This Sacred Soil

This was one of my favorite reads that can claim the title, "What is an American?" This Sacred Soil, written by Chief Seattle is the Seattle's response to Issac Stevens, the Governor of Washington Territory in 1854.

Native Americans were on American soil much longer than the Europeans. They pretty much had a claim to that land that the Europeans took for themselves. The Native Americans respected the soil, and used the land (all of it too; they didn't hunt an animal just for its fur). They lived off the land and it was sacred to them. When the Europeans come to the Americas, they have little to no respect for the land and only care about what they can gain from it; the Native Americans try to preserve the sacred soil as much as possible. This land means something to them; it is a part of their heritage and holds the memories of their ancestors.

Chief Seattle comes right out and says that the white man's God hates his people; he also says that the Great Spirit has also forsaken them. This is very sad. Not only that the Europeans were able to instill this in the Native American's heads, but that it caused great pain and loss of faith for them. Imagine if you had placed your trust in someone that never answered your pleas for help. . . They felt abandoned.

This speech also made me laugh. I could almost picture Chief Seattle sitting there and saying, "Ha! This is good-it'll make those white men feel guilty!" or, "Yeah, yeah; this is good-it'll make those white men think twice about what they are doing." I'm saying that was his intention; I, personally, just got that feeling when I was reading it.

I think the last 2 lines of the speech really hit this point on the head though. Those last two lines also seem to have a feeling of hope - hope that they Chief Seattle and his people are not giving up and even if they may not survive, the people will live on, even if a different world.

"Dead, did I say? There is no death, only a change of worlds."

King, still King

Every year around this time, we get a day off of school for a man that changed the way many people thought and started a movement that would bring the United States in to a new millennium.

Do we really think about this on that extra day we get to sleep in, though?

We don't, not really (or at least, I don't). And if you do, I commend you! Its not that we don't care, we just forget. I think that Martin Luther King has been moved more to the back of our minds. Teachers always make sure that he is not forgotten. They teach us of his life of how he moved people from anger and hatred to understanding and some peace. But we have forgotten the long marches, the speeches, the act of civilty during violence. He will never loose his title though; he deserved it because he allowed the thoughts of people to grow to the fact that everyone is the same. For some it took time to accept this. But, nevertheless, he changed the a small part of the world for the better.

Over time, as we move slowly towards complete equality, people will begin to forget him. Some else may start the next big movement and become that new 'king'. But, the memory of the man who began the movement that led us where we are today will live on in the people who believe what he stood for and carried out his dream.

King. . .is still king.

We are ugly, but we are here.

"Every once in a while, we must scream this as far as the wind can carry our voices: We are ugly, but we are here! And here to stay."
-Edwidge Danticat

This is the last sentence from Edwidge Danticat's We Are Ugly, But we are here. It is a recollection of her time in Haiti, during its dictatorial Duvalier regime. She moved to the United States around age thirteen, and what she remembers from Haiti is heart-breaking. When I was reading this article, I was filled with sadness, but also inspiration. It is amazing that even though they were looked down upon and had to deal with so much that these women still found the will and determination to stay strong and supportive of each other. It is a lesson to everyone, not just women, that we have the power to pull ourselves up like they were able to.

Danticat mentions many sacrifices made by women all the way back to the time Arawak Indians, who lived on the land hundreds of years before. Sacrifices were still made by women when Danticat lived in Haiti. Sacrifices were made for the rest of the people, so they could continue to be there; that aspect invokes huge amount of respect to the women of Haiti.

"She [Danticat's grandmother] believed that no one really dies as long as someone remembers, someone who will acknowledge that this person had in spite of everything been here."

The women who gave their lives, the women who stayed strong, the women who picked themselves up again, the women who inspired others - they will live on in the minds and memories of their friends and those who knew them. They will live on in the spirits of the women of the world.