"I will take a soul train line any day over a pow wow!"
~Chief Xi
This is a quote that I posted on my Facebook page. The reason I posted this was to clarify a subject that has long been a misconception with Copper Colored Aboriginal Americans once called Indians.
First let me explain what I mean when I use the words Copper Colored Americans, these words are not mine they are found in the definition of American from the Webster’s 1828 dictionary, "...noun A native of America; originally applied to the aboriginals, or copper-colored races, found here by the Europeans; but now applied to the descendants of Europeans born in America..." (http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/american)
So when I say that I am a Copper Colored Aboriginal American, it is not just something that I made up, it is something that has been known from the beginning of colonization and the intentional mislabeling of our people! Let me press even farther and say that I have learned that my people, my bloodline...my ancestors, were already here prior to colonization and we ARE the Copper Colored Race they were referring to in the definition. Now, at this point, I am not trying to convince you but I merely explaining who I am so that you can understand the context in which I write.
I remember hearing from a well-respected scholar something to the fact that "Black" people have no culture only traditions. I was floored because the explanation was filled with forced assimilation examples. So I accepted that this was a true statement and it is relative to acceptance of being black and being forced to assimilate to the colonizers culture. This statement and the support of a colonized system has forced many to seek assimilation into other nationalities while completely ignoring our own.
First understand that history (his story) is told by the conquerors. It does not even glorify or honor the people who were conquered. It is filled with images or the conquerors because they need you to see them as superior, no matter how they accomplished their goals, and as such will destroy, alter, and change your story. In the case of Copper Colored Americans this was done to make us feel lost, hopeless, and inferior with the ultimate goal being to steal wealth. So they bring their way of life to YOUR LAND and force you to adopt it and if you resist then your resistance is met with swift and brutal violence that has even result in death.
Now as one of the lost daughters I was conditioned to accept the version of his-tory taught to me, and it has only been through research that I have found the truth but prior to finding truth, I found a great deal of other realities that I accepted because I was looking for a place to belong. I was taught that in order to survive in this society that I had to be like the rulers of this society. I could not wear my natural hair because it makes them uncomfortable so my mother made sure my curly hair was straight. She made sure that I didn't get too much sun because the darker I was the more unaccepted I am. I embraced speaking like the colonizers and presenting myself like them. I embraced their god while forgetting my own, I embraced their doctors while forgetting my own, I embraced mimicking their ways and doing what is acceptable to them while forgetting my own or only being me in a safe environment like at home or at family gathering.
I am not writing this to promote hate of anyone but my reason for writing this is to say that as I have found my truth, and I know that I don't have to assimilate into anyone else's culture to embrace the truth of who I am.
So being a Copper Colored Indigenous person many would automatically think that I am calling myself or identifying myself as a Native American and they would be wrong. My Grandmother and her Mother before her and her mother before her were Cherokee but that is not the same thing as saying they were Native American. My people are also Bayou Indians, Cajun and Creole as well as Choctaw but again that is not the same thing as Native American. First let me explain what I mean because when I say words like Cherokee, Bayou Indians (Creole and Cajun), and Choctaw one will automatically think Native American but Native Americans don't own these names they just made them famous or at least television did.
My ancestors are Aboriginal to these lands and were first called Indians, then later American Indians. After colonization and the doctrine of discovery, all Copper Colored People were renamed as Colored, Mulatto, Negro, Black, Afro American and now African American oh and let’s not forget Niggers!
Native Americans (ask their elders) are actually people who came to these lands after we were here already, they arrived with the conquers and are mainly a mix of Asian (Mongolians) and European (From Spain). This is where the famous Red Color came from, although most Native Americans I see today are more Pale Colored.
Native American means a person born in America but is a classification given to the Red People who settled here. They have a rich culture that over the years have been adopted from many other cultures. They are talented and proud people as well as skilled craftsman.
Native Americans were given reservations, money, free health care and education metered out from the federal government for their part in this saga but I can't even say I blame them for doing what they needed to, to ensure that their bloodlines were safe. It did and does continue to be a hefty price they paid because they were and still are treated horribly. They live on barren land and many of them have problems with alcohol, drugs and gambling. Their children are taken or forced into schools where they are conditioned and abused.
So when I say I would take a soul train line over a pow wow, I am saying that I will keep my own culture, birthed in rhythm, creativity, family and song, than to try to adopt a culture that does not belong to me and my people. Copper Colored Culture starts and ends with and in rhythm. Everything that we do has it from our dancing, singing, walking, dressing, and the way our bodies move in sports. The reason for this is that we feel the heartbeat of the earth--It is coded into our being-ness. We dance, sing, write, speak, and walk with a specific rhythm.
We don’t need to try and adopt, borrow from or mimic anyone else’s culture because we have our own and it not just tradition, it is not just adoptions of another way. It is uniquely us and I embrace it whole heartedly.
Que that soul train line!!!!
