[L-I] As racist, ethnocentric and sanguinarily jingoistic a thing as I have seen for a good spell

NOTE BY HUNTER BEAR:

As downright racist, ethnocentric and sanguinarily jingoistic -- garbled and
confused --a thing as I have seen for quite a spell.  It certainly doesn't
sound like it's intended as a very bad joke in very poor taste.

Pages could be written refuting this bizarre little tract by a California
high school "teacher" -- a wide ranging trashing of Jenghiz Khan and the
Aztecs, Natives in general, and an exultation of Columbus and his genocidal
associates and descendants.  It is a hideous example of the distillation of
rank defamation, worthy of inclusion in my large collection of comparable
material to which it is certainly going.

One would trust or at least hope that his students -- and colleagues -- are
sensibly savvy folks.  But one cannot help but wonder.

One who doesn't wonder at all indecisively is 1100 years old and about 14
inches high.  He sits on our fine old New England Red Dresser, looking East
into and over the Eastern Idaho mountain ranges.  You can see him at the
bottom portion of the very first page of our Lair of Hunterbear website at
www.hunterbear.org

He is a fine Toltec stone head but much, much more than that indeed:
Tezcatlipoca or Smoking Mirror :   Giver and taker away of life.  Lord of
sorcerers.  Patron of the warrior orders.  His black obsidian eyes see
everything in the Universe -- simultaneously. For us, he always represents
the full, unyielding and enduring commitment to our Native American people
and to the cause of genuine social justice for all Humanity. [He was always
situated on our mantle piece above our Flagstaff fire place, with a softly
glowing light enveloping him.  When I would sneak into our home at an
ungodly hour as an early and mid Teen -- my parents safely tucked away as
parents should always be -- he always looked understandably through his
black obsidian eyes and he never, never blew my cover.]

I read this awful thing to him.  "What do you think of THIS?"  I asked.

And believe me, he could not have been more creatively graphic.

Hunter Bear

Columbus shaped our identity
By: DANIEL FORD - The Californian   ca 10/14/04

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/10/15/opinion/22_06_0410_14_04.txt


The majority of Americans walk the well-worn runway of the fashionably proud
who burn Columbus in effigy every Oct. 12 and have been conditioned to
loathe this occasion as the red letter day of the European assault on
innocent, peace-loving peoples.

As such, anyone expressing pride in the positive aspects of our European
heritage is assaulted by the politically correct revisionists who equate
Columbus with the likes of Genghis Khan. Rather than appreciate the common
purpose that binds us all together as a nation, they been taught to loathe
Columbus Day as the shameful dawn of European conquest by genocide.

In America more people live in freedom than any other country during any
other time period in history. Our free, multiethnic society is truly an
unparalleled accomplishment and has become the envy of the world.

While, understandably, Columbus Day may not be a day of celebration for
Indians, the facts of history challenge the tired old argument that
Columbus' legacy is one of disease, misery, and heartless barbarism.

Well before Columbus' arrival, the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan ---- a North
American tribe ---- thought it necessary to offer their deities human hearts
and, to this end, conquered entire enemy tribes then proceeded to cut them
into pieces ---- sometimes letting them bleed atop the sacred pyramids for
months ---- and feast on their flesh before removing their heart and
offering it to their deity; thus, the killings ---- which sometimes exceeded
1,000 per week ---- were sanctified.

For this reason, the 16th century essayist Montaigne, argued these "noble
savages" were in many ways naturally superior to Europeans. If these human
sacrifices were not made, then the Sun would not win its battle over the
Moon and rise each day.

These brutal practices were not unique to the Aztecs. Throughout the
pre-Columbian era the Mayans, Toltecs and numerous lesser-known tribes
practiced similar bloodletting rituals. This sacrificial killing and
torture, in terms of its sheer brutality, parallels that of the Spanish
Inquisition and the which [sic] hunts of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Regardless of whether we interpret barbarism as the culture of the "noble
savage" or equate it to the ruthless cruelty of the European conquerors, we
must consider it in terms of our civilization and progress and think about
how all these elements define who we are as Americans ---- how the man who
raped, plundered, and foraged village after village came to represent that
bold spirit of adventure and brazen arrogance which not only stimulated our
capitalist system, but was later galvanized by a Calvinist-inspired vanity
and work ethic that gave us our national identity.

These dynamics are the very pulse of our modern society. Even Wal-Mart ----
one of which just opened at the very site of the once blood-drenched pagan
city of Tenochtitlan (now Mexico City) ---- is a virtual testament to the
iron will and reckless audacity of expansion in the name of progress, as
well as the enterprising spirit that is Christopher Columbus.

With all the criticism of Wal-Mart, and the questionable behavior of such
large corporations, I'm not aware of any human sacrifices that are made in
the name of Wal-Mart, nor have I heard evidence that the largest corporation
in the world is responsible for belching filth into the air, or depleting
the ozone layer.

True, Wal-Mart has conquered many of its competitors, but if Wal-Mart, and
other mega-corporations are the "conquistadors" of the 21st Century, I
suppose civilization and progress could be a lot worse.

Daniel Ford of Temecula teaches European history at Chaparral High School.


HUNTER GRAY  [HUNTER BEAR]   Micmac /St. Francis Abenaki/St. Regis Mohawk
www.hunterbear.org
Protected by Na´shdo´i´ba´i´
and Ohkwari'

In our Gray Hole, the ghosts often dance in the junipers and sage, on the
game trails, in the tributary canyons with the thick red maples, and on the
high windy ridges -- and they dance from within the very essence of our own
inner being. They do this especially when the bright night moon shines down
on the clean white snow that covers the valley and its surroundings.  Then
it is as bright as day -- but in an always soft and mysterious and
remembering way. [Hunter Bear]



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