Pack Creek Ranch, San Juan County, Utah
Early winter weather – freezing overnight, warm mid-afternoon.
Clear sky and full moon – deer mating in the valley.
The prediction is for a significant storm on the way this week.
REMEMBERING
Those who study memory say it is selective, malleable, and creative. Every time we recall and recount a memory, we rely not on the initial experience but are adding another layer to the most recent version of the memory. Remembering remembering.
This time of life and the unwinding of another year is layered with feelings of nostalgia. I’ve revisited the essays I’ve written at this same time in the past, recalling the events described in those journals and considering what has changed and how I think about those changes. I’m often surprised.
For example, here’s what I wrote 20 years ago, with commentary inserted:
Quotes from the past essay are in italics with a red vertical line. What I remember, and think now, is not.
(Both of these essays were written around American Thanksgiving – one of the few times when we think of the place of Indians in our history.)
Driving south and west from Seattle, down by Mt. St. Helens to watch it blow; on up the Columbia Gorge to Pendleton, Oregon, and on down the route of the Oregon Trail by the Farewell Bend of the Snake River; across Idaho to Twin Falls, and south into the basin and range country of eastern Nevada. Then west on the loneliest highway in America (#50) into Utah at Salina, where I stopped to eat pie at Mom’s Café, and finally into the red rock country of the Four Corners area, and my writing refuge in the La Sal Mountains, where, as I write the first stormy weather is layering snow on the upper valley. It will be a sit-by-the-fire kind of night.
I live full-time in San Juan County now. 52 percent of the population is Navajo.
But the weather is the same this week as it was 20 years ago – and I composed this journal in the same circumstances – sitting by the fire – thinking – and remembering.
Richard Nixon. Remember him? He once said, “I never lied, but some of the things I said later proved not to be true.” And, no, that’s not a prelude to comments on the current political campaigns, though I suppose it might be.
One must learn to navigate between knowing that history never repeats itself and realizing that the more things change the more they seem the same.
I’m quoting from a conversation I had recently with a lawyer representing a Native American tribe. He also said that whatever any politician tells you, he isn’t telling you the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. And no matter what anybody says, politics is about money. Cynical but realistic. The white man has lied to the Indian for more than 500 years and kept the Indian poor and isolated. Things are about to change. Big time. So explained the lawyer. Time for the truth that money can enforce.
And I’ve seen the signs of change with my own eyes. Driving from Seattle to southeast Utah means crossing several Indian reservations. You can’t miss seeing the Las Vegas style gambling casinos in operation on tribal land. Hotels, RV parks, restaurants, entertainment lounges, and shopping malls completed the services available. The parking lots were full. And the bank accounts are also full. Big money has come to the Indians. In some areas casinos have become the only thriving aspect of the local economy.
Reading between the lines of the editorials in the Native American newspapers, it’s clear that the Indians know that money buys power – money buys political influence – and money buys lawyers. The tribes have become serious players with clout.
Remember all those treaties? The ones that were said to remain in force as long as the sun rises in the East. Do you know about the years of abuse of the Indian trust funds? Billions are at stake. Oil, gas, uranium, coal, and water are at stake. And thousands of square miles of real estate are at stake.
As the lawyer explained, it’s very simple. All the sovereign indigenous peoples want are the same rights and standards the United States applies to Israel. What’s good enough for the Jews is good enough for the Indians: restoration and control of the promised land; reparations for holocaust and concentration camp victims; and the application of international standards of law. In other words, if the Right of Return is sacred for the Hebrew nation, then the American Indian has a case. Force may be required – maybe an army, an air force, a few tanks and Blackhawk helicopters. Or maybe just money and lawyers and time. Stand back and hang on – this will be a ride to remember. Custer’s last stand was a tea party compared to what the Indians could do this time around. So said my Navajo lawyer friend.
Crazy? Well, no, actually not crazy. And since some religious groups think the American Indians are one of the lost tribes of Israel, it all figures out in the end, doesn’t it? And it helps me understand why many Indian tribes have opposed and obstructed the re-enactment of the journey of Lewis and Clark this past year. The message is clear: “Say You’re Sorry and Go Home.”
I’m telling you all this to get your mind off the election. As if there wasn’t enough to worry about. But there are other things going on – and not all of it in Iraq. And speaking of Iraq, my lawyer friend says that if we want to rebuild a country, we might start with our own Indian Nations. Think about it: The idea is to invade and destroy a regime, then pay billions to free the people, restore the land, and leave. The American Indians think that would be a very good idea.
Well, that was then – 20 years ago – and this is now.
When I saw my Navajo lawyer friend this past week, I made the mistake of asking him what plans he had for Thanksgiving. He laughed. And said most Indians don’t celebrate the day – the worst mistake the Indians ever made was inviting the Pilgrims to lunch.