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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 1, 2002)
8 OCTOBER 1, 2002 Smoke Signals October i, 2002 Smoke Signals 9 A. . u ' r 1 r i ; ' :- w " I " v.. ' " a II Br! B M ran I J Hi nN . Mi B - 1 : r ' ' . ""' , ifc ;i. X -: ;i f '.'.". - " i ( ' r" .ra' i V 4 I If I r " " w W.'. ,t4 rr rr r-r I LL LL -LL I L i Lt EL 00 LL LL LL LL tO GG CI 4 1 1 11 '1 Ai ll ll rr LT rr- rr rr rr u j , o . I - i 1 L 4 f - A 1! 4 I? 1 i i. v j . . r . ; -:' 'I v ; , , ' J I ' A- i , ' . H ' 1 4 " f ,5 I . . 1 ' . . w. v ;..'- 1 , ! . ; ' h ! . , ,t ".'-. r" ' ' f . . .'.;-. s-.v,--.. - lTf t . -, '' ..- "stv s : v.. . ..i ik. " ' ' ".- . " . .. "' ! .. . i I .. i - ,N iMr,A '-.j - , - , iv Lr -v. t " - -. A iifvf rV. ' By Ron Karten "I can tell you a year later the vi sion of that morning is still very clear in my mind, something I'll never forget," said Tribal Council member Valorie Robertson. "I felt that our freedom, as we know it, would never be the same," said Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde (CTGR) General Manager Cliff Adams. "This is an example of what hu manity can do to humanity at its worst," said June Olson, Cultural Resources Manager. "As Indians, we've had our issues, but no issue is so big that terrorism is ever (an acceptable) way of dealing with these issues." The event strikes many similar and many different chords among those in Indian Country. "I still feel for those people," said Tribal Council member Val Grout. "There are families that haven't healed yet." "We still suffer over the Trail of Tears the same way the U.S. will always suffer from 911," said Tribal Council member Jan Reibach. "We simply had different aggressors, but to our people, the terror was the same. What we need to remember is that these people in Arab nations have chil dren, grandparents, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters." Tribal Elder Claudette Parazoo took the parallel back even further than the Trail of Tears. "Western hemisphere terrorism began in 1492 with the dis covery made by Christopher Colum bus." "The impact of 91 1 on you and your community is the same impact emo tionally as post colonialism has on Tribal people every day of their lives," said CTGR Behavioral Health Direc tor Dr. Joseph Stone. He was address ing an upscale group of non-Indian pro fessionals the week after 911. "It freezes an image in your mind and pretty soon you find that you're feel ing depressed. That's exactly post traumatic stress disorder. Conse quently, the general experience of 9 11 is the same as post colonial stress that Indian people have faced over and over." American history provides other par allels between the American war on ter rorism and the American war on the Indian. The underpinning for both is a belief in U.S. superiority over oth ers. At the time of the Indian wars, the idea was called, "manifest destiny," a concept that it was destiny that the European Americans spread west to take over the land from sea to sea, re gardless of the human toll, as Reibach described, that this destiny entailed. "Manifest destiny" has morphed into a global notion called, "unilateralism." In short, according to an article in the October issue of Harper's Magazine, "The plan is for the United States to rule the world. The overt theme is unilateralism, but it is ultimately a story of domination." According to Vice President Dick Cheney's papers, the magazine re ported, "...we will retain the preemi nent responsibility for addressing se lectively those wrongs which threaten not only our interests, but those of our allies or friends." Among those inter ests are "access to vital raw materi als, primarily Persian Gulf oil..." Claudette Parazoo put it another way: "How many people have to die so I can have gas for my car?" THE QUESTION OF EVIL Education Specialist Richard Sohappy pointed to an article entitled, "To End Terrorism, End State Terror ism" printed online for the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation. "Some days after September 11," the article said, "a psychologist gave advice on CNN to parents with children asking diffi cult questions. One young boy had asked "What have we done to make them hate us so much that they do such things?" A mature question, unlike the answer: 'You could tell your child that there are good people in the world, and evil..." In using the word, 'evil,' said Dr. Stone, "there's also an implied good. . .If they are evil, we must be good. There fore, we need to destroy them before they destroy us." Such a proposition leaves us afraid and "unwilling to get to know them as they really are." "It is much easier to fight an un known enemy than to battle a famil iar face," said Lindy Trolan, a Pales tinian who is also CTGR Cultural Collections specialist. "Today, my Palestinian family living in the West Bank faces military occupation, forced curfews, potential home demolitions, and scanty access to essential re sources such as food, water, and medi cal treatment... On September 11th, Gandhi once again comes to mind: 'What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitari anism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?'" Fighting an unidentified "evil" en emy also generally results in casting a wide net and targeting innocent people who look like those responsible. A NOBLE AND HEROIC EN TERPRISE Defense of one's country and people is a noble and heroic enterprise. Tribal Elder Marce Norwest, a leading Veter ans' advocate for the Tribe as well as proud Veteran of war, noted the hard realities of war - "The young are fight ing for us now. Some are dying this very day." "For a country to do this to a coun try like ours that has tried to help so many others. . .It's a shame that they've affected people's lives like this," said Tribal Council member Ed Pearsall. Tribal Council members June Sell Sherer and Ed Larsen noted the self less, generous side of human experi ence that inevitably follows such cata clysmic events. "It was a terrible tragedy but one that has brought our people closer together," said Sell-Sherer. "We are more aware of our patriotism to one another and our ties to the outside." The Grand Ronde Tribal Council chose to honor those lost in the trag edy by declaring September 11th a day to think about what happened and to think about how those events changed our world. "I guess we have enough feeling and compassion for the people in New York that we decided to have a day of re membrance," said Larsen. For Tribal Council Vice Chairman Reyn Leno, however, 911 brought Americans back to reality. "It amazed me, as a Vietnam Vet eran," said "that it took something like 91 1 for people to realize what we had here. And it makes you wonder how long before we slide back into that. "If you went to war," he said, "you know what you had here." For CTGR Director of Public Works Eric Scott, there is reason to question the administration's motives. "I think we're getting scammed," he said. "The Bush administration wants to milita rize the United States to such a de gree that we do not need to work bi laterally with the United Nations and other governments or within the con fines of international law. I think it's a sign of arrogance." Recognizing problems and citing is sues ought to be part of a larger pro cess, however, according to some. "9 11 should be a wake-up call to Ameri cans to being to assess how interna tional political and economic decisions that we make affect other nations and societies," wrote Charles Haller II. "Until we do, we will always risk the repercussions of those decisions that we by our silent accord condone." When Lummi Carver Jewell "Pray ing Wolf James was asked why, in the face of the great wrongs Indians have suffered at the hands of the U.S. government, he put so much effort into the Healing Pole that he designed, and with others, carved and accompanied across the country for a dedication to the victims of 911, James responded in a quote from a recent issue of In dian Country, "...all healing has to begin from within," he said. "By help ing the U.S. heal from the terrorist attacks, Indian peoples are making themselves whole."
