Message Her

Join OkCupid

Find better matches with our advanced matching system

—% Match —% Friend —% Enemy

ode_to_fantasy_

29 / F / Bisexual / Seeing someone

Portland, Oregon

Her journal posts

um...Thanksgiving?

Nov 26, 2008

Today I'm thinking about what it means to be a Native American on Thanksgiving day. This holiday is a reminder of the theft of our lands and the genocide of our people. Now, I'm not one of those "Let's take our land back!" people, but this really is a day of mourning. I can be thankful though. That's what it's all about, right? I can be thankful that a remnant of a remnant of my people have survived. I can be thankful that, in Alaska, you can finally own land with "an Indian name". I can be thankful that I don't live on my reservation anymore, so that I don't have to be slapped in the face every day with the oppression and the level to which my people have fallen. I can be thankful that, though there are plenty of Natives who feel that things should be handed to them on a silver platter because of the atrocities done to their ancestors, there are some who are striving to do what they can to make their children's lives better and for them to have more freedom. I can be thankful that we have a non-white man in the White House FINALLY. I can be thankful that I'm alive.
Today I'm thinking about what it means to be a Native American onThanksgiving day. This holiday is a reminder of the theft of ourlands and the genocide of our people. Now, I'm not one of those"Let's take our land back!" people, but this really is a day ofmourning. I can be thankful though. That's what it's all about,right? I can be thankful that a remnant of a remnant of my peoplehave survived. I can be thankful that, in Alaska, you can finallyown land with "an Indian name". I can be thankful that I don't liveon my reservation anymore, so that I don't have to be slapped inthe face every day with the oppression and the level to which mypeople have fallen. I can be thankful that, though there are plentyof Natives who feel that things should be handed to them on asilver platter because of the atrocities done to their ancestors,there are some who are striving to do what they can to make theirchildren's lives better and for them to have more freedom. I can bethankful that we have a non-white man in the White House FINALLY. Ican be thankful that I'm alive.
um...Thanksgiving?
An image of ekimmu I hate this catch-22 situation. Yeah, the white man killed the Indians for land, but it's not like the Indians were doing anything with it...except worshiping holes in the ground and whatnot.

I wonder what America would be like if the white man never arrived here. I bet it would be a lot like Africa. Unstable and under developed nation states, with deep underlying tribal systems, slavery, and just as much greed as is present in the white world. None of that colors of the wind shit.

In fact, it'd probably a hell of a lot worse than Africa, since it wouldn't have the rich religious history binding multiple ethnicities together.

ekimmu commented on Nov 27, 2008

An image of Twilight_candle You make a really good point, Ekimmu. I mean, who has the right to mind their own business, worship the way hey want, and live a life outside of enslavement? It is a good thing the Native Americans had someone come on over and civilize them, right? And it costed next to nothing. What's a few tens of tribes, sometimes numbering in the thousands, being wiped off the face of the earth and history? We should all be grateful for the white man's burden, right? And it is a good thing the European powers did not fuck up Africa with enslavement, rape, robbery, genocide, and then ignorant people believe it has always been that way, because that would be a jackass thing to say without fully knowing history.

Twilight_candle commented on Nov 27, 2008

An image of ekimmu I never said the Indians deserved what happened to them. I merely implied the western hemisphere would be a shithole if they weren't conquered.

Not sure why you brought up Africa...I guess since we're picking on whitey, we might as well go for the nuts, right?

ekimmu commented on Nov 27, 2008

An image of Twilight_candle I did not bring up Africa, YOU brought up Africa, I merely commented on your remark. And you justified what happened in the founding of this nation, and genocide was a primary reality. And it has nothing to do with, "Picking on whitey", as you so poetically put it. You are the one spouting off lines or "implying", akin to the "White Man's Burden".

Twilight_candle commented on Nov 27, 2008

An image of ekimmu I only compared a hypothetical modern Native American continent to the instability of modern Africa. I didn't make any judgment calls about Africa or the Europeans who colonized it, you did. Nor did I justify Europeans killing the Native Americans.

What I'm saying is that what the Europeans did is HUMAN nature, not WHITE nature. It just happened that the whites were far superior in terms of technology and societal organization, so they were the ones who came out on top. While racism was a factor, European imperialism speaks far more about human nature. After all, the Native Americans were conquered for land, not because they were red. Africa was colonized and exploited because of resources, not because of race. Native Americans and Africans did the same thing on much smaller scales within their own ethnic realms. So concentrating on how evil whitey is just seems to me to be worthless political correctness.

Again, what the Europeans did wasn't justified or right or moral. Rather, it was human.

ekimmu commented on Nov 27, 2008

An image of Twilight_candle I really do hate to burst your lovely world view, but yes, the Native Americnas, not indians by the way, were conquored for land, but also because they were viewed as inferior and less then human because they were not Europeans. The same went with the Africans, who were viewed as less then human compared to their murderers. And no this is not a bash the European thing, it is about truth of history. The Japanese did similar things to the Ainu people, so no racism is not a White only thing. What I am saying, is that it sounds to me like you were justifying it all.

Twilight_candle commented on Nov 27, 2008

An image of coolmemory Based on this dialogue, I'd say someone should seriously consider spending less time playing video games while smoking pot and spend more time actually reading about the horrible consequences of European colonization of, well, pretty much every continent on Earth. Actually, I'd just be happy with reading, period. Ya know, ekimmu (or shall I just call you "troll"), if you spent a fraction of a second reading your own posts, you'd realize how deep you stuck your foot in your mouth. Seriously, what a nightmare if you actually intend to be a teacher, of all things. I'd call it ironic if it weren't so sad. You really should see the world sometime.

coolmemory commented on Sep 6, 2009

An image of thehappyewok This is why I completely avoid Thanksgiving... if only we just weren't so nice to the Pilgrims... :P

thehappyewok commented on Oct 18, 2011

I see both sides on the thanksgiving issue. I had ancestors on the Mayflower-and more ancestors that were among indigenous peoples. I'd suggest that what happened in the Americas wasn't really the expression of Europeans in general-but a pretty small subset of Europeans. Rather few Europeans ever got on a ship or had anything to say in the whole colonial process. Europeans have had far from a monopoly on genocide. Just ask the Tibetans-or the pygmies-or the Kalahari Bushmen. One meta question here: How what conditions really lead to mutually advantageous cooperation? As the world gets smaller-that question becomes steadily more important.

A former user commented on May 11, 2012

I see both sides on the thanksgiving issue. I had ancestors on the Mayflower-and more ancestors that were among indigenous peoples. I'd suggest that what happened in the Americas wasn't really the expression of Europeans in general-but a pretty small subset of Europeans. Rather few Europeans ever got on a ship or had anything to say in the whole colonial process. Europeans have had far from a monopoly on genocide. Just ask the Tibetans-or the pygmies-or the Kalahari Bushmen. One meta question here: How what conditions really lead to mutually advantageous cooperation? As the world gets smaller-that question becomes steadily more important.

A former user commented on May 11, 2012

I see both sides on the thanksgiving issue. I had ancestors on the Mayflower-and more ancestors that were among indigenous peoples. I'd suggest that what happened in the Americas wasn't really the expression of Europeans in general-but a pretty small subset of Europeans. Rather few Europeans ever got on a ship or had anything to say in the whole colonial process. Europeans have had far from a monopoly on genocide. Just ask the Tibetans-or the pygmies-or the Kalahari Bushmen. One meta question here: How what conditions really lead to mutually advantageous cooperation? As the world gets smaller-that question becomes steadily more important.

A former user commented on May 11, 2012