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Cobell vs. Salazar - Custer's Last Stand

by Rhyana Fisher


Prelude
Fallout

Apollo 100 was a favorite of Dad's,

back in the day we'd play the LP fairly often.

I was listening to their rendition of Gerry Owen

(real track name Custer's Last Stand)

long before I knew what buffalo were

or who that idiot Custer was for that matter.

Even I know not to underestimate someone

you've backed against a wall and left no where else to turn.

His easy assumption it would be a cakewalk

just because it usually was remains irksome.



It's a little amusing to consider the possibilities -

I could've had relatives on both sides.

Irish immigrant influence was how Gerry Owen became the 7th's theme.

But nobody has traced grandma's side of the fam,

assuming it's even possible now.

Only god knows where her relatives came from or went.



It's possible, albeit unlikely.

Trace anybody far enough back,

you'll eventually hit common ancestors.



Which is what makes the whole blood quantum

tribal division all the harder for me to understand.

Not so much why it exists (thank you federal gov),

but why tribal elders bought into it.

Well, no, scratch that -

statistically, abused children have a 50/50 chance of learning better,

that probably has tribe wide implications

when every member is descended from several generations who've been victimized.

Thus while half the tribe is busy minding their own business,

having learned the only person you have any control over is yourself,

the other is trying to tit for tat screw the rest over

in a futile attempt to control the uncontrollable.

It's just another power trip with money the beating stick.

Why is it the wrong lessons are usually the ones picked up fastest?



My mother didn't need Indian blood

to learn those kind of games all too well

and I'm sick of playing.

Money's given too much credit,

the winners believe it entitles them

to have their whims catered to

in the mistaken belief they own the rest of the population.

I was too stiff to bow gracefully then,

growing older hasn't improved my flexibility.



The irony of being named in Cobell vs. Salazar

still makes me twitch, given my admittedly rotten attitude

about money - namely not giving a damn even when I really ought to.

But poverty isn't that bad when you don't have kids to watch starve.

It definitely encourages creativity when you can't just buy an easy fix.

The greedy attitudes fostered when certain people get a little ahead

then assume everyone else is out to take it away

embedded a marrow deep loathing of the dollar I've never shaken.

That's usually not true in the smaller scheme of things,

only the gov has power enough to do real damage.

Everything else is just a drunkards' brawl over pocket change.


'We stole everything you would've/could've/should've been

but we'll give you $1k in return for mishandling the tiny fraction

of nothing we decided to finally give back'...

how the hell does that work?

People think it's about restitution.



Yeah, right.

I know how abusers think.

'I'll buy you a pretty white dress*

instead of properly apologizing

and changing my entitled mindset

so it doesn't happen again

and you'll take it even tho you hate white

because if you call me out on the b.s.

and don't act grateful

I'll just hit you some more.'



There's reason the gov settled out of court.

There's reason that settlement was accepted.

It wasn't because it was restitution enough,

but throw a few scraps to starving dogs

and the scramble keeps them busy long enough

to pull out the shotgun.



They look good to outsiders, they feel "generous",

their reputation for being "fair" gets a face lift,

they think they've "done" something about the problem

and nobody stops to look at the chaos their "restitution" actually causes

in a people already divided and conquered,

with artificially inseminated chasms splitting through the family unit

all the way up to the top tiers of their society.



It's Custer's Last Stand all over again in microcosm,

one small triumph in the face

of ongoing loss of genetic diversity and culture.

Another couple generations

and the tribes will all but not exist.

Cobell vs Salazar is a memorable victory to celebrate

but it makes no difference to the war.



The internally enforced blood quantum restrictions

already struck the killing blow, the body just hasn't stopped twitching yet.

Random, irrational, arbitrary rules governing settlements

just further undermine family units.

I had six sibs, only two of us made it into the first settlement,

the others weren't born "soon enough".

Sorry, but real restitution shouldn't have a time limit.

Still not even sure why the two of us made it,

at 1/16ths, we aren't eligible for any other tribal benefits.

Last I heard, you have to be 1/4,

god forbid any of your Indian ancestors weren't from that specific tribe,

no matter if they were members of an allied neighbor.

But intelligent forethought shouldn't be expected when inbred stupid

is actively encouraged just to keep gambling money flowing.



The squabbling and bickering over Cobell vs. Salazar has already started.

Dad thinks his sister was hiding information intentionally,

exacerbating the already bad blood between them

thanks to their parents playing favorites.

Never mind her two sons were named

in the "Help Us Locate" section same as me,

(and nobody could figure out

why my brother's check showed up at my parents' to start with

while they didn't have my pertinent data).

Ma doesn't trust anyone anyway, she just fans his flames.

They make my head hurt.



Nobody knows why Dad doesn't have an IIM#,

evidently I and my brother do

and he should've been part of the same settlement,

as should his sibs.

Incorrectly filed paperwork is the official answer

but how did my parents get part of the first settlement

to begin with if that's the case?



He's digging but it's making me twitchy as well.

Given the disenrollment witch hunt our tribal elders are currently engaged in,

it wouldn't surprise me if they tried to deny our claim to it

or "lost" certain records as has happened in the past.

They shouldn't be able to,

but there's bad blood between the band we're related through

and the main body in power.

Many records we did have were lost in the house fire

that took our family limb's ceremonial head dress with it.

I've never met that great aunt, but rumor has it she still feels awful.

It'd be nice to hug her and tell her it's okay,

but even if I knew her, she knows exactly how much it's not.



I wish grandpa were still alive so I could ask him.

Wonder how much prejudice and discrimination he faced

from his own people for not being a full blood.

He never talked about it,

but he left for a reason. Or many.

He probably had even more cause to be sick of the petty bickering.



Even my twitchiness twitches,

just listening to the stories that filter through

raises my blood pressure.

I don't know that I want to know that side of the fam

if it's just going to be even more people cutting each other down.

Who wants to be part of a group that just wants to get rid of you

because of choices you had no part in making?

Grandpa probably had the right idea.

But even knowing better,

part of me tries for optimism.

It can't be that bad, right?

They're family.



And then I look at Ma's family.

Yep, I do know better.

Family is exactly the reason tribes don't work.

It's fine for a few small groups but once it gets crowded

people start looking to their own immediate family's interests

at the expense of everyone else's.

We all know power corrupts

but everybody thinks they can be the exception.



If I can't deal with the family I do have,

why the hell am I looking for more trouble?

All the while Custer's Last Stand

plays on repeat in the back of my mind,

theme song to my ongoing dilemma.



Get involved? stay away...


Update: Fourth in series

10/03/2014

Author's Note: *True story. The additional irony of the topic meshing so well with the dress color has not been lost on me.

Posted on 10/03/2014
Copyright © 2024 Rhyana Fisher

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by A. Paige White on 10/03/14 at 01:41 PM

My pick for POTD. Wow. I love it as is. If you do modify I hope you keep the original too. I have some Cherokee heritage myself. No idea what percentage but enough that I do indeed have to do spiritual warfare (once I had determined what in fact I do believe) and my "ancestors" do visit me. Life is strange indeed!

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