PHOTO/DAYMONJHARTLEY.COM
By Davi Trusty, Idle No More
JACKSON, MI—L. Brooks Patterson, the infamous Oakland County, MI executive, or Brooksie as I call him, was recently quoted in The New Yorker magazine as saying, “I made a prediction a long time ago, and it’s come to pass. I said, ‘What we’re going to do is turn Detroit into an Indian reservation, where we herd all the Indians into the city, build a fence around it, and then throw in the blankets and corn.”
Brooksie to me, as Tribal member and a member of Idle No More, was just one more Republican caught being honest. Kind of like when Mitt Romney made his “47%” remark. If we examine Brooksie’s quote a little closer we can find it rooted in a history of hatred for the Original inhabitants of this entire continent. First there is the idea of “herding” us into a fenced in area. Of course historically this brought back memories of the government herding my people, the Tsalagi, into fenced in pens before they made us march The Trail Of Tears. It brings back memories of herding children, elders, women and men at Wounded Knee and slaughtering them wholesale. It reminds me of the countless times we First Nations people were herded like cattle to our doom.
Then on his use of blankets in his diatribe. Blankets were a means of this government’s first chemical warfare used against anyone. Smallpox was responsible for the death of over 90% of all First Nations people on the Eastern seaboard. Smallpox infected blankets were used at Fort Pitt during Pontiac’s rebellion and were given to First Nations people in the Midwest as a means of population control. It brings back memories of the lengths and the atrocity committed against us in the name of “progress” and the founding of America.
Corn is a staple amongst my people. We revere it as a gift from our loving Creator to help sustain us. We have Green Corn ceremonies where we dance as a tool to show thanks for the harvest and the bounty. Corn has long been a staple of First Nations diet and of course the government somehow turned it into a commodity and a tool in which to further subjugate us.
Some reservations have a per capital income of $3,000 a year, an unemployment rate of 80-90%, diseases such as Cancer, Diabetes, alcoholism, suicide, rape, murder and more run rampant, affecting us at often three times the national average. Does Brooksie think so damn little of Detroit and First Nations peoples that he wishes these conditions and historical trauma on us again?
Brooksie has thus far refused to apologize or meet with me or any of our elders. I have offered to sit with him, an elder, and a young person, so he can hear from us the impact of his vile words. I offered a visit to a reservation and he has refused. When we protest next do you want to join? These words by this hateful man do NOT represent White people. Poverty affects ALL peoples. At our last rally there were also Blacks, Whites and Latinos. I would love to have you. Contact me at davi49203@yahoo.com/
