Fighting Back

October 18, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, is Native American history.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A poem for Indigenous Peoples’ Day adapted from the Constitution of the Indian Federation covering Native American tribes in Southern California in 1922:

FIGHTING BACK

Adapted from the Constitution of the Indian Federation (Tribes of Southern California), ca. 1922.

The name of this Indian organization shall be
THE MISSION INDIAN FEDERATION.

Its objects are to secure by legislation or otherwise
All the rights and benefits belonging to each Indian
Both singly and collectively;
To protect them against unjust laws, rules and regulations;
To guard the interests of each member
Against unjust and illegal treatment.

"HUMAN RIGHTS AND HOME RULE"
Shall be the slogan adopted
By the Mission Indian Federation.

The Mission Indian Federation
Shall be non-political and non-sectarian,
The discussion of which
Is most stringently forbidden
In the Councils and Conventions.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fighti.html. For more poems about indigenous peoples, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Native American History
October 12: Treaties Are Made to Be Broken
October 13: To Shelter the American Character from Lasting Dishonor
October 14: A Graphic Illustration
October 15: Indian Babarities
October 16: Cultural Genocide
October 17: From the Great White Father to His Children
October 18: Fighting Back

From the Great White Father to His Children

October 17, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, is Native American history.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A poem for Indigenous Peoples’ Day adapted from a letter from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to all Native Americans in 1923 concerning their behavior:

FROM THE GREAT WHITE FATHER TO HIS CHILDREN

Adapted from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to All Indians, February 24, 1923:

Now,
What I want you to think about
Very seriously
Is that you must first of all
Try to make your own living,
Which you cannot do
Unless you work faithfully
And take care
Of what comes from your labor,
And go to dances or other meetings
Only when your home work
Will not suffer by it.

I do not want to deprive you
Of decent amusements
Or occasional feast days,
But you should not do evil
Or foolish things
Or take so much time
For these occasions.

No good comes
From your "give-away" custom
At dances
And it should be stopped.
It is not right
To torture your bodies
Or to handle poisonous snakes
In your ceremonies.
All such extreme things
Are wrong
And should be put aside
And forgotten.

You do yourselves
And your families
Great injustice
When at dances
You give away money
And other property,
Perhaps clothing,
A cow, a horse,
Or a team and wagon,
And then,
After an absence of several days,
Go home to find everything
Going to waste,
And yourselves
With less to work with
Than you had before.

I could issue an order
Against these useless
And harmful performances,
But I would much rather
You give them up
Of your own free will.
And, therefore,
I ask you now
In this letter
To do so.

If, at the end of one year,
The reports which I receive
Show that you are doing
As requested,
I shall be very glad,
For I will know
That you are making progress
In other
And more important ways.

But if the reports show
That you reject this plea,
Then some other course
Will have to be taken.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/fromt2.html. For more poems about indigenous peoples, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Native American History
October 12: Treaties Are Made to Be Broken
October 13: To Shelter the American Character from Lasting Dishonor
October 14: A Graphic Illustration
October 15: Indian Babarities
October 16: Cultural Genocide
October 17: From the Great White Father to His Children

Cultural Genocide

October 16, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, is Native American history.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A poem for Indigenous Peoples’ Day adapted from a letter from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the superintendent of a Native American reservation in 1902 and the reply:

CULTURAL GENOCIDE

Adapted from the "Long-hair" letter from the Commissioner of Indian Affairs to the Superintendent, Round Valley, California, 1/11/1902; and the reply by the Superintendent, 6/21/1902:

The wearing of long hair
By the male population
Of your agency
Is not in keeping
With the advancement they are making,
Or will soon be expected to make,
In civilization.

You are therefore directed
To induce your male Indians
To cut their hair.
With your Indian employees,
And those Indians
Who draw rations and supplies,
It should be an easy matter,
As non-compliance
With this order
May be made a reason
For discharge
Or for withholding
Rations and supplies.

The returned students
Who do not comply voluntarily
Should be dealt with summarily.
Employment, supplies, etc.,
Should be withdrawn
Until they do comply.
And if they become obstreperous
About the matter,
A short confinement
In the guard house
At hard labor,
With shorn hair,
Should furnish a cure.

The Reply:

Sir: Referring to your letter
Of January eleventh,
There are only two or three
Very old male Indians
Who wear long hair,
And I have not thought it best
To take severe measures with them,
As there is no disposition
On the part of any others
To follow their example.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/cultur.html. For more poems about indigenous peoples, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Native American History
October 12: Treaties Are Made to Be Broken
October 13: To Shelter the American Character from Lasting Dishonor
October 14: A Graphic Illustration
October 15: Indian Babarities
October 16: Cultural Genocide

Indian Babarities

October 15, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, is Native American history.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A poem for Indigenous Peoples’ Day describing a massacre of Native Americans in 1867:

INDIAN BARBARITIES

Adapted from Conditions of the Indian Tribes: A Report of the Joint Special Committee of Congress (The Doolittle Report): pp. 41-42, January 26, 1867.

"When the attack was made,
The Indians flocked around the camp
Of the head chief,
And he ran out his flag.
He had a large American flag
Which was presented to him, I think,
By Colonel Greenwood some years ago.
And under this American flag
He had likewise a small white flag."

Was it light, so that the flags
Could be plainly seen?

"Yes, they could be plainly seen."

How many were killed?

"I think about seventy or eighty,
Including men, women, and children;
Twenty-five or thirty of them were warriors, probably,
And the rest women, children, boys, and old men."

Were any Indian barbarities practiced?

"The worst I have ever seen.
All manner of depredations
Were inflicted on their persons;
They were scalped, their brains knocked out;
The men used their knives,
Ripped open women,
Clubbed little children,
Knocked them in the head with their guns,
Beat their brains out,
Mutilated their bodies
In every sense of the word."

Do you know which troops those were
That actually did this work;
Whether they were the hundred-day men
Who came from Denver,
Or the regular First Colorado regiment?

"I am not able to say;
They were all in a body together,
Between eight hundred and one thousand men,
I took them to be.
I saw some of the First Colorado regiment
Committing some very bad acts there
On the persons of the Indians;
And I likewise saw
Some of the one-hundred-day men
In the same kind of business."

When they came back to the Indian village,
Were any of the Indians there,
Men, women, or children,
Left?

"No, sir; they were all gone
Except a few children
Who came into our camp
An hour after we had all returned."

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/india4.html. For more poems about indigenous peoples, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Native American History
October 12: Treaties Are Made to Be Broken
October 13: To Shelter the American Character from Lasting Dishonor
October 14: A Graphic Illustration
October 15: Indian Babarities

A Graphic Illustration

October 14, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, is Native American history.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A poem for Indigenous Peoples’ Day describing how Native Americans in Oregon were told in 1855 that they were about to be inundated with white settlers:

A GRAPHIC ILLUSTRATION

Adapted from The Affidavit of Charles Pitt Regarding "The Palmer Treaty, 1855" at Warm Springs, Oregon:

Palmer reached down
And raked up three piles of sand.
And he said, "Can you count the grains
In the three piles? No, you can't.
The white man in number
Is greater than the grains
In the three piles of sand.
And you can't count them.
The white man will come into your country
Like salmon go up rivers.
The great father in Washington
Is like a great chief,
But he can't stop them from coming in.
And you will be covered over by them
For they are so numerous."

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/toshel.html. For more poems about indigenous peoples, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Native American History
October 12: Treaties Are Made to Be Broken
October 13: To Shelter the American Character from Lasting Dishonor
October 14: A Graphic Illustration

To Shelter the American Character from Lasting Dishonor

October 13, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, is Native American history.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A poem for Indigenous Peoples’ Day adapted from a memorial of the ladies of Steubenville, Ohio, requesting fair treatment of Native Americans, 1830:

TO SHELTER THE AMERICAN CHARACTER FROM LASTING DISHONOR

Adapted from the Memorial from the Ladies of Steubenville, Ohio, Protesting Indian Removal, February 15, 1830:

Your memorialists would sincerely deprecate
Any presumptuous interference
On the part of their own sex
With the ordinary political affairs of the country
As wholly unbecoming
The character of American Females.
Even in private life
We may not presume
To direct the general conduct
Or control the acts
Of those who are in the near
And guardian relations
Of husbands and brothers.
Yet all admit that there are times
When duty and affection call on us
To advise and persuade
As well as to cheer and console.
And if we approach the public representatives
Of our husbands and brothers,
Only in the humble character of suppliants
In the cause of mercy and humanity,
May we not hope
That even the small voice of female sympathy
Will be heard?

When, therefore, injury and oppression
Threaten to crush a hapless people
Within our borders,
We, the feeblest of the feeble,
Appeal with confidence to those
Who should be the representatives
Of national virtues
As they are the depositories
Of national powers,
And implore them
To succor the weak and unfortunate.
In despite of the undoubted natural right
Which the Indians have
To the land of their fathers,
And in the face of solemn treaties
Pledging the faith of the nation
For their secure possession of those lands,
It is intended, we are told,
To force them from their native soil,
And to compel them to seek new homes
In a distant and dreary wilderness.
To you, then,
As the constitutional protectors
Of the Indian within our territory,
And as the peculiar guardians
Of our national character
And our country's welfare,
We solemnly and earnestly appeal
To save this remnant of a much-injured people
From annihilation,
To shield our country from the curses denounced
On the cruel and ungrateful,
And to shelter the American character
From lasting dishonor.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/toshel.html. For more poems about indigenous peoples, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Native American History
October 12: Treaties Are Made to Be Broken
October 13: To Shelter the American Character from Lasting Dishonor

Treaties Are Made to Be Broken

October 12, 2020

Dear Subscriber:

Each week we examine a theme from a variety of points of view. The theme for this week, in honor of Indigenous Peoples’ Day, is Native American history.

I welcome comments on my poems at https://nicholasgordon.blogspot.com.

A poem for Indigenous Peoples’ Day containing an adaptation of a proposed treaty with Native Americans in 1783:

TREATIES ARE MADE TO BE BROKEN

Adapted from the Congressional Committee Draft Report on Indian Affairs, September 22, 1783:

Thirdly, That as the Indians,
Notwithstanding a solemn treaty of neutrality with Congress
At the commencement of the war,
Notwithstanding all the advice and admonition
Given them during its prosecution,
Could not be restrained
From acts of hostility and wonton devastation,
But were determined to join their arms
With those of Great Britain
And to share their fortunes;
So consequently,
With a less generous people than Americans,
They would be compelled to retire beyond the Lakes.
But as we prefer clemency to rigor,
As we persuade ourselves
That their eyes are open to their error,
And they have found by fatal experience
That their true interest and safety
Must depend upon our friendship,
As the country is large enough
To contain and support us all,
And as we are disposed to be kind to them,
To supply their wants and partake of their trade;
We from these considerations,
And from motives of compassion
Draw a veil over what has passed,
And will establish a boundary line
Between them and us
Beyond which we will restrain our citizens
From hunting and settling,
And within which they shall not come
But for the purpose of trading, treating,
Or other business equally unexceptionable.

© by Nicholas Gordon

To see this poem on my site, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/treat3.html. For more poems about indigenous peoples, go to https://www.poemsforfree.com/indigenouspeoplesdaypoems.html .

This week’s theme: Native American History
October 12: Treaties Are Made to Be Broken