Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (July 20, 2012)
street roots July 20, 2012 Beginning By Harold Thompson Little is really known about the American Indian Or what links our human soul with the Earth. The Indian believed that this land was created for us By the Great Spirit and that it would be ours ... Forever The New World — this is what the white man called our land But it was not new at all The redman had inhabited America for centuries. A proud, happy people We were here long before the white man came Every day was new Our village was filled with smiling faces And the laughing voices of children Who roamed the wide-open spaces The man in the sky: The spirit of our life and tribal graces Oh! I want things like they were again Oh! I want peace with my soul again Our people have survived And our eyes glow with memories The reservation is our home But for now, we’ll let it be The Indian people have been out there On the ghetto of the reservation For a long long time We have existed without adequate food, Clothing, shelter, or medicine To name but a few In their place we have been given malnutrition, Poverty, disease, suicide and Bureaucratic promises of a better tomorrow Your America has not been a land of your proclaimed Equality, “Liberty and Justice for All!” May your God forgive you Stalking around narrow paths We were used to hunting every day The rivers gave us fish The woodlands gave us deer and other wild game Here upon this land We built our homes and raised our families Life was free and natural As we moved swiftly among the trees This was our country It was here that we lived for centuries The battle is not over and our struggle has begun A new hope has been born and Our sunny day will come The treatment of our people has been A national tragedy and disgrace! Look up in the sky as the wind whispers In the trees atop a floating cloud That echoes to be free. The time has come to put an end to that disgrace Wounded Knee, Alcatraz Whatever necessary In time, we’ll get back the life That you took away And your land of make believe Will be ours again ... Someday We must now manage our own affairs And control our own lives And through it all always remain to be The True American Fallen Off the Edge Establishing Roots for the 7th Generation RESOURCES FOR RENTERS. H O M EBU YER S A N D H O M E O W N E R S A tte n d w orkshops and enjoy a fre e lunch | j S j k ''" ; ' W in $400 rent o r mortgage assistance $2,500 down payment assistance A new book by A rt Garcia "Fallen Off the Edge" is a chronicle of one man's experiences after returning from the Vietnam War. Told through the eyes of Street Roots columnist Art Garcia, this book celebrates the major victories born from a series of questionable choices. Art's jocular storytelling takes the reader along with him in and out of the California prison system over the course of 10 years until he found the strength and courage to pull himself up from the fall. The book is available online at www. blurb.com under searchword Art Garcia. r - r... □ HOUSING TO HOMEOWNERSHIP FAIR S A T U R D A Y , JU LY 10AM 1° 3 P M Don’t miss a single issue! Visit our web site at www.streetroots.org, friend us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to get regular updates. O rig in a l a rtw o rk fro m The Hand I M i oy ~ - - courtesy o f WRAP (Western Regional Advocacy Proj *»fcrettowreifMU Robodgntag and Mortgage Sm-iong Settlement}. Tha Slew York Times 1 April 2OU. 28 inookerx:
