THE APPLES HAVE IT . . .

There is an ill wind blowing in the Native American Camp today, a wind that could ultimately accomplish what the Pony Soldier's guns and bullets failed to do over one-hundred years ago... total submission of the Red Race to the White Man's greed!

It all started innocently enough... Native Americans asked their federal lawmakers to pass a law against those who were advertising "Authentic" or "Genuine" Indian items which, in actuality, were about as "authentic" as a three-dollar bill! Many of these items were manufactured in Taiwan or Japan or some other nation known for cheap and quick manufacture. The lawmakers agreed, and drafted and passed "The Indian Arts and Crafts Act of 1990" (P.L. 101-644)

This, for once, was a good law! It finally makes it illegal to sell "Authentic Indian Peace Pipes"{made by a machine in Taiwan} or "Hand-crafted Indian pottery made by Chief Yahoo of the Never-Was-One Pueblo"{plaster of paris from Japan}. You get the idea... you've seen this junk.

What happened next was a bunch of "Native American Craftsman" found a way to work this law to their own advantage... eliminate competition! When you see a website that even remotely uses the words "Authentic" or "Traditional" when describing their wares you harass them! Make them PROVE who they are, what they stand for, threaten to sue or have them imprisoned, and especially demean them and their parents ancestry and birthright!

How can you do this legally? Oh it's easy! The feds, in their infinite wisdom, put a clause in this fine law that basically states that if you aren't a member of a FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED tribe, then you can't use the words "Indian" or "Native American" to describe yourself or anything about you! Imagine this, the race of people who have been the most persecuted, downtrodden, and generally discriminated against throughout the history of this great nation of ours, are the very ones saying: "You ain't an Indian unless the Federal Government says you is an Indian"!

Unbelievable? Read on brother....

I was present at a Grand Council meeting of the Man-a-ta-ka/Ouachita several years back when my Father, Grey Wolf, was still Vice-Chief. One of the topics of the meeting was that the Feds were going to close the books on recognizing Indian tribes in the United States and that if we wanted Federal recognition we would have to send delegates to Washington soon to get it. The discussions generally ran along the lines of: "So?", "What has the B.I.A. done for you today?", to "I know who I am! I don't need the Government to tell me nothing!" So the proposal died by Council vote. {We don't need no stinkin' license... right?}

So we rocked on with our lives and later I put up this website for my Mother, Wild Rose, and included a page for her little art gallery. You would have thought I committed a cardinal sin! E-mail and messages started coming in like: "I read an article on another webpage that claims that this website is not run by Native American or First Nations peoples, but is instead run by a corporation. Would you please comment on this...", "Either provide your proof of being Indian on your page or I will turn it in to the federal agencies which handle such matters.." etc., etc.,. etc.! All this from those who like to scream at the rest of the world "I'm more Indian than you are!" and wave their CDIB card in everyone's face. So they can sell THEIR "Authentic" crafts/arts!

I'm no Red Saint, I don't even claim to be a full-blood, I'm definitely not a great prophet or seer and wouldn't want to be, but I do know this; somewhere, somehow, my definition of "Native American" or even "Indian" must have gotten twisted... I have had the Honor of having two of the finest women I've ever known, regardless of color, make me their Blood-Brother. Both are full-bloods, one Shoshonie, the other Lakota... I have helped a full-blood Arapaho girl find a way to learn her native tongue and heritage even though I'm not Arapaho... My wife, Spotted Eagle Woman, and I aided a young full-blood Lakota woman, who had been severely raped by several white men, find it in herself, through countless late-night talks, cries, and prayer sessions, too love again and finally marry another full-blood Lakota... Get the picture? Did any of these people ask first for my Tribal Card? Did they turn away when they found it was not "Federally recognized" making me a non-entity?

Whose an Indian? Get real!

My Mother's art gallery seems to be the magnet that draws these protectors of the Native American way. The words "Authentic Native American Arts and Crafts" draw them like flies to a dog turd.. threatening legal action, using profanities, and making slanderous statements on other websites. All this directed toward a seventy-five year old woman {in a hospital recovering from colon surgery as this is written} who just wanted to have a simple little website to promote the Native American lifestyle, news, and yes even arts. This is a woman who hand-constructed a sacred circle in her backyard in front of a tree that many, including a lot of people who carry one of those damn cards, see in it a face of an entity known as "The Tree Spirit"... Many, many prayers have been directed to the Great Spirit from this quartz circle by people of many tribes and religions and not once did the Great Spirit ask them for their tribal I.D.!... My Mother prays there daily.

Enough of this!

In response to all you Apples out there the dreaded words "Native American"and "Indian" have been deleted from the Palmer Studio of Art webpage. There, it is done! You can rejoice in the knowledge that you have preserved the TRUE Native American Way! .........Or have you?

Don't bother with anymore e-mail or message board harassment. They can be just as easily deleted without response as you apparently deleted your heritage for the White Man's game and the White Man's dollar.

I pity you.

By the way, my dictionary defines an apple as a fruit, RED on the outside and WHITE on the inside.

SkyWarrior

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