February-March 1980 RAIN Page 9 The thing about Navajo is, you look at every other reservation and th~ land base has been eroded. They always steal land from Indians. But Navajo's the only reservation where they ever gave it back-consistently' Like, every ten years they'd give back more land, and that's why it's the biggest reservation. That's because they put in such effective puppet government. It was established by Standard Oil in 1922. That's how they got the Tribal Council started. So they didn't even have to take it away! They could just give 'em more, they did such a good job! So that's a lot of what has to be fought . RAIN: Do you feel the relationship of WARN and other Native American groups with anti-nuke groups is really solid? Or is it more like ''I'll do you a favor if you do me one?" WLO: I think that there's a lot of potential there, but I think it's going to require that both parts do some learning. I think we understand a lot about America and the way American people are, 'cause we spend a lot of time looking at it! But Americans have never been forced to look at themselves-they're always moving, they never have to look back. What we see with the American no-nukes is . . . Americans are always responding to a crisis situation, like the Vietnam War, and now we get to no-nukes. All of a sudden they decided that nudear power and weapons are a bad idea, and it's not like coal and nudear power weren't going on before, but everybody just got scared about it. So they start looking around for allies and all of a sudden they figure out-Io and behold !-Indians got the uranium, let's start talking to them! So they talk to us, and it's starting to grow, but still, what I feel like when I go to a no-nukes demonstration is I get treated like a minority-it's like they're doing me a favor to let me talk! Am I supposed to offer a " minority viewpoint" on behalf of all the brown and black people who aren't there? We understand that there's been a war going on for 400 years. Although there are few of us and we are oppressed, our power comes from a balance between our spiritual center and its manifestation in the way we fight the war. We have to be respected from that basis, respected from understanding our spirituality, the things that are part of our nations, that make us distinct. Also, in evaluating their still token acceptance of us inside the anti-nuclear movement they have to look at the whole way that they treat other people in the movement, like blacks, or Chicanos, and women! Have you ever heard of this word Wasichu? No? I'll tell you this little story. The first time a Lakota person, a Sioux, ever saw a white guy it was a starving pioneer who looked like a ghost. He was running across the prairie and he snuck into their camp in the middle of the night to steal some food'cause he was hungry. This makes sense, right? So he snuck in there and what he stole was, he didn't steal any meat, he stole the fat! Well this Lakota was rather alarmed ! He couldn't understand this! So the word Wasichu, it means "he who eats the fat." Now since that time it's been adapted, and it doesn't refer to a color. It refers to a state of mind . And that's who we have historically identified as the enemy, is the Wasicllll . Peter MacDonald, like some others, has been made into an honorary Wasichu . It's the same thing. And those are the crazies that run things, those guys. These people like no-nukes or environmentalists, a lot of times they look at a symptom . A nudear power plant is a symptom, is what it is. Weapons bases and all those things are symptoms .. . y'know, none of that stuff is gonna hurt you unless it's got uranium, and that's where it's got to be stopped. That's what feeds multinational corporations, is resources. And that's why, when you're talking about New Mexico, it's the No. 1 uranium-producing state in the country-and the Navajos are the ones that produce it. You' re talking about coal, you're talking about copper, silver, all this stuff that feeds those companies comes (rom those places, and that's what has to be stopped if you want to stop this monster. You gotta stop what's feedin' it. They can invest millions of dollars in a nuclear power plant, but if they can't feed it, it's just a museum piece. "Wasichu (wo See schu), it means 'he who eats the fat.' It refers to a state of mind." Black Hills Survival Gathering, July 18-26,1980. Contact: ranchers, professionals, union people, ordinary citizens, etc. Black Hills Alliance The Third part will be on alternatives, realistic pl'opll'-controlled P.O. Box 2508 alternatives, especially ones that we could apply in South Dakota, Rapid City, SO 57701 rural areas, rural and urban areas. We're bringing in people who have the skills to put those things together and who know how to WLO: There's three things that ilre going to come out of it that'll be put up pilot projects. We're inviting a lot of people, we l'xpect a lot really important, and I think important for everyone, not just Inof people to be there. The whole gathering should bl' self-sufficient, dians or people with the Black Hills Alliance. The first thing is a like the one last year. We want to have it that way, haw peopll' forum on genocidal policies against land-based peoples, which inwho know how to build underground houses, etc. , (orne out there cludes Indians, farmers, ranchers-anyone who tries to survive on to that. thl· land. It's gonna be construction of windmills and stuff like that , to The second forum is a tribunal on multinational energy-developshow people how it can be done , and how easily it can be done, and ing corporations. We'll be gathering testimony on environmental impacts, sharing experiences in dealing with them, and trying to that's really important. Y'know, if you ride around in South Dakota, there's windmills just sitting there, not being used ' It's really find out who specifically (which person in which company) is makimportant to get people understanding why those things arc so ing the decisions affecting the hills. This information will be pregreat to use. sented to a jury of the people, with people from all walks of Iife
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