Rock Creek Park by Dr. Jeffrey Fearing (c) 1990
Greetigs Asiba here
Sekwunanit
In the Spirit of Spring
Happy new year! Spring is the season that begins a new year. It is a time for celebrating new beginnings, new life and new hope. The planted seeds will germinate and begin to grow in the womb of Mother Earth as the warmth from Father Sky enfolds her and the rain moistens her. In the days of our ancestors, there were gatherings and meetings of the people to see who survived the cold winter. These meetings are Katamu Sekwun or in English, Spring Meetings held in June. They are happy reunions (sometimes). During Sekwun, it is also the time of the Strawberry Moon. Our gatherings are loaded with lots of food made with strawberries! Even the leaves. When dried, strawberry leaves make a good tea. Strawberry tea is good for women’s health especially during her moon time (menstruation). I never met a strawberry pie or slice of strawberry bread I didn’t like. Here’s to our new hope and another chance to rededicate ourselves to well being, joy health and life!
Wanatowush Sekwunanit
Blessings in the Spirit of Spring
Happy New Year!
Thank you for visiting!
Greetings all my relations
In the midst of all the madness, many of us are doing the work to witness, research, document, fact check, connect and support each other in the spirit of resistance. This is great. But things seem blocked. It’s as if we’re standing by as one atrocity after another blows up. Why?
We will need to be clear about what is blocking us from stopping it, not just protesting it, but stopping it.
Let me ask you this:
Ok, I’m your teenager coming home late, curfew is blown. You ask what happened. I tell you, “Don’t bother me - its too complicated.” Far be it from me to judge parenting styles and goodness knows they vary, but would you be ok with “It’s complicated - don’t bother me”?
Or, how about this, you and I are married. While going over our bills, you notice a hotel charge on our credit card statement. You ask me about it, I snap back, “You have a mean nasty attitude! You better watch your mouth. Just pay the bill and don’t come at me like that again” - and then you get slapped.
You’d be ok with that?
How about this, you and I belong to a charity that raises funds for groups in need. The membership decides where to donate the money. I’m the treasurer. However, instead of depositing the money in the bank, I go shopping The members call a meeting about the missing money. My response is, “If it wasn’t for me, this group would be broke! ! You’re a bunch of losers! I do all the work! You know it, I know it, everybody knows it. I’m being treated very unfairly and I just might quit if you don’t leave me alone”
How would that sit with you as a member? Would you beg me to stay?
How about this - we are out with some friends. I was supposed to be the designated driver but I let you all know that I’m gonna have a drink. But I’ve had one too many. When its time to go home, I tell everybody shut up and get in the car. I’m fine. Everyone now finds themselves in the car driven by my drunk ass and we are heading toward a cliff.
Would you have followed my order to get in the car? A responsible parent would correct a disrespectful teenage mouth. Normal people would expect to hold someone in a position of trust to account - you don’t go shopping with the organization’s money! That’s theft, its a crime. Quit? Don’t let the door hit you. Dismissed. Resolved. But what if the members can’t stop the criminal treasurer from going shopping again?
What is it that rearranges the reality of a bruise? Your face kept jumping up and hitting my fist! What gets in the way of taking action? Have a meeting? An oversight hearing? Be it resolved! We don’t think you are a very nice person!
Why can’t America stop the maniacal felon from taking a wrecking ball to the country (such as it is)?
And by the way, some might feel that America needs time to stop abuse. It takes time to adjudicate law suits. We must wait for election day to oust bad actors and criminals in power. Well just remember - America collectively moves, jump starts and abruptly ends things when it wants to.
Colin Kaepernick took a knee in protest of injustice and lost his career. No act of Congress. No legal action. Poof! American sensibilities were ‘offended’ and he was untouchable. Frank Wills wasn’t even protesting, he was just doing his job as a security guard when he discovered an office break-in at the Watergate Hotel. Instead of being hailed and recognized as a hero, he was fired, his life forever changed. Think about this, how long would it have taken for President Obama to have been ejected from office had he been convicted of 34 felonies. A parking ticket? How fast would Obama be out? The answer to why America is helplessly trapped in a car with a drunk driver again lies in that hypocritical and morbidly repeated contradiction.
The collective failure to stop the abuse is the severed cord of the people’s authority. The hallmark of being conditioned to systemic oppression is being immobilized, voiceless, and invisible in the face of danger, harm, and perversions.
When an entity based on a relationship of trust continues to be violated with no recourse, its meaning is compromised. Its a fraud. A big elaborate wedding is not the same thing as a healthy marriage. Romantic bouquets of roses don’t wipe away a back hand slap. Fireworks on the 4th of July, flag waving, parades, medals, plaques, honors and oaths might ignite the hype but it doesn’t define nor uphold the integrity of an authentic democracy.
Would you ask your neighbor if you could borrow your car? Of course not. You are the owner with the authority to drive it. A true Democracy is owned by the people and therefore the authority. That authority is supposed to be empowered by its rule of law that protects the republic. America is nowhere near that and never was nor was it ever intended to be.
Democracy just can’t be flipped on like a light switch when convenient. The discipline, stamina and dedication to its meaning is required and it must be consistent, not convenient. If not, a dangerous, toxic and deadly vacuum results.
The underlying problem is that America is on stolen land. It is a matter of fact. And its not as if this fact isn’t bad enough, it is the morbid process by which the crime has been repeatedly committed, covered up and maintained. The cumulative effect has defined the American rationale, its esteem, its personality, and its method of existence. It has resulted in the mental and psychological condition to be immobilized, imprisoned and gagged.
Instead of heading off abuses or immediately putting it to a stop at the outset, (which is ‘supposed to be’ upheld by the rule of law), the habit is to chase the confusion, destruction, chaos and vicious outcomes that result. The American mindset does not seem to be able to ‘just say no’. Because domination is a perverted falsehood, the ever present spirit of human goodness continues to arise through our resistance and outrage.
Before any lasting change can occur, before any reconsideration of who we are is to happen, before the fruits of our resistance can kick in, there must be an unconditional confrontation and understanding of what’s in front of us. Stolen land is not a collection of past event. It is the psychopathy of an ongoing process. One individual will not last forever, but all that came before will endure and another situation will manifest. If we don’t undo the head trip that got us here, everything will repeat.
Which brings me to ask, what happens in the aftermath of the current disaster? What does recovery look like? Will America have the mindset to make the needed changes for a true democracy? How will our identity be defined and by what authority?
I believe that we as a human species have the innate ability to survive by our natural DNA to care for each other. I’m not trying to be sappy here, it is a matter of our biological structure or else we would not have survived as a species. It’s what we do - ever heard of someone running into a burning building to save people they don’t even know?
We have a built in sense of justice and altruism. That is why children who naturally share and interact have to be groomed to behave by the codes of oppression. They then become conditioned to accept the assigned identities that uphold oppression (objects of class, gender, race, property, etc).
We naturally have everything we need to end oppression and for the first time, build an authentic democracy. But we have work to do. Detox, unlearn and end systemic oppression.
Piwokan ninuwukwame
Take good care my people
Thank you for visiting Spirit of January
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Asiba
Matinecoc Nation
Confront oppression
All it takes is a change of mind
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Rock Creek Park by photographer Dr. Jeffrey J. Fearing appeared on the very first issue of my print newsletter, “The Spirit of January Monthly” in 1990. Rock Creek Park is in Washington, DC where we both attended Howard University in the late 60’s. It was a golden time at a phenomenal institution where I met Jeff, a friend for life, Nemot - my brother. I am honored to share this photograph once again 30 years later.