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Chanku Luta (Red Road)



Hau Mitakuyapi
Take a minute, read, review, comment, we of the Dakota Nation may be forgotten in time, but for now we will never be ignored...I will see you on the Red Road of Life...Wopida Tanka
Hokshida Maza (Iron Boy) Bdewakantowan Dakota Akichita










































Monday, August 27, 2012

Book Review: The Life and Work of Jane Bowles

A LITTLE ORIGINAL SIN, The Life and Work of Jane Bowles.


As usual this book took some time to read for me as I am a sporadic reader these days.

All I have read of Jane Bowles is what was included in the book, written by Millicent Dillon, University of California Press.  Anyway I'm not the best judge of the work of other writers, but according to important sources she was a great writer.

For me it was her life that was interesting.  As I read, I kept remembering the biography I read on William S. Burroughs many years ago.  It seemed that they both fit the tragic life mold.  And they both fit the outstanding writer designation.

The arrangement she had with her husband Paul was unusual and convenient, unusual to many who live typical lives and convenient to many who may have seen their arrangement to be consistent with their life's professions.

How Jane managed to work at all, and produce anything of significance borders on the miraculous.  Her illnesses were debilitating, any other person would have capitulated under those physical impairments.  To me this was her real strength of backbone, to struggle through those psychic and physical obstacles.

She certainly seemed to travel among a hoard of enablers, if not social misfits. Some of them were truly her allies, while others were fair weather friends.  This was revealed at the very end when she died alone, where even Paul was not there.

But the most striking aspect of her personality to me was her interactivity with others.  I think she liked to shock and awe others with her wit and slice and dice style of conversation and behavior, even before she was diagnosed with her brain tumor.

She lived during a time which in fact may not have been her time.  Her social circumstances and behaviors were far more liberal than many practice even today.  And she was perfectly comfortable in her own behavior.

She was what many would consider an expatriate today, working and living abroad, only traveling to the United States intermittently for precocious reasons, family, work, health, relationships.  Her life in Tangiers and other Middle Eastern countries really did not do much to influence her work, as Paul's travels did for his work.  Her life seemed to revolve around Paul's life and work and her own work seemed to be an afterthought.  But it was a fantastic afterthought.  As she was an outstanding writer, again this opinion is from others, as I have not really read her work.

Overall it was a very interesting, tragic, enthralling, and revealing read for me.  I would recommend it to those who have an interest in true bare bone biographies.  And anyone interested in being a serious writer needs to read this for sure.

Friday, July 13, 2012

Missing Manitoba Women: Charlene Ward: UNSOLVED Homicide

Missing Manitoba Women: Charlene Ward: UNSOLVED Homicide: PORTAGE LA PRAIRIE - November 1st marked four years since Charlene Ward, 46, was killed in her Portage La Prairie home. Ward's case remains ...

Missing Manitoba Women: A Winnipeg Mother calls for the Manitoba Governmen...

Missing Manitoba Women: A Winnipeg Mother calls for the Manitoba Governmen...: My name is Shannon Buck. I am the mother of Lauren Chopek. She is a 14 year old Metis girl who struggles with addiction issues and depress...

Missing Manitoba Women: RIP: Divas (David Joseph) Boulanger

Missing Manitoba Women: RIP: Divas (David Joseph) Boulanger: On this Day in 2004, the body of Divas (David Joseph) Boulanger was discovered by hunters in some brush behind a Trans-Canada Highway rest s...

Missing Manitoba Women: Happy 24th Birthday Sunshine Wood

Missing Manitoba Women: Happy 24th Birthday Sunshine Wood: I got an email from a friend of mine who works for the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs. The subject of the email said: " SUNSHINE WOOD'S BIRTHDA...

The Bane of Indian Country

In 1934 Congress passed the Indian Reorganization Act for federally recognized tribes.  This act was meant to empower the tribes to establish and maintain their own governance systems individually from reservation to reservation.  And it was meant to improve and enhance conditions which were favorable to the tribes.

In 1928 the Brookings Institute released the highly controversial Meriam Report which depicted the current social, economic and political status of Indian people and decimated and dismal.

It was partly as a result of this report that the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration initiated a process which resulted in the enactment of the Indian Reorganization Act which was passed by the United States Congress in June of 1934.

In consideration of the situation at the time there may have been legitimate reasoning behind the machinations that surrounded the enactment of the "1934 IRA" as it is currently referred to in Indian Country.  But many, not even tribal members themselves could have foreseen what this legislation has perpetuated in many cases.

If you were to compare the 1934 IRA and the US Constitution side by side as working documents you may see an imbalance there.

In the 1934 governments there is no balance of power mechanism.  There isn't a referendum system which doesn't require a sign-off by the Secretary of the Interior.  There isn't a constitutional amendment vehicle that doesn't include the involvement of the Department of the Interior.

Most tribes have tribal courts, but an individual member cannot "sue" their tribe in these forums due to the sovereign or independent status of the tribe and it's members.  In most internal cases the DOI will take a hands off position arguing that the tribe must handle it's own affairs when it comes to governance and administrative jurisdiction.

So there's a dichotomy of federal political positions when it comes to tribal "affairs".

This leaves most tribal members without a true vehicle for recourse when it involves tribal administrative change and or programmatic change for individual rights.

The DOI works as a taskmaster only when it's convenient to them and their standard of policy maintenance.

It is my belief that the 1934 IRA needs to be repealed in favor of a far more benefial system for the current situation of the tribes.  This would require congressional action, but more so tribally based willingness to change an archaic system which has been denying tribes total and complete freedom and self-determination.

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Commercial Sexualization and Abuse of Women

I don't like the commercial sexualization of Native women.  I don't know where artists think that they have the license to commercially trade on blatant sexuality and use Native women as sexual tools in order to sell their products.


When they do this they take a respected gender in Indian Country and place a "playboy/hustler" policy in place for Native women. The don't need to add to the "marketplace" theology of the American Sex Corporate model with half dressed Native women as a icon.


As it is Native women have been abused, sexualized, kidnapped, sold, raped, murdered, and sexploited in the US, Canada, and Central America for the perversions of the male perverted sex marketplace.


I take this position for all women, but only in Indian Country do I have any overt concern because I'm Native.


I don't want my children, grandchildren, nieces, aunties, mothers sexploited by anyone.  I'm not saying that it's not happening, it is on a much larger scale than many care to believe.


But as a man I have an obligation to speak up and speak out whenever I see any commercialization of the female form in sexually provocative art.


And I believe you have an obligation too.


The perpetuation of sexploitation also perpetuates sexual abuse, they go hand in hand.  And it's not the full page blowup that gets attention it's the small innuendo painting and facebook photo that flies around the world and gets the mass viewing and is taken for the norm, and it's far from normal, it's not even in the same universe.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Black Panthers and the American Indian Movement

Before the advent of the American Indian Movement there was the Black Panthers of the mid-1960's.  A lot of the community organizing ideas that AIM pursued had been made popular by the Black Panther Party.  Including the use of guns in an armed struggle for independence.  Black Panther sponsored street patrols to monitor and record the brutality and harassment of community blacks were initiated in order to curtail the number of murders and beatings which were being perpetuated and justified by the police.

When Bobby Seale and Huey Newton founded the Black Panther party in 1965 they used the political and philosophical arguments of W.E.B. Du Bois, Nate Turner, and Malcolm X as guideposts for their community work.  They also used the Constitution of the United States as literal support for their actions of community self-defense and police confrontation.

Bobby Seale and Huey Newton were black pioneers when it came to political revolutionary commitment and   the advocacy of black independence from colonialist rule.  The direct action policy of confrontation and fearless reactionary work became a religious calling for a community that had been living a life of fear and intimidation when having to interact with the law enforcement agencies that were there to serve and protect.  during the spring of 1967 a black man, Denzil Dowell was murdered and left for dead by the Richmond, California city police and the county sheriff became accomplices in that murder.

Subsequently the Black Panther Party for Self Defense organized community education rally's in order to expose and publicize the blatant indiscriminate killing of black men and the harassment and brutal beating of black women.  In all during those few months no less that fifty murders were attributed to police action and involvement.

A lot of American citizens have been taught that colonialism is and has been dead for generations.  And maybe in overt practice it has been, but in the subversive model of political planning and governmental policy development by the rich and powerful, colonialist thought has not changed.  Anyone not white, male, wasp, is considered suspect of anti-americanism and subversionism.

During the 1970's both the American Indian Movement and the, by then very splintered, Black Panther Party had been targeted by the FBI's COINTELPRO program for disruption and destruction.  Both organization had suffered jailings, beatings, murders, infiltration, espionage, wiretapping, legal and political attacks, and a very public, vicious, propaganda campaign to spread rumours and lies.


Russell Means, Dennis Banks, Vernon Bellecourt, Clyde Bellecourt of AIM and many others to numerous to mention  have propelled the Indian communities sense of self determination as no one ever has before, in the same way that H.Rap Brown, Eldridge Cleaver, Malcolm X, Bobby Seale, Huey Newton, Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party have redefined what it means to live Black and Proud in the urban ghettos of America's mainstream society.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Eugenics, Dysgenics and CPAC

In the 1940's Adolph Hitler added to his program of anti-Semitism a policy that included eugenics, or the perpetuation of the "racially fit" versus those who were non-Aryan or "unfit" mentally or physically.  This policy of course was aimed at the Jews and the ultimate elimination of the Jewish race.  Many who have studied these times and these policies have deplored their application and their use in a so-called civilized society.


The associate reasoning for the pogrom was the affiliation, supposedly, of the Jews and the implementation of Bolshevism or Communism in Germany.  Hitler tied these two together intrinsically in order to appeal the patriotism of the German public, and raise their ire toward the Jewish race specifically and toward Communism generally.
Hitler's ideological alternative of course was National Socialism and bureaucratic dictatorship, based on systemic racial purity.  


In the case of the current presidential campaigns the targeted public appeasement is to the upper class, since the middle class no longer exists in America and the lower class , which has grown by leaps and bounds is of no concern to those vying for presidential and congressional power.  This statement was made by presidential candidate Mitt Romney himself as "I'm not concerned about the poor".., and by Newt Gingrich in reference to "food stamp" Americans.


But since then the United States has used the same dysgenic policies with all of their abhorrent applications among the American Blacks and  American Indians.  Mass government sponsored sterilization pogroms among the urban and rural communities of color are coming to light as a result of the Freedom of Information Act and the diligent research of independent journalists.  This was typically the case when perpetuated among the poor and indefensible communities of the under-educated or illiterate.  Cases among the Native communities spread as far north as the Yukon and as far west as Los Angeles, California.  At this point not much is known, by me at least, of the Chicano community but it's probable that their community may have been targeted also.


Of course the pogroms used by the United States in Indian Country are well documented and have been widely publicized.  Everything from Sand Creek to the mass hangings in 1862 at Mankato, Minnesota.  So the communities of color have had a great deal of experience with policies of annihilation and extermination as exhibited and carried out by United States presidential and congressional acts.


What may not be as well known is how the United States came to it's decision to use eugenics as a filtering tool among it's minority populations.  The proponents of the continued pogroms of annihilation have never been brought to justice, or have even seen the inside of a courtroom in order to address their crimes against the American people of color whom they have targeted.  So the culprits and perpetrators of destructive pogroms have not suffered the consequences which a civilized society dictates that must occur.  And so within certain circles of power these pogroms must still be a viable alternative to population control.


Recently the Department of Homeland Security, via the new NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), signed by Barack Obama and passed by a Republican Congress has the wherewithal and the legal means to detain and imprison anyone "on a whim" that they deem "potential or imminent threats" to the security of the United States.  The DHS as well as the FBI, CIA, AFT, and who knows what other agencies now have a carte blanche via the NDAA that many Americans may not even be aware of or concerned about.


These are the prerequisite conditions under which other national nefarious powers operated, only one of whom was the Nazi Party of Hitler's Germany in the early 1930's, the others occurred of course in Italy and the USSR.


According to some the NDAA basically "hides" individuals who are swept up in it's web for reasons unknown or at least not announced to the public at large. So what has happened to habeas corpus or the basic right to confront one's accuser's in a court of law prior to definitive detention?, or to be served a warrant for arrest?, well it may not be the case if the principles of NDAA are used to detain you or your neighbors.


At the CPAC in Washington, DC this week, many spoke of the tax and spend policy of the current administration and how the NRC would roll back this practice and undo programs which may have added to the national debt.  But the savings to the country were not for the general fund but to the corporate capitalistic pot-bellies, of which Romney is only one.


But the economic concerns are far outweighed, in my opinion, by the basic right to life, liberty, and access to a system of justice and fair trials.  Of course if the common man has less money, the less justice will be available to him anyway.


So maybe both the far right, and the extreme left may both win at the expense of the complacent American family, who still believe in a Leave it to Beaver America. 

Monday, January 9, 2012


This design, among others, is an example of the 64 parts analysis of the universal torus model which applies to all that is natural from the smallest to the largest, it comes from the film "Thrive" and is part of a presentation on universal alignments and similarities in design and structure. This is a worldview that has existed in the Dakota Oyate for generations, although the description and interpretations may vary somewhat, the understanding of the general premise is a given among the Dakota Wichasta and the wakan wichasta. As you continue to explore the language and the nuances of language you will begin to see the worldview as in incorporates that universal design premise. But in addition to this premise there is also an understanding that there is no understanding as all remains a superior mystery and to accomodate your thought process to encompass or grasp this empirical view is to be close to the Creator or within the range of Wakan Tanka, or spiritually enlightened, some would say.
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