"Dark Night" in the publication's title recalls the words of Seattle who, two
generations before the slaughter at Wounded Knee, forecast a future for
his relatives which promised to be long and dark. The Morning Star symbol
of our Cheyenne Relatives has been incorporated into the title and nameplate
of the publication to indicate that the end of this long night is approaching.
Those whose words appear in the publication, the Dark Night Relatives, are
engaged in ending the darkness.
Submitting field notes or comments: Those wishing to submit field notes
or to comment on notes which have been published are encourged to do so.
Notes and comments should be sent to: Dark Night Press, PO Box 3629,
Chicago, IL 60690-3629. The receipt of materials cannot be acknowledged
and submitted matierals cannot be returned (so please keep a copy!) Not
all materials so submitted can or will be published.
Subscriptions: $10/year - USA, $20/year Int'l, $5/year Seniors, Free to
Prisoners Send Subscription requests to above address.
Notes from the Field The Struggle to Free Leonard
Leonard's Freedom is in our Hands - the Time for Action is NOW!
If we define "political prisoner" as one who is in prison for
his/her ideas, we can identify well over 100 political prisoners in
this country. The government, of course, claims that the U.S. has
no such thing and that inmates reside in our nation's prisons for
criminal acts they have committed, not for ideological beliefs they
hold.
When we consider the case of Leonard Peltier, however, this
position is put immediately in question. Wrongly convicted of
killing two FBI agents during an encounter between the FBI and
Indians on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota on June 26,
1975, Leonard Peltier is now serving his 18th year of two
consecutive life sentences at Leavenworth Federal Penitentiary in
Kansas. A member of the American Indian Movement, Leonard Peltier
was railroaded into prison because of his beliefs, because he stood
up for his people and because he fought against the many injustices
suffered by Indian people at the time.
Leonard Peltier is a political prisoner. The fact that he and
others like him can be put behind bars under these circumstances
without outcry from those of us on the outside makes our outreach
work all the more crucial. We can all bring attention to this issue
during the Leonard Peltier Freedom Weekend in Washington, DC on
June 25-26. On these two days we will bring our protests against
the outrageous injustices abounding in Leonard's case and our
demands for his immediate release right to the doorstep of the
White House.
With Leonard's Executive Clemency petition now on the desk of the
Deputy Attorney General and with a Justice Department more inclined
to hide its dirty laundry than to come clean, it becomes all the
more critical that we find our way to Washington in order to bring
the urgency of Leonard's situation into greater public focus. It
becomes all the more critical that we mobilize people across the
nation to take on the personal responsibility of ensuring Leonard's
freedom.
What does this mean? First and foremost, it means joining a local
support group, strengthening the group and expanding its public
outreach activities so that increasing numbers of people are made
aware of Leonard's plight. It means working hard to motivate people
to become involved in the work themselves.
Secondly, it means educating ourselves about the issues involved in
the Native rights struggle and placing Leonard's case within this
context. It means involving ourselves in an appropirate way with
the work now being done to address these issues, because it was
precisely Leonard's participation in this larger struggle that
resulted in his imprisonment.
Finally, it means concerning ourselves with other prisoners who
have been similarly incarcerated for their beliefs; educating
ourselves and others about how the criminal justice system is
increasingly being used for political ends and political control.
The US has the highest incarceration rate of any other
industrialized country in the world. It is only in Third World US
client states like Guatemala, South Korea and El Salvador where we
find similar incarceration rates. The proportion of
African-American males imprisoned in this country (3,109 per
100,000) is alarmingly greater than that of apartheid South Africa
(729 per 100,000). The call for more prisons, more police, and
stricter sentencing procedures means only one thing: we can expect
an ever-increasing incarceration rate in the coming years, and can
expect to experience first hand the harsh reality of living with a
government bent on "ensuring our freedom" by throwing us in jail.
Leonard's freedom and our freedom - is in our hands. It is only
through grassroots efforts on our local levels, linked to a
regional network, in turn linked nationally and internationally,
that Leonard's freedom, the freedom of our brothers and sisters,
and our own freedom, will be insured. We agree with Ward Churchill,
National Spokesperson for the LPDC, when he said:
@BODY QUOTE = "The time in which it was possible to avoid
shouldering responsibility in this regard has long since passed. To
put the matter most simply and directly, if the realities of
proliferating political police, political prisons and political
prisoners don't become central preoccupations of a lot more people
in the very near future, there's not going to be much of a future
for anyone. The time for action is at hand."
Join us in Washington, DC
on June 25-26 and
MAKE YOUR
VOICE HEARD!
The Day of the Sacred Pipe
It is the second day of the Leonard Peltier Freedom
Weekend Sunday the 26th which will be the day of greatest
significance for those who are in Washington, DC and for many who,
like Leonard Peltier, will be unable to be physically present in
Lafayette Park. The essence of the day will be shaped not by the
numbers involved, the tribes represented, the images of the U.S.
government which will be visible to all, nor the presence of any
one individual.
The essence of the day in all of its aspects will
be shaped and patterned and defined by the simple gift given to the
People of this Land by the Powers that gave both the People and the
Land life.
The Sacred Pipe will be the day and the day will be sacred.
The Pipe will connect all, those present and those
across the land, those which have life and those things which are
a part of our Mother the Earth, those who were once here and those
who have yet to come, in power beyond that imagined by those who
occupy the white house across the street or those who do the
bidding of the power brokers in the towering buildings that
surround the scene.
Words in the languages of the People will be spoken
in a sacred manner, in a proper manner according to the ways in
which the People have been taught. The words will be for Leonard
and for those who hold his freedom in the power of their hands. The
words, enveloped by sage and by sweet grass, measured with the
drum, will ask that Leonard's heart be strong in knowing his
brothers and sisters stand by his side at every hour. The words
will ask that the hearts of those who hold him hostage be opened so
that they may see what those joined by the Pipe so clearly see, a
good man who did nothing more than act as would any honorable
person.
There will be many other words said on this day,
spoken by those who have worked for Leonard's freedom, those who
have counseled with him, those who share his daily life...yet it is
the words said by all those gathered on this day, the words which
touch the Pipe, the words which echo together with those said
across the Land, that will give the day its power and meaning.
NOTES FROM THE FIELD: The Struggle for Native Liberation
In Support of Our Ancestors
by Joe Schranz & Clare Farrell
AIM of IL, Repatriation Committee & LPSG/Chicago
(Reprinted with Permission from Dark Night Field Notes
Summer 1994)
(In light of the ongoing excavation of our ancestors' burial sites,
with the subsequent removal, study and storage of their remains and
burial goods, we choose to provide a foundation essay on our
beliefs in this regard. We seek to set forth a basis for our rights
and demands to both educate the public we are working with, and to
protect our relatives of the past, with special reference to the
current burial site at New Lenox, Illinois.)
It is with pain that we must continue to explain ourselves and our
ways - and these two cannot be separated - as we struggle to save
the burial grounds of our people. The recent newspaper article in
The New Lenox Community Reporter speaks out in support of
developing the New Lenox site, listing the recreational
opportunities that will upbuild the local community, and the
revenue that will be lost if the project is abandoned. On the
surface, if the site did not have the rich history of an 11,000
year span of occupation, thus a legacy deep within the earth's many
layers of a culture utterly distinct from the present one, these
are modest goals. But whenever the apparent good of one group
interferes with the good of another, the end is debilitating to
both.
This must be examined carefully. In our age of many cultures
sharing the same land, invited or not, we find it necessary to
consider the many differences that exist among us in order to
identify, thus preserve, our own essential Native ways. Inherent in
the struggle to protect our ancestors' burial grounds is our world
view which traditionally differs from the Western concepts of life
that developed in Euro-Asian cultures over the past centuries. We
continue to experience the complete divergence in understanding
that manifests itself in an intrusion and disrespect of our ways,
material and spiritual. It is our intense hope that a serious
endeavor to delineate these distinctions, coupled with a consistent
demand for respect, will touch the compassionate sensibilities
integral to every educated human being. We strive to ignite that
sleeping awareness that welcomes and celebrates the unique
spiritual truth of every people and nation.
A critical starting point is the basic fact that there are
different ways to view reality, and all are valid. This foundation
of successful interaction between cultures - the recognition of
common credibility - was decidedly lacking in Western thought at
the time of the invasion of this land 500 years ago. Its absence
marked the genocidal policies that fueled the movement to populate
the Western hemisphere with Eastern hemisphere peoples. A growing
awareness that this Western mindset is not only not exclusive, but
has serious limitations, has barely begun to alter governing
policies and attitudes that affect Native people.
We define some of these differences with the explicit goal of
clarifying our rights:
The idea of progress
The vast difference is best expressed in the opposing values of
adaptation versus control. The hundreds of nations spread across
this hemisphere had originally, as pre-industrial people, adapted
to each natural location, cultivating the land, hunting, gathering,
and developing unique identities through interaction with the
world, seen and unseen. During the communication that continually
occurred among nations, some of them 1000 miles distant from
another, the focus was on exchange of goods, methods and ideas,
without a hierarchy of value. One thing was not better or best,
with others being poor or worthless. There was difference and
preference, and these attitudes allowed the co-existence of
multiple choices, with special recognition and reverence given to
what is old. The item or value that had withstood the test of time,
proving it was valuable for the good of the whole, held a much
honored place.
The Western concept of progress considers the new to be superior to
the old. The English language -<F64029MI>er<F255D> adjectives -
bigger, faster, higher - express the belief that life is a
constant process of making the world bett-<F64029MI>er<F255D>.
Taken to its logical conclusion, all is replaceable with something
that will surpass it: the old must make way for its successor.
The concept of time
The traditional view of time is that life is cyclical. All is in a
continuous flow, a circle that links past, present and future. This
brings all reality together, interconnected and interacting.
Relationships between people are ongoing, with birth and death as
points on the endless wheel of life, which naturally dictates a
moral code that embraces both ancestors and the unborn.
Western society, on the other hand, is built on a linear time line,
with a view that looks away from a past toward a future. The
present is a separate unit which, disconnected from past and
future, is open to varying conduct that affects immediate persons
and events alone.
The individual and the community
For traditional Native people, the common good is the major concern
and goal of all activity. The individual is a link in a continuous
chain of united families across the ages. The aspirations of any
one person was not allowed to interfere with the well-being of the
nation as a whole, and those who sought power without service,
excess property without sharing, or honors without humility were
shamed and corrected, or shunned.
In direct counter position is the accepted Western society practice
of individualism, with its built-in permission to advance without
regard to others, to accumulate a disproportionate quantity of
goods without guilt, and the ability for leaders to exercise
authority without upbuilding the common good.
The idea of space
The Native viewpoint does not separate material and spiritual, all
being one reality. Spiritual facets, though intangible, are present
in every aspect of life in complete partnership with the realities
present to the five bodily senses.
Western thought, in contrast, draws sharp distinctions between the
visible and invisible. The things available to the five senses are
accorded certain reality, while all that cannot be physically
observed is relegated to a range of possible to non-existent.
To avoid the clear danger that these categories be taken literally,
we state here that this is a general outline of bodies of thought
that directs the actions of each respective group. There are
variations and differences in individual cases, while intentional
manipulation has tampered with traditional Native values. Programs
to enculturate and assimilate have deliberately attempted to
replace these values - this very mindset - with Western thinking,
and has in many cases succeeded.
It is therefore clear why the new Lenox site, which will include
more burial places by virtue of its longevity of occupation, can be
slated for development in today's society, governed by Western
ideas. It can be bought and sold, altered and rearranged. The land
is seen as a material entity that can be used in the present time
for the benefit of part of the people in the name of progress. It
will be new, therefore an improvement on the old. Its past is not
part of the present time, and the spiritual reality of the people
buried there cannot be detected, and can therefore be discounted.
What is true for us is that the spirits of countless numbers of our
relatives abide on this sacred land, which is itself alive, that
three major villages occupied over an 11,000 year time span -
triple the time since the building of the pyramids of Egypt. We
respect and revere these ancestors who continue to stand with us
today. We feel their presence and know the power of our unity. And
because they are old and embody the traditional values that made
our society strong, we honor them and must protect the ground in
which they lay.
A recent flyer distributed in the New Lenox area calls for support
of the recreation project, and the need for the revenue that will
result from the golf course for improvements to existing parks. It
justifies the use of the ancient village site in this way as a
funding source for a swimming pool (scheduled to be built where the
remains of three people were already found and removed), and to
expand programs for the children, asking the question: What might
they be doing without these programs?
First, it is clear we are talking about finances above and beyond
any other consideration - money to be made if the project is
completed, and money to be lost if it is not. In our traditional
way, which did not include land ownership or a money-based economy,
and which focussed on sharing all available resources, we cannot
accept the desecration of this site to this end. Even if there was
not an acre left anywhere which could be used for recreational
development in that area - which is not true - we say, enjoy what
you have already. You have taken the whole country for your use -
leave intact the little, which includes our ancestors' remains, we
have left.
Secondly, what might your children do? Again, even if there was no
other site for a local swimming pool - which is not true - and
the land around New Lenox was left as untouched fields, then your
children can do the only thing left that will preserve an earth
rapidly being consumed by development: they can learn respect -
for our way of life that can teach them how to live in harmony with
all living things of yesterday and today, so that they will have a
tomorrow. What did our children do when they were deprived, not of
a recreation site, but of the land that sustained them? They
starved and they died. We want more for your children, for we know
that all of us are in this struggle to survive together. For the
cry of our hearts has never been exclusive, but recognizes a
balance in the universe that includes the four colors of humankind
- black, red, yellow and white. It is for all people that we
strive to keep our burial sites untouched, that this circle of life
may be kept whole for the ongoing life of us all.
Ultimately, we do not need to explain ourselves. Without making a
judgement on any other world view, the fact is simple: this is our
land, our sacred land. But it is part of Native prophecies that we
must be the ones who bring the sacred hoop of all nations back
together, and thus we offer this instruction as a gift. As adaptive
people, we use this English language, this printed text, and these
modern methods of media dispersal to send out this message.
Indeed, the ideas that originally set the ships to sail to our
peoples' shores still blow across the face of our land, determining
our future, and digging up our past. To those who can hear the
truth, Chief Seattle's words from 1854 ring out a cry and a
warning:
To us the ashes of our ancestors are
sacred and their resting place is hallowed ground. You wander far
from the graves of your ancestors and seemingly without
regret...
Every part of this soil is sacred in the
estimation of my people. Every hillside, every valley, every plain
and grove, has been hallowed by some sad or happy event in days
long vanished. The very dust upon which you now stand responds more
lovingly to their footsteps than to yours, because it is rich with
the blood of our ancestors and our bare feet are conscious of the
sympathetic touch. Even the little children who lived here and
rejoiced here for a brief season will love these somber solitudes
and at eventide they greet shadowy returning spirits.
...At night when the streets of your
cities and villages are silent and you think them deserted, they
will throng with the returning hosts that once filled and still
love this beautiful land. The White Man will never be alone.
Ten Thousand Thousand Bones
by Mark Turcotte
(reprinted with permission
Dark Night Field Notes, Summer 1994)
from a long way from
behind museaum doors
from darkly dusty rooms
I hear
Grandmother rattling she rattles
among ten thousand thousand bones
taken from warm belly earth
hot heart of earth
that was her resting home
crying cold
shaking on the shelf alone
rattling
among ten thousand thousand bones
we wait for you Grandmother
here in the woods
where you belong
the deer are stamping circles
scratching at the ground
leaning their ears
to listen for your song
but you are gone
the brnaches of th trees
all ache for you
with their roots below
that once cradled you
bending raching
to hear your song
but you are gone
the river moans
your missing voice
the grass and stone
are silent
as they mourn
and listen listen
the wings of hawks
call out your name
and wonder wonder
where you've gone
answered only by your rattling
from where you shiver
cold alone
among ten thousand thousand bones
Grandmother do not forgive
them they know
what they have done
taken you from sacred circle light
and left you
in their tomb
among all those other bone
fools
they refuse to hear
the anquish in the earth
the cry of fox and pheasant
in your home
fools
they refuse to fear
the angry step of spirit horse
whose hoof
shall make a rattling
in their own living bones
we wait for you Grandmother
here in the wood
where it's been so long
the deer are scratching circles
stamping at the ground
leaning their ears
to listen to your song
the branches of the trees
all ache for you
with their roots below
that once cradled you
reaching bending
to hear your song
the river moans
your missing voice
the grass and stone
are silent
as they mourn
and listen listen
the wings of hawks
call out your name
and wonder wonder
where you've gone
answered only by your rattling
from where you shiver
cold alone
among ten thousand thousand bones