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Host Siletz Tribal member Dino Butler introduced an anti-war conference hosted and organized by Grand Ronde Tribal
member Klairice A Westley in Portland, Oregon earlier this year. At the conference, Butler presented a letter from Leonard Peltier.
ANTI-WAR continued
from front page
cated to hold a conversation.
The day long convention, "Custer
Wants You... AgainNative Perspec
tives on War & Militarism," was four
months in development. Grand Ronde
Tribal member Klairice A. Westley
joined with Veterans For Peace mem
ber Ted Kiser and activist and mom
Shelly Cater to bring some peaceful
perspectives to the community, and
some resources to their children.
"I have two boys that are draft
age," said Westley. "We're not giv
ing our young people the information
(they need) to prevent them from en
listing," she said.
She hoped that this event would close
that gap.
On hand were representatives of the
National Lawyers Guild describing GIs'
rights and military recruiters' wrongs;
Veterans for Peace came with a range
of personal perspectives not generally
seen in prime time; a relatively new
group, Students for Peace and Justice,
run by Lincoln High School juniors
Rosa Lehman and Lila Zucker was
there as was the Northwest Anarchist
Federation and the Portland Youth and
Elders Council.
KBOO Reporter and Public Affairs
Host Andrew Geller tied the war in
Iraq to an unbroken string of U.S.
aggressions going back 100 years.
"The U.S. has sent troops into foreign
lands every nine-and-a-half months for
over a century," he said.
Geller also brought to bear such ob
servations about war as Nazi Hermann
Goring's famous description of how
leaders take a country to war:
"Voice or no voice," Goring said, "the
people can always be brought to the
bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All
you have to do is tell them they are
being attacked, and denounce the paci
fists for lack of patriotism and expos
ing the country to danger. It works the
same in any country." (The quote
comes from Gustave Gilbert's book,
Nuremberg Diary).
Geller quoted Major General
Smedley Butler, USMC, who said in
1933, "I helped make Mexico, especially
Tampico, safe for American oil inter
ests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and
Cuba a decent place for the National
City Bank boys to collect revenues in.
I helped in the raping of half a dozen
Central American republics for the
benefits of Wall Street. The record of
racketeering is long. I helped purify
Nicaragua for the international bank
ing house of Brown Brothers in 1909
1912 (Where have I heard that name
before?' said Geller). I brought light
to the Dominican Republic for Ameri
can sugar interests in 1916. In China,
I helped to see to it that Standard Oil
went its way unmolested."
The "Brown Brothers" he mentions are
the same Browns whose name is today
the centerpiece of the Halliburton subsid
iary, Kellogg, Brown and Root, busy this
time with the war in Iraq, said Geller.
But the biggest names at the event
were Leonard Peltier and Dino Butler
(Siletz). Peltier sent a hand-written wel
come to the group, and Butler read it.
About the continuing Indian wars
against our nations, Peltier wrote:
"These wars are not over." Today,
however, the weapon of choice is the
"ink pen," and Peltier ran down the list
of anti-Indian laws that continue as
"another act of genocide."
Butler called it "a genocide of the
mind."
Butler has been a key figure in the
struggle for Native rights since the
early 1970s. He was with Peltier on
June 26, 1975, during the FBI attack
on the Pine Ridge Reservation in
Oglala, South Dakota. Butler and fel
low AIM member Bob Robideau were
tried and acquitted for the murders of
two FBI agents in a 1976 Cedar Rapids
courtroom. Peltier was convicted in
1977, in a Fargo, North Dakota court
room of complicity in the murders and
is now in year 29 of two life sentences.
"In the 1970s," Peltier wrote, "we
decided we would resist the war (on the
Indians) the longest war in history
instead of lying down like a whipped
dog with his tail between his legs. I
have never surrendered, nor do I in
tend to."
"Teach yourselves to be leaders," he
wrote. "If you learn to speak to our
people, they will listen to you."
Butler compared the war in Iraq
with the one in Vietnam. "You can't
win this war," he said. "(The people
have their own) way of life. You can't
take away a way of life."
"Our minds are poisoned with hate
and bitterness," he said. "Hate will
destroy us. In 1975, 1 wanted nothing
more than to kill or be killed. I felt I
had nothing to live for. That's a geno
cide of our minds and our hearts. Our
young people are made to feel helpless.
All they see is war waged all around us.
(They think), what can I do? You can
do something and it starts within your
self. My church is right here (he pat
ted his chest), right here inside of me."
"Our power comes from our ances
tors who suffered," he said.
"Each and every one of us has to
make a decision about who we are and
where we're going. And that moment
is now."
"Today, I don't hate the white man
or the U.S. government because they
can't hurt me anymore."
"Go within your dreams," he said.
"You just have to listen."
Others were taking no prisoners.
"If you're thinking of joining the mili
tary, don't give me that warrior (exple
tive)! Please!" said Eugene Johnson.
"Warriors aren't killers! Warriors are
people who stand up for the rights,
health, happiness, joy, pleasure, life,
death and generosity of the people. Yet,
somehow, we narrowed the focus of what
a warrior is. A warrior is defined as
someone who joins the military and
kills their fellow human beings? (Exple
tive) brave! Pulling a gun out and mur
dering your fellow human beings to
secure the wealth of billionaires."
"I never signed up for the draft, let
alone the military," Johnson added.
"Why would I want to fight for the
same people that have tried and con
tinue to attempt to wipe Indians off of
the face of the earth? I don't and I
won't, of course."
"Did you ever notice that when the
U.S. goes to war, it attacks people of
color?" asked Tribal member Perri
McDaniel, who did not attend but fol
lowed the development of the conven
tion, "and who do they recruit to go on
the front lines? More people of color.
When are we going to get it?"
With videos that included Martin
Luther King, Jr. and Joseph Kennedy,
Jr., and bits of other videos including,
"Genocide by Sanctions," "Arlington
West," 'Testimonies Out of Fallujah"
and 'What I've Learned About U.S. For
eign Policy," the conference connected
many of the dots in a history that is
largely ignored or forgotten by much of
the press and the public.
Leroy Big Boy (Oglalal Lakota), a
drug and alcohol counselor for the
Native American Rehabilitation Asso
ciation, talked about post-war alcohol
and drug use on reservations. Perfor
mance Artist Queksta (Secwepemc
Okanagan) read one of her poems, a
letter to Peltier. Annette and Mark
Pritchard of Military Families Speak
Out, remembered their nephew, who
died in Iraq.
"When you leave here," said Peltier
through Butler's voice, "don't forget
what you've learned."
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Peaceful Grand Ronde Tribal member Klairice A. Westley of Portland joined
with others to host the first Indian conference in the area against the war in Iraq.
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