Write Lightning is a blog from writer Deb Thompson.
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Everyone is welcome here.
(Some links or topics may not be completely kid-appropriate.)
Mon, Mar 24 2008
Lakotahs invite the U.S. to listen up
Some of the Lakota folks in the vicinity of South Dakota (and portions of surrounding states) have had it with colonial rule. They've declared independence. They wish to be known as Republic of Lakota.
I don't pretend to know the first thing about the Lakota way of life, but I know that we have plenty of silly, outdated laws in localities that seem to get left on the books. There are still rules on where to tie up horses at a trough, where one may and may not chew tobacco and spit, what one may and may not sell between certain hours on Sundays. These silly laws, if nothing else, show that it's time for new dialogue on old rules. The world is a very different place from the one it was when newer immigrants made treaties with indigenous peoples. What would be the harm in at least sitting down together and taking a second look at something that obviously isn't working for the good of all citizens? It seems sad that we have to come to a place where people feel a need to secede from their own country in order to be recognized as worthy of notice and negotiation.
Reservations are little more than the concentration camps we deemed so disgusting a couple of generations ago. They're no longer, if they ever were, a reasonable answer to living and working in a free U.S.
posted at: 07:13 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
Some of the Lakota folks in the vicinity of South Dakota (and portions of surrounding states) have had it with colonial rule. They've declared independence. They wish to be known as Republic of Lakota.
I don't pretend to know the first thing about the Lakota way of life, but I know that we have plenty of silly, outdated laws in localities that seem to get left on the books. There are still rules on where to tie up horses at a trough, where one may and may not chew tobacco and spit, what one may and may not sell between certain hours on Sundays. These silly laws, if nothing else, show that it's time for new dialogue on old rules. The world is a very different place from the one it was when newer immigrants made treaties with indigenous peoples. What would be the harm in at least sitting down together and taking a second look at something that obviously isn't working for the good of all citizens? It seems sad that we have to come to a place where people feel a need to secede from their own country in order to be recognized as worthy of notice and negotiation.
Reservations are little more than the concentration camps we deemed so disgusting a couple of generations ago. They're no longer, if they ever were, a reasonable answer to living and working in a free U.S.
posted at: 07:13 | category: /Politics | link to this entry
