Grandmother Earth Grandfather Sky.
You can read about, and listen to more music at https://www.indigiefemme.com/. Indigie Femme’s youtube channel.
Affinity
Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
Grandmother Earth Grandfather Sky.
You can read about, and listen to more music at https://www.indigiefemme.com/. Indigie Femme’s youtube channel.
Image: Star Trek Beyond poster, Paramount
Sulu Is Gay in Star Trek Beyond and It’s Not a Big Deal.
Or, at least, Star Trek Beyond is presenting it like it’s not a big deal and praying fans follow suit.
The news comes from the Australian paper the Herald Sun, which says that the movie—rightfully—treats Sulu’s private life, in which he has a male partner and a child, as no big deal. (This daughter had better be Demora, is all I’m saying. Because Demora is awesome and deserves to exist in the alternate universe, too.)
According to John Cho, the decision was of course a nod to the original Sulu, everyone’s favorite Facebooking dad, George Takei. “I liked the approach, which was not to make a big thing out it, which is where I hope we are going as a species, to not politicize one’s personal orientations,” Cho told the Herald Sun.
YES! Full story here.
Shutterstock.
When a white guy is seen wandering around in public waving a gun, the police usually try to talk him down; he’s probably just having a bad day. Even if the white guy happens to be pointing his gun directly at an officer, his interaction with the police is unlikely to end in the exchange of gunfire. This is called white privilege.
Recent history suggests there’s a certain methodology for how police handle nearly identical gun-related incidents: white guys get arrested, while black guys get shot. Outraged? If not, you need to pay attention.
1. Armed White Guy Has Standoff With Police, Then Gets His Gun Back.
Last May, an armed Michigan man had a standoff with the police as he stood in front of a Dairy Queen waving a loaded rifle around and angrily shouting. When cops arrived, the man, Joseph Houseman, refused to identify himself, grabbed his crotch, flipped the bird, and cursed them out. Houseman was intoxicated and didn’t have an ID. For 40 minutes, the police tried to get the belligerent man to put his weapon down. All the while, he was screaming, “The revolution is coming,” and accusing the cops of being a “gang.” He told the police he had a legal right to “threaten” police officers and their families.
There’s an excerpt from their encounter at the full story link.
2. White Guy Points Gun at Police Officers and Children During Hour-Long Standoff. Video and summary at full story link.
3. White Man Arrested Twice For Road Rage With a Gun.
In October, a Tennessee man was arrested for waving a loaded gun during a road rage incident involving another man and his son. E.J. Watson confronted the pair when they came to a stop, exited his vehicle with his pistol tucked in the front of his pants and was very belligerent, cursing and making derogatory remarks.
The victims called 911, and police pulled Watson over a few miles from the weapon-wielding episode. His car was littered with empty beer cans as well as a loaded Smith & Wesson revolver. Watson refused to exit his vehicle and had to be physically removed. Only three months earlier, he was arrested for a separate drunken road rage incident.
Good thing for Watson he was white—otherwise he might not be alive today.
4. White Guy Arrested for Firing BB Gun at Officers.
A 22-year-old from New Hampshire faces one count of reckless conduct after firing a BB gun at Concord police in September. The two police officers were making a routine traffic stop at an intersection when the man opened fire from a nearby apartment building. They arrested the culprit, Jesse Deflorio, who was on already on probation for a similar incident. The judge residing over the case commented that he was worried about the white guy’s safety following the most recent BB gun-firing episode. Poor white guy.
Tamir Rice, 12, was walking around a Cleveland park, holding a toy gun that uses nonlethal plastic pellets. A police cruiser pulled up and within two seconds Rice was shot and killed by rookie officer Timothy Loehmann.
5. Two White Men Shoot Up Walmart With BB Gun and Live to Tell the Tale.
6. White Guy Arrested After Pointing Gun at Pennsylvania Police Officers.
7. White Woman Dressed In Body Armor Arrested After Shooting Into Cars and Pointing Gun at Police.
8. White Man Arrested After Pointing Gun at Phoenix Firefighters During Hour-Long Standoff.
Full story, summaries, videos, and links here. If you’re one of those people who insists racism, cops, and guns aren’t a problem, do some fucking homework. Read until reality seeps into your brainpan.
Shock jock radio host Howie Carr mocks Elizabeth Warren with the hand-over-mouth war cry at a Trump rally on June 29 in Bangor, Maine.
Trump’s bigotry seems to know no bounds, and as bigots go, he’s on the equitable side of being bigoted against most everyone. Within that however, Trump remains focused on bigotry and perpetuating nasty stereotypes when it comes to indigenous people. Trump has a history of hating on Natives, and I imagine he was thrilled with the whole Warren business so he could unleash his vituperative venom. As usual, people have no problem picking up such nastiness, doing what they think are Indigenous war cries, like ignorant children playing cowboy, with no thought at all to the real harm and damage they are doing.
While many Americans today are boldly leaning into social consciousness, other pockets of American society remain stubbornly swathed in the white supremacist cloaks of 1950 – an era when racism and bigotry were the celebrated norm.
Enter, Boston-based radio show host, Howie Carr, who recently opened up a Donald Trump rally in Bangor, Maine, with an all-too American mockery of Native Americans while referencing Elizabeth Warren, who claims Cherokee ancestry.
And the crowd loved it. Men turn toward each other laughing in amusement, while someone in the crowd even cheers with a loud whistle of support. A racist rally is a good ol’ time for those Trump Republicans.
But let’s just be clear – this particular critique of yet another charade at the Trump circus isn’t about Trump the Clown or his clown accomplice, Howie Carr. Nor is this critique about Elizabeth Warren, who has failed to adequately address her questionable Native American identity.
Niles Aserat, a Navajo veteran, would like a little help to see that Code talkers receive the honour they more than earned, and deserve.
As so often happens in our American history books, the contributions of a group of volunteer Native servicemen called code talkers, has been severely understated. Code talkers were our warriors doing what they have always been inspired to do – protect their homeland, families and culture. Despite having often been harshly treated for speaking in their Native languages, these warriors valiantly served for the United States and by using their beautiful Native languages these hero soldiers became pivotal in helping to win two of the most crucial wars in U.S. history – World Wars I & II.
The buzz this 4th of July is a petition to get a National Native Code Talkers Day on the radar of the U.S. Senate. The campaign was begun by Vietnam Veteran and Navajo Elder, Niles Aserat. Now a resident of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Niles grew up on the Navajo reservation in Sanders, Arizona. Niles joined the Army in 1966 and saw firsthand the brutality of war. He and only one other man in his brigade of 178 men, survived a vicious ambush at the infamous battle of Hamburger Hill.
After reading a book about code talkers, Aserat found himself inspired to spread the word about their amazing contribution and self sacrifice which turned the tides of war in the favor of the U.S. During WWII, military Marine Corp recruiters visited the Navajo reservation and understanding the threat facing their homeland from foreign invaders again, the first group of 29 brave warriors volunteered and developed a sophisticated code which was never deciphered by the enemies.
The story at ICTMN is here. The Petition: National Day for All Native American Code Talkers. The website for the petition: Native Code Talkers.
William Howard Taft took office in 1909, the same year America’s first permanent movie studio opened in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
William Howard Taft took office in 1909, the same year America’s first permanent movie studio opened in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
Champion Film Company, the precursor of Universal Studios, used its location along the Jersey Palisades to film scenes from the “Wild West,” launching a movie genre that from its beginning proved problematic. Years before Hollywood was established as America’s film capital, more than a dozen companies made movies from Fort Lee, transforming local scenery and historic buildings into scenes from the stereotypical West.
These early westerns often portrayed Indians in derogatory ways, prompting a delegation of Cheyenne and Arapaho Indians to travel to Washington in early 1911. Concerned that Indians were “discreditably depicted in moving pictures,” the delegates sought an audience with Taft and Robert Valentine, the commissioner of Indian Affairs.
As part of their visit, chiefs Big Buck and Big Bear accompanied a Washington Post reporter to a local theater. The movie they watched followed the story of an Indian woman who, after falling in love with a white man, stabbed the man’s wife with a poison arrow, the Post reported in February 1911.
“If the white people would only take the pains to study Indian characteristics … he could possibly produce something worthy of presentation to the public,” Big Buck told the Washington Post. After viewing the movie, he and Big Bear planned to ask Taft to “close up” the movie house.
“It is bad to be lied about to so many people (and to be) helpless to defend yourself,” Big Bear told the Post.
Valentine was sympathetic and said that he had “seen productions wherein the Indian was pictured as a cannibal, thief, and almost every evil thing one can imagine,” the Post reported. Yet Taft did not respond to requests from Big Bear and Big Buck, and the National Board of Censorship continued to approve the films.
[…]
Throughout his presidency, Taft contended with the rise of the Native American Church and its sacramental and medicinal use of peyote, which the Bureau of Indian Affairs viewed as a threat to Christianity. In 1909, the BIA began investigating peyote meetings and in 1912, the Board of Indian Commissioners lobbied Congress for a law criminalizing its use.
“The danger of the rapid spread of the habit, increased by its so-called religious associations, makes the need of its early suppression doubly pressing,” commissioners wrote in their annual report.
In his final message to Congress, in December 1912, Taft spoke of the government’s role as guardians of the Indians and its responsibility for their “condition of health.”
“In spite of everything which has been said in criticism of the policy of our government toward the Indians, the amount of wealth which is now held by it for these wards per capita shows that the government has been generous,” Taft said. He called on Congress to allocate funding for Indian health “in order that our facilities for overcoming diseases among the Indians might be properly increased.”
Two weeks before leaving office, Taft broke ground with a silver shovel on the proposed 165-foot National American Indian Memorial, to be built on Staten Island. Although Congress set aside the federal land for the project, it did not receive funding and was never constructed.
Full Article at ICTMN.
“I think we have to be very clear, Donald Trump is just a symbol for an antiquated outdated mode of thought that unfortunately still exists.”
Gyasi Ross, ICTMN’s Editor at Large, appeared on All In With Chris Hayes last night to address Donald Trump’s candidacy and, specifically, Trump’s 1993 quote, “They don’t look Indian,” as part of the presumptive Republican Presidential Candidate’s reoccurring shtick.
Hayes opened the segment by bringing up the opening of Foxwoods resort and casino in Connecticut, which presented competition to Trump’s casinos in Atlantic City. “Under federal law,” Hayes went on, “Native Americans don’t pay taxes on casinos located on their land.” In 1993 Trump sued the federal government by arguing that the law gave an unfair advantage to a certain class of citizen.
Trump was called to testify before Congress and got into a heated exchange with Representative George Miller. That’s when Trump delivered his infamous phrase, “They don’t look Indian.”
Hayes followed the video clip of the exchange by soliciting comments from Ross, and referred to Trump as the “great determiner of who has what ancestry.”
Ross, a Blackfeet Nation citizen, responded, “This is not a new script at all. … In many ways Native people have historically served as the canary in the coal mine in regards to racial relations and this is no different.
ICTMN has the full story, video below.
https://youtu.be/8_GKkst6tM0
It’s that time of year, a time of colonial, drunk explosions, whee! I’m not a fan of Independence Day, but I could deal with it much better if I didn’t have to cope with window-shaking explosions going off for months. I have a difficult time coping with it for a day or two. I have PTSD and hyper-vigilance. A lot of people have those problems. I have pets. A lot of people have pets. Pets who are absolutely terrified by all the explosions. If you’re one of those explosion loving people, it would be truly great if you could consider other people before getting settled into your revelry. Would it be that terrible to pack up your gunpowder toys and take them a bit away from residences, so all the boom is at least muted? That would make for many less terrified pets, and much less ragged people hanging on by their fingernails. It would also be considerate of those who might want to get some sleep before 2 a.m., because some people still have to work. Or maybe they are just serious tired and want to sleep. If you are, or decide to be a considerate exploder, be sure to choose a place that won’t set half your state on fire, because that’s not fun for anyone.
On the lighter side of Colonial Day, Vincent Schilling has a fun column up at ICTMN: Native Humor: 7 Ways Natives Can Celebrate the Fourth of July.
Set off the fireworks display early in the day.
KA-BOOM! Oh, it’s only 2pm? (iStock)
Use the bullhorn after. Then tell everyone, “This isn’t what you expected was it?” Well for Native people, you aren’t what we expected either! Happy Independence Day!
Gays Against Guns in the NYC Pride March
Gays Against Guns formed out of a meeting the Friday after the June 12 tragedy, and by the time the New York City Pride March rolled around last Sunday, it had marshaled a contingent of 750 people to participate, plus 49 veiled in white to represent those killed by the Orlando gunman, with each carrying a placard with the name and photo of one of the dead. The group also performed “die-ins” all along the Fifth Avenue parade route.
Now the organizers have heard from people who want to set up similar groups in San Diego, Chicago, and Washington, D.C., and they hope to get more cities on board, says one of those organizers, Catherine Marino-Thomas.
Thomas, who headed Marriage Equality USA for 17 years, says Gays Against Guns will focus on direct action, not lobbying. Among other things, it plans protests at the offices of state and national elected officials who oppose LGBT rights and gun control.
[…]
This weekend Gays Against Guns will be spreading the word to the holiday revelers on Fire Island. It will have information tables set up from 1 to 8 p.m. Sunday in the Pines and Cherry Grove. There will also be a Gays Against Guns meeting July 14 at 7:30 p.m. at the New York LGBT Community Center.
For more information on the group, visit its website or the Gays Against Guns pages on Facebook,Twitter, and Instagram.
Via The Advocate.
In other gun control news, California has tightened up their laws considerably: California expands assault weapons ban as part of new gun laws package, Hawaii has databased gun owners, and Survivors of Charleston Shooting Are Suing FBI Over Guns.
I have, at best, been vaguely aware of Fort Abraham, having gone past it often enough. That vague awareness has now been shattered, and not in a good way.
Fort Abraham State Park in North Dakota offers a Saturday morning kids’ program called “Becoming a Soldier of Fort Abraham Lincoln”. The free program states that “children will learn about soldier life at Fort Abraham Lincoln and what it takes to be part of Custer’s 7th Cavalry.”
Fort Abraham is located just north of the Standing Rock Sioux reservation, home of Tatanka Iyotake (Sitting Bull).
The program, which runs from late May to early September, says it will “introduce kids to military life on the Dakota frontier as a solider living at Fort Abraham Lincoln in 1875.” Kids will also take the ‘official oath of enlistment’ into the U.S. 7th Cavalry.
[…]
Custer’s surprise attack happened at dawn. He ordered his men to destroy “everything of value to the Indians,” and in a few hours over 100 Cheyenne’s had been killed including Black Kettle, his wife, and over 800 horses. Custer also took over 50 women and children into captivity.
While originally labelled as a “Battle” the slaughter at Washita River was later called a “massacre of innocent Indians” by the Indian Bureau.
[…]
In 1890, a blood thirsty and revenge driven 7th Calvary rounded up a peaceful band of Lakota, primarily Ghost Dancers, under Chief Big Foot and slaughtered over 300 women, men, and children known as the Wounded Knee massacre.
It is incomprehensible that the Fort Abraham State Park would find it appropriate to encourage children to find out what it takes to be a part of a legacy soaked in genocide.
I agree, it’s incomprehensible. When there’s a tacit refusal to teach children actual history, warts and all, they can hardly be blamed for developing untruthful and biased views. (There was a recent discussion about Custer here.) It’s not surprising that white attitudes towards indigenous people remains so negative when this whitewashing is taking place in the heart of Indian country. It’s sad and burdensome to see that lying about Custer is still so very important to some people. “History comes to life”. Yes, a very whitewashed, colonial version, which celebrates the largest mass murder in U.S. history, the Massacre at Wounded Knee.
https://youtu.be/v68KVexu628
Full Story at Last Real Indians.
Moving on to a Christian camp in Arkansas called Camp War Eagle. You already know it’s bad from the name alone. You just don’t know how bad. Yet.
The cover of Midnighter & Apollo No. 1, which will go on sale in October. Credit CD Comics
Gay Pride Month ends today, but DC Comics is giving fans something to look forward to this fall. In October the company will publish Midnighter & Apollo, the first part of a six-issue mini-series that reunites the two heroes, who are gay and have an on-again off-again relationship.
“They have a firmer idea of who they are, and they’ve become stronger and more confident together,” said Steve Orlando, who will write the comic, which will have interior art by Fernando Blanco and covers by the artist known as ACO.
The characters, who made their debut in 1998, were gay analogues of Batman (Midnighter) and Superman (Apollo). They dated, eventually married, adopted a child and, thanks to comics, had their history rebooted. Midnighter most recently headlined his own series, which ended in March. The comic, written by Mr. Orlando, was lauded for its portrayal, which balanced the hero’s volatile global adventures — and a friendly flirtation with Dick Grayson, the former Robin — with a domestic life that included using dating apps and being sexually active.
I’ve never been much of a DC fan, but when they do something like this, I’m happy to get onboard. Way to go, DC! Full story here.
Theodore Roosevelt. Whitehouse.gov.
When Theodore Roosevelt took office in 1901, he already had a long legacy of animosity toward American Indians.
Seventeen years earlier, Roosevelt, then a young widow, left New York in favor of the Dakotas, where he built a ranch, rode horses and wrote about life on the frontier. When he returned to the east, he famously asserted that “the most vicious cowboy has more moral principle than the average Indian.”
“I don’t go so far as to think that the only good Indians are the dead Indians, but I believe nine out of every 10 are,” Roosevelt said during a January 1886 speech in New York. “And I shouldn’t like to inquire too closely into the case of the tenth.”
[…]
Roosevelt’s seven and a half years in office were marked by his support of the Indian allotment system, the removal of Indians from their lands and the destruction of their culture. Although he earned a reputation as a conservationist—placing more than 230 million acres of land under public protection—Roosevelt systematically marginalized Indians, uprooting them from their homelands to create national parks and monuments, speaking publicly about his plans to assimilate them and using them as spectacles to build his political empire.
Courtesy aimag.com
The new Full Throttle Saloon’s plans call for construction of 400 cabins and RV hookups shown in the aerial photo at the base of Bear Butte.
The fight for the sacred grounds of Bear Butte has not gone well, and now the biggest asshole of biker assholes is planning on wholesale desecration. White people, so darn thoughtful and stuff.
Tribal leaders fear that Bear Butte, one of the seven traditional sacred sites of Northern Plains tribes in or near the Black Hills, is in serious danger of further moral and environmental degradation after a local planning board recommended that Meade County commissioners grant full approval for construction of the “world’s biggest biker bar” on a campground practically at the base of the butte.
Applying for the plot approval is Michael Ballard, whose original Full Throttle Saloon, east of Sturgis, was widely hyped to be the “World’s Largest Biker Bar.” He hopes this new Full Throttle Saloon will be even more successful than the original, which burned down last September. Ballard has obtained unanimous preliminary approval from the Meade County Planning Commission on April 18 and from the Meade County Commission on May 11.
Rosebud Sioux Tribe, President William Kindle, reached in his office Wednesday, said the tribe continues to explore every option to prevent further desecration around “Mato Paha,” and stood by his May 25 statement to the planning board, in which he said his tribe had “grave concerns because this would additionally impact an area that is already stressed by those outsiders who feel the need to develop additional adult entertainment/play spaces, which are located in close proximity to our place of prayer, Bear Butte.
“Not only would this bring additional people imbibing in alcohol, and obnoxious revelry near our sacred site, there would most likely be a serious impact to the water and the ecology of the area.” In addition to a new Full Throttle Saloon, Ballard’s plans call for construction of 400 cabins and additional RV hookups for an adjacent campground — to be named The Pappy Hoel Campground.
