My favorite political expression is “ We should not be playing partisan politics”
It begs the question “Isn’t that what you were elected for?”
America has been, and in some corners, thrives on partisanship and our tribal communities, as a microcosm of America, hold true to that as well. From the way we talk about (or don’t) talk about social issues, to the way we choose to have discussions in a loud and confrontational manner…the Hatfield and McCoy’s…it gets emotionally violent. America is the bully pulpit of “might makes right” and Tribes should not be so bold as to adopt this way. It has cost us dearly both at home and around the world.
From the “good day-bad day” US foreign relations to the “bad day-worse day” scenarios we face here in Indian Country, the important dialog isn’t happening on Avenue Q or at the tribal community centers. Our oratory is failing us in a time when it has the power to save our political lives; our spiritual lives and a lot of other people in the process. My Tribe is in its death throes and as rigor mortis sets in…the business of bully special interest government prevails over something different…something new...something that has the power to inject the body politic with high doses of epinepherine and adrenaline. Can the system handle it?
Perhaps the fault is mine and viewing Indian Country and my community from a distance (through the storm colored glasses) doesn’t serve the need inside myself to feel “a part” of the club. Maybe even in Indian Country there are still outsiders; a part of the community much akin to “the Silent Majority” of the Nixon Era. Where self-determination is being relegated to “political and economic” assimilation in minutiae. We had a clean slate to make ANY government we wanted; and we chose to model it on a system that is as corrupt and exclusionary as the feds…and the states…where the corporate (and familial) ruling of some Tribal communities excludes those of us with small families? Being left out of the discussion we ask…are our elected leaders the best ones for the job?
America was looking for change. The critics and the cynics chide those who voted for change and even now the bumper stickers are pasted; “How’s that HOPE and CHANGE working for ya?” Indian Country is much the same way…looking for a change and it is going to take more and more struggle against the dominant structures on one level and against our cousins and family on another. It is Civil War on a tribal level and it will cost us more HOPE. And the divisions will become chasms… I think it is time to inject the freak power vote in Indian Country…on the Sag Chip Reservation…for mother, god and country.
America is being forced to embrace that there are more harmonious ways of living on the planet; pulling away from coal and exposing the disasters of epic proportions (see TAR SANDS!) to embracing massive engineering projects at a local level to capture the wind and the sun; realizing the need for clean water and sustainable local food production. We as Tribal people should feel good that we won that round. We shouldn’t stick out our tongue and NYAH NYAH…(or should we) and I am not sure who is keeping score, but a one-victory season is not a lost season. As the issue of climate change and respecting the land, the air and the water…is moved forward (for better or worse depending on which side of the fence you stand) we can only hope that this GREEN INJUN-UITY… it works and we haven’t been thrown in with the others in a canoe that can’t float.
We live day by day. We pray hard. Curry for Council 09.
Bamaa.
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