line that is not being articulated or a hidden agendum that is not being acknowledged. Perhaps the person is trying to cajole you into buying into their interests. So always try to find the bottom line or to ascertain that hidden agendum before your invest yourself to the audience of this pitiful person that refuses to acknowledge their humility. Feelings are important, but one should not act on feelings alone. One should have reasons for acting. It is in the obfuscation of reasons that emotion appeals are dangerous. 'Liberation leaning can not be standardized. to be dynamic it must be experimental and creative' Paulo Freire.

Hypocritsy and duplicity.

As everyone else gives into their self centered egos, their obsolete theological ideals, low self esteems, and inherent confirmation bias. I feel desensitized to disingenuousness, and the genuine lack of enthusiasm demonstrated and spoken of amongst ‘My People,’ of our ever urgent situations effecting our lives. Soon there will be destructive and self destructive consequences to when our people realize the ever degrading quality of life our humanity will further erode to. Yet today they do not care, their too distracted by or too comfortable with their shallow lives to give a shit about ever getting to the bottom of anything. When will we have revolution? A psychic conversion to steer us away from the cliff we are hurling towards? When it’s too late? Never? Tomorrow? I have been demonized and slandered by those jealous of my clarity, resiliency, righteousness, strength, and furious rage that boils in the blood of my ancestor that pumps strongly through my heart. But this is not about me, and it sure the hell isn’t about YOU! People have alienated me out of intimidation or envy of my stalwart dedication to my people, and my ability to not feed into the superficial ignorance or naiveness that most constantly find themselves vulnerable to in compromising and selling out to and constantly going bankrupt, morally, intellectually, and spiritually. Yet if these selfish people ever needed help, I’d be there to give them my hand. Most ideals and perspectives these individuals hold are rarely ever evolving, improving or gaining consensus because these people are to self absorbed and shallow to give a shit about what anyone else has to say, even if it is said or done selflessly for the sole benefit of others like themselves. But if matters affects their precious money or belongings, then they’ll make an effort to show their self serving disappointment. People don’t give a shit about consciousness or morals; especially if it does not interfere with their comfort zone they established for themselves and assimilated themselves into amongst the corruption and ignorance devouring our communities, culture and teachings. What good are teaching when everyone holding those teaching over their heads at us are some of the biggest hypocrites you could ever meet. Demonstrate cognitive dissonance, become a heretic and speak blasphemy at these poor scared fools that gather around and tell each other lies and fairy tales, because they are scared of the dark. what else can a person who has been systematically, and institutionally indoctrinated to hate themselves see beyond the bullshit they are being forced to live in? So go ahead and de-friend Curtis Buckanaga, speak of me in private company of other like cowards that fear my strength that YOUR gods and spirits have given me (I'm being sarcastic). I am but a mere man with bold, courageous, intelligent, prophetic ideals, ideals that will scare the broken, jealous, envious, treacherous spirits like the ones that those that resent me harbor out of the struggles our people endure. These poor souls are currently tainting and overwhelming our struggles, trying to suffocate the chance of a constructive confrontation to the corruption and ignorance they secretly appreciate, because it allows them to create the facade they put on their facebook page so people can friend them and they can feel important to a bunch of other superficial people out there. Thanks for bringing the shallow folks together facebook, thanks for showing me who all these people are as well. And sometimes when I log in, I feel myself getting pissed. Rage boiling in me at the ignorance captivating the minds of 'my people.' This rage is not destructive no matter how any feeble minded coward wants to demonize it as hatred. This rage is contained and channeled into sharp, constructive confrontation of any obstacle those opponents (intentional and inadvertent) try to place in the way of people such as myself. I have an audacious sincerity to my people, and it is because of my chronic refusal to give into the sheer absurdity that confronts an Anishinaabe person in this country. The incessant assaults on my intelligence, my beauty, my character, my possibility has created a profound commitment in me the help my people affirm their humanity at any cost, even against the odds, even in the face of our oppressors, internal and external. My actions will not perpetuate nor accent the hypocrisy I speak against. The love I have for my people is neither abstract nor ephemeral, it is concrete to the connection with the degraded and devalued people that are in dire need of psychic conversion, I know because I was once one of these people. I hope one day my people will love themselves as much as I love them. This love will convert and motivate our misdirected rage to produce a psychic conversion. One day this conversion will allow us to affirm ourselves as the Anishinaabeg once again, no longer viewing our bodies, minds, spirits through white lenses, and we will believe we are capable of taking control of our destinies together, once again as a tribe..

A lot of people only discuss the corruption we're up against to a degree, and when it gets too overwhelming or too much effort for them, Then they often times try to belittle those predicaments to conform them to their Willingness to confront or their understanding of these issues dynamics that are very costly on my peoples quality of life. Then we have the individuals that try to authenticate themselves through cultural and racial teachings or values as if that is suppose to compensate for their lack of understanding or their lack of courage and commitment to engage these issues adequately. Then these intolerant people project the most condescending, disingenuous, duplicity of the corrupt hypocritical ideals their conditioned not to see, and most time, a corruption that is ingrained into their lifestyles. Their ignorance reminds when I was younger and went to school with kids that worked their parents farm before coming into school. I admire these hard working young individuals, but the obnoxious odor of their farm work was unbearable at times, but they were oblivious to the fact their odor conflicted with the learning environment because they have become accustomed to the odor. That is until the more crass children started making fun of them for their smell. And now in the same sense, this obnoxious ignorance is conflicting with the struggles set before us here in Indian country today. A lot of these people have good hearts, or good intentions, but most times they suffer from a conceited, Self centered, delusional, bloated self worth that interferes with any attempt of intelligence or solidarity they try and put forth. Are these people really that oblivious to the loathsome manner in which they insist on carrying themselves in? In some cases more then likely, people do become resentful of things that are out of their reach, like for example; a genuine insight to the problems we are up against today in Indian country. Yeah they might initially start their days off with good intentions, but the but the overwhelming reality of their hypocritical lifestyles throws all those good intentions out the door at the end of their unproductive day. Then we have those that only take on things they know they have little chance at failing on. These people fear humility, rejection, confrontation, then these people give themselves a false sense of accomplishment and let these accomplishments get to their heads. They then act as if we all owe them something for playing it safe. These are the people that don't realize there is no struggle. without blood, sweat, and tears, and without struggle there is no progress. Without courage, their is no engagement of the matters that have been neglected on confronting. Without confrontation, there is no real effort or struggle to correct these matters weighing heavily on the lives on my people. So, you really need to ask yourself, are you really even one the people? Or are you just conditioned to being distracted trying to be the Indian our oppressors need you to be? Or are just your own oppressor?

Without struggle, there is no progress.

A lot of people only discuss the corruption we're up against to a degree, and when it gets too overwhelming or too much effort for them, Then they often times try to belittle those predicaments to conform them to their Willingness to confront or their understanding of these issues dynamics that are very costly on my peoples quality of life. Then we have the individuals that try to authenticate themselves through cultural and racial reasonings, teachings, or values as if that is suppose to compensate for their lack of understanding or their lack of courage and commitment to engage these issues adequately. Then these intolerant people project the most condescending, disingenuous, duplicity of the corrupt hypocritical ideals their conditioned not to see, and most time, a corruption that is ingrained into their lifestyles. Their ignorance reminds when I was younger and went to school with kids that worked their parents farm before coming into school. I admire these hard working young individuals, but the obnoxious odor of their farm work was unbearable at times, but they were oblivious to the fact their odor conflicted with the learning environment because they have become accustomed to the odor. That is until the more crass children started making fun of them for their smell. And now in the same sense, this obnoxious ignorance is conflicting with the struggles set before us here in Indian country today. A lot of these people have good hearts, or good intentions, but most times they suffer from a conceited, Self centered, delusional, bloated self worth that interferes with any attempt of intelligence or solidarity they try and put forth. Are these people really that oblivious to the loathsome manner in which they insist on carrying themselves in? In some cases more then likely, people do become resentful of things that are out of their reach, like for example; a genuine insight to the problems we are up against today in Indian country. Yeah they might initially start their days off with good intentions, but the but the overwhelming reality of their hypocritical lifestyles throws all those good intentions out the door at the end of their unproductive day. Then we have those that only take on things they know they have little chance at failing on, then these people give themselves a false sense of accomplishment and let these accomplishments get to their heads. They then act as if we all owe them something for playing it safe. These are the people that don't realize there is no struggle. without blood, sweat, and tears, and without struggle there is no progress. Without courage, their is no engagement of the matters that have been neglected on confronting. Without confrontation, there is no real effort or struggle to correct these matters weighing heavily on the lives on my people. So, you really need to ask yourself, are you really even one the people? Or are you just conditioned to be distracted trying to be the Indian our oppressors need you to be? Or are you just your own oppressor? Or a little of both?

A democracy that will meet our standards.

I'm trying to demystify our predicament here. I understand a conservative perceptive, or a traditional, fundamentally, theological, authoritarian view, which is not new in Indian country. But I'm trying to confront the vulnerability of a inadvertent, pretentious Native conservative bid to hegemony Native political based issues. If the elimination is necessary for the condition of poverty amongst Native people, it is substantive to confront it presence in order to achieve Native progress. The affirmation of our humanity, especially amongst ourselves as Native Americans, is a sufficient condition of such a progress. Such affirmation speak to existential issues of what it means to be a degraded Native person in a racist society. You need to ask yourself how do you affirm yourself without reenacting negatively to Indian stereotypes or overreacting to white supremacist ideals? The difficult and delicate quest for Native identity is integral to any talk about racial equality. Yet it is not solely a political or economic matter. The quest for Native Identity involves self-respect, and self-regard, realms inseparable from, yet not identical to, political power and economic status. The flagrant self-loathing amongst some Native working and middle class bears witness to this painful process. Unfortunately, conservative minded Natives more commonly focus on the issues of self-respect as if it were the one key that will open all doors for Native progress. Most times they illustrate the fallacy of trying to open all doors with one key: they wind up closing their eyes to all doors except the one that fits their particular key. But even the Natives that consider themselves progressive(democrat) for the most part must take up a serious quest for self-respect, even as we train our eyes on the institutional cause of Indian social misery. The issues of Native Identity -both Native self love and self contempt sit alongside Indian poverty as a reality to confront and transform. The uncritical acceptance of self-degrading ideals that call into question Native intelligence, possibility, and beauty not only compounds Native social misery but also paralyzes Native working and middle class efforts to defend broad redistributive measures. This Paralysis takes on two forms: Native bourgeois preoccupation with white peer approval and Native nationalist obsession with white racism. The first form of paralysis tends to yield a navel-gazing posture that conflates the identity crisis of the Native working middle class with the state of siege raging in the more commonly Native working poor and very poor communities. That one dimensional view obscures the need for redistributive measures that significantly affect the majority of Natives, who for the most part are working people that fell into or are on the edge of poverty by little fault of their own. The second form of paralysis precludes any meaningful coalition with white progressives because of an undeniable white racist legacy of the modern western world. The anger this truth engenders impedes any effective way of responding to the crisis in Indian country. Broad redistributive measures that will give us a say in environmental issues that effect our way of life require principled coalitions, including a multiracial alliance of like minded people.Without such measures, Indian countrys suffering will deepen. And white racism does indeed contribute to this suffering. Yet an obsession with white racism often comes at the expense of a more broad based alliance to effect social change and borders on our tribal mentalities. The more xenophobic versions of this viewpoint simply mirror the white supremacist ideals we are trying to survive by opposing and it preclude any movement towards redistributive goals. How one defines themselves influences what analytical weight one gives to the Native predicament. Any progressive discussion about the current and future of our racial equality must speak to Native poverty and Native identity.

Do you deserve to call yourself a leader?

Few have the courage to speak out publicly when there is a act of cynical tokenism used to conceal outright corruption amongst our people. We have all these mediocre leaders, often their qualifications only represent how captive they are to white racist stereotypes. Yes they might have intellectual talent, but the point I'm trying to get at is our Native leaders sometimes only entertain the possibility that the racist stereotypes may be true. Hence the attempt of those tokenizing these poor victims of circumstance to try cover these leaders mediocrity with silence. Of course there are those that privately admit the mediocrity in our leaders, but white mediocrity is not justification for Indian mediocrity what so ever. Our people are constantly victims of double standards, but a argument might be presented in defense to excuse an unqualified Natives by appealing to other unqualified white men of power. This cynical tokenism rings true of the lowest common denominator, with little to no concern for breaking the racist stereotypes or investing in the public interest of our community. This also renders qualified Indian leaders invisible who deserve serious consideration to be selected and supported by our people. How did our people get into this bind? Why did so many of them capitulate to this cynical strategy? First and foremost, these leader claim their racial authenticity, the complex relation of this claim to racial authenticity is utilized to increase their closed ranks mentality that they rely their careers on. They use the notion that America's will to invest in racial justice is weak in order to belittle relations with the white community. This allows utilization of closing ranks for survival in this racial hostile country, this rests solely on claims of racial authenticity. This is a way in which native nationalist sentiment promotes and encourages native culture conservatism, especially amongst the native patriarchal powers. The idea of Native People closing ranks against hostile white America reinforces Native male power exercised over Native women. These men act as if to protect, regulate, and subordinate in order to preserve contemporary Native social order under circumstances of white literal and symbolic attack. Most of our leaders are lost in the thicket of corruption and therefore got caught in the vulgar form of racial reasoning: Native closing ranks mentality, Native authenticity,Native subordination of Native women in interests of the Native community in this hostile white racist country are examples of this corruption. Such a line in this racial reasoning leads to question,"are these people really Native?" "Are they Native enough to be defended?" Or is this just the Native on the outside effect? Questions like this have been asked and debated; unfortunately, the very frame work of racial reasoning regulates Native thoughts and actions. As long as racial reasoning regulates Native thought and action, The constant failures of these token Native leaders will continue to haunt Indian country. Conservatives and spineless liberals sit back, watch and prosper as these tokens perform the act they have become admired for amongst these racists that have been conditioned to overlook our humanity they use to justify their entertainment and capitalize on. How does one undermine the framework of racial reasoning? By dismantling each pillar slowly and systematically. The fundamental aim of this undermining and dismantling is to replace racial reasoning with moral reasoning, to understand the Native freedom struggle not as an affair of pigmentation and racial phenotype but rather as a matter of ethical principles and wise politics we've abandoned for these IRA governments, and to combat the Native nationalist attempt to subordinate the issues and interests of our people. Therefore the failure of the nerve of Native leadership is its refusal to undermine and dismantle the framework of this racial reasoning. After centuries of racist degradation, exploitation, and oppression, being Native means being minimally subject to white supremacist abuse and being a part of a rich culture and community that has struggled against such abuse. All people with red skin and a native phenotype are subjected to potential white supremacist abuse. Therefore, all Native Americans should have some interest in resisting racism, even if their interests are confined solely to themselves as individuals rather than to a larger native community. Yet how this "interest" is defined and how individuals understand vary. Therefore any claim to Native authenticity-beyond the potential objectification to racist abuse and our heir to a grand tradition of the Native struggle, it is contingent on one's political definition of native interest and one's ethical understanding of how this interest relates to individuals and communities in and outside of indian country. In short "indian-ness" is a political and ethical construct. Appeals to native authenticity ignore this fact; such appeals hide and conceal the political and ethical dimensions of "indian-ness" This is why claims to racial authenticity trump political and ethical argument-and why racial reasoning discourages moral reasoning. Every claim to racial authenticity presupposes elaborate conceptions of political and ethical relations of interest, individuals, and communities. Racial reasoning conceals the presuppositions behind a deceptive cloak of racial consensus-yet racial reasoning is seductive because it invokes undeniable history of our racial abuse and racial struggle. But if claims to native authenticity are political and ethical conceptions of the relation of native interest, individuals, and communities, then any attempt to confine Native authenticity to native nationalist politics should warrant suspicion. Native leaders that constantly fail to highlight the problematic polices, polices that help them get appointed or elected into office that they have come to take comfort in these failures of their predecessors should concern all, especially those that vouched and voted for these individuals. The undermining and dismantling of the framework of racial reasoning- most importantly the basic notions of native authenticity, closed rank mentality, and native cultural conservatism can lead towards a new framework of Native thought and practice. This new framework should be prophetic one of moral reasoning with its fundamental ideas of a mature native identity, coalition strategy, and native cultural democracy. Instead of cathartic appeals to native authenticity, a prophetic viewpoint bases mature native self-love and self respect on the moral quality of native responses to the undeniable racist degradation in the American past and present. Prophetic framework encourages moral assessment of the variety of perspectives held by native people and selects those views based on native dignity and decency that eschews putting any group of people or culture on a pedestal or in the gutter. Instead, "Indian-ness" is understood to be either the perennial possibility of white supremacist abuse or the distinct styles and dominant modes of expression found in native culture and communities. These styles and modes are diverse-yet they do stand apart from those of other groups, even if they are shaped by and shape those of other groups. And all such styles and modes stand in need of ethical evaluation. Mature native identity results from an acknowledgment of specific native responses to racist abuse and moral assessment of these responses such that the humanity of native people does not rest on deifying or demonizing others. Instead of close ranking mentality, a prophetic framework encourages a coalition strategy that solicits genuine solidarity with those deeply committed to our struggles. This strategy is neither naive nor opportunistic; Native suspicion of whites runs deep for historical reasons. Yet there are slight antiracist traditions among whites that should not be cast aside. Unfortunately, most Native leaders remain caught in the framework of racial reasoning-even when they oppose the corruption they are exemplifying for their platform. Rarely do we see a Native leader highlight the moral content of a mature Native identity, accent the crucial role of coalition strategy in the struggle for justice, or promote the ideal of native cultural democracy. Instead, the debate is overlooked or it has evolved around glib formation of a native “role model” based on mere pigmentation, an atavistic defense of native-ness that mirrors the increasing xenophobia in American life, and circles around the silence of the ugly authoritarian practices in Indian country. Native leadership must share some of the blame. As long as native leaders remain caught in a framework of racial reasoning, they will not rise above the manipulation currently ravaging our quality of life in Indian country. Where there is no vision, the people perish; where there is no framework of moral reasoning, the people close ranks in a war of all against all. The growing gangsterization of our communities results in part from a market-driven racial reasoning that links the white house to the ghettos of our reservation. In this sense, Barrack Obama, Archie Larose, and many gangster rappers speak the same language from different social locations-where they think racial reasoning will save us. Yet there is a cloud of witnesses from afar but very connected to the struggle of our people. The many anonymous others who champion the struggles for freedom and justice in a prophetic framework of moral reasoning. It is we who understand the pitfalls of racial reasoning that are very costly to the mind, body, and spirit of our people-especially for the downtrodden and despised people like us Native Americans. The best of our leadership needs to recognize the valuable truth-and more must do so very soon if Leech Lake is to survive with any moral sense.

Native Americans need to be considered when Redistricting Occurs

This is in response to the article in the Bemidji pioneer on the independent panel on redistricting. Amongst the who’s who of Minnesota’s political past, there wasn’t one member of this “panel” that consisted of any tribal leaders or members to provide a representation or insight of our presence and our concerns here in Minnesota (mainly northern Minnesota) what so ever. Once again we are subjected to inconsideration and refused a seat at the decision-making tables that might open doors for us to regain a voice in matters that concern the policies that effect our natural resources and the Minnesota environment, which we have right to by treaty of law. By discretely disenfranchising our communities, we, as Native Americans do not have an equal opportunity to be elected to local offices, Congress, or the Minnesota House and Senate Districts.
The right to effectively participate in the political process was never negotiated as part of the Treaties that enabled the stealing and exploitation of our native land. I think the moral, conscious decision these ‘High-powered officials’ could make is to designate a Congressional District, State House seats and State Senate Districts that include Red Lake, Leech Lake and White Earth Indian reservations that will enable the Anishinaabeg Nations to take our rightful place amongst the decision makers of our state as part of the redistricting process. When will we have the democracy that meets our standards as well as those we helped and enabled to thrive here? When will our leaders stand up and fight for the equality their people deserve?