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Monday, April 15, 2013

Truth Tour to the UN & Washington DC

We’re now in Delaware, at Carolyn's parents' house.  We're continuing the Lakota Truth Tour that began on April 1 in Rapid City.  We've already done our march to the UN in NYC, and our final stop is Washington DC.  We've been showing the documentary, Red Cry, at most every event, also giving away free copies of the DVD to share and copy (the DVD is not for sale).  This whole experience is a life-changing experience for me.  It is not only a campaign to raise awareness in the world, but it is turning into a spiritual overhaul for me personally, something I never really expected.

The complete Red Cry should be on You Tube for free soon.  I'll keep you posted.

Here is the schedule for the Lakota Truth Tour.

Grandmothers Back Out of Tour

We started in Rapid City, SD with five Lakota natives (Canupa, Leo, Camara, Pedro, and Cassie) and four white folks (Carolyn, Doug, Naomi, and me) in 3 minivans.  We went through the Pine Ridge reservation to pick up the Lakota grandmothers who were supposed to be on the tour, but, to our disappointment, they backed out.  Feeling extremely disheartened, the tour was almost cancelled.  It is understandable that the grandmothers backed out, because there is a lot of risk for speaking out against the US government and its corruption on the Pine Ridge reservation - risk of life, risk of false accusation and unjust imprisonment of self and family.  Many of the grandmothers are already suffering retribution for speaking out in the past. And those who speak in the documentary itself are taking a risk.  The tribal government also gave the grandmothers checks the day we were to leave, a predictable tactic to steer them away from coming with us.  When people are poor, how many would forfeit a check to come on the road with a risky tour?
But we decided to snuff out our discouragement and continue, working with what we had, showing the documentary.  We're glad.  It has turned out powerfully well, so far.    

Grandmothers Join the Tour

Camara, Doug, Barbara Charging Crow
(holding declaration of genocide),
Charmaine White Face,
and Canupa
behind a barricade in front of the UN
Two grandmothers, Charmaine White Face and one younger one, Barbara Charging Crow, joined us later, adding great strength to the tour.   Charmaine (who is also in the documentary) is truly a wise, spiritual woman and a great feminine balance to Canupa, the headman of the Lakota’s Strong Heart Society.  I can’t express the honor I feel  being in the presence of such spiritual masters.  The documentary alone is powerful in itself, but Canupa’s and Charmain's speaking and charismatic personalities brings each presentation to a new level.

The turn-out at each event has been  good and well-received.  Many people are brought to tears, including myself.  

Decolonization Training

Canupa conducting the decolonization training
at the Judson Memorial Church in NYC
This Truth Tour also conducted a decolonization training, facilitated mainly by Canupa, on our first evening in New York City.  It never ceases to amaze me how passionately charismatic Canupa is, how he can make audiences spellbound, speaking straight from the heart.  He is both intensely angry and compassionate, as well as full of humor.  It’s not often you meet such a warrior and revolutionary leader, passionate about his own ancient spiritual tradition, in the spirit of Crazy Horse.  I mean, we aren't talking about a fake wannabe Indian here. At this decolonization training, he called for people to step forward and destroy their identification cards and passports, to truly make their declaration of independence.  To my surprise, many people stepped froward and did it.

Canupa, the Enigmatic Teacher

But some days I totally doubt Canupa, because I sometimes think he is an unreasonable asshole, seemingly even abusive.  Other days I am enthralled by his spiritual passion and leadership.  He’s a trickster and a sage, a man warrior and seemingly an angry adolescent boy rolled into one – at least in my perceptions sometimes.   I even almost quit this tour, in fact, because I felt so offended.  My heart has been through the ringer, and it is coming through clean.

March to the UN

Canupa, Camara, Charmaine, Barbara, Leo
Marching to the UN
In New York City, the Lakota Truth Tour started a march to the UN, for the purpose of bringing a written statement declaring the ongoing genocide of the US government against the Lakota people and a call to end that genocide, and a call to demand the US keep its own treaties with the Lakotas, particularly the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, which would give back all land stolen by the US government and restore the Lakota's complete sovereignty as an independent nation.  I repeat, the US's own treaty.

(See the press release for our march to the UN here).

It is also interesting that the Lakotas are not recognized as a sovereign nation in the UN, otherwise they would have a seat there, as would other native peoples!  This is contrary to the purpose of the UN.
March to the UN
Why am I myself part of this tour?

It was the persecution and genocide of native peoples all over this continent and this world that is one of the reasons I decided to walk away from money and throw away my identification cards, documents, and trappings of Babylon.  And, now, since I am now more in the spotlight, I am hoping my doing this can shine more light on the Lakota plight, as well as the plight of indigenous peoples all over the world.
Canupa with UN Security Officer
The UN would not allow the representative of the Lakota Nation
to speak with any UN official except a security officer.
Behind Canupa: Pedro, Ted (an Occupy dude who joined us in NYC),
me, and Leo.
Pray

The traditional Lakotas believe deeply in prayer, and pray to the Great Mystery every day (The Lakota word for God is Wakan Tanka, which is often translated as the Great Spirit, which Canupa calls the Great Mystery and Charmaine calls the Creator).  All of nature continually speaks and manifests Wakan Tanka, from every blade of grass to the buffalo to every bird flying above.  Those disconnected from nature have no spirituality and are out of touch with their own hearts and this reality.  Our books and our knowledge more often than not blind our eyes to this simple reality, and in our blindness to reality we think those who see are primitive and superstitious.  Prayer is like breathing to the traditional Lakota. I have been asked to request that you readers pray for the Lakotas and for this Truth Tour.  Find stillness in yourself, the stillness of nature.  This is your prayer.
Straight from the Heart:
Native singers and drummers in New York City
That's me in the yellow shirt & grey hair


For more info on the Truth Tour, see lakotagrandmothers.org.


13 comments:

  1. This is probably the deal with Canupa.

    Surprise! What jobs have the highest number of psychopaths?

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7jD92fjQqs&list=UUY8x1K2FMBw-jm-WCPbcHEg&index=12&feature=plcp

    Thom Hartmann:
    When your hear the words psychopath what do you think of? Probably some brutal serial killer who is out of his mind, right?

    What if I told you that psychopaths can function at extremely high levels and succeed in all levels of society. If you think that psychopathic tendencies and success have nothing in common, then everything you know is wrong.

    Joining me now is Kevin Dutton, author of the new critically acclaimed book, "The Wisdom of Psychopaths; What saints, spies and serial killers can teach us about success".

    What is a functional psychopath?

    Kevin Dutton, Research Psychologist:
    A person with a distinct set of personality characteristics. Characteristics such as charm, fearlessness, ruthlessness, coolness under pressure, focus, and of course that trademark lack of conscious and empathy. Notice I haven't said violence there. And notice I haven't mentioned intelligence either. Now if you've got those traits that I just mentioned and you happen to be naturally violent and you also happen to be naturally stupid then your prospects, my friend, aren't really going to be that great. You're going to wind up breaking a bottle over someone's head or stabbing them in bar. You're going to end up in prison pretty quickly. But if you have that constellation of traits I was just telling you about and you happen to be intelligent and also not violent then as the Reuters famous headline once put it, you're more than likely going to make a killing in the market than anywhere else.

    Thom Hartmann:
    There was an article in Business Week or something similar that psychopaths were over represented in the banking industry.

    Kevin Dutton:
    I did a survey in which I wanted to find out which was the most psychopathic profession. We had over five and half thousand respondees within the first three weeks. The top ten psychopathic professions? CEO's turned out to be number one on the list. Radio and TV guys, I'm afraid to say, were also pretty high up there. We had surgeons. We had lawyers.

    But also rather surprisingly we had the clergy. We had church people up there about number 7 or 8. Not surprising when you look back on it. What we find is because psychopaths tend to excel in any kind of profession where there is a power dynamic. Where there's and organizational hierarcy. Where they can wield control and manipulate others. Where they can play fast and loose with the rules. And to be honest, or to put it crudely, the church isn't that different in that respect to any other business.

    Thom Hartmann:
    Your book is called "The Wisdom of Psychopaths". Is there anything that's positive that comes out of this?

    Kevin Dutton:
    We find that psychopaths have quite a number of positive characteristics. They are assertive. They don't procrastinate. They look on the positive side of things. They don't take things personally when things go wrong. They don't beat themselves up when things go wrong. And they're very cool under pressure too. So those kind of positive traits that all of us can benefit from in the course of our lives.

    Thom Hartmann:
    Now everything you know about psychopathy and success is right.

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  2. "that trademark lack of conscious and empathy" is definitely not a characteristic of Canupa. It is the lack of true empathy in the colonized mind, the business mind, that he harshly points out. The psychopathic mind of "success" is what is destroying the empathic world of nature. Because Canupa pulls no punches and says this like it is, and we can't face ourselves in the mirror, we think he is abusive. Love is truth, and truth is often not nice.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for saying this. I'm going to print this out and see how it goes over at Bible Study. It is often dominated by a bloviating millionaire whom I challenge often. The bloviator recently tried to shut down a story about a another person who lives like you. I didn't bring in this story

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJnT6Shd-Ls

      …but I did highlight this quote from the clip in a follow up group email:

      "To spend a day with Jay McGinely is to walk a fine line between what some call sainthood and others madness."

      I often feel I'm on the edge of madness when I'm promoting simplicity to my typical over-consuming friends and family. I get ostracized. You seem to have a lot of friends and that is key to a good life. Besides the angry responses it feels like I'm descending into madness for bringing these issues up.

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    2. Thought I responded to this, Michael. Yes, following the path of sanity makes you very often doubt your sanity in an insane world.

      It's grand you are going to Bible Study, challenging people within it. Not many people have the guts to do that, but simply say, "religion sucks, full of hypocrites, so I'm leaving it." And they leave & nothing ever changes. Nobody then can really challenge the hypocrisy in religion, which is only truly effective done from within, not from without. But, yes, it can make you feel crazy and get you crucified.

      Delete
  3. "Love is truth, and truth is often not nice."

    Excellent point! Even this truth itself is becoming increasingly difficult to communicate in our modern, "polite" societies. It can be especially difficult to share these kind of uncomfortable truths within many pseudo-spiritual communities that can operate on an "emperors new clothes" mentality.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Daniel - I am half way through The Man Who Quit Money, which I love. I am particularly interested in your writings about the Divine Feminine and would love to be in touch. www.thegirlgod.com.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Meeting you at the "Truth Tour" in D.C. was such a pleasure for me and Carly.

    It is my prayer that Canupa, Charmaine, Pedro and everyone who represented the Lakotas are able to be catalysts of change. During the tour and in the movie "Red Cry" I do not recall any mention of Russell Means who also devoted his life as an activist for Native peoples. I was wondering about that. Nonetheless, it is about time the world listens and takes action.

    More details of the earlier years of this continuing genocide can be found in Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States", particularly chapter one, which has diary excerpts written by a priest who accompanied Columbus with his crew and witnessed the massacre of the Arawaks.

    I wouldn't be surprised if the government wants to extinguish the Lakotas in order to frack, mine and build housing developments.

    I contacted a couple people I knew decades ago. One is a news correspondent and the other is an investigative journalist. I have not yet heard back from them. I've also loaned the DVD out and will start sending the link to friends once "Red Cry" in on youtube. The responses I've gotten so far seem hopeless and complacent.

    What do you think about putting the Natives' plight on a petition site? I get dozens of emails daily from change.org and many others to sign petitions for almost any cause one can think of.

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  6. Be safe and have fun! I plan on re-activating my blog again and heading back out into the world. Sorry again I couldn't join you friend. I'm tending to some health issues at the moment. I'll keep in touch.
    -Colwell

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  7. Dear Suelo,

    Can you please answer a spiritual question for me? How can anyone pray for anyone else? I believe that everyone has a direct relationship with God, so I don't understand how my prayers can be of any benefit to someone else. I'm sorry if this makes me seem ignorant but I have been trying to understand this my whole life.

    Thank you. You have my utmost respect.
    SFT

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    Replies
    1. SFT: You're really asking how you can be of any benefit to anyone else. Everything you do for another is prayer, both in intention and action. And the direct relationship a person has to God is through you, God in you, in the flesh. In a body, the cell that centers itself in healthiness helps its neighbor cell, which also helps the whole body. You can't pray for yourself without praying for your neighbor, and without praying for the whole body, because all are one. Loving the Whole (God), loving your neighbor and loving yourself are one thing, the holy trinity. Love is prayer, with or without words, and all prayer is the seed of action, just as every action begins with an intention, no? There can be no other kind of prayer but love. Love is the mediator between you and your neighbor and us and the Whole. Love is Our direct relationship to the Whole.

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  8. Well said Suelo. Hope all is going well on the truth tour. I hope to hear an update soon. Any idea on when Red Cry will be available? I know a lot of people are anxious to see it.

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  9. They keep telling me Red Cry will be public domain soon. Not sure why it's not happening yet. Guess I need to bug them more about it.

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