How To Keep a People

How to Keep a People Under Their Thumb
~ J. Searching Wolf

In 1824 the government of the United States of America created an organization called the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Did they do this for the benefit of the Native American Indian? No, they did not. They created the BIA to keep Native people divided and unable to join as one people. The BIA state on their website that their mission is “to enhance the quality of life, promote economic opportunity and to carry out the responsibility to protect and improve the trust assets of American Indians, Tribes and Alaska Natives.” But is this true or is it more government crap to cover-up what they really are?

Let’s first look at the Bureau’s rules for being ‘a Native American.’

“All portions of the Request for Certificate of Degree of Indian or Alaska Native Blood (CDIB) must

be completed. You must show your relationship to an individual Indian listed on an Indian census

roll, tribal base roll, Indian judgment fund distribution roll (Roll) that includes Indian blood degrees,

or other document prepared and approved by the Secretary of the Interior (Secretary), or his/her

authorized representative.”

So first you have to PROVE that you had a member of your family that was on an official documented roll? What if your great grandparents, grandparents or parents were never documented out of fear of being herded away from their Tribal lands or hunted down like animals? Oh I guess even if your people were here since 10,000 BC you don't count because the U.S. government did not document you. Wait! Is that the “I'm more Native than you” chant I hear?

You also have to be acknowledged by a federally recognized tribe. One thing I have learned is that most tribes who are recognized will not recognize individuals who live off reservation. So...you have to live on a Rez to be ‘recognized’ as well. Sounds more like trying to keep us in one area, kind of like a concentration camp, doesn't it?

You always hear about how Tribes are petitioning to be recognized by the BIA and then get declined. In Connecticut the Schaghticoke Indian Tribe has been trying to get recognized for a few years. But local cities have petitioned the BIA not to allow them to gain recognition and it’s working. So no matter what proof you have some wasicu city government can say no, no, no and the BIA listens. Wait I thought the BIA was for our people, not the white people. Sorry - my mistake.

What does the Bureau of Indian Affairs really stand for? It should be Bureau of Indian Oppression instead. Let’s face it. You can’t say your there to help our people and then work hard to keep us down and separated. I have no love for those Native Americans who work there because they are part of the bigger problem. Yes they are my brothers and sisters. But they remind me of the Mohegans of the North East. They work for the wasicu to hunt down the other tribes so that they get all the bonuses and privileges of being on the English side of the battle.

On and on it continues. Since1492, when the Europeans landed on our shores and said, to quote Native American comedian Joe Hill, “drink this ..sign this...move there.” Our so called BIA is supposed to protect us and aid us. However, if you can't prove your blood quantum because your ancestors never were documented, and you don't live on a recognized rez, then the government has the right to tell you that you are not Native American? Does this seem right to you?

I can give a personal example to you. My family has been in Maine for Creator knows how long. They came down from Arcadia and the Mi'kmaq homelands at some point, but we don't know a specific year. An old story of the family goes on about how our tribe was rounded up and placed on a boat to Louisiana. When they were off the shore of North Carolina, one of my ancestors and two of his friends jumped ship and swam to shore, then walked back to Maine and stayed in central Maine. Do you really think at that point they wanted to be documented? Tell you what. None of the tribe that grew from them or my family wanted to be documented. Even my mom says it is a bunch of crap as did my grandfather and great grandfather. So we remain undocumented Native Americans. There is no way some pencil pushing lackey who is kissing the governments ass is going to tell me I am not a Native American.

Remember Lord Cornwallis and the Greater Massachusetts Bay Colony? 100 pounds (English currency) for the head of a Native American Male, 50 pounds for a Native Woman, 50 pounds for a Native Child and 150 pounds for a Pregnant Native American Woman. This is why they wanted them registered so they could find us easier and the Mercs they hired could kill us easier. Think back to Groton and the real Thanksgiving. Even after Cornwallis rescinded the order, they did not bother to inform the Mercenaries or the raiders who were hunting our people. So it continued on and on.

Now here is my thought as to why they do this. Simple and direct, it keeps our people separated and not one people with one voice. Imagine if we had a leader like Jessie Jackson or even Al Sharpton, in our corner yelling and raising hell...but we don't. So what should we do? We have got to start making the drums louder. Forget the BIA. They are useless and are a bunch of puppets to the government who as we all well know you cannot trust. We need to band together as one people. One of the joys of the Internet and technology is that we can do this now.

I don't really care if you are only a sixteenth Native, you still have the blood in your veins. To look at me with my brown hair and grey eyes, you would not realize I am Native well except for the skin tone and high cheek bones. What can I say; I come from the people of the land of the dawn the Mi'kmaq who were constantly raided by vikings, aka dragon men, and European men fishing for cod on the Maine and Nova Scotia coast. Hollywood makes everyone think all Natives have black hair and dark eyes; another stereotype.

People of the blood, let us not be oppressed anymore by the BIA and the government.

Let’s all unite

Make the thunder roll

Make the drums louder

and all together as one people yell

RED POWER.


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