Why should my HARD EARNED tax dollars go to support the welfare lifestyle in Toronto

Occasionally (who am I kidding...constantly)I will see in the paper or on various news sites (usually CBC) stories about First Nations people getting a free ride. Usually this is accompanied by the usual "angry taxpayers" who are tired of all their money going to support the welfare lifestyle all of us "Indians" are used to living. Perhaps if these taxpayers would spend a little more time getting the facts instead of believing every biased piece of new they hear, they would understand just a bit more of the reality. According to Stats Canada, there are 1,172,785 people in Canada who identify as Aboriginal. There are 623,780 First Nation people in Canada, of which 237,000 live off-reserve (386,743 on reserve) Of these 623,780 First Nations people, 249,970 have working income of an average of $23,273. That works out to 40% The national average at the same time is $36,616 with a population of 17,662,915 working (57%) Now keep in mind that the average age for non- First Nation is 44, and 40% of the First Nation population is under 25 years of age and normally would not be working. So, when you subtract the 245,575 people who are under the age of 25, AND the 249,970 people who have a working income, you are left with 128,235. Also keep in mind that First Nations people living off reserve would not qualify for "native welfare" anyway. According to the real numbers, a lager amount goes to non-aboriginal welfare than does to native welfare. For example in Toronto alone there are approx 400,000 recipients of Social Assistance. If every First Nation person living on the reserve were to get welfare, that would be only 623,780 people. However, only approximately 128,235 would even qualify. Please consider these numbers the next time you complain about YOUR tax dollars going to support welfare in First Nation communities.

Honour Who?

Here are the words to a poem I wrote a couple months back for a workshop I am developing on the use of FN images by sports teams. Once I figure out how to post a video on here, I will put that on too..


Honour Who?

Atlanta Braves, Cleveland Indians, Washington Redskins.

Names to honour the gladiators of the day, powerful names.

Names to make you picture the Brave First Nation, the powerful Native American, the strong Indian.

Mascots wearing fluorescent yellow, orange, blue, and green feathers in their headdress, leftover acid trip hallucination, or was it the mushrooms?

Dancing wildly, wielding that ever so famous foam-filled tomahawk, a weapon that makes you…well…giggle, just a bit

Dancing, beating its mouth making that familiar sound that draws you back to your childhood, you know the sound, think back to Saturday mornings and the Bugs Bunny show.

The stands come alive.

Thousands and thousands of nerf tomahawks cut the air up and down in unison,

as the tens of thousands of fans for a brief second, relive the fond memories of playing cowboys and Indians in their innocent youth.

Guess which one I always was!!!

Cowboys and Indians, funny the games kids play.

As I look back in vaults in which I keep, catalogue, and categorize my own childhood memories, I wonder…

Funny how I can’t seem to recall the neighbourhood kids playing

Blacks and KKK,

little white caps made from newspaper,

Mom’s best white bed sheets,

knotted up skipping ropes for a noose.

Nope, can’t recall that game at all,

but I do remember kids coming back from K-mart with those

GOD DAMNED fluorescent feathers, guns and hats.

Remember the rolls and rolls of red ticker-tape caps….mmm…mmm…mmm the sweet sulphur scent of our youth.

But I digress.

The sea of fans with their cute toy tomahawks,

and there is always that one person, scratch that…

hundreds of people,

with the fluorescent face paint, that would make a clown jealous,

matching headdress from birds caught just a little too close to the latest nuclear fallout, that somehow instantly are transformed into the almighty brave,

after all,

isn’t that how it worked with the REAL INDIANS?

News flash folks.. don’t tell anyone, but,

that’s all make believe.

Seriously, now this might be hard for you to get through your media, no SOCIETAL, brainwashed melon, but picture it.

How the hell could a Mi’kmaq, Passamaquoddy, or Mohegan walk trough the dense brush wearing a nuclear reactive turkey on their head?

But wait…

There is one nation that looks like the brave, the warrior, the noble savage, of whom you idolize.

He is from the most well known tribe in the Americas,

as seen from coast to coast, the tribe that’s known the world over.

This brave you so eagerly honour and strive to be is from the Hollywood Tribe.

Yes, that fictitious character created from the imagination of two popular Americans we all know,

famous “what sells”

and his older, more famous brother, “Let’s keep a race down”

The racial stereotypes these two brothers have perpetrated and perpetuated

have caused a rip in the fabric of time,

in the quilt of culture,

in the identity of…us

I have seen these stereotypes weave their way into the collective culture of my people, my Mi’kmaq Brothers,

Mohegan sisters,

Walula, Tillamook, Coos, and Tututni cousins.

Cultures implanted, borrowed, and shared,

impregnation, assimilation..working just fucking fine.

You want to honour us?

Remove these names from your teams.

Begin to realize, using them,

the Braves, Indians, Redskins,

is no honour..

DISHONOUR!

Forget the Hollywood tribe, the circling of the wagons made popular by movies,

first introduced by the great showman and metal of honour winner

Buffalo Bill Cody.

Back in his day, white folk would dress up as the Hollywood Tribe

and circle the pioneers’ wagons in the show.

Not because that’s how it was, but because

that’s how it HAD to be.

You see… they performed in a ring, horses going round and round.

Amazing how Hollywood blurs the line between fact and fiction…

culutralistic facts, naw..Eurolistic fiction.

White guys, dressing up as Natives, 100 years ago,

interesting how time stands still when you want it to.

So,

next time you stand in line,

tomahawk in one hand,

ticket in the other,

fluorescent face paint with matching headdress,

pounding on you face to make that goddamn sound,

do me a small favour…pound just a little bit harder,

cause you sure as hell are not honouring me.H

Happy Canada Day

Happy 143 birthday to our free country. Free, let us look at this word. I live in a country where if I wear traditional regalia to a gathering or any other public place I can be assured one out of three people I meet will say "nice costume". However, bluenotes and teeshirts are considered clothes. Any clothing not considered mainstream is relegated to costume status, something one might wear on Halloween. I live in a country that embraces other cultures. Embraces them for a weekend in various cities around the country, usually for a weekend, but only if the 5 D's are involved; dress, dinner, dance, dialect, and drum. We call them multicultural festivals. They are a time where people can go and watch the entertainment and feast on exotic foods..because anything outside of mainstream has that exotic label. In other cultures, it is called just food. A country where if my children qualify for a scholarship targeted for strictly their culture, I can be assured that the comments in the audience will consist of "great use of MY taxpayers dollars" or "where are the scholarships for the white students?" Based on a the systemic and institutional racism that plagues not only our schools, but the curriculum itself, the majority of scholarships are designed for whites only (but to come out and say that would be considered racist, but the comments of taxpayers dollars and on designated scholarships is not...it is freedom of speech. A country where, speaking of freedom of speech, our federally funded broadcasting corporation, will allow racist comments to be posted on any story relating to minorities, but refuse to post comments from someone who points out the truth about topics such as racial profiling, racist attitudes to minority communities, the abuse our elders faced in the government sanctioned residential schools, and the continued legacy they carry. A country where the government loves to announce the billions of taxpayers dollars that goes towards the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, without mentioning the majority of that money goes to the bureaucracy that it is. That money goes to White folks who run the department, not us. And it is not only you tax dollars, mine go there too. A country where a racist action from a white youth can be brushed off as a confused person, who in most circumstances, was just carrying on..kids will be kids. But when a Black or Native youth lashes out because they have dealt with upwards of 40 racial incidents...by lunch, they are considered violent, dangerous to society, angry, disrespectful, criminals, and example of whats wrong with their race. A country where if a white community has water problems, it is a disaster and the government will help right away. After all, clean water is a basic human right. However, we still live in a country where over 112 First Nation communities do not have access to water clean enough to wash their hands.
Happy Birthday Canada, you do not look a day over one when it comes to racism. Do not get me wrong, I love my country, I only wish it would love me back