To All My Relations...

Memorial (author unknown)

Recently this country marked the third anniversary of the terrorist
attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. I keep hearing that this
was the worst terrorist attack to happen in this country, but while my
heart goes out to the dead, their families and those who are forever
scared by these events, there have been millions of people murdered in this country by terrorists.

It would be impossible for me to list all of the acts of terror our
People have faced, but I want to mention a few of them because our
People are also worthy of remembrance.

You won't find many monuments to these, the unquiet dead. But their
bones and blood make up the soil where your shopping centers and
highways now stand. Where is their memorial? It is in the  hearts of
those who remember.

Today I remember:   The thousands of Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Seminole & Chickasaw People who suffered untold agony during the forced removal from their homelands in the 1830's. Innocent men, women and little children perished in concentration camps or froze and starved to death on the Trail Where They Cried.

The  90 women and children who died in the Bear River Massacre in
southeastern Idaho.

The 200 Cheyenne men, women and children who were slain at Sand Creek in eastern Colorado by the US Cavalry led by  Col John Chivington, a Methodist minister who ordered his men to "Kill and scalp all, big and little; nits make lice."

The 200 murdered Blackfeet women and children who died at Maries River in northern Montana and  the other 140 People who were left to freeze to death in the January cold.

The 103 Cheyenne women and children who were butchered on the Washita River in western Oklahoma.

The 200 to 300 Sioux who were slaughtered under a flag of truce at
Wounded Knee, South Dakota.

The 500 Sauk and Fox Indians led by Black Hawk who were massacred by militia forces while trying to negotiate a surrender.

The Yuki's and other tribes of Indians in California whose populations
declined from 11,000 to less than 1000 because white men wanted the land to search for gold. Organized Indian hunts were held on Sundays and our People were killed for sport.

The little children who were kidnapped from their homes and forced to
attned BIA schools. Many of them died alone and lie in unmarked graves.

From the small pox, measles, typhoid, cholera, diphtheria, TB, and VD
epidemics brought to us by the white invaders to the continued genocide still being waged against us, we know about terrorism.

And I remember.



All My Relations

by Ulali

To our Elders who teach us of our Creator and our past so that we may preserve Mother Earth for ancestors yet to come. We are the land. This is dedicated to our relations before us thousands of years ago and the 10 million who were exterminated across the Western hemisphere in the first 400 years starting in 1492. To those who kept their homeland and the Nations extinct due to mass slaughter, slavery, deportation and diseases unknown to them and to the ones who are subjected to the same treatment today.

To the ones who survived relocation and the ones who died along the way. To those who carried on the traditions and lived strong among their people.

To those who left their communities by force or by choice and for
generations who no longer know who they are. To those who search and never find. To those who turn away the so called "unaccepted."

To those who bring us together and those living outside keeping in
touch....the voice of many. To those who make it back to live and fight
the struggles of their people.

To those who give up and to those who do not care. To those who abuse themselves or others and to those who revive again.

To those who are physically, mentally, or spiritually incapable by
accident or by birth.

To those who see strength in our spirit and ways of life. And those who exploit it... even our own. To those who fall for the lies and join the dividing lines that keep us fighting among each other.

To the outsiders who step in, good or bad and those who don't know
better. To the leaders and prisoners of war, politics, crime, race and
religion...innocent or guilty...

To the young, the old, the living and the dead. To our brothers and
sisters and all living things across Mother Earth and her beauty we've
destroyed and denied the honor the Creator has given each
individual...The Truth lies in our hearts...

... All My Relations