10/12/2021
Beautiful poem and thoughts to celebrate Indigenous People's day today. A good day for our country.
In the U.S., Oct. 11, 2021 is the first nation-wide “Indigenous Peoples Day,” as established by Presidential Proclamation. https://tinyurl.com/4x4a9xjb
Poet Joy Harjo speaks powerfully from the indigenous experience in the U.S. A member of the Muscogee Nation, she’s now serving her third term as U.S. Poet Laureate, the first Native American to hold that honor. https://tinyurl.com/2kbha4mp Today’s nation-wide commemoration aims to lift up and honor Native American peoples, cultures, and histories. So here’s a Harjo poem in praise of life...
The day also gives white Americans a chance to reflect on how we live our lives in a nation that was animated by democratic ideals AND by the evil of racist violence that led to genocide and slavery. Idealism and evil are still contending in this land. It’s an open question as to which one will win the next round.
At a time when white supremacist terrorism is our leading domestic threat, a former U.S. president and his enablers continue waging a campaign against the growing power of people of color—and in support of insurrectionists. This is a campaign against democracy itself. Those who wage it want to insure that an excessive share of power and wealth will remain in white hands, no matter the outcome of a democratic election. If that roils your mind and heart as it roils mine, I say good. That’s part of what a day like this is meant to do.
But now, read Harjo’s beautiful poem again. See how a poet who speaks from a history of injustice and suffering is able to transcend despair, mounting up “with wings like eagles” to gain perspective and say “we must take the utmost care/and kindness in all things.”
Those of us who care about democracy and wish to be kind to ALL of “We the People” must say a loud and clear NO to the millions who cling to the Big Lie that the 2020 election was marked by massive fraud. There is zero evidence for their claim because the Big Lie is not driven by facts. It is driven by the selfsame white supremacy that drove genocide against indigenous peoples.
A clear NO to ugly lies is the form caring and kindness must take if truth is ever to set us free. Then and only then we will walk “in beauty, in beauty.”
[“Eagle Poem” from Joy Harjo, “In Mad Love and War.” You can see all of Harjo's books at https://tinyurl.com/yty9bbza.]
