Red, Yellow, Black , Brown, Bronze, Carmel and White? Huh?
As a mixed blood American (as so many of us are), I can't help but reflect on this 4th of July and what it means to the diverse streams of history and individual culture.
Today, for a few minutes I reflect on what it means to be both First Nations American (Cherokee) heritage which I identify with by blood, culture and practice and my other streams of DNA. American history is definitely seen differently for a "Daughters of the American Revolution" charter member versus a founding member of the Black Panther Party who lives in Berkeley or Oak Town, CA.
Then, when you consider how religion has played on the scene... "egads!"
Although a practicing "Christian" by immersion in the culture and later by choice, so much of even my faith practice is shaped and shifted by an indigenous world view-- one that views humans and other beings and the natural world as taking priority over supposed-and-very-real progress and commerce.
So much I could talk about there, but won't right now.
That said, here is a perspective of some native Americans about "independence."
A Native American Take on Independence from the Weekend America website :
This weekend, we celebrate our nation's 232nd birthday. But it's not a celebration for everybody, especially for many of the Indian tribes who lived here long before the Founding Fathers got here. So how is the Fourth of July handled on sovereign Indian lands? Weekend America's Krissy Clark visited some First Nations to find out:Charles Hudson is a member of the Mandan-Hidatsa tribe, born on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. But by the time he came along, in 1959, much of the reservation was under 300 feet of Missouri River water, thanks to a giant dam built by the federal government, which relocated most of the people in his tribe. ...Follow the link
here to read the rest--
Happy 4th to all,
God bless our troops-- and bring them home, when both expedient and reasonable. I do not pretend to know all the ins-and-outs of all of this, so will leave it at that. "Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me." Quoted from Psalm 131:1b New American Standard Bible