According to Confucius, hearing something a hundred times isn't better than seeing it once. So, take a good look at this picture of veteran Wes Clark kneeling before Lakota Chief Crow Dog at Standing Rock after the Dakota Access Pipeline had been stopped from crossing Lakota lands. The two thousand US veterans who joined Wes Clark to form a human chain around Standing Rock did not play an insignificant role in this victory.
In the picture, Wes Clark is dressed in the uniform worn during the American Indian Wars and is kneeling not so very far away from Wounded Knee SD where in 1890 the American army went tipi to tipi massacring men, women and children, for which they were awarded more Medals of Honor than for any other military action in American history. Wes Clark bowed his head symbolically before all of pre-Columbian tribes to ask forgiveness on behalf of the European invaders.
It has taken almost the entire history of this country to come to this point. Some call this Wendigo psychosis. Others, Collective amnesia. America lives and has always lived in a state of denial about its origins and what it represents. This is the sick and psychotic America that sings its worn song of America's greatness, the same one that has just voted in a sick and psychotic leader.
It is the nature of selective amnesia that it will not be resolved until it faces up to the things it chose to forget. Wes Clark kneeling before Chief Crow Dog will go down in history as one of those moments that spoke a thousand words because perhaps, just perhaps, it indicates that this country is beginning to wake up. You never know - perhaps it will even do so before January 20th of next year.
No comments:
Post a Comment