Hanh mitakuyapi / Hello my relatives. I've given speeches along the lines of today's post in the past, so for some this may be "old news". But I believe these thoughts need revisiting every so often, so here they are today.
Today should be called "Human Rights Workers Day" most properly. MLK Jr did not do much of anything alone, relative to the Civil Rights movement. His contributions were substantial, yes, but he did not do the majority of the work. He certainly didn't do it alone.
He was martyred, yes, but how many more of our Indigenous men & women have been martyred, and we get no similar recognition?
And saddest of all, after all the work we Indigenous Human Rights workers put into the Civil Rights movement, after the Civil Rights Act of 1964 had been signed into law, and our leaders went to the black leaders of the movement to work out details regarding Indigenous Human Rights under the then-new law, they told us to 'get lost'. They told us, "You have no money, no votes, no power; we have no reason to help you."
By then, MLK Jr was dead, so he isn't directly responsible of course. Moreover, I believe that if he had not been assassinated, he would have been happy to work with us to see that we got fair treatment under the then-new law, instead of having to fight for every scrap we have gotten since then.
But we Indigenous Human Rights slave laborers are still laboring to get our fair share under the Civil Rights Act of 1964; and this part of history is another page in the ongoing Buffalo Soldier stories, which is what we older HR slave laborers call any activity in which blacks get better treatment under the law - & essentially get it automatically - while we Indigenous Turtle Islanders, whose ancestors were here thousands of years before whites or blacks even knew this land existed, have to continue to fight our way through the courts to get our "rights". Or, the blacks sell us Indns out & down the river after we helped them so much - the same as they did after the War Between the States, after we had done so much for them via the Underground Railroad.
According to the Oxford Standard Dictionary of the English Language, and the US Supreme Court, "rights" can not be given away or taken away. So how come, then, MLK Jr & company are honored every year with a federal holiday while we ITI still have to fight for our "rights" under the same law?
In honesty, fairness, & fact, this day should honor Human Rights Workers; not just one man. Mitakuye oiasin / all (are) my relatives.
