I'm not sure how I managed to live this long without hearing about the American Indian Movement in the 1970s. Basically it parallels the Civil Rights movement that began several decades earlier, but with its own leaders and methods, and different causes. The American Indian Movement wanted to raise awareness about the treaties that had been broken, the issues on reservations, and the fact that the Western world was continuing to make progress in their lands without caring at all what those lands meant to Native Americans. Typical to the 1970s, much raw anger was shown. But a lot of it has a valid source. Listen to this poem by John Trudell, a leader in the AIM turned poet/songwriter:

To God

To God. I hope you don’t mind but we would like to talk to you. There are some things we need to straighten out. It’s about these Christians. They claim to be from your nation but man you should see the things they do, all the time blaming it on you. Raping the earth. Lying. Taking more than they need in all the forms of the greeds. They say it is God’s will. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but you know how it is, my people have their own ways. We never even heard of you until not long ago. Your representative spoke magnificent things of you, which we were willing to believe. But from the way they acted we know you and we were being deceived. It is time for you to decide what life is worth. We already remember, but maybe you forgot.

Performed by John Trudell
Traditional song by Quiltman, Madeline and Bark
Words by John Trudell

That song makes my heart weep. Granted, John saw the world through his sense of anger and bitterness. Granted, if he knew God, he wouldn't even ask some of those questions. But aren't we supposed to show God to the world? Why do we fail to speak up about some of these issues?

If you're in for a long, interesting read, check out this link to the Manifesto from the recently completed Longest Walk II. Native Americans were walking through the United States, taking notes on what different tribes were frustrated by and raising awareness for Native issues. I had never really looked from their perspective before, being a good rags-to-riches idealist as many Americans are. Anyways, run this through God's perfect perspective, but be willing to learn! www.longestwalk.org/images/stories/LW2manifesto2008.pdf