> From: "Suzanne veaudry" <VEAUDRY@nwf.org>
> To: <grns-ga-forum@judi.greens.org>
> Subject: Thanksgiving perspective
>
> Thanksgiving: A National Day of Mourning for Indians
> by Moonanum James and Mahtowin Munro
<......>
> Can we give thanks as we remember Native political prisoner Leonard
> Peltier, who was framed up by the FBI and has been falsely imprisoned since
> 1976? Despite mountains of evidence exonerating Peltier and the proven
> misconduct of federal prosecutors and the FBI, Peltier has been denied a
> new trial. Bill Clinton apparently does not feel that particular pain and
> has refused to grant clemency to this innocent man.
Obtain a videotape copy of an old PBS Frontline documentary about the
Indian tribe our West whose oil/gas-rich land was stolen from them by our
government, who tried unsuccesfully to get their state's politicians to
get it back for them, who were advised to make a donation to Clinton's
re-election campaign. They donated about 1/2 million dollars, against the
advice of their tribe's treasurer. After Clinton was elected they pursued
their case through Clinton's aides and were told, essentially, "that was
just lunch money" and that they needed to hire one or more professional
Washington lobbyists to press their case in the "proper" channels within
the Beltline. A lawyer who was recommended to them, that they eventually
hired (at 60-90K$/mo), saw 'em comin'. He already had a contract drawn up
giving himself a percentage (I think 10-15%) of the profits from sales of
oil or gas from their land, should he get it back for them. I have not
heard what eventually happened in this case. I wonder if Clinton offered
to return their contribution, which at the time was all they had in the
tribe's bank account, profits from one single casino on reservation land.
Does anyone know any more about this? Maybe the PBS website has an update
- I probably should have looked before posting this.
> To Native people, the case of Peltier is one more ordeal in a litany of
> wrongdoings committed by the U.S. government against us.
See above.
> Or perhaps we are expected to give thanks for the war that is being waged
> by the Mexican government against Indigenous peoples there, with the
> military aid of the U.S. in the form of helicopters and other equipment?
Chiapas.
> The myth of Thanksgiving, served up with dollops of European superiority
> and manifest destiny, just does not work for many people in this country.
> As Malcolm X once said about the African-American experience in America,
> "We did not land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us." Exactly.
He also said something to the effect that the group of people African
Americans needed to worry most about were white liberals.
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