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.