| MY NATIVE PEOPLE |
| There were 90 MILLION Native Americans here when settlers arrived. Today, there are only a few million and are barely 1% of US population. There were hundreds of tribes of people and most of the time we were peaceful with one another and though we had different ways of living and speaking...our mannerisms tend to be similiar even today (i.e. respect for Mother Earth and her creation). We have been here for over 50,000 years. My tribe is the Anishinabe. The English called us Chippewa and the French call us Ojibwe but we are Anishinabe. We were created along the St. Lawrence river by Kitchi Manidoo (Kind & Loving Spirt or God). We were a larger tribe then and settle into the Great Lakes region. We are called a "handsome" tribe by scholars and had unique ways of living. We drank special teas and had hundreds (if not thousands) of medicines. We had unique moccasins because they had a tongue on the front and were "puckered up" or as the French said "Ojibwe." We used wild rice, gardening, fishing and hunting as a means of survival. We were Woodlands people and are famous because we are the ONLY tribe to win a war against the Sioux. Who we called "Sioux" because they were seen as "snakes". We never lived in TeePees! We lived in Wigwams. About 500 years ago, a prophet told us THAT WE WOULD HAVE TO MOVE FURTHER WEST OR THE LIGHT RACE WOULD CONSUME US. So we followed the Great Lakes and split into 3 groups: the Potawatami, Ottawa, and the others kept the name Anishinabe (original man). Soon, we encountered the French and became their friends. This caused us to merge our Anishinabemoda (Native language) with French to create the Mitchif language. The English have always remained our enemies because they said we were less than they were. Soon, the tribes seperated more and more in their attempt to escape the murderous nature of the White men. Today, we are the 3rd most populated tribe in the US. We got used to the Plains and claimed some of its sacred lands (some of us went as far as the Pacific Ocean and most went up into Canada) and became hunters of the sacred buffalo. But we were forced out of that land by the white men who got greedy and wanted more and more land past the 13 colonies. So we were held at gun point and forced to sign over what is the richest land in the world, the Red River Valley, which makes $billions each year. So reservations were created after Natives were manipulated by the whites and literally forced to sign over lands or given unfair deals such as blankets for their freezing families. These blankets contained viruses purposely handed over to kill off the people. So THE NATIVES WENT FROM 90 MILLION TO JUST A FEW MILLION WITHIN JUST A FEW SHORT YEARS. We consider reservations Ishkoonigun (leftovers) because it was the land no one could use. Throughout history we have seen worse and worse and I don't have the heart to tell you of it. It wasn't until the 1900's that white people concluded that we actually have souls. We went through forced Christianization at boarding school and lost everything we were so that we are still suffering from it cause we can't function in a white society. Natives talk differently, we have different ideologies, and we even JOKE differently. Treaties are no longer handed out and the government is coming closer and closer to terminating ALL Indian people. We are NOT Asian!!! Don't EVER let anyone tell you different. Don't ever believe that. We were chosen as GOD'S SPECIAL CHILDREN as PROTECTORS OF THE LAND. There are 2 legends for our future: THE SEVENTH GENERATION WILL BE BORN AND SAVE OUR NATIVE WAYS AND OUR PEOPLE (we are those people) AND THAT WE SHALL ONE DAY SAVE THE HUMAN RACE (that day could be tomorrow). |
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