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MNN is Accused of Inciting Violence at Caledonia

MNN ACCUSED OF INCITING VIOLENCE AT CALEDONIA


MNN. July 4, 2006. MNN got an email from someone that our reporting of events is inciting white people in Caledonia to attack the Six Nations people at the reclaimed site, Kanenhstaton (the precious place). We reclaimed this stolen land on February 28, 2006. From our knowledge, it’s a small element in Caledonia which is attacking, rioting and threatening our people who have been lawful and peaceful throughout. The heavily armed Ontario Provincial Police launched a major violent invasions on us which we repelled. Since then organized rioters from the nearby town of Caledonia have constantly swarmed to our site and carried out organized attacks on us.

There are well-educated people of Caledonia who support us completely. They recently held a concert to raise money for our cause. They understand what we are doing and support the rule of law. We all want to live in a world where everyone is treated equally.

It is true, however, there is an element in Caledonia that is attracted to the KKK and other racist behavior. They’ve been raised to believe in “fighting those Injuns”. For the most part, we are constantly defending ourselves from them because we stood up for our rights. It is the same as a woman is not considered guilty of attacking a man when she refuses to be raped.

Some of these people have been conditioned to believe that they are superior to Indians. Their finding out we are all equal can cause a deep emotional disturbance for those at the bottom of the social heap. They are reacting to what they are told is a pressing injustice which they have been told is being perpetrated by the Indigenous people!. They can’t get used to the idea that everyone is equal, that we are all free, and that there is no top or bottom of the social ladder. There is no hierarchy except the one that’s artificially created and enforced at gunpoint.

This means they have to change the way they they’ve been conditioned to deal with us. They inflict violence because they don’t want to change the way they think of themselves. This is the greatest challenge for us Indigenous People. Do we all have to become shamans to cure these confused people? With all the craziness out there, that’s a tall order for us to take on. Shouldn’t they take responsibility for themselves? We aren’t going to continue to be Indigenous. They need to recondition themselves to this reality. Remember all that healing that we are supposed to be doing after all that abuse the non-natives inflicted on us? It’s the abusers, the white people, who need to be healed even more. At least we know we’ve been injured. White people don’t even know their own history.

These people have been conditioned to hate and fear the reality of who we are. They don’t mind us being killed off in the movies, romanticized in the books, or dancing and drumming at shopping centers or pow wows. Can they be cured of this sickness? One of the worst racists in the US like Governor Wallace of Alabama later on saw the error of his behavior and came to understand the social dynamic that had trapped him. They took off their KKK sheets and became friends with Black people. They sat down and talked together instead of sneaking around burning crosses like a bunch of scaredy-cats.

The non-native rioters of Caledonia have to recondition themselves, open up their eyes, clear their ears so they can see and hear. They need to clear their throats so that what comes out is the truth. It’s not easy because there is no mechanism to do this that’s acceptable in their society. The Canadian government makes a show of wringing its hands over the attacks by whites against Indigenous people. They target us by saying, “We won’t tolerate this violence by the Indigenous people”. Then they push the buttons and steam up the violence against us. Is it because they don’t know what to do, or do they know only too well what they’re doing? They get people with little experience and no depth of knowledge about us to charge in to do silly things, like pepper spraying, swinging baseball bats, making gun-shot like noises, throwing garbage at us, threatening to kill us, waving signs saying “Bring in the army” and shouting, “Kill the Indians”.

Why would the Canadian government facilitate the distribution of KKK flyers from Caledonia as happened in the Six Nations Post Office? Why would the Canadian government give grants to make these racist, disgusting, provocative signs? Compare them with those of the Six Nations which say, simply, “This is our land”. The Caledonians pushing native children out of sports arenas is part of this dynamic.

It shows how weak they are. They feel so threatened they can’t even see the olive branches we extend to them. MNN continually asks for “peace, peace, peace”. There has never been any incitement to riot and attack anyone.

What needs to happen for things to settle down? The Canadian government needs to talk to us on a nation-to-nation basis. The whites don’t have communication with their government. The government may or may not be conscious of what they are doing. Nonetheless, they are trying to enforce an old paradigm of domination/control and submission of their population. They don’t want their bad act to come to an end. While everyone in the world is working for peace, they do as much as they can to promote violence. Violence is an emotional reaction that comes before facing up to settling for peace.

Indigenous people learn at an early age to deal peacefully. Culturally, we Rotino’shon:ni/Iroquois must all have our say. We talk to each other, to our family, to our clans and to our community peacefully. For us it’s important to establish dialogue and do things together. When we meet non-natives, most people find us to be peaceful.

As an egalitarian society, we constantly find ourselves fighting against the hierarchical structure that is imbedded in every institution in Canada. We notice that this system makes people violent because of the iniquities of a few at the top getting everything and the rest at the bottom getting little.

One of the most important events put on by the Indigenous people to honor the land reclamation was the recent “Redstock” concert at Chiefswood. It was an outstanding success. It wasn’t covered by the press. It was free. Anyone could go to it. Many non-native people went. Those who want to make trouble in Caledonia stayed away. They did not know how to cope with the atmosphere of friendship that pervaded the grounds. They don’t know how to live in peace. They seem scared of something so simple as a picnic on the grass listening to native music.

How can non-natives learn to deal with their fear of us?

We’re still being repressed. For example, we are speaking our languages in our communities. If we speak them in public outside of our communities, some non-native people become uncomfortable. They think we are witches and demons. Then all kinds of things happen to us out of the clear blue sky.

We have been so subjected to racism all of our lives that we can look people in the eye and respond to their taunts in a calm way. This reminds me of a time when my grandchildren and I want to the SPCA in Vancouver to adopt a cat. Our non-native landlord came with us. Hearing me speak in Mohawk to the children, the worker made excuses not to give us a cat. My friend overheard the helper telling the worker to make sure that we were refused a cat. She expressed racism that we have become accustomed to. She even said that the landlord might not approve. My friend told them she was the landlord and did approve. That’s when they called the police, who arrived and refused to investigate. Eventually we were forced to leave. My 5 year old granddaughter asked me, “Isn’t there any place in Vancouver where a Mohawk can get a cat?” Both my friend, who got furious, and my granddaughter learned that day that there is no protection from racism in Canada.

We can’t force anyone to change. Can the people in Caledonia who are awake influence their anti-native neighbors who are asleep?

Are the racists in a trance? They can’t seem to see the truth with their own eyes. They seem to be full of ghosts and fantasies. As such, they are dangerous. People with fantasies have killed many native people in the past. So far no one has been killed in Caledonia. Canadian government agencies are continuing to finance and press all the racism and hatred buttons they have pushed in past circumstances, such as in Chateauguay and Oka. There is a very real danger that things could degenerate. The cops have not been arresting the non-native people who have committed violence against us. They have been ignoring our peaceful efforts and using the media to criminalize us, calling us hoods, thugs and terrorists. This is sanctioned from the highest level of their hierarchic government. The strategy is to use their people at the lower levels of their social structures as a weapon against us.

If they really want to avoid violence in this situation, if they truly want a peaceful solution and a transition to a harmonious relationship with Indigenous people, Canada must find a way to reassure their own people. They should stop them from taking out their insecurities on us.

The government needs to act as role models instead of rattling their sabers and giving us ultimatums. Conspicuously missing from their ultimatum has been any declaration that anyone who attacks an Indian will be arrested. In fact, their behavior at the site has shown that public misbehavior by non-natives against Indians will be tolerated by the state.

Also conspicuously absent have been public meetings on a nation-to-nation basis. Canada is treating us as if we were their subjects, rather than their equal allies.

We don’t know what kind of training their diplomats have. Perhaps if they consulted their Department of Foreign Affairs, they might get better advice on how to handle their people in such situations. They are setting a bad example by treating us as subject. They’d be setting a better example if they treated us as equals.


Kahentinetha Horn, MNN Mohawk Nation News
www.mohawknationnews.com, kahentinetha2@yahoo.com

posted by Annamarie at 11:45 PM