To Be Antisemite

 Sean Ward is the person who tried to kill people at the Synagogue in Ontario, Canada. This guy served in Infantry Canadian Armed Forces. It is quite a coincidence the attempted Jewish killer was with the Canadian Military. The Canadian Military seems to attract racists. This guy was targeting Jewish people with his hate. He called himself the "KiteKiller." He could not use the derogatory K-word on the internet gaming sites because of the label being tagged as racist. There are no tears going to be shed for Sean, nope, he made the choice to carry out his hate and fortunately for the Jewish people at the Synagogue, he was killed by police. 

No doubt Sean Ward found like minded racists in the Military. The Canadian Military seems to breed racists. This former solider can be labeled an antisemite. The Antisemite label is for people who are racists towards the religious followers of Judaism, known as Jews. How someone knows what religion a person follows must be a gift. I mean how do you know? There must be clues, like wearing a Kippa for men (the skull cap) or scarves for Women. Quite something isn't it, just think Jews were forced to wear hats to identify them. There are other people who do wear head gear or other items which makes it easier to identify their religious beliefs; Turbans, Feathered Headdresses, Hijabs, Cassocks, Kufis. For me, I remember the tv show "The Flying Nun." I did go to the Indian Residential school but the Nuns there, didn't have the big wings like Sally Fields of the Flying Nun. The Nuns word scowls and crosses on their necks, along with the Habit. So for me, if I was to be targeting a Jewish person with hate, I wouldn't know how they look. So I guess lurking around the Synagogue would be the first clue to who is a Jewish person. For the life of me, I never could understand why people don't like the Jews? What did they do, kill God or something? 

The hate for Jewish people must be really something, there is a specific word dedicated for the type of racism aimed at them. Maybe there had to be a word made for the hate because being Jewish is not really an ethnic group or race. So can you really call it racism? I guess Antisemite is more specific. Is it though? I mean are the Jewish people Semitic? Whether Jews are Ashkenazi or Semitic does not change that hate is hate. Jewish people, European or American are targets for hate filled arseholes. Religious groups are targeted by people with hate and anger. The thing is if you don't know the religious symbols, you might attack the wrong religious person. There are cases where Sikh men have been killed because the misguided bigots thought they were Muslim. That's the thing right, you have to know something about religious beliefs and symbols to target the right people for your hate. You wish to be an Antisemite, you have to know your Kippa from your Kirpan. 

You know I hear the Antisemite chant a lot these days. The B'nai Birth of Canada are saying the number of hate filled attacks against Jews is rising. Lot of that is linked to the Genocide being committed by Israel. The Zionists are making people feel ugly towards Jews. Jews and Zionists are not the same. Zionism is not a faith, while Judaism is the faith, the Jewish faith, but I could be wrong. I don't equate Jews with Israel, not really. Am I antisemitic because I vehemently oppose the genocide of Palestine, the Women, the children being massacred daily by Israel. It if does, then colour me Antisemitic. I can't in any shape or form believe standing up for people in Palestine is wrong or based of hatred. It is beyond repugnant to equate any kind of argument for genocide as being antisemitic. Who knew Pink was religious? We never know who is of Jewish faith, do we? I was baptized into the Roman Catholic Church as a baby. I am not Catholic, I follow Anishinaabe Traditional Teachings, also called a "Traditional." Natives (Indians), Blacks, People of Colour are targeted daily for their race, their ethnicity and it is based on racism. I think there are different words for that kind of hate; xenophobia, homophobia, misogyny, bigotry. There should be a word for specific groups as well, this way society knows who the hate is aimed at, and not just a general hate. We all know who is the target when we say antisemitic, but what if you hate Black people? Maybe we can call it Negrophobia? No that is not a cool thing to say. It in itself is an ugly label. What about a word for the hate of Latinos? They were called Beaners and it may still be a label used in the United States. Again this is not cool, it is a label for sure, a real racist term. Indians, what do we use to say racism, hate against Natives; Redskin, Squaw or Wagon-burners? Nope that is opposite of terms used to describe racism to a specific group not to add a racist term to identify them. 

Jewish groups are doing a disservice to themselves by labelling everyone and antisemite. The word loses its "umph." It is like the word racist in today's society. People are proud of their racism, so calling them that, is no longer an insult or a call out. "I'm racist, so what of it?" Telling everyone they are antisemite for caring about Palestine just alienates them. The world is in a battle not of right and wrong but of "who is harmed more." The thing is hate hurts no matter who.  As the crazy of the Earth we act selfishly. Even in the midst of ugly hate, killing, and choices, we will make it about who is winning the victim contest. "We suffer more than everyone else."

Cracked Cups - Broken Cups

 The Japanese have a practice call Kintsugi.  Kintsugi is the art of "fixing" broken pottery, making it look even more beautiful with the repairs which have been made. It is also a telling, not throwing something away because it is broken. 

"As a life philosophy, kintsugi argues that the places where things have cracked and been repaired are not failures. They are evidence of a history that has been lived. Difficulty, loss, rupture: these are not things to hide. They are things that, when attended to honestly, become part of what makes a person or a relationship or a period of life worth understanding."

It is a cool way to look at something broken, maybe even if we look at it in our own lives. I see this in many of us, we are cracked, some of us are broken and even some of us are smashed; smashed to pieces. Can there be a fixing if the piece is smashed to pieces? Do we even recognize if something is cracked or broken, and if it is, do we adjust our view of it?

shutterstock.com

So what do we do with people who are cracked? Society labels them cracked and treats them accordingly. The police are the hands of society. The hands of society is rough. "Man-handled" is a soft term to describe the treatment of the cracked. Thing is, some cracks can be fixed like the Japanese art of redemption-Kintsugi. In Canada, and the United States we really don't do that kind of thing. If it's broken, well fuck it, toss it, in some cases "have at it," smash it even more. 

We tend to view the cracked as ugly, don't we? It has no purpose, can't be fixed, no redeeming qualities in something broken, is there? Try pick up the Cracked and you could get hurt, maybe get a cut from the jagged edges.  Japanese society seems to know there is redemption, even beauty in  the Cracked. So much so, they give energy and time to fixing what is cracked, what is broken. What a way to see the Cracked, isn't it. 

Indigenous people have been cracked with all that colonial bullshit that happened and is still going on.

Interacting with the Cracked, is a matter of how we see and approach the Cracked. Maybe the Cracked can be fixed or mended, who knows. All I know is we have a bias towards the Cracked. Where we see this most often is by the actions of the First Responders (Police, Ambulance), the decisions makers and then the "everyday Karen and Karl" on the street. There are no shortages of jokes, complaints, insults regarding the Cracked being played out in social media, television shows-sitcoms-movies and in the news. The Cracked is a target for everyone. 

So how do we see the redeeming qualities in the Cracked, the slightly chipped cups and the broken cups? 

There are many many many reasons for a cup being chipped, cracked, broken and smashed beyond recognition. We can name them, the reasons of course, but in the end the reasons come down to a multitude of actions, of years, of held beliefs, of seeing, and imbedded in laws. Now how do we go about with Kintsugi, with fixing the broken, the cracked cups? I don't think it is up to us to fix the broken, we don't have control over them. What we can do is this: Stop being a fucking arsehole to them, the cracked cups. Stop looking down on them, judging the fuck out of them. Maybe instead of choking them, kicking them, spitting on them, ignoring their existence, instead of killing them,we acknowledge them cups, as people, as a human being. That's a start. We need to see the person behind all the shards of broken glass (cup material). How the heck do we do that?

We need to exercise. Exercise our compassion. With any thing we do, we have to keep repeating and repeating until we can get it right. It may not be perfectly right but it's better than where we started. We have to look at them as a vessel that is incapable of holding anything anymore. It has to be hard for cops, they see the broken, the cracked cups everyday. It must be difficult to see humanity in the damaged. I guess it's a way to protect themselves from getting cut by the shrapnel of broken glass (people get it). 

In the end we all have chips, cracks and are broken. Does that mean we are beyond use? Beyond fixing? Beyond compassion?  

We need to be aware of our bias, conscious and unconscious bias. Our ugly view of the cracked. Be like Johnny Cash and wear Black. "Well, you know Johnny always wore black, and he wore black 'cause he identified with the poor and the downtrodden..." 

Maybe God will cut down those who step on the cracked cups. 

How Beautiful We Are: Anishinaabek

 This morning, I drank my Earl Grey tea and watched a little film; "If anything happens, I love you." I had seen this little film before and for some reason I watched it again. I was sitting propped up with a number of fluffy pillows in the King sized bed, drinking Earl Grey and scanning through titles of shows and films. I was not sure of where I was going with the aimless channel flicking and searching and what my emotional state was in. But there it was, picked a little animated show of 12 minutes in an obscure category of  Netflix listings. I watched it and it made me cry and reflect. The show demonstrates the grieving parents of a horrible incident; school shooting. It made me cry for our loss. Yeah, it's been 21 years this August that my dear boy, ended his life by chosen to hang himself. Still this took me somewhere else, I don't cry in the conventional sense, sobbing and bring tears. I'm medicated everyday so tears don't come anymore, but deep sadness and emotion is still there, it is in the back of my eyeballs. A pain of burning happens behind the top part of my eyes. 

Yesterday, it started off pretty good. I was up early, drove to the Reserve, which takes me a hour and a half to get there. So it's an hour of talk radio, CBC morning show and the University of Manitoba radio show. I like to listen to talking and move on to my music play list: John Prine, Lyle Lovett, Tom Waits, Watchhouse, Chris Smithers, the Rolling Stones, Van Morrison and lots of old radio rock. When I got to work, I started with Sage Smudge. There is a beautiful Eagle carved staff hanging in the reception area, I am tasked with smudging the Staff. It is soothing and cool, I feel. It gives me the opportunity to smudge myself. It makes me feel good, you know what I mean? Anyways the day started off like that. I could hear some of my colleagues laughing amongst each other and this brings me joy. A few of my co-workers were getting ready to go pick Grandfathers (M'shoois Asin), you may know them as rocks. When a local Knowledge Keeper came with his truck to hook up the trailer to go haul the Grandfathers. It became apparent that damage had taken place. Someone, (burned me up) came and stole the battery for the jack mechanism of the trailer. The trailer needs an electric jack to lift up because the trailer is heavy and cannot be picked up an individual to hook the trailer to the hitch on the truck. Not only did some individual steel the battery, but the cut all the electrical wires and took them. Can you imagine, and the thing is, this trailer was one week old, it was just purchase by the community Health Centre. This was extremely disheartening. A lot of theft and destruction is going on in the community. At the Powwow Arbor, there was a new wiring system put in the MC stand and a solar panel system put into the Arbor, and some individual came and destroyed the new electrical system and stole the four thousand dollar system for the solar panels. This didn't feel good. It feels really ugly actually. 

The fact is, there are so many good things and happenings going on in the Reserve. These ugly incidents are dark cold clouds on our shining sun-filled community and people. It is enough to make you say, "Jesus Maggot Christ sakes," and go on a running-over-Reserve-dogs-rampage. But nope, as the great Bahai' says, "Hey you know what, Maanoo." Actually the Bahai' Faith do not say Maanoo but Bahai' says a lot of cool shit. Maanoo is an Anishinaabe saying used by the Old people in the community, it is a way of thinking, "let it go," or as the Italians in the movies says, "Fuhgeddaboudit." Maanoo is still used but not very much these days. Seems it is a way of thinking that was exclusive to the Old people. Not that we don't have old people now, but I'm talking Older Old People, those ones. They used to say stuff like "Yoohoo" when in conversation with you. No one says that anymore. In any case sometimes bad shit goes on. It can ruin us or we can side-step it. Like deceased Elder Ken, once said, "if you're walking and see shit on the street, do you step in it?" We are going to have dark cloud days, but there is going to be sunshine as well. 

Our community is experiencing some hardships, there is no doubt. In the midst of those hardships there is the movement of Mino-Bimaadiziwin, the Good Life. Many Reserves - Native communities are igniting flames of Traditional life, Traditional Beliefs, Traditional Languages, through Traditional Teachings and Celebrating their heritage. 

It is beautiful, the Anishinaabe - the people. It is the Traditional Teachings, the Language, the world view, Anisinaabe will bring about the Good Life. I love being Anishinaabe. One of the things we hear when our People pray, is to give Thanks. We give thanks for the Earth and all the Relatives we have here on Earth. It's funny, we have everything, I mean everything we need from the Earth, but yet, human beings want more. For fuck sakes wanting stuff for the sake of having it, is what is killing us. The Earth will survive but maybe we won't and that is not the Earth's fault. How wonderous is it how a world exists at all. To have the miracles of life, living beings in this world, now you have to admit that's fucking awesome. It's beautiful how Indigenous people see the World, as all connected. Fuck those who just exploit, how sick are they. Not sick in something they have no control over, but sick in the choice of how they see the world. 

Like any person, I get tired too. I can choose to focus on what is wrong: the wickedness, the depraved, the greed and the overall selfishness of individuals. The whole living as an Indian brings me back. There is always something, someone who will bring you back to seeing the Good in Life, good in the world. When I see those young singers at the Drum and how they choose to interact with the Drum is a blessing. You see, they, the Indigenous people see everything as a Relative, and the Drum is a relative. It's built into the Language, the Drum in the Anishinaabe language is a living relative, not a "thing." How beautiful is it to see the world as having so many relatives and being connected to them? 

How Beautiful We Are: Anishinaabek. It's not a question, it's a fact. 

Red Bull - Whistled - 

Through Indian Eyes

 

I purchased this book many moons ago. It is a good book. Not sure of how it would be received today. As a kid, a young adult and now an older adult, I still value Indians in media, in sports, in television, in movies and in the spotlight. Another book I did enjoy was Mitakuye Oyasin: We Are All Related, by AC Ross. I did get to meet him a couple of times so that was cool. The first time was a conference at the Lethbridge University, Ross was a speaker. Phil Lane Jr was the host of the conference and it was the launch of the Four World's Institute. If you ever get the opportunity to go on the internet, search the title We are All Related, find a book store and be able to order the book for about fifteen bucks, do it. The read is interesting. Some things you may find far fetched, maybe weird, but look past that and grab the nuggets of gold the reading offers. You will decide to wish me good feelings and gratitude for sending you to the reading. You will end up quoting, "the world is going to shake like a  dog and shed its fleas." End of the world baby, end of the world (but not the way you think).  

I have been missing Ceremony in my life. Of course I have attended a few this year, but somehow I miss Ceremony. I was at a Ceremony a couple of weeks ago, and man did I feel really good listening to the Knowledgeable ones.  There is much to be said about hearing good words, good advice, good Teachings. I do see things, like the good in others. It takes practice. Practice to look for the good. I think looking for the good in people is in fact Looking Through Indian Eyes. That is about Looking Through Indian Eyes, you look for the good. Thing is not everyone is good. 

You really think Indians are the bad ones? Geez that sucks, sucks the ugly one, on how white people (and others) can't see through Indian eyes.  If you could see Through Indian Eyes, you would see beauty. The beauty of the Children, the Sky, the Earth, the Water. You wouldn't see money in everything, you wouldn't admire greed. 

If you ever get a chance to hear Indian Words,  you will hear good. You will hear them saying Thank You. Even when Indians are praying, it's always about being Thankful. Being blessed for a Gakina, everything and everyone. The People have everything they need on Earth. Why ask for more? Oh but wait, you didn't win the lottery, so you asking the God, the Allah, the Waheguru, the Jehovah, Bog, Dio and so on, to give you something? You want to win a game, so you ask in Jesus name to be on your side? Bombing people, you pray your aim is true and kill those children at school. I hope your prayers are not answered, but that's not right for me to speak like that. I do hope your eyes and ears do open. 

Through Indian Eyes is living as Anishinaabe. I wonder if I look Through Indian Eyes. I mean, I should look through Indian eyes, after all I'm Indian, Anishinaabe, one of the people. I was with my Dad driving through the mean streets of Winnipeg and we were in an area with many an Indian living "hand to mouth." They are the hurting ones, the homeless, the ill, the addicted, the challenged and we saw them. My Dad was old at this time, starting spiral of dementia. He looked sadly at the Indians on the street and started speaking Anishinaabemowin. I made out the words, Gidimaazinaagozi, they are pitiful. I loved my Dad, never said it to him, ever (legacy of Indian Boarding Schools). Dad was hurt for his people, our relatives - Indinawegaamaganidog. Through Indian Eyes, you see other human beings, not the dregs of society. Society sees them as lesser.  

You know many of Indians are not looking Through Indian Eyes. The results of not looking Through Indian Eyes, we knock each other down. We blast those trying to live the Good Life. 

Through Indian Eyes is living Mino-Bimaadiziwin, seeing everything as our Relative. If we see everyone as our Relative, we are going to try and treat them good. 

Are we looking Through Indian Eyes today? Can we learn to see look Through Indian Eyes, if we are not Indian or we were not raised Indian?