as i sat at christmas dinner, and i filled my plate with delicious food, i looked around the table at the laughing, happy, loving, faces and i was filled with gratitude. but not for the the food, or the company, or the love in my family ... i was filled with gratitude for the gift of the land that our homes sit on, for the stores that carry the food we eat, for the land that grows the vegetables that i so carefully and deliciously prepared for us.
and i began to think about hunger.
chief teresa spence is hungry today. not deliciously hungry as i was when i gazed at the turkey, mashed potatoes, yams, stuffing, carrots ..... she is 21 days hungry, with an ache in her belly and her bones. she is seven generations hungry for the rights and dignity and respect her people had taken away from them. she is hungry for the protection of the earth and its resources.
i teach middle school history, and the textbooks still talk about the "discovery" of the new land by the european explorers. there are units about the mutual benefits shared between the aboriginal peoples and the european newcomers. in fact the curriculum states:
"alanyse examples of interaction between First Nations peoples and european explorers to identify and report on the effects of cooperation and the reasons for disagreements between the two groups"
as if the effects of cooperation and disagreements are in the past - as if First Nations peoples are simply historical figures whose customs and beliefs lie in an ancient civilization that no longer exists.
we are not responsible for the choices of our ancestors. we cannot be held responsible for the atrocities that took place generations before we were born. and at the same time, we cannot sit idly by while yet another generation of people suffers, we cannot ignore or deny promises made by our ancestors in the form of treaties. we cannot continue to stand by and watch the attempted assimilation of nations.
Idle No More states:
":Idle No More calls on all people to join in a revolution which honours and fulfils indigenous sovereignty which protects the land and water. Colonization continues through attacks to Indigenous rights and damage to the land and water. We must repair these violations, live the spirit and intent of the treaty relationship, work towards justice in action, and protect mother earth." idlenomore1.blogspot.com
teresa spence is hungry for change. she is hungry for the recognition that this history of "cooperation and disagreements" is an on-going struggle in a land my ancestors savagely conquered, and fought wars with each other over. she is hungry for a resolution to the ongoing destruction of the land and the lessening protection of the water.
and she is hungry. her insides must be aching.
she is willing to die as a martyr, while the nation stands idly by and the prime minister refuses to meet with her.
and so i wonder, on this New Year's Eve ... what will 2013 bring? what changes to our planet, to our nation, to our people? for we are all people.
and what will happen when chief teresa spence dies? for she will die, this is inevitable, she will eventually starve to death while the rest of the country continues on with their New Year's Eve parties, while i clean up all the delicious treats from christmas, while i feel sorry for myself that i can't have chocolate cake.
what is in store for us in 2013?
