Opinion

Doug George-Kanentiio: The war on Natives and our Earth begins

Wednesday, November 9, 2016

A portrait of Donald Trump by artist #Yella (Daniela Lopez) is seen on a street in New York City. Photo by Indianz.Com / Available for use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License

A New Era of Anti-Native, Anti-Earth, Anti-Women Begins
By Doug George-Kanentiio

Beyond most predictions the worse candidate for the U.S. presidency in the nation's history has emerged as the victor, elected by an American people who voted against their own interests and in utter defiance of common sense.

Power has been given to Donald Trump and to a Republican-controlled Congress, which will now make an all out assault on Natives, on women's rights, on blacks, Latinos, on the earth itself.

This alliance will eviscerate the Environmental Protection Agency, thrust women back into back alleys, take away medical care for millions of people, plow ahead with the violation of treaties and destroy the economic lives of millions more as the nation's wealth is redirected to the already rich elite. Can such a person who profited from the misery of so many, who ran a campaign based on racial hate,based on fear and who represented the corruption of every leadership standard held sacred by the Iroquois actually win election?

Can a man who is a bigot be given this responsibility?

Can a man who despises Native people and everything we hold sacred be given the power to desecrate our lands, take away our already precarious health care and throw us at the mercy of vengeful corporations actually be give that power?

Yes, he has and this now begins an ugly, terrible and harsh time for all Americans.

If you are an immigrant be afraid, If you are at Standing Rock be afraid, If you are in the US without the right documents be very afraid. If you love peace be afraid. If you are a Mexican, a resident of a black community, a woman in need of Planned Parenthood, a believer in the validity of treaties be very afraid.

Every thing we have fought for is now at risk.

This election was one of resentment from voters who opposed what they considered the special privileges of others. Those who voted fro Trump know he dislikes Natives, They have heard his insults directed towards us. They know he wanted to rescind the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act. They know that Natives now live in the unhealthiest of areas, suffer the highest physical traumas, have the poorest economies yet they elected the one man who represents the greatest threat to us since the evil days of Andrew Jackson.

Those who voted from Trump effectively voted against Native people.

They elected a man who will plunge the US into war and conflict, suspending common sense and their desire to live in security. They knowingly allowed themselves to be played by some nut holed up in an embassy in London and a Russian dictator.

They have been warned that Trump is a serial liar and serial cheater, a man who stands in stark contrast to every Christian value the right wingers espouse. He abuses and disparages women in ways which should have disqualified him from consideration as a candidate.

He is an extremist who will create a police state to forcibly deport millions of immigrants.

He will create a U.S. Supreme Court which will further curtail civil rights and may well bring an end to all Native-US treaties and reservation status itself.

If you care and love this land, if you stand in defend of the natural world and are working towards a cleaner environment prepare to be investigated, arrested, imprisoned for the American electorate has declared hostilities against mother earth.

It is stunning that any working American would vote for a person who has made it clear he will further enrich himself at their expense, a man who boasts of avoiding taxes and thereby putting a heavier burden on the middle class.

This is no longer a Nation defined by compassion and inclusion, a country which is, by definition, one composed of immigrants who at least had a chance to rise above their circumstances. No longer. That which made America most compelling has evaporated. And, tragically, Native people will carry the heaviest burden.

America has made it very clear that it despises its original peoples, it conscience, its moral keel.

The war on the earth has begun.

Doug George-Kanentiio is an Akwesasne Mohawk currently residing on Oneida Territory with his wife Joanne Shenandoah.