Hanh mitakuyapi / Hello my relatives. I trust this finds you all well & happy, or getting there.
I just figured out now how to do this, or you'd have heard from me before. Not that that's a big deal, but it is 'so'. I'm kind of a techno-dinosaur, anneh.. :~D
Recently, I was cleaning in one of the local public schools, (in
Bismarck) as a temp or contract worker. I nearly always wear a hat with 4 Channunpa on it, partly because it is my spirituality & I'm proud of it; partly because I Sun Dance, & am proud of that; & partly to remind people that not all of us have knuckled under to the whiteman's ways, but still follow our authentic Traditional Ways. That we Indns have no "acculturated" or "assimilated" & we are still here & so are our cultures. The Channunpa are central to our cultures up here on the Northern Plains, after all.
Someone in official-dumb asked me to remove my hat & not wear it, on the grounds that "it makes some people uncomfortable". Well, hooo-eeee, ain't that a sad thing; that reminders of the Holy Pipe make "some people uncomfortable". I asked who & was told I didn't need to know. ( ! )
My expectation is, it's some of the considerable over-supply we have around here of "born-agains" who call themselves part of the majority culture's supposed religious way. You know - the one where they're forever trying to stuff those 10 "commandments" they don't keep, down our throats.. Well, hey, takoszja, I'm a born-again, too! A born-again Pagan, through the Sun Dance, & way proud of it. It takes a lot of hard work & courage & determination to Sun Dance successfully. We earn our rightful pride about it.. the humble kind. But that does not mean we should hide it! Not hardly. All those who wander lost & in misery need to be reminded that some are keeping these Ways, & so be encouraged to do so, too.
Therefore, I refused, on the grounds of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the EEOA, and the Constitution & Bill of Rights - specifically the First Amendment, the sections about religious freedom & freedom of expression. This person complained to my supervisors at the temp agency, who actually asked if the hat & the Pipe & making this essentially silent statement are all that important!
Yes, they are. How many millions of us died for the Sun Dance & other Sacred Ceremonies, doing them in secret & getting hauled to prisons & mental institutions for it? It happened to me, in 1994. That's not particularly long a go. So - Yes, they most certainly are. I told them that.
The school district now doesn't want me cleaning in 'their' (public, remember) schools unless I agree not to wear "the hat".
I complained to the School Board, the local Human Relations Commission, & the mayor about this. So far, everyone is ducking & trying not to address the "issue". Denying hard & hearty that there was - or is - any discrimination or bigotry involved.. One has even said, "You misunderstood.." HAH!
I'm a grandmother, takoszja - I most surely do "understand". I did then, I do now, & I will into the future. I've walked the earth awhile, but I'm nowhere near senile & just 'cuz I'm Traditional & adamantly anti-assimilation hardly means I don't understand their culture. And they know it; which apparently scares them pea-green.
The truth being the most powerful weapon there is to deal with reigns of terror & general bigotry, and the Internet being such a terrific tool for spreading the truth about such things, I write it down here for you so you will know about it. Perhaps some of you will want to do something about it. After all, if you don't speak up, you can't be heard!
Mitakuye oiasin. All, my relatives.
