The Native Vote For 2012: Igniting The Native Revolution In The Rise To Power!

THE NATIVE VOTE FOR 2012: IGNITING THE NATIVE REVOLUTION IN THE RISE TO POWER!

By Mike Raccoon Eyes-Native Advocate and Candidate for Richmond CA. City Council 2012



I am a Native Advocate for Human and Civil Rights for Indian Country and many people have asked me why I am running as a Native Candidate for the Richmond City Council in Richmond California in November 2012.
I tell mainstream people this:"We Native People have waited for change. A change from being left out. A change for standing in the background. We have waited too long to say something. YES, WE HAVE WAITED LONG ENOUGH. Something must and will be done soon! "

The mindset of mainstream America is vastly different from the mindset of Native Peoples,Americans seem to have forgotten Sand Creek, Wounded Knee, Washita and other numerous sites of racial extermination against entire Native populations. Indian Country's historical trauma is at the heart of it, when we as Native People have unresolved grief about this type of violence and death that involved the use of ethnic cleansing.

According Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, Ph.D. " Five hundred years of conquest death cultural deprivation, and mistreatment have left North American native populations with unresolved grief about their history, which must be openly discussed if it is going to be resolved." Medical anthropologist Spero Manson, Ph.D.,: " What Native people living today experience counts more than what happened to their ancestors. Trauma is also associated with risk for and high rates of onset and poor control of diabetes, asthma,and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease."

I have stated in the media and town hall meetings through out Indian Country: " We have to learn how to reprogram ourselves as Indian individuals from a spiritual place. When you understand how Historical Trauma has handicapped and destroyed us mentally, psychologically and emotionally, then we can be better prepared to embrace the empowerment of our both Native Political and Spirituality empowerment and in turn the power of Spiritual transformation.

Indian Country has been and is still entrenched in an appalling culture of cycles of poverty, hopelessness and violence. In rural and urban Indian Country conditions have not improved for the past 100 years. People face daily starvation, with a back drop of high unemployment or no jobs. Drug and alcohol addictions and domestic violence is out of control. Illiteracy and high school drop outs exceeds the national average. Hunger and malnutrition is common place.

This is how it always has been in rural and urban Indian Country for the past 180 years to the present! A violent time bomb ready to explode! The factors of historic poverty and the issues of Native sovereignty has always been a keg of dynamite that was then and still is ready to blow Indian Country. WE NOW KNOW INDIAN COUNTRY IT IS TIME TO RISE TO POWER!

The political and spiritual objectives for Indian individuals and families is to try to do everything a little better tomorrow than it was today. Continuous improvement is the path to a higher standard of spiritual leadership for today's issues in Indian Country. We need to acknowledge that attachments such as power, privilege and material possessions can make it difficult to maintain high moral and spiritual standards for Native people.
By the same token, personal observations and a spiritual commitment to the truth, will lead us to see things as they really are and to understand the true needs of Indian Country people. We must be able to spiritually feel our Indian communities, not just intellectualize the needs of our People.

When we as a Political and Spiritual Native peoples stand up for what you believe is right, you must have the spiritual courage to acknowledge your actions and face the consequences. With spiritual courage, Native people can win political battles for their communities, but it takes a spiritual will to win the war. It is the both the political and spiritual moral and values of the Native community that gives us the confidence to overcome the barriers for more Human and Civil Rights for Indian Country. We must politically and spiritually strive to serve Indian Country. It will increase our bonds with our People and move us forth as individuals, and challenge us to reach higher standards that will help place us in step with the times.

"WE MUST ASK OURSELVES FROM BOTH A POLITICAL AND SPIRITUAL PLACE, WHAT IS INDIAN COUNTRY WILLING TO DO TO BE SUCCESSFUL?"

Each of us in Indian Country must have a spiritual commitment to live by, a standard code of spiritual conduct. For if we do, our Native and non-Native leaders will have to follow. Each one of us in Indian Country is setting a spiritual example for someone else, and each one of us has a spiritual responsibility to shape the future of our families and communities.I hear people in Indian Country say that poverty and unemployment, lack of education, alcohol, drugs and violence are killing off our Native People. These issues are all valid, but I believe the underlying issue is the loss of our Spirituality, our Traditional way of life and our self-esteem. Our Spirituality, self-esteem and commitment to ourselves, to our Tribes and Indian Country can empower us to overcome the obstacles that so many of us face.

At one time, our Nations were strong with our ceremonies, dances, prayers, songs and medicines. We must now recapture and use the forms of spiritual power that the Creator has given us since Sacred Time, Creation Time, First Man and First Woman Time, if we are to survive as Native People.We will regain our spiritual strength and power, our pride and dignity and use it to start healing families, our communities, along with Earth Mother and ourselves.
We must learn to be proud of our rich Native heritage and culture, our Spirituality and knowledge. We should no longer be ashamed of it. As Native People, our one common bond is our direct connection to the Great Creator of All Things.
Our Native medicines, our Sacred and Holy power centers and sites, our spiritual forms of knowledge are now ready to be used. We should use these things with sincerity and respect.
We must try harder as Native People to make a real Spiritual commitment to re-connect with Creator, our Ancestors, the earth Mother and each other as Native People.
And from this point, we become the political and spiritual change we wish to see in Creator's World!

We believe that Creator made all generations, past, present and those of the future, holy people. This is what our Elders teach us from the time we are born. Our families and Elders teach our young people that they must tear away the images and stereotypes that mainstream society has placed upon them as Native peoples. Violence and killing is not traditional in Native culture, it is a learned behavior from mainstream society.
We teach our youths not to attack, punish or beat themselves up for crimes that they have never committed in regards to racism. Our Elders and families teach our young people to have good self-esteem, self-worth and self-value, for as the original holy people this was Creators plan.

" THE NATIVE VOTE EQUATES NATIVE ELECTED OFFICIALS TO GIVE US REPRESENTATION IN A RACIST, COLONIAL MAINSTREAM SOCIETY "

Among the most difficult civil rights issues are those facing Indian Country's 10 million Native Americans. Federally recognized tribes are considered domestic dependent nations, with their rights to tribal sovereignty preserved. Tribal sovereignty refers to tribes' right to govern themselves, define their own membership, manage tribal property, and regulate tribal business and domestic relations; it further recognizes the existence of a government-to-government relationship between such tribes and the federal government. The federal government has special trust obligations to protect tribal lands and resources, protect tribal rights to self-government, and provide services necessary for tribal survival and advancement. The fight to preserve tribal sovereignty and treaty rights has long been at the forefront of the Native American civil rights movement.Moreover, Native Americans suffer from many of the same social and economic problems as other victims of long-term bias and discrimination - including, for example, disproportionately high rates of poverty, infant mortality, unemployment, and low high school completion rates. The struggle for equal employment and educational opportunity is key to addressing these problems that historically plague Indian Country.
WE NOW KNOW INDIAN COUNTRY IT IS TIME TO RISE TO POWER! We know as Native People can no longer afford to go along to get along!

The Native vote equates Native elected officials rebuild Native community by community and person by person, and Indian Country as a whole.I can't tell you how many everyday people that I've talked with who've visited Indian Country, and they've looked around and they saw all the social indicators of decline: high infant mortality, high unemployment, many other very serious problems among our People, and they always ask, " What happened to these people? Why do Native People have all these problems?"

To be blunt, many Native Peoples view the current United States government as a racist, colonial, illegal foreign government that is occupying our many Native Nations and could a dam less about us!
Five hundred years of conquest, death, cultural deprivation, and mistreatment have left North American Native populations with unresolved grief about our history.The racist, colonial policies of the United States government views as a so-called 'conquered people', oppression and repression of our God given Human and Civil Rights as First Nation Peoples and mass extermination,ethnic cleansing and racial genocide.

Native people know that with the emergence of many Native elected officials in 2012 that is the beginning of the prophecies of when Indigenous Native People are in CONTROL of the three America again within the next 25 years or less!

As I state on mainstream media and town hall meetings through out Indian Country, I make the following statement:

" AS A SPIRIT MAN I SAY THIS: CREATOR'S WORLD RENEWAL CYCLE SHALL START SOON! THE RED MAN SHALL RISE TO POWER SOON! WE AS NATIVE PEOPLE SHALL BE IN CONTROL OF THE AMERICAS AGAIN! BE READY! LEARN YOUR PRAYERS! LEARN YOUR SONGS! LEARN YOUR DANCES! BE READY! THE RED MAN SHALL RISE TO POWER AND BE IN CONTROL OF THE AMERICAS!"

Mike Raccoon Eyes is of the Eastern Band of the Cherokee, out of Quallah, North Carolina. He has been a Native Advocate for more Human and Civil Rights for Indian Country for the past 25 years. He is the San Francisco Bay Area delegate for the Inter-Tribal Council of California. He is a writer and author on traditional and contemporary issues of Indian Country, as well gives inspirational motivational talks about the spiritual empowerment of Native Peoples. He currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is a Native Candidate for the Richmond City Council in Richmond CA in 2012