Letters | What matters

What matters

Editor,
The truth is what it is today within our reservation politics, as intended by the dominant society. Long before Columbus’ doomsday ships arrived at the Caribbean islands, there were other “explorers” (dreamers of overwhelming riches) who marched through the southwest region. Throughout our history nothing but underlying stories of madness, atrocities, and absurdities of relationships, of which continue to this day.

Supposedly, as our overlords forced us Indigenous people to simmer in their great white melting pot is their way to diminish and destroy the culture and tradition of “savages.” Afterwards they installed their politics for social control on our population. Now our tribal government is where we elect our social representatives to do our bidding with our citizens and the dominant society. And all this may seem fine and dandy for some folks, but have we ever wondered about the other side of the same coin?

Yes, what seems more sinister is we now are in a time where there is no need for us to think anymore. From the day we were born we are assigned a number and as shareholders that pay dues (taxes) into a corporation called the federal government and everything we do and say has been dictated to us by them. We are on a predestinated path into a delusional, parasitic, violent world. At the helm is the dominant society with their office politics of gloom-and-doom pyramid schemes. And pity, we the Indigenous people are always a few steps behind the dominant society in the crazy department.

And to reveal such idiosyncrasy on our reservation, every election those elected-few who suppose to assist us with their “influence” towards the common good always become far removed what really matters. Sooner or later those weak-minded are mesmerized by our social assets and those not immune are infected with the diseases of greed, dominance (intimidations, harassments, bullying), and insanity. They become preoccupied with the dominant society’s ideas of “success.” Such schemes are to hide behind confidentiality, narcissism, being stingy through self-service, and lately, to react like a wild child in a candy store. And our worst case is to become ignorant to the needs of our society by becoming parasites.

As office volunteers of politics, no matter how much formal information they memorized and assist in ethnic-cleansing techniques and procedures they still fail to achieve peace and prosperity for our society. And their compliance is a willful participation to copy, obey, and become accomplices in the desecration and destruction of our home planet, on to possible oblivion. The problem is nothing works from a heavy top down, and obviously, as in nature, everything grows outward from the bottom up, a denied human process.

This brings us to the failure to communicate, to choose not to listen to our social intentions. Perhaps it is human weakness to imitate the natural forces of air, water, earth, and fire, to have it their way, thus experience “power-trips.” It is understandable that natural elemental forces do its obliteration for renewal purposes. But for humans, that is another story of trust in accountability in public service.

Moreover, what is the intention of our politicians, to willfully mistaken their public-granted social responsibility as “power?” And when expected conduct derails, where is “justice” when a judicial system goes about their “business-as-usual” using a prejudice “according-to-the-law” mentality? If there were intelligence, curiosity, and foresight within our political system then our public servants would mingle with the public for information, simplify social problems, lessen impacts or costs, and project executions for resolves.

What it comes down to is, if sovereignty of a nation is to be, as Indigenous people, we can reclaim our insights, critical thinking skills, foresights, innovations, and all that we lost during our assimilation. These are what can unshackle our bondage to resilience, our stubbornness, thus move onward – from this freedom we can work on our social experiment through our creativity, that which is simply an expression of our long-forgotten human spirit; and rejoice, for truth of Ha’a’zho’o’ ah (delicately) matters.

Robert L. Hosteen
Beclabito, N.M.