“People say I am like an apple, red on the outside and white on the inside.”
Who is Sherman Alexie? His struggle to learn and be free was a path that any person of his interests and intelligence would have a difficult time with. The book nerd is always bullied by the jock. It is like a karmic balancing act needs to take place in the nerd's life so that they can be miserable as children but happy as adults. Sherman Alexie, however, had the added challenge of being a Native American Indian.
The mythical image that young Alexie put on white kids was similar, in a way, to the mythical image white kids make of the Indians. We tend to think of them as naturalists with magical powers and totem spirit guilds. They tend to think of us as magnificent conquerers who, though the power of manifest destiny, expand our power to the limits of the Earth and beyond. Neither of the outlooks are entirely true, but we allow these prejudices to color our judgment.
Who is Sherman Alexie? He's a person. He has strengths and weaknesses, just like the rest of us. He has a sense of humor that has served him well. He followed multiple women to success, moving to different schools to be near them. His life has been cursed with terrible hardships and blessed with wondrous success. He is a great writer who we respect and a teller of jokes that make us laugh.
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Symbols are for the symbolminded
As I consider the things that divide us as a people I stumbled upon a question that shook me. The question of, “What is in it for me?” is one that the religion of capitalism. No one does anything for free, and even fewer are willing to give of themselves once they have been burned. With most of the world’s powerful people focusing of gaining more power, the less powerful people are the ones with the morals.
There will always be good people and bad people in the world. The question is what the people in the middle do? People who focus and decide that they are going to be good or they are going to sacrifice morality for profit are the true minority in the world. Most people have flexible morals. The people with flexible morals do what it trendy, not what is correct.
The morality of the people in power can be seen in the actions of the people. A bad administration generates a lot of anger and greed from the people. The powerful are also intelligent enough to keep the real power holders out of sight.
George Bush was not the reason for why the country was in bad shape. It was the people behind the scenes who pulled strings and enforced horrible laws who caused our country to end up where it is today.
Barak Obama is not as “in charge” as we would like to believe. While he is a wonderful public speaker and has a great deal of support, it is the actions of the other powerful people around him that will decide whether we get better or not. Barak Obama is a wonderful symbol; I hope the people who rally around him can get things fixed.
There will always be good people and bad people in the world. The question is what the people in the middle do? People who focus and decide that they are going to be good or they are going to sacrifice morality for profit are the true minority in the world. Most people have flexible morals. The people with flexible morals do what it trendy, not what is correct.
The morality of the people in power can be seen in the actions of the people. A bad administration generates a lot of anger and greed from the people. The powerful are also intelligent enough to keep the real power holders out of sight.
George Bush was not the reason for why the country was in bad shape. It was the people behind the scenes who pulled strings and enforced horrible laws who caused our country to end up where it is today.
Barak Obama is not as “in charge” as we would like to believe. While he is a wonderful public speaker and has a great deal of support, it is the actions of the other powerful people around him that will decide whether we get better or not. Barak Obama is a wonderful symbol; I hope the people who rally around him can get things fixed.
Monday, February 9, 2009
John Trudell
The problem with people with power is that they tend to get really freaked out when the people they have power over try to take it away. This is what we say in the sixties and seventies with the civil rights movement. Intelligent people, who just happened not to be white, came into the public spotlight and scared the hell out of powerful people when the upset the status quo. They did this, by asking for equal rights.
We all know the names of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm-X, but the Native American's civil rights leader was pushed aside and ignored. John Trudell is a man who surprisingly few people have heard of. He marched, preached, and fought just as hard as the other civil rights leaders but his struggle was not nearly as successful. How did the government successfully put down his movement? How did he get kept out of the history books? How did this man, who is just as brilliant and dangerous to the people of power as the black leaders survive when others were killed?
To answer the last question, he almost did not. John Trudell's wife and children were killed when fire was set to their house while he was away. For a time, this stopped him from fighting. This may very possibly saved his life but at a horrible cost.
John Trudell makes many statements that are universally true. The powerful maintain their power by keeping the people divided. A divided enemy cannot win against an organized one. By turning our struggle for liberty a racial war we create lines that can divide us. Indians don't want to help the black people and the same is true for the other factions. If they were to work together they would be a louder voice. If they were to support each other they could watch each other's backs. But instead they remain divided and they are weakened.
The dominant capitalistic power that dominates our world is willing to make more money and gain more power whatever the cost. This causes the powerful people to make decisions that are bad for everyone. Most of these decisions are bad for themselves as well. Short sighted waste brings about instant gratification with long term consequences. The ability to make sacrifices for a better tomorrow is something we all need to work at. To do less is a disservice to ourselves and our children.
We all know the names of Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm-X, but the Native American's civil rights leader was pushed aside and ignored. John Trudell is a man who surprisingly few people have heard of. He marched, preached, and fought just as hard as the other civil rights leaders but his struggle was not nearly as successful. How did the government successfully put down his movement? How did he get kept out of the history books? How did this man, who is just as brilliant and dangerous to the people of power as the black leaders survive when others were killed?
To answer the last question, he almost did not. John Trudell's wife and children were killed when fire was set to their house while he was away. For a time, this stopped him from fighting. This may very possibly saved his life but at a horrible cost.
John Trudell makes many statements that are universally true. The powerful maintain their power by keeping the people divided. A divided enemy cannot win against an organized one. By turning our struggle for liberty a racial war we create lines that can divide us. Indians don't want to help the black people and the same is true for the other factions. If they were to work together they would be a louder voice. If they were to support each other they could watch each other's backs. But instead they remain divided and they are weakened.
The dominant capitalistic power that dominates our world is willing to make more money and gain more power whatever the cost. This causes the powerful people to make decisions that are bad for everyone. Most of these decisions are bad for themselves as well. Short sighted waste brings about instant gratification with long term consequences. The ability to make sacrifices for a better tomorrow is something we all need to work at. To do less is a disservice to ourselves and our children.
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