a need to pay tribute?

I know, I know, no posts. (Though my response to Zev’s comment is almost long enough to qualify as a post.) What have I been doing instead? Well, one, I have begun doing some writing for TransformationCentral, a website linked to the Solidarity Economy Track at the US Social Forum; feel free to check out my first post for them.

Two, I have been busy with DUHC helping plan this event and utilizing my book-geekiness and former library staff ways to help reorganize their lending library and put together an online catalog for it.

Three, I have been allowing myself to be carried along in the general Harry Potter frenzy. I reread the sixth book, and yes, went so far as to procure the illicit online copy of the seventh book (I even learned how to use torrents for the first time to do it). Is the copy a hoax? I would say definitely not. I will say, however, that the first page of the third chapter was blurry enough to prevent me from any further reading. (The pages are photographs of the actual book, many clear enough to read, but I wasn’t risking getting further along only to find some really important part truly illegible.) So, like everyone else, I will wait for my reserved copy. And in fact, I won’t be getting mine until Saturday afternoon; I have decided to forgo midnight release parties and all (even the Harry Potter roller derby party apparently happening here in Humboldt).

I also spent a long time with the rest of the DUHC staff at a dinner last night celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Seventh Generation Fund, which provides grants to indigenous groups working to preserve their land, culture, and sovereignty. Issues faced by indigenous communities are becoming a somewhat larger theme in my summer than I expected. They were certainly prevalent at the USSF, (there’s a good news article here detailing some of that), but especially on the final day at the People’s Assembly. I have meant for awhile to write about this, and I’m thinking now seem’s a good time for it, so here we are:

The Assembly was a space for people from the Forum to share resolutions together in an effort to share the large variety of movements and projects present at the Forum, and to encourage everyone to continue that work at home. However, there was a pretty limited amount of time for this, which caused some tension when an indigenous man from Ecuador had the microphone forcefully taken away from him. I remember being rather upset by this; it seemed too symbolic of the silencing of Native peoples that has gone on for so long now. However, people acted fast, and not too long later, dozens of representatives from different indigenous groups were up on stage. They spoke of how disrespectful they understood the action on stage to be, and then drummed and sang a song to heal and restore dignity both for the community at the assembly and the man who had been forced off stage. George Friday, the woman who had been moderating the assembly and had taken the Ecuadorian’s mic away, came back onstage and apologized, saying, “When I fuck up, you know we’re going to recognize it and do something about it.” I was amazed at the ability to create a spontaneous process for conflict resolution at a large assembly with thousands of people; to be a part of the crowd, and feel the injury, and then feel the emotional healing occur not long after, and know that the vast number of people around me were going through the same process; it was a totally new experience for me. There had been further tension created, at one point, when a member of the American Indian Movement suggested that the majority of the crowd had been silently complicit in the injustices experienced by Native peoples in recent decades, as Indians continue to be jailed for peaceful resistance to continued infractions by the US government. The crowd has started to suggest that maybe their time on the stage should be up. But this, too, was cleared up. Another person spoke, clarifying that they were not suggesting that the rest of us were the enemy, they knew that we were not; but at the same time, their anger and indignation needed to be spoken, that we might understand the nature of what had happened, and the depth of feeling; that such indignation has been silenced for too long, and if our movements are to work together, we must find a way for that silencing not to happen.

This subject of the appropriate way to prevent silencing of Native peoples while also working with them also came up at the most recent of DUHC’s monthly pancake breakfasts, where I had an interesting conversation with a Native American Studies professor at Humboldt State University about the relationship between anthropologists and Native communities, and whether or not this is in fact improving. He seemed to think that anthropology is still acting as a fairly destructive force; he talked about UC Berkeley’s anthropology department, for instance, apparently being fairly antagonistic towards the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. I asked him what he thought about linguistic anthropologists involved in helping Native communities retrieve, restore, or preserve their original languages, since I had heard of this being an example of positive Native-anthropology interactions. Certainly such work is done with good intentions, he said, but added that it would be better if anthropologists were to teach their skills to the Native communities, empowering them and allowing them to do the work themselves. He talked about experiential learning being a key part of how many Native peoples learn, and suggested that if they are to preserve or relearn their languages, the process of that reclaiming will be as important as the actual result itself. He cited the decision of the state of Oregon to provide free college education to Native students as an example of empowerment, as opposed to simply providing services. (This seems complicated to me, however; isn’t it through Western-style education that many of the younger generations of Native peoples have been taught to disrespect their own culture and have lost much of the important indigenous knowledge they once had?)

So, the Seventh Generation Fund dinner last night continued to add to these ideas and experiences. I think what was perhaps the most notable occurrence, for me, was the announcement of the decision made by Seventh Generation to pay an honorary tax to the Wiyot people, recognizing that their current office in Arcata is in Wiyot territory, and thus paying the tax as a tribute to the Wiyot. DUHC later stepped up and said they would also recognize their presence on Wiyot land and pay the honorary tax. This sent a flurry of thoughts through my head – wouldn’t it be amazing if there was a movement of individuals and organizations around the country voluntarily offering such honorary taxes – a repatriation movement based not in legislation but in real public good will, and rather than being symbolic, providing tangible benefits to Native peoples? This is when it also occurred to me that I know absolutely nothing about what peoples previously resided in the Chicago area.  As far as I can tell, it seems like there have been many groups, including the Potawatomi, the Illinois, and the Miami.  It seems that most of the groups were eventually forced to relocate to Oklahoma.  (Any of you Chicagoans know more specifics about this?) So it looks like if I’m going to pay an honorary tax myself, it will take a little bit more research. But I suppose this a good place to be in, considering that before last night the idea would never have occurred to me.

And since I am fairly ignorant on the subject, does anyone know about any previous repatriation movements?  Have such movements aimed for honorary tributes in the past, but failed to gain popular support or momentum?  Or have most attempts for tribute or repatriation been through the legal system? I would be interested in finding out.