Silencing Indigenous People and Cultures: Wizard of Oz author celebrates death of Native American culture in Sitting Bull obit

This is the second in a series of videos from two talks that Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard - the Turtle island Project Director and Co-Founder - gave on Sept. 23 during the 2008 UNITED Conference at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.

Zoologist and philosopher Neal Evinrude wrote that vivisectionists cut animal vocal cords so they did not have to hear the tortured animal cry as they conducted experiments.

The vivisectionists silenced the animal and therefore did not acknowledge it was a tortured being.

The right of passage into the scientific (way of being) centers on the ability to apply the knife to the vocal cords - not just of the dog on the table - but to life itself.

It was about silencing voice then - and reflects the silencing of voices today.

Wizard of Oz versus todays sneaky politicians and the way we treat the environment and one another.

Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, Turtle Island Project Director and Co-Founder:

We are on the tip of an iceberg and the iceberg runs deep and the ship is running right into it.

Industrial civilization is not sustainable. We all know that. It cannot be sustainable.

Any technology that relies on the use of non-renewables is by definition not sustainable.

We could have solved these problems 50 years ago, but we are not going to solve these problems in the next 20 years. We can start, maybe. But I think we are in for a very, very difficult time.

Dorothy is not in Kansas anymore. And Dorothy is not coming back to Kansas.

This is not going to be easy.

And like that Great Oz asked Dorothy and her friends - so are the politicians of our day - they ask us.

Pay no attention the Great Oz says to the man behind the curtain. Because the great deception is alive and well.

Hubbard compared the yellow brick road to gold and the Emerald City to the green of money where Dorothy though shed find her salvation.

The Great Wizard of Oz is this old white guy doing his thing, pulling his levers, lying to the people to maintain is power.

This is what we have been doing as a culture for how many years ignoring the man behind the curtain.

And now the chickens are going to come home to roost.

Hubbard reminded the audience of how we all look forward to the Wizard of Oz because it was shown only once a year.

Wizard of Oz was written by L. Frank Bauman (Born May 15, 1856)

Originally author Bauman was a failed businessman as a store owner - then edited the local newspaper the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer.

After the (first) Wounded Knee massacre in 1890, Native Americans were the targets of his editorials in his paper.

He explained that the safety of Euro-Americans depends upon the extermination of Indians.

Upon hearing of the death of the Sioux Chief Sitting Bull, Baum wrote an editorial for the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer:

Sitting Bull, the most renown Sioux of modern history, is dead. He was a chief but without kingly lineage - he arose from a lowly position to the great medicine man of his time by virtue of his shrewdness and daring.

The proud spirit of the original owners of these vast prairies inherited through centuries of fierce bloody wars for their possession lingered last in the bosom of Sitting Bull.

With his fall the nobility of the redskin is extinguished.

And what few that are left are a pack of whining curs who lick the hand that smites them.

The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians.

Why not annihilation?

Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better that they die than live the miserable wretches that they are.

After reading the editorial, Hubbard then told the audience:

That was act one the great Wizard silencing nature.
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Native American Genocide Advocate L. Frank Baum - ironically married kin of a civil rights activist.

Baum married Maud Gage, a daughter of Matilda Joslyn Gage, a famous women's suffrage and radical feminist activist who learned much from American Indian women.

Native Americans were the target of Baum's editorials after the Wounded Knee Massacre.

Miniconjou Chief Big Foot lies dead in the snowfollwing Wounded Knee Massacre on Dec. 29, 1890.

Big Foot was the half-brother of famous Lakota Chief Sitting Bull. Two weeks earlier on December 15, Chief Sitting Bull was killed at his cabin on the Standing Rock.

Baum wrote that the safety of Euro-Americans requires the &34;extermination of Indians.&34;

Baum written attacks on American Indians are evident in his obituary of Sioux Chief Sitting Bull in the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer.

L Frank Baum - the author of Wizard of Oz - promoted the genocide of Native Americans:

Sitting Bull, most renowned Sioux of modern history, is dead. He was not a Chief, but without Kingly lineage he arose from a lowly position to the greatest Medicine Man of his time, by virtue of his shrewdness and daring.

He was an Indian with a white man's spirit of hatred and revenge for those who had wronged him and his.

In his day he saw his son and his tribe gradually driven from their possessions: forced to give up their old hunting grounds and espouse the hard working and uncongenial avocations of the whites.

And these, his conquerors, were marked in their dealings with his people by selfishness, falsehood and treachery.

What wonder that his wild nature, untamed by years of subjection, should still revolt?

What wonder that a fiery rage still burned within his breast and that he should seek every opportunity of obtaining vengeance upon his natural enemies.

The proud spirit of the original owners of these vast prairies inherited through centuries of fierce and bloody wars for their possession, lingered last in the bosom of Sitting Bull.

With his fall the nobility of the Redskin is extinguished, and what few are left are a pack of whining curs who lick the hand that smites them.

The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians.

Why not annihilation?

Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better that they die than live the miserable wretches that they are.

After the massacre, Baums second editorial on Jan. 3, 1891 said Americans should exterminate Native American Indians because having wronged them for centuries we had better, in order to protect our civilization ... and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.

Baum wrote:

The peculiar policy of the government in employing so weak and vacillating a person as General Miles to look after the uneasy Indians, has resulted in a terrible loss of blood to our soldiers, and a battle which, at best, is a disgrace to the war department.

There has been plenty of time for prompt and decisive measures, the employment of which would have prevented this disaster.

The PIONEER has before declared that our only safety depends upon the total extermination of the Indians.

Having wronged them for centuries we had better, in order to protect our civilization, follow it up by one or more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth.

In this lies safety for our settlers and the soldiers who are under incompetent commands.

Otherwise, we may expect future years to be as full of trouble with the redskins as those have been in the past.

An eastern contemporary, with a grain of wisdom in its wit, says that 'when the whites win a fight, it is a victory, and when the Indians win it, it is a massacre.&34;
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Related Links:

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Anti-Vivisectionists - cutting of animal vocal chords:

http://www.adaptt.org/animalrights.html

http://www.samizdat.com/micah/animal_rights.html

http://pharyngula.org/index/science/comments/good_for_doug_bjerregaard

http://www.infonature.org/english/world_news/eng-nature_news_animal_torture.htm

http://www.tonglen.oceandrop.org/Letter_Ban_Vivisection.htm

Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum celebrated the death of Sitting Bull:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Frank_Baum

http://encyclopedia2.thefreedictionary.com/Baum,+L.+Frank

http://www.put.com/oz/ozdi/199712.TXT

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz

Apology by fans of Baum and others - plus public comments:
APOLOGY AND PLEDGE: From Planners and Anticipated Participants in the L. Frank Baum Conference for Aberdeen, South Dakota Planned in 1997

http://www.dickshovel.com/roeschbaum.html

http://www.dickshovel.com/TwistedFootnote.html

http://www.dickshovel.com/baumcom.html

Provide comments on apology website:

http://www.dickshovel.com/com.html

Photo credits:

Oz photos/video:

http://battellemedia.com/images/wizard-behind-curtain.jpg

http://www.milfordtheatreguilde.org/WOCastHome.html

http://oblivio.com/archives/02011701.html

http://www.mulholland-drive.net/pics/reference/wizard_shot.jpg

http://www.reelclassics.com/Musicals/Wizoz/wizoz.htm

http://ayearofoz.blogspot.com/

http://filmfanatic.org/reviews/?p=3361

http://ozproject.egtech.net/book.php?book_ID=676

http://www.moviejustice.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=3038

L. Frank Baum circa 1901 - Wikipedia:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/05/L_frank_baum.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:L_frank_baum.jpg

L Frank Baum Poster from Wikipedia (unknown artist):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a3/Baum_poster_1b.jpg

Baum photo from Looking Glass Review website:

http://www.lookingglassreview.com/html/l_frank_baum.html

Baum photo from Pixie Palace website:

http://www.pixiepalace.com/2007/06

Baum photo from Literary Traveler website:

http://www.literarytraveler.com/literary_articles/l_frank_baum.aspx

Baum with Green outline from oz.org website:

http://wizardoz.home.att.net/index.html

Wizard of Oz Poster of Tin Man from Wikipedia (The Tin Man).

Poster for Fred R. Hamlin's musical extravaganza was created by &34;The U.S. Lithograph Co., Russell-Morgan Print, Cincinnati &38; New York.&34; - 1903 U.S. Lithograph Co.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Tin-Man-poster-Hamlin.jpeg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tin-Man-poster-Hamlin.jpeg
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Vivisection photos from Ocean Drop website:

http://www.tonglen.oceandrop.org/Letter_Ban_Vivisection.htm

http://www.tonglen.oceandrop.org

White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc. (WBCWS)
PO Box 227
Mission, S.D.
57555

For more info on the WBCWS:

Javier H. Alegree
Public Relations Specialist
Media and Education

(605) 856-2317
(605) 856-2494 (fax)
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Official website of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe - Sicangu Lakota

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Northern Michigan University (NMU)

NMU on Wikipedia
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NMU Center for Native American Studies:

Center for Native American Studies

Northern Michigan University

112F Whitman Hall

Marquette, MI

49855

(906) 227-1397
(906) 227-1396 (fax)
e-mail:
nasa@nmu.edu

April Lindala, Director
Center for Native American Studies

(906) 227-1397
(906) 227-1396 (fax)
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Grace Chaillier

NMU Adjunct Assistant Professor

Sicangu Lakota band of the Rosebud Sioux

112G Whitman Hall

(906) 227-1390
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Great quotes about American Indian women by nations:
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Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED):
Northern Michigan University
September 21-23, 2008
Other UNITED links:
http://webb.nmu.edu/UNITED/SiteSections/2008Schedule.shtml
http://webb.nmu.edu/Webb/PDFs/UNITED/UNITED_2008.pdf
http://webb.nmu.edu/UNITED/SiteSections/GD989.shtml

UNITED Organizers:

Dr. Judith Puncochar

NMU Professor

906-227-1366
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Turtle Island Project

Munising, Michigan

Turtle island Project Co-founders:

Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard

Rev. Dr. George Cairns
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Turtle Island TV (blipTV)

Turtle Island TV (youtube)

Turtle Island (myspace)

email the non-profit Turtle Island Project:

TurtleIslandProject@charter.net
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Anishinaabe News:

NMU Native American student-run newspaper

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Top Stories

This is a transcript of the second in a series of videos about Tillie Black Bear - the executive director and one of the founders of the White Buffalo Calf Woman Society (WBCWS).

For 31 years, the WBCWS has served the Lakota Sioux Rosebud Reservation in Mission, SD.

Black Bear spoke to the Northern Michigan University 2008 Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED) Conference on September 23, 2008.

This is the second of several videos about her talk in the Great Lakes Room of the NMU University center and informal discussion that followed.

Tillie Black Bear:

&34;When we look at who we are as woman. We really have to look at where we come from as woman.&34;

I always encourage women from other tribes to take a look at where they were before - pre-European contact. What belonged to women

Tribal women, we had rights. We owned property. We had our children with us. Our children belonged to the women.

With the impact of colonization, those rights were skewed.
Because we had our white sisters coming from Europe who were the property of the men. And the children were the property of men, as well.

So you had this group of people coming and interfacing with tribal women all across Turtle I sland. Whether it was the eastern coast or the western coast. And what they found there was (tribal) women who owned property.

What was written about tribal women by the explorers, the priests, by the churches was they depicted this image of - if you close you eyes and imagine whats your image of an Indian woman - we were portrayed as we had this thing on our back and we were towing something. We had like wood or we were towing something somewhere. Or else either that we were standing by a big black pot cooking.&34;

&34;If you could do a paradigm shift to that idea - that the woman who had that stuff on her back - that was her property. It was what she owned. And she was carrying it somewhere.
That big black pot belonged to her.

In our culture as Lakota Sioux women - the teepee that we had was the womens domain. It was our teepee. And what went on inside that teepee was our responsibility.

Today we are real fortunate as tribal women that we dont have to set up those big 16-foot teepees anymore. Our brothers, our male relatives are the ones who learn how to set up for us the three poles and then bringing in the next poles until you have 12 poles that are standing up.

Our brothers do that today so we have been ind of spoiled as women because we dont have to do this anymore. In our tribe, can you imagine women - they would have contests to see how fast women could put up these teepees.

Within our tribe there might be two or three sets of women who could do it (now). I certainly couldnt do it and not have my brothers there, my males relatives, to come and help me.

Tribal women were responsible for that task. She owned that. It belonged to her.

If you look at who you are today as a women, what are the rights that you have, especially our white sisters, where did that come from?

About 20 years ago feminist historians began to have the eyes to see where suffrages like Matilda Joslyn Gage, Susan B. Anthony - where they got their ideas from about womens equality. It was from the Iroquois nation because a majority of those suffrages women have been adopted by the clan mothers.

&34;So they began to get their ideas about womens rights and they adopted many of their ideas about womens equality from those clan sisters from the Iroquois Nation.

So when we work today for equality for women, I work for tribal women to reclaim that equality that existed for us prior to colonization.

For our white sisters, I work for equality for them.

In todays world for tribal women, its pretty confusing because many of our male relatives have adopted those ways of our white male relatives in how they beat women - how they beat women today.

So I always encourage women, especially tribal women, to go back to the day that we were before that contact - pre-colonization.
How was it for Turtle Island women and all over Canada and Mexico.
We find that women definitely had rights.

Sociologist Susan Fletcher wrote a lot about what was happening to the Indian people in the 1860s there especially in South Dakota.

Fletcher went to Fort Randall where Chief Sitting Bull was being held and incarcerated.

One of his wives came in with wood and she was stoking up this fire, warming up the fire, in the tent where he was held

Fletcher said:

Is there anything youth think I could help you with and he (Sitting Bull) looked at her and said.

By me signing the treaties our Indian womens lives are going to change.
I want you to look out and write about our Indian women.

Sitting Bull took off a ring and gave it to her to do that.

This Chief Sitting Bull from Standing Rock knew what was going to happen to us as tribal women when he signed those treaties. The treaty of Fort Laramie was signed in 1868

Sister of man doing Crazy Horse monument came to Crow Creek on their honeymoon.
She was standing there with a group of tribal women and one of them gave a horse away.

She said: Shouldnt you ask your husband?

And the tribal woman said: My husband why? The horse belongs to me

The woman said: I forgot who I was talking to.

Property belonged to us and it was ours to give or to keep.

The many of the treaties between the U.S. and American Indian tribes were written by men not used to women with power or rights.

They came from a background where only men were in positions of power.
Only men signed treaties. Only men were in Congress.

They only wanted men in leadership positions.

If you look at the Irquois Nation. The clam mothers picked who would represent their clan. They had a process of nurturing a male to get to that point. There were things that this man could not do in order for him to be in a leadership position for the Iroquois Nation.

Black Bears visit was coordinated by the NMU Center for Native American Studies and the non-profit Turtle Island Project in Munising, Michigan.

The Turtle Island Project (TIP) has held several concerts and other events to raises funds for the WBCWS. TIP Director Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard travels several times a year to the Rosebud Reservation.