COWARDS!

I’ve been training my whole life for this fight

So step aside, you’ve got no game

Punk panty wearing bastards talking

When cowardice is their claim to fame

They mean absolutely nothing

Their sea of “knowledge” is desert dry

Yet the masses never seek validity

Don’t you ever wonder why??

They’re far more interested in posing

Like they’re “spiritual”

More concerned with ceremonies

And pagan rituals

Only wanting to be “seen”

When they were invisible before my son

Feared as incestuous abominations

No men to protect them- apparently not one!

Then from the kindness of my heart

I sent the investment that I

raised

They’d have nothing we’re it not for him

Yet silence it what they praise!

Others challenge it’s their cowardice

That causes them to not stand tall

That I should never expect too much

Because whites have cut and ground their balls

But I demand of what is owed

A return on what I graciously loaned

Did you think I’d simply cry a bit

Then retreat to a mournful home???

Hell NO! I will have fair retribution!!

And each of you who played a part

The murderers themselves as well as

Those who knew and yet did naught!

You will face The Light and pay a token

Until we receive all that we’re due

So keep on with your lies and rumors-

Misinformation- like you love to do

But understand HE WILL NOT BE ERASED

And you all will lose all that you’ve bet

I’m on my Mamie shit now

And you haven’t seen a damn thing yet!

Some Ways to Acknowledge Orange Shirt Day This Year

If you have never heard of 'Orange Shirt Day' you can read more about where it stems from here. After doing so you will have a far better idea of ways you may help in getting the word out, educating others, and honoring the lives and histories of First Nations People. Here are just a few ideas to get you started:

1) Wear an orange shirt and use as a springboard to talk to relatives, friends, classmates, and co-workers about the day and why it is important.

2) Make social media posts bringing awareness to industrial schools, and links to further information.

3) Make full videos and/or video shorts explaining about the day. Don't forget to hashtag!

4) Create a colorful infographic and text/DM it to all your contacts. Instruct all of them to send it to at least 5 of their own contacts. (This will also work with a flyer that you post in stores, libraries, or school bulletin board.)

5) For educators: Teach a lesson to your class about industrial schools, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, and for extra credit have them write a paragraph or two about what they learned.

6) For students: Get permission from your teacher or professor to talk to your classmates about industrial schools, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. Give everyone a piece of chocolate or something else small and tasty so each time they eat that same thing they will recall what you taught them.

7) For homeschoolers: Have your child/homeschool group watch a video about industrial schools or survivors of industrial schools. Afterwards, have them do a creative project explaining what they have learned or what they think about what they have learned. Also, if possible, have a knowledgeable Indigenous person visit and talk to your group about the impact of industrial schools.

For more information and to ask how you may help visit : orangeshirtday.org

M. Ansari

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Created to bring awareness to and speak out against the Canadian Industrial school system, National Day for Truth and Reconciliation (also Orange Shirt Day) is acknowledged annually on September 30. The system existed throughout North America (not only Canada), and was implemented to strip away from Indigenous (Native American, Indian) children any semblance of identity and culture. It was a strategic, massive, and horrible campaign of assimilation to, as the Civil War's Lieutenant Captain Richard Henry Pratt stated, "Kill the Indian in him, and save the man". (The link to his full speech on 'The Indian Policy: The Advantages of Mingling Indians with Whites' in the resource section below.)

Industrial schools were boarding schools

which took Indigenous children from their

homes, and through educational indoctrination forced them to shun their traditional and ancestral ways. The languages, names, dress, foods, dances, songs, prayers, religions/spiritualities, and memories of approximately one hundred tribal nations were snatched from them one punishment, one beating, one rape, one killing at a time.

The first *government school was started in Carlisle, Pennsylvania in 1879 during the Indian Wars. It was built on an old military base and run by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, a government organization which still exists today. The goal was to transform students from Godless savages to God-fearing citizens who would be accepted into the New World which was governed by white ways and standards. They were taught English, math, music, team sports, and hands-on skills that could ensure jobs in manufacturing.

Although these children were vastly tricked or outright stolen from their homes, many families willingly sent their young, believing the education would benefit their tribes, overall, with children who could understand the whites' language and customs. Also, so many Indigenous people were starving and without necessities. It made sense to some that the promise of "assimilation" into new ways would offer an advantage. In fact, even today there are non-Indigenous run Indian schools whose students are sent by their parents. Of course, they are not exactly like the Carlisle model which sparked the opening of hundreds more (church- and government-owned) throughout North America.

While the old Indian industrial school system may be looked upon as just another footnote of history, yet another atrocity done to people of color at the hands of whites, it is extremely important that we understand the tremendous impact it had and has on Indigenous people, those living on reservations as well as of the diaspora. Intergenerational trauma links us to our past in very real ways. Thousands of Indigenous children were lost; relatives and ancestors were lost; culture and legacy were lost- on reservations and throughout the diaspora. Reclaiming our true, untampered and unfiltered histories, cultures, and courage will take a lot of time and patience. However, it can be done. We can again be great if we work together, and learn to depend on ourselves. Too many of us are still hoping non-Indigenous promises and ways will lead to acceptance and prosperity for us and our people. If that was so we would not still be last in every arena.

This September 30 let us remember our loss while planning strategies to obtain gains. Let us learn from our past to cement a far better future.

M. Ansari

Resources:

Apache students at Carlisle (photo)

The Advantage of Minglling Indians with Whites by RH Pratt's

The Carlisle Indian School: Assimilation with Education After the Indian Wars

Carlisle Indian School Project

Carlisle Indian School Digital Resource Center

"Kill the Indian, save the man": Remembering the stories of Indian boarding schools

History of the Indian Wars (video)

Indigenous survivor describes her 'haunting experience' of boarding school abuse (video)

Survivors of Native American Boarding Schools Discuss Dark History in the US (video)

Unspoken: America's Native American Boarding Schools (video)