Ivan Star Comes Out: Where does Donald Trump want Indians to 'go back' to?

Friday, July 19, 2019  

This is for those people who are dedicated to their centuries-old, narrow-minded, “Indian” stereotypes. I am very “Indian” looking, dark-skinned, long hair, etc. and have been mistaken by many an Anglo-indoctrinated person for a “Chinaman” or a Mexican. Some choice obscene expletives have been used to describe me too, but most of the time I am incorrectly called “Indian.”

My life has been unlike any other in this country, except other “Indians.” I have endured contempt, exclusion, and abuse throughout my life. I am still the subject of gawking disrespectful non-native children. Now this immigrant president (Trump) wants to send us back to India or a place called “Nativia.” Hardly anyone knows I am a descendant of the original inhabitants of this continent.

I’m sure “We the People,” in the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution (1789) was meant for Euro-Americans only. Another equally revered document’s (Declaration of Independence) “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed with unalienable rights, that among them these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” is meant for Euro-Americans only.

The celebrated Star-Spangled Banner (Francis Scott Key, 1814) merely champions the United States’ violent past. It deifies the fact that this new country was founded on violent ethnic cleansing for the purposes of cultural imperialism or colonialism. The patriotic, America the Beautiful (Katherine Bates, 1895) is basically a pristine description of the “new land” for the benefit of the colonizers.

One line from the classic western folk song, Home on the Range (Higley, Brewster, M., 1872), “Where seldom is heard a discouraging word,” is a disguised cover-up for when “America was great.” Again, the promoted patriotism is for whites only, not for the inhuman “savages” or the Negro slaves. This song was unofficially called the “anthem of the west” and was Kansas’ state song in 1947.

I thought serving in the military would make me acceptable to the majority, instead I witnessed and felt the callous hegemony (dominance) behind the cleverly disguised jingoism. It was not the first time as I had experienced racism in the 1950s and 1960s.

I learned to exert extra effort just to gain a semblance of parity and justice. As an example, concerned about an abnormal skin condition in the mid-1970s, I warily approached the Veterans Administration Medical Center (VAMC) located in Hot Springs, SD and immediately encountered a “disparaging” situation.

A seemingly annoyed WWII-era physician examined me then curtly told me to take better care of myself and prescribed medicated soap. I left the hospital and stayed away for many years as an effort to avoid the pointless bigoted animosity that existed there. This xenophobia is controlled now but the native is now viewed as the “foreigner.”

Since my skin condition was never clinically diagnosed, I don’t know what it is. Without medical evidence, I can only speculate that it has something to do with the powerful compound used to defoliate jungle vegetation in Vietnam. This toxic chemical compound is called “Agent Orange.”

I began using the Indian Health Service (IHS) hospital in Pine Ridge as I had all of my young life. By the way, this is not a “free” medical service as many ill-informed Euro-Americans believe. My ancestors were killed and millions of acres stolen from them for this less than quality health service. Then the IHS unit began refusing medical services to native veterans and referred them to the VAMC (date unknown).

Throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s, I endured the crushing symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), mainly nightmares, sleep loss, physical and spiritual exhaustion, intense feelings of fear and impending danger, suicide ideation, outbursts of anger, and I was constantly armed.

By the late 80s, I moved my family into a tiny mobile home without plumbing, electricity, and propane, away from populated areas. Around this time, a fellow Vietnam War veteran, the late “Chuck” Richards, encouraged me to file for an upgrade on my 10% rating. Immediately, my rating was increased to 30% but he encouraged me to keep going. I spent 11 long years engaged in a stalemate with the VA.

Ivan F. Star Comes Out can be reached at P.O. Box 147, Oglala, South Dakota, 57764; via phone at 605-867-2448 or via email at mato_nasula2@outlook.com.

Copyright permission Native Sun News Today