By WILLIAM LEDFORD
The big news lately is the removal of the Confederate Battle flag from state property in South Carolina. Blackskins are cheering the move as long overdue. Whiteskins are lamenting that the Rebel flag is a symbol of “southern heritage” and pride, not racism. I actually saw a poll on the One Feather home page supporting this flag. Funny, I used to wear a Confederate flag as a patch on the seat of my faded jeans in the early 70s. It used to get the Bryson City and Sylva mouthbreathers all riled up.
But, humor aside the facts are these: the flag was resurrected and used prominently as a symbol of racist hate by the KKK in the 50s. The flag is a symbol of a failed, seditious act of treason against the United States (i.e. the Civil War), so, where’s the pride? Southerners like to say that the War wasn’t about slavery, but the affirmation of state’s rights. I find it funny that the only state right in question was the right to own people, namely blackskins, so yes, the war was only about slavery. Besides, don’t Southerners already have well known symbols of southern heritage and pride? A distinctive hairstyle known as “the mullet”, homes on wheels and close relationships with family. Be proud mulletheads.
Anyone besides me ever notice how a lot of overweight people drive the newer cars like they’re driving an old 70s Cadillac Fleetwood or Eldorado? Big ol’ slow sweeping turns, sometimes turning into other lanes, an inability to park between the lines of the parking space? I call it “driving fat”. Maybe it’s the cellphone glued to their ear.
In other news, a whiteskin female in the state of Washington was going around posing as a blackskin. She was outed by her parents and the revelation that she wasn’t black forced her to resign from several high profile posts including the local chapter of the NAACP and a police oversight committee investigating treatment of blackskins. She has also stated that while residing in Montana she lived in a tepee and hunted game with a bow. Whatttt…? There was a big uproar on national media because she was a whiteskin posing as a blackskin. It made me think.
Congresswoman Elizabeth Warren attended school under a scholarship program for Native people. She was deemed eligible for this Native only scholarship because someone, somewhere in her family tree allegedly had a touch of Native blood. She’s not an enrolled member of a federally recognized tribal nation, just someone with a full-blooded great-great-great-great grandmother or some such yet she stole a scholarship from a Native kid with hopes and dreams. Where’s the national media uproar over this BS? The silence is deafening. I guess we’re still the “forgotten people”. Anyone remember that term?
It’s presidential election time again and the GOP field is looking, and sounding like a clown car at the circus. Stuff that’s coming out of Donald Trump’s mouth these days is classic, you can’t invent humor of this magnitude. And speaking of….
Anyone else kinda bummed that we’re facing great change and upheaval in the next tribal election? I’m referring to a shocking decision by El Presidente Por Vida to hang up the spurs and let someone else sit in the big chair. The front-runner is probably gonna have to get a smaller version of the big chair if he wins, but hey…history is being made. There are young Cherokee who have lived their entire lives knowing only one El Jefe. I’ll miss him.
If you’ve noticed that I’ve used the terms “whiteskin” and “blackskin”, I plan to continue as long as the NFL Washington (insert racist slur here) are still around. Its long been time for that slur to go away. I’m sure that the Native people that see nothing wrong with and continue to support the use of the slur probably might be happy if their kids are referred to as “dirty (insert racist slur here)”. That’s how it was always used, not as a term of endearment. The whiteskins say they’re honoring us. Go honor someone else. The Africans had warriors. Call the team the Zulus, or Swahilis. I’m sure the blackskins would feel honored.
Finally, I heard or read somewhere that bananas are great for colon health. Later, I read that they have to be peeled and eaten for them to work. Man…
Ledford is an EBCI tribal member residing in Albuquerque, NM.
