Author: Roger

Red Wisdom: Genocide

Red Wisdom: Genocide

|

How many Native Americans were killed during the Conquest, by war, by disease, by assassination? Not only Indian warriors in battle but old men, women, and children were murdered too. Then there were the many who died of cold and hunger on forced marches or after being removed to reservations. Many starved; many killed themselves out of desperation and despair. Some drank themselves to death.

The total number, which at the very least must involve many thousands, is one of the bloodiest chapters in all of American History. It is an example of genocide. It is an example of the American nation at its most unjust; it is a picture of the first European-Americans giving full play to a bloodthirsty desire for land and wealth, even if it meant the brutal death of many tribes and nations.

We cannot redeem the past and seek justice if we refuse to talk truthfully about this history: as it really happened. The blood-stains haunt us yet.

Read More
Red Wisdom: Learning from Native Americans

Red Wisdom: Learning from Native Americans

|

The Europeans live in America and boast of all they have but they do not remember to make amends for their sins. They do not remember the first peoples of this land nor the 10,000 years that make this land part of their history. But as long as truth exists, the voices of the chiefs and the Native American people will be heard. One cannot silence truth or replace it with lies. The lies will destroy themselves and disappear. Always it has been this way; always truth returns from the ashes of the fire. Truth is indestructible. This the Native American people know. Our truths last long because they come from Mother Earth. Our wise chiefs know this and have asked the white man to listen to the heart. The white man loves to read but in studying so many small details, he forgets to look at larger truths. For one cannot study or teach truth without coming in time to the words of the Wise Ones. If they have this much wisdom, would we not be wise to listen?

Read More
A Few Thoughts on Racism

A Few Thoughts on Racism

|

Likewise with Racism: describing the practice of racism tells us little about the causes of racism. Everything has a beginning: the practice of stereotyping, of engaging in racist thought and acts, also had a beginning. We must travel back in time to deal with racism as a social phenomenon that arose during America’s colonial era.

Read More
Thumper the Clown (part 3)

Thumper the Clown (part 3)

|

We must face facts, my fellow Americans: Trump is as immature as an eleven year old boy. His life as a rich spoiled brat has created demented distortions of reality within his brain that have given rise to his many unbecoming personality flaws. He speaks with contempt and disdain told anyone who annoys or angers him. This is not how a person holding the office of the presidency should behave. There is no dignity in his antics, no integrity in his tweeted utterances, and no decency in his verbal assaults on his fellow Americans. [from “Thumper the Clown”)

Read More
Thumper the Clown (part 2)

Thumper the Clown (part 2)

|

“No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.” -Thomas Jefferson

Read More