Spiritual connection between Black people and Native Americans.

[cleanheart.396]

   I am not a Native American, but I do recognize the Native
Americans as not only the original government, but the
rightful governing group. I am a writer, and that journey led
me to reading books by Native Americans. The first book was
one called "From the Heart." And, that's exactly
where it touched me; in the center of my heart, and in a place
even deeper, a place so ancient that the pain I felt was as
familiar, yet as confusing as flashbacks of events that
happened before I could even walk or speak.
   Several years prior to reading "From the Heart" I
had a dream that I was an Indian woman standing on the plains
with a baby wrapped in beautifully dyed blankets, sitting in a
hand-made stroller. When I looked out across the plains, all I
could see was hundreds of other Indian women all with
beautifully blanketed babies in strollers. For months I could
not get that dream out of my mind.
   But it was when I read the book "From the Heart"
that I felt a connection so powerful that I couldn't stop
crying as I read. Not out of pity. But because the pain of
Native Americans seemed inextricably immersed in my own pain
as a black woman, and as a black person. It seemed we shared
the same need to dispense with trying to assimilate and be
accepted into this present America. I feel that many Native
Americans feel what I feel; that we (Native Americans and
Blacks) have not melted into this proverbial "melting
pot" because we are not supposed to. I believe that
together, Native Americans and Blacks are destined to
transcend what exist now and create a better earth through a
living, loving philosophy that has method as well as meaning
and sound purpose.  The tenets of the society we create will
not mention love for oneself, others, and the earth as a
"nice" afterthought, or as something to make us
appear profound as we camouflage our sickness and our
suffering with high-sounding words. But rather this love will
be made manifest in institutions, programs, and procedures
designed and built to resolve the conflicts individuals have
within themselves which cause them to have conflict with
others, lifetime after lifetime, as well as the conflicts we
have created with the earth. And little by little, as we dig
up our sicknesses, face them, and resolve them, we will treat
ourselves, each other, and the earth with increasing love and
respect. Our lives will change, and so will the earth. We will
become stronger and healthier. Together.
   I am guessing that in a previous life I was an Indian just
as I am a Black woman in this life. I feel, down in the place
in my soul where my earliest beginnings are recorded, that my
blackness and your redness were meant to mingle and to bring
the earth to one of its finest hours. I have wanted a forum in
which I could say this to you for such a long time, and I
finally found one. I only hope I haven't offended you or
anyone else. If I did, forgive me, for that certainly was not
my intention.
   Please do not misunderstand. I am not excluding other
ethnic groups in this quest. I just feel that when a group is
continually denied entry and acceptance, and because of this,
remains out of the mainstream, it is for a reason. That it may
in fact be a blessing as well as a tremendous responsibility,
and a chance to make right whatever part we have had in making
things the way they are today. But it will take all of us,
every group, to make this happen. It's just that those who are
categorically, and consistently shunned seem to be less afraid
to sweep totally away the ideas, etc., which are responsible
for that suffering, when others, who perhaps benefit from that
toxicity are less inclined to call a spade a spade.
   Anyway, thank you for this opportunity. It means a great
deal.  

[Iktomiwicasa]

1. Have you

ever read the writings of Vine Deloria Jr.? He goes into this subject at some length. He is a Lakota man, like me, and a professor and legal scholar. He points out that while the black people were systematically excluded from mainstream american life, the indian we as indian people were forced into it, via the forced relocations, boarding schools, and tribal terminations. Consequently, many black people (correct me if I am wrong) seek a greater share of the "American dream", while many of us traditionalist natives think that the less we have to do with the mainstream, the better. Many of us don't want in, we want out. We have our own Dream, and our own table...we would like to have it back.

Thank you for your post.

[cleanheart.396]

2. Spiritual Connection between Native Americans and Blacks

   No I haven't read Vine Deloria, but I'm definitely going to
do so.  You are right when you say that most Blacks seek a
greater share of the American Dream.  However, I'm not one of
them, and that doesn't make me too popular among my peers. I
just don't believe a person can grow spiritually or any other
way, trying to get the scraps off of someone else's table. I
also don't believe that the old "table," the one a
people have prior to the invasion of an alien power, is
necessarily the best thing either. If it was, no one could
have taken it away from them. No people have the market
cornered on goodness or foresight, intelligence, or
creativity. We have all had failures in our life systems. We
have all had some history of being power mongers even if it
was in another lifetime or previous era. Bad things just don't
happen without a reason. We attract them to ourselves, because
most of us have never known or experienced real power. I
believe that what we have known, what we have mostly
experienced as well as practiced, is the "will to
control." Power and control are two completely different
concepts. Power is grown from the inside-out, it is our life's
blood, it is the endless potential of the human spirit to
love__and it cannot be taken. It can only be given away,
either by a naivete that is based in some kind of shame or
guilt which is probably karmic.  Or, often we have a secret
admiration for those who attempt to enslave us. We respect the
conqueror in much the same way that people think the lion
should be respected, but not the gazelle, Tommy, or Impala it
preys upon.
   I'm just saying that in order to move forward, we have to
stop looking at the bad guy, making him the scapegoat for the
things we can't or won't face in ourselves. This does not
absolve him however. He's still wrong, wrong wrong! Render to
him his responsibility in our plight, but make our evaluation
of who we were at the time our "masters" arrived the
main aspect of our study. We can't change the bad guy. But, we
can change ourselves. No on can make a slave out of anyone who
doesn't truly believe in slavery, or who isn't already a slave
to something no matter how well that "something"
seemed to work for them at the time. Knowing what we're slaves
to helps us not to become slaves__ever again. To me, this
means taking the good of who we were before, and leaving the
rest. This will bring us, not what we had before, but
something better, something almost new.
   Furthermore, I don't believe you can follow those who
enslaved you in the first place, especially when they are
non-repentant, and what little relief you got you had to fight
for it.  I mean, no one said, Hey Red People, Hey Black
People, I'm sorry, and this is how I'm going to make amends.
NO. Anything we received, we had to fight hard for it, and
many died. They gave us nothing. If you have to fight for
justice from those who initially committed the crime, I can't
see that its wise or prudent to follow, not so much the people
(that too), but the philosophy which made such a thing
possible. A philosophy which is the foundation of America's
sociology, her politics.
   I feel as many Native Americans do, that the less I have to
do with the mainstream, the better. I have never fit in, and I
know today that this is a true blessing. I love to learn, but
I taught myself. I taught my children everything I learned,
and they have in turn become my teachers, and I am constantly
transformed and renewed by this exchange. But there is no
place in America for people who care deeply about something
other than money, position, and the power to control the fate
of others, who do not care to continue in a way that is no
good for them. I care deeply about what happens to my people,
but I don't believe I can really care about them and pattern
myself after a philosophy that kills.  Kills the earth, the
people, the animals, the very air we breathe, and eventually
batters the soul so badly that it takes more than one lifetime
to find it again. 
  I don't mean that the American soul, and her cross section
of races is any more barbaric than the souls of any other
nation, creed, race, etc. I don't think one race exists who
didn't do their share in bringing the condition of humankind
to its present state. But continuing to follow an obsolete
code of living and ethics is not the way to atone for that.
Departing from that mindset, that soul-condition, and the
resultant lifestyle is the only way to begin. Just because you
don't know what to do does not mean that you just do anything,
or the wrong thing. You have to learn about your soul, where
its been, where it is now, and where it is destined to go__if
you are willing to change what has gone wrong inside of you.
As you do this, you are departing from the aspects of our
present lifestyle that are toxic, and your soul can speak more
freely. It can connect to what I think you might call
"The Great Spirit," through dreams, visions, etc.
This allows you to know what your work must be in making the
dream of a new world come true.
   So, anyway, I guess its fair to say that maybe I'm in a
minority as far as what I believe is the correct path for
Blacks to take to create a quality life system. It's probably
also fair to say that I'm in a minority about what I believe
is a shared destiny between Native Americans and Black people.
 All I can say is that I feel very deeply that this is true.
So I'm going to hold on to that. Thank you so much for your
reply.
    
       

[Old Mouse]

3. you should also know

almost all African Americans have some American Indian blood. They were both commonly cross-bread as slave stock, so although there were very few American Indians per African American in the slave quarters, over the years the races were heavily mixed.

Most African Americans don't have enough percentage to legally become designated as an American Indian, but there odds are unless both of your parents were from Africa, you have America Indian DNA.

I'm 1/4 Cherokee...

[CountAllVotes]

4. I love Vine Deloria!

His book "God is Red" was finally reprinted after many years of being OOP. I think I was the first in line to get a new copy of it.

I very much agree with him and he has much wisdom I agree. :D