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Thursday, 8 October 2009 at 21:30

Buffalohair:Why I Fight For Burma

Why I Fight For Burma
Posted in Reflets Sombres with tags Burma, genocide, Holocaust, Humanity, Native American on October 8, 2009 by buffalohair

Me

Mingalaba!

I’ve been asked why
I’ve decided to take a stand for the peop...le of Burma. I pondered this
question for a moment then I explained exactly why.

A little over 150
years ago my people along with the rest of the Indigenous population of
the United States of America were under siege. With the pseudo
religious axiom of Manifest Destiny the US Government declared war on
us allowing for the wholesale murder of our sovereign nations. From the
land of the Lenapi, Lakota, Cheyenne, Apache and a multitude of other
noble tribes we were hunted down like animals.

We were hunted down,
tortured raped and murdered in the secret holocaust that killed
millions of my brothers and sister in this hellish bloodbath. Children
were raped and cut to ribbons while pregnant women had babies carved
out of their bellies while U.S. Soldiers laughed and joked. Civilians
were offered rewards for our scalps while soldiers paraded through
their towns with human body parts ornamenting their ponies and
uniforms. And the media pumped the papers full of lies to fostered
support for the genocide of those “pesky savages”.

Lusting for the
funny yellow medal that makes the white man crazy, soldiers under the
stewardship of General George Armstrong Custer they invaded tribal land
that was promised by treaties. The Black Hills became a killing field
as well as the rest of Indian Country. Screams of agony echoed
throughout the land while anyone who could carry a rifle shot innocent
men women and children in their slept, as they ate or hunted. Even on
territory promised to tribes in the waning years of the holocaust such
as Oklahoma the land was opened up to settlers in the most criminal
acts of land theft in U.S. history. People were murdered in clod blood
by settlers who brought wagons and built farms and communities with no
regard for treaties.

Rivers ran with the
blood of my people as the land grab continued. Manifest Destiny was
their divine right to take what they wanted even though the land was
promised to us. Eventually many of our nations ceased to exist and
their histories ripped from history books. They could not take away our
oral tradition and we remember what they have done to us and the myriad
of tribes that disappeared from the face of this Earth. All that
remained of these tribes were names in a subdivision street or ally.
The countryside was filled with mass graves where the Cavalry buried
our slaughtered people, out of sight and out of mine. Many events were
never recorded or the facts skewed to justify our demise.

The once bountiful
buffalo was all but exterminated in part to destroy our food supply and
to introduce their tasteless fat laden cow from English cattle barons.
Herds used to span as far as the eye could see. Eye witness accounts
told of trains stopped for over a day as herds many miles wild and
untold miles long would cross the railroad track. Photos of these so
called great buffalo hunters sitting on gigantic piles of carcasses
adorn museums to this day. Speaking about the railroad, people would
ride the train and take pot shots for sport at Indians who were simply
watching the locomotive roll through they land. People would wager who
would shoot the most “savages” on a trip killing fathers, mothers and
children in their wake.

To add insult to
injury we were victims of biological warfare with cholera infested
blankets that were distributed to our people on the paltry reservations
they finally gave us. The locations were wind driven with no game or a
means to survive the cold bitter months. Rancid and putrefied food was
distributed to us while greedy brokers kept the good. And the whole
world looked on with ambivalence and distain as the media masters
pumped out lies after lies with their tabloids raising even more
negative press against us. Only after the advent of the 20th Century
did the U.S. Government stop a program of rewarding people with $900
for Indian skulls robbed from our graves Government anthropologists
were feverishly trying to prove we were sub human. This is only a tiny
glimpse of the stories that abound with much more gruesome tales of
genocide, betrayal and survival against all odds. All that remains is a
fraction of the Indigenous populations who once lived on this land. The
few buffalo that survived are relegated to ranches never to roam the
plains again.

My uncle once told
me that we are related to the coyote since no matter how hard the white
man tried to kill us off we still returned. The shooting has stopped
for the most part. We are relegated to reservations and in many cases
still struggle to survive. But we are still here, witnesses to mans
greed and the wholesale slaughter of innocent men women and children.
It was one of the greatest acts of genocide in world history. From the
tip of Alaska to the tip of South America untold millions of Natives
were slaughtered in cold blood by Europeans hunting for gold, land and
a multitude of natural resources. In the south the genocide continues
throughout Central and South America for gold, oil and other natural
resources. So I guess I should feel fortunate living in relative
safety, but I’m not so inclined.

When I first met a
Karen villager I was curious about their culture so I queried through
my interpreter Madam Butterfly. I was taken back by what I heard
because it was a carbon copy of what happened to our people in the
Americas. The ghoulish and barbaric details brought tears to my eyes
because I saw my own relations in these soft spoken tribal people. I
was introduced to the political exiles that spent their young years in
Insein prison. They were tortured and beaten to till they did not move
on a daily basis for the crime of wanting freedom and democracy. An
elder told me an ancient story about 7 fabled brothers within their
Asian tradition. Then I was told that I and all the Natives of the
Americas were descendants of the eldest brother, (Shaun htoi Gam). It
was a very intriguing yet humbling story.

As I looked into the
eyes of their children I could see my cousins, nieces and my beloved
sister who I used to call the Chinaman because of her pronounced Asian
features. That’s when I decided to take up this cause and make the
world aware of the atrocities that befell these innocent and kind
people. The eldest brother has come back home to help his people.

A lot of water has
passed under the bridge of life and I’ve traveled many miles since that
fateful day. With a wealth of resources including intelligence and
advanced technology at my disposal I’ve taken up the cause with a
vengeance. Whether they are Kachin, Mon, Karen, Wa, Rvwang or the
multitude of tribes who face extinction they are my people. I will
utilize my resources in both Asia and the free world to accomplish the
common goal, freedom from bondage. I have many aces up my sleeve and
some spooky little friends who are already in the trenches fighting for
Burma’s democracy. One day I will be drinking tea at a quaint little
café with my brother Myo Thein in Rangoon City. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
will be dedicating a new hospital down the street. I can smell the nga
pi wafting in the air now.

Kyay Zu Tin Pa Te

Your Devil’s Advocate

Buffalohair

http://buffalohair-jage.com/WP-LRD/?p=4819

Tags: buffalohair burma native american