I found this on-line and it is quite provocative. It is not about my home or my people but it makes me think about the essence and nature of tribal leadership. The tribal, the native way of leading and being led is completely different than that of American society's. Sovereignty allows us to chose our own methods to remedy the social ills afflicting our people, so when we choose western methodologies and beliefs and begin applying them to issues, we are not acting as sovereigns. We have to quit hanging around the fort, as Roy C. would say...
The opiate for the masses
by Frank John King III
Columnist
I remember a while back when the hog plant issue was just starting
out, a councilman stood up and said, "Pigs are sacred to the Lakota
people".
He made this statement to justify the project when a few college
students stood before the council and said the land is sacred and
shouldn't be polluted with this project.
If there is one lesson that can be learned in this statement it's that
many times tribal council will do anything to hide or justify
political agendas even if it means making a mockery out of our
culture.
Time and time again our sacred Pipe, traditional religion, heritage
and ceremonies have been used to blind the people from the truth by
tribal council. They use our culture to control the people with spiritual
misinterpretations that clearly have nothing to do with reality.
They drug the tribal masses with the opiate of lies and deceit to hide
their corruption and malfeasance.
I have always said that no man is above the sacred Pipe, no man, and
yet today we still have tribal political figures who say they are
above everyone else, including the Pipe. They string along their
bought-and-paid-for spiritual leaders who will do anything and say
anything to keep them in
power.
Our Lakota religion is constantly being abused and misused by our own
people. I have heard stories about how unsuspecting followers are
sexually and financially taken advantage of by Lakota spiritual
leaders all across my reservation. These men lust for this god power
like the cult leader Jim Jones when he ordered all his followers to
commit mass suicide.
These self-proclaimed Lakota spiritual leaders are the biggest fakers
on our lands. They have no idea what our religion is about and know
that many tribal members are also in the same boat so they figure
whatever they say about religion, truth or not, can be used against
the people.
One man stood up in front of the university board on my reservation,
after they fired the university president for justifiable reasons, and
said, "Your children will suffer because you fired this man."
This has to be the biggest load of c-- I have ever heard and the
greatest insult of our Lakota traditions next to the "Pigs are sacred"
statement. But this abuse of our Lakota heritage happens all the time
because our people have learned not to respect our heritage.
You don't hear them say, "Jesus will kill your children" because they
are too afraid to use the name of Jesus in vain.
Our spiritual leaders on the Rosebud reservation involved with this
political issue are making a laughing stock out of our tribe. They are
abusing the culture with their lame statements. They are attacking the
people with their threats of spells and witchcraft as if our culture
could harm children if people don't obey them and their misleading
intentions. They use our traditions to drug the people into confusion.
I truly believe that a tyrant on any reservation will do anything to
stay in power even if that means abusing the culture of our people to
do so.
Today I don't believe in any of these medicine men on my reservation,
except for a couple and you know who you are. I believe many of these
cult leaders are scammers, fooling American Indians and non-Indians
alike to gratify their lust for sex, drugs, money and political power.
I am ashamed of them and what comes out of their mouths when they act
like spiritual leaders while they hide their true selves behind their
mask of deceit. They are play toys for the corrupt tribal leaders to
use against the people as a tool of oppression.
If our history has taught us anything, it's that we will always have
sellouts, thieves, ethnic abusers and cult leaders amongst us. But
when it comes down to it, it's the people who hold the true power on
our reservations. Our people are our greatest resource and if we truly
want to change our reservations into something better then we must
include every single tribal member in this change.
No one man is above the people and no one spiritual leader can harm
the nation with his lies and abuse of the Lakota ways when we as a
nation call on him to prove his power, a power no man has.
I will say this. Don't believe the c... that comes out of the
spiritual leaders' mouths if they are aligned with corruption because
when a forensic audit is conducted reality will set in and the money
trail will show every one the truth about who is abusing the people.
If there is to be accountability, then we must hold those responsible
for corruption accountable, without mercy and without compassion.
If sovereignty is what we want, then along with the sovereignty comes
responsibility. If your relatives are stealing from the tribe then it
is their choice, not anyone else's and they must pay for the crime
like any other criminal.
The people can free themselves from the prison of the mind and when
this happens our nations will be reborn. We do this by understanding
the reality and power of the Great Spirit and sacred Pipe and condemn
those who abuse our culture for political gain.
Editor's note: Opinions expressed are not necessarily those of the
Standing Stone Media Inc., publishers of Indian Country Today.
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