still means having a past. When white people say "I didn't own any slaves" or "I wasn't a racist legislator," I don't doubt that that's a true statement, but it doesn't change the fact that they don't have to deal with the consequences of those acts and others do. I once thought that power was the ability to say something, not mean it, not to be held accountable for it, and then be applauded for it (re: Columbia bureaucracy), but now I'm thinking power stretches beyond generations. Decades of discriminatory legislation and racism don't undo themselves just because they are discontinued (if they are, in fact, discontinued).
The anniversary of the Battle of Little Big Horn (otherwise known as Custer's Last Stand) is tomorrow. I don't think we should hold eternal grudges or get caught in perpetual reminiscing and regretting, but I do think that we should seriously consider how past actions affect present lives. Are we responsible for our ancestor's actions? Why must the oppressed (oof, loaded word) be responsible for dealing with the actions of their ancestor's oppressors?
On a lighter note, being present also means being present. I'm finding that when you wake up really early in the morning, say, 5:45 a.m., you can really only focus on what you're doing at the moment. I had an intense towel folding session yesterday morning.
Also, I'm getting to know my way around the reservation and it only gets more beautiful. The sun is a brilliant shock whenever I walk outside. I'm learning how to navigate dirt roads with large vehicles. The other night, a lightning storm that looked like flashing lights outside the window woke me up. I saw what looked like clouds funneling into a tree yesterday. And heard a country rendition of Mercy Me's I Can Only Imagine at the Christian coffee shop down the road. I made fry bread. And now I'm going to pick up some buffalo meat from the tribe's buffalo herd. Wooo!
Finally, if anyone is interested, you CAN actually write to me while I'm here (and I'll be here for a while, so please do!). You can send mail/packages to:
Jamie Chen
c/o Re-Member
P.O. Box 5054
Pine Ridge, SD 57770
:D
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what important questions, jamie. i feel like i have more thoughts than i can express, so i'll just cop out and give you this quote that i felt the need to dig up for some reason after reading your post:
ReplyDelete"You do not take a person who, for years, has been hobbled by chains and liberate him, bring him up to the starting line of a race and then say you are free to compete with all the others, and still just believe that you have been completely fair" -President Johnson (1965)