No Gun, No Respect... Indians

The Assembly of First Nations and all those regional Chiefs organizations are just for show. At least this is what Canada thinks in their back rooms. Many First Nations and their citizens accord the AFN and regional Indigenous with respect. This however doesn't translate into any kind of power in the mainstream society. You know why this is?

Have you seen the movie Grand Canyon? It has Danny Glover and Kevin Klein in it. Anyway at the beginning of the movie Klein's character has broken down in a Black neighbourhood and he has called for a tow truck. Before the truck comes a number of Black youth come up to him. They seem scary to him, Klein. The tow truck arrives and its Glover(Simon) He starts to hook up the car. One of the young men stops him.

 A conversation takes place: 
Simon: I've gotta ask you for a favor. Let me go my way here. This truck's my responsibility, and now that the car's hooked up to it, it's my responsibility too.
Rocstar: Do you think I'm stupid? Just answer that question first.
Simon: Look, I don't know nothing about you; you don't know nothing about me. I don't know if you're stupid, or some kind of genius. All I know is that I need to get out of here, and you got the gun. So I'm asking you, for the second time, let me go my way here.
Rocstar: I'm gonna grant you that favor, and I'm gonna expect you to remember it if we ever meet again. But tell me this, are you asking me as a sign of respect, or are you asking because I've got the gun?
Simon: Man, the world ain't supposed to work like this. I mean, maybe you don't know that yet. I'm supposed to be able to do my job without having to ask you if I can. That dude is supposed to be able to wait with his car without you ripping him off. Everything is supposed to be different than it is.
Rocstar: So what's your answer?
Simon: You ain't got the gun, we ain't having this conversation.
Rocstar: That's what I thought: no gun, no respect. That's why I always got the gun. 

The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) as well as the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs (AMC) are political groups speaking on behalf of First Nations in Canada. At the base of their talks is to try and get better treatment for the First Peoples of Canada. They have been trying to voice concerns towards governments for years now. The thing is the First Nation lobby groups are "leaders" who are just begging. The only thing that happens with all their voicing is the government either gives them some cookies or just gives them the "yeah yeah" treatment. Ex-Prime Minister Stephen Harper showed the world how impotent our lobby groups are.  Racist White power broker Stephen Harper just went and slashed the funding for all the First Nation lobby groups across Canada. Guess what the First Nation leaders did? Nothing. Put their heads between their legs and closed their collective mouths.

The thing I ask about these lobby groups is "where is their gun?"  In the movie the message is clear, without consequence for action no one is going to listen to you. The AFN, AMC and all those other regional Chiefs groups are empty chairs - paper tigers - empty suits - placebos.  In other words they are just karaoke machines. No guns.

I mean really what happens when you say no to the First Nation organizations?  Why should anyone even answer to them? Sure  they are voice boxes for the million First Nations in Canada. That should be a good reason to listen to them. But it's not enough. The First Nations need the gun. Without the gun there is no respect.

Canadians have witnessed the First Nation gun. For example a simple game like the"Canada's Got Talent" show was an example of the First Nation gun. This gun was the work of many First Nations and Indigenous folk coming together to support a young trio of jigging dancers. These young Indians won the show. The show was cancelled after that. The thing was the Indians got together and action occurred. Not the results the show wanted but the results the Indians wanted, and they got it.  The Indians had a WIN.  That action is missing when it comes to the First Nation leadership organizations. They just don't have the gun, the respect. They don't have any respect. They were handed their arses by Canada before and it is still true today.

When we are talking about Indians having a gun. We are not being literal. Shit the government of Canada would love another Oka just so they could show off all their new toys and kill some Indians. No we are speaking metaphor... the gun is a metaphor for action.

Right now you can see the Indian gun in action. The strong folks at Standing Rock are showing the world a gun.  They are peaceful protecting the waterways of South Dakota from the big money machine called oil.  The oil company and local authorities have engaged in harsh and violent tactics to test and hurt the Native protectors on site. It has not worked to damage the resolve - the gun of those at the site.

"As currently proposed, the Dakota Access pipeline would move oil out of northwestern North Dakota, through a 30-inch pipe, and along a 1,200-mile path that cuts through both Dakotas, Iowa, and a stretch of Illinois before meeting another pipeline in the town of Patoka. It would carry nearly half a million barrels of domestic sweet crude oil every day, and the project’s builder, Energy Transfer Partners, says it will bring back money. The Texas-based company says the pipeline will create up to 12,000 jobs (the Army Corps of Engineers approved the project and agreed) and generate over $120 million in property and income taxes every year. And they say it’ll be safer than moving the oil by train, the current option. The Standing Rock Sioux Tribe tells another story. The tribe, made up of Hunkpapa Lakota and Yanktonai Dakota, lives in the Standing Rock Indian Reservation, which covers parts of North and South Dakota. Members have been protesting the pipeline since April. They’re worried it might leak and contaminate wells along the pipe’s path, threatening their water supply."

Wiebo Ludwig was an oil terror who gained much respect for his battle against oil wells and sour gas. I don't recommend this way of action because if an Indigenous person was to take this route, the government would go hard and heavy on them. Ludwig had the privilege of being the right colour. While his gun was bombing oil rigs that is not the answer for the Indigenous folk at Standing Rock.

The "Gun" for Indigenous folk is unity. You see that in Standing Rock. You see it starting to happen in BC (with signatures of unity against pipelines in their territory).

With the lobby groups, there is a disconnect. The lobby groups have no real connection with the people. So the gun will not be achieved. So no gun... no respect.

They will just continue to be beggars.

Beggars at the back door of the big money.