Native American confronts anti-illegal immigration protester

[deadly_habit]

Nobody technically owns the land you live on, just as fish don't own the lakes or rivers but I'm sure the SNH intelligentsia can understand the basis of his argument and how a mostly white crowd bitching about illegal immigration is ridiculous. To put it simply white people were the invaders and these days all these descendents of those invaders are the same white people who pushed, tricked, massacred, pillaged, raped and then segregated natives into the shitty living conditions on the rez today, along with mocking our culture and sacred customs in the media. So to be honest, some natives don't give a shit about illegal immigrants taking your jobs when your white ancesters took our resources and our way of life.

[nousd]

The same attitude exists here & I understand why.
It doesn't help multi-generational grief and anger resolve though, nor reconcile neighbours.
Maybe only time, a long time does...you don't hear a lot of animosity between anglo-saxons & normans nowdays

I don't believe that we will ever eliminate conflict
particularly if we keep overpopulating & depleting this place.
Any appearance that we have will be, in fact, supression.

But I know that in order to make things better I've got to try to be more honest
with myself and others about my preconceptions and prejudices
and, ever day, keep trying to break them down in the light of new interactions.

It seems to come naturally to exemplary human beings,
they can take people as they come & empathize with every condition.
Ethnicity, tribe, class, all learned distinctions, fall away.

By seeing that example, individual people get better, get healed and inspired to become more inclusive.
Aspire to do good things, help other people, improve the world's prospects.
Stand tall and proud as an accomplished, open-hearted person, whatever effort it takes.

But exemplars don't help the people still suffering from the memory of poisoned wells,
their loss of ancestors and dispossession like intergenerational strychnine,
their pain compounded by racial abuse, now untrackable, now an infused rage

partly salved by numbness, hopelessness, meaninglessness,
alienated from the wider community which is to be robbed & looted in revenge,
fools to be exploited even though they aren't the ones that go to gaol.

money comes and dissipates
their mob, our mob, both alike
corrupt & inept

impoverished & lost, we turn on ourselves.
bash the women for givin' cheek, keepin back the grog money
and, with a gut full and yandi-eyed, the kids, the girls get theirs.

handing it on
foetal alcohol syndrome
sexual abuse

indistinguishable from the losers amongst the invaders
except we have somebody to blame
and how has that helped?