THE RAINBOW WARRIORS
Continued....
CHIEF SEATTLE
EARTH DAY 2002: The "IT" Factor
by LOUISE "WIND WALKS WOMAN" BARTON (Cherokee/Mohawk)
Those denouncing "the great hoax," claim the famous Seattle photo has been repeatedly retouched. His eyes appear open in one version and closed in another. The cane sometimes appears and, in other versions, Seattle's head has been grafted onto someone else's body.
Sadly, as we celebrate the truth of the message for one day of the year, then spend the other 364 arguing about the identity of the messenger, it takes us one step forward and many steps back. What those arguing fail to consider is whether these Non-Native editors were just doing their job as forerunners of the Seventh Generation Prophecy -- or was Chief Seattle given to visions.
Many chiefs, sachems, and medicine men, especially in those days, had visions which accurately foretold of the coming of the conquerors and their accompanying epidemic-proportion diseases. Native oral history records that these great prophets, living thousands of miles apart, would share the same vision.
One vision told of animals, too small to be seen by a man's eye, causing death. This is a frighteningly accurate prophecy of microscopic virus and bacteria, which are common knowledge today. Another told of the intangible element that begins life in seawater, which modern man still cannot recreate in a laboratory. They also foretold that a Native stand against the Newcomers could not be truly effective until 500 years after Columbus first set foot on indigenous shores. The prophecy came due in 1992. Then, and only then, did the Seventh Generation since the invasion rise up and make itself known.
We are that generation. And, since Natives plan any changes they make with an eye to preserving our environment to pass on to generations 500 years into the future, there is a new Seventh Generation every 500 years.
In accordance with this prophecy, all Native people were to share their cultures, wisdom, laws, art, dances and songs with other people. If they are successful in doing this, it was foretold that all people would become one -- at peace with each other and the Earth, and our ecology will be saved.
The movement traveled about the globe with lightning speed. Pow Wows, art shows, lectures, and other Native cultural events cropped up with continuing stability, year after year. So delighted were the Newcomers with the initial events that New York City's then-Mayor Dinkins declared Summer 1992 as Indian Summer and the first President Bush signed a Proclamation honoring indigenous people.
The following year, the United Nations declared 1993 as The Year of the Indigenous People. Interestingly enough, when Native people gathered outside the U. N. building to present a peace pipe, armed guards were posted to bar their entry.
Even so, the Seventh Generation's movement grew larger over time, spreading across continents, but for every step we took forward to foster unity and mend the ecological balance, there were those who brought us many steps back. Why, one might ask, would anyone lead us around again toward the destruction of our planet?
The answer may be found in ancient Native tales of Evil Ones who used great magic to bring about the eventual end of the world. According to legend, Non-Natives were created for the purpose of causing death, pollution, and final destruction. It was foretold final destruction would be come to pass when people thought of the Earth, its creatures, and other people as objects -- when everything and everyone except oneself is thought of as "IT." This is the beginning of THE IT FACTOR -- the beginning of the end.
We treat our food and plant life as "ITS." More than 60% of the food in today's world originally came from the Americas. While there was once 95 different kinds of potatoes, in a well-stocked supermarket we may only find six. This is due to food producer's driving the other types to extinction because they weren't profitable to grow.
We treat our pet as "ITS" abandoning many cats and dogs on the street each year because the responsibility of caring for them no longer fits into our busy lifestyles. We run horses and greyhounds ragged, then ship them off to meat plants or experimental labs because their lives aren't deemed worthy unless they are actively helping us turn a profit.
We are all familiar with the many animal species now extinct or on the infamous endangered species list. Dolphins are now endangered and two rival factions have sprung up to protect their future. Unfortunately, these groups are so busy warring over the best method to employ that little is actually done for the dolphins.
Underwater sounds made by ships, marine drilling operations, and sonar are disorienting whales, causing more and more of them to beach and die. Those purporting to save the whales spend their time, instead, fiercely debating on how it should be accomplished.
Every manmade drug is toxic to our planet. Although the use of DDT was banned when it began showing up in the body fat of Arctic animals, the runoff from our current overuse of herbicides, pesticides, and antibiotics is seriously endangering aquatic life. (continued...)
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* Warrior Menu *
Linda "White Eagle Woman" Wisner
Kenneth Little Hawk
Chief Seattle
Earth Day 2002:
The "IT" Factor
Frank Cipriani
Taylor Banaszak
Sybil Erden
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When it comes your time to die,
be not like those whose hearts are filled with the fear of death,
so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time
to live their lives over again in a different way;
sing your death song and die like a hero going home.
Chief Tecumseh, Shawnee Nation 1768 - 1813