All Men Are Equal, Mossy [iphone ebook reader .txt] 📗

All Men Are Equal

The Nez Perce remember the time when the river ran full of fish and hunting was plentiful. Under our guidance the land is but a shadow of its former self - we are wearing it to the bone. Until our shadow fell across their upturned faces, they were happy. We talked of buying and selling land and when they refused to give/sell it to us we kicked them out. Is this equality? I believe that it is our duty to give back to them their land.

Peace reigns in a small valley. It was fall, the year 1805. The only sounds that disturbed the peace of the afternoon were the calling of flocks of geese fleeing to the warmth of the south, and the rustle of falling leaves. And then, the noise of booted feet, unlike any sound that that peaceful valley had ever before heard. It was the, now famous, band of Lewis and Clark. They left the valley impressed by the kindness and courtesy of Chief Twisted Hair of the tribe of Chopunnish (Nez Perce) laden with gifts, riding the tribes horses, and accompanied by guides. All seemed good, the trip went well and Lewis and Clark came back laden with information. But in truth the outcome of the expedition was bad for all the Native American tribes. Lewis and Clark's glowing descriptions aroused a new interest in North. Those tribes that had hitherto gone unnoticed... were now shoved aside to make room for the white man. Were not those white settlers equal to the Indian? And yet they had more write in the eyes of the rest of the world to the land which the Indian owned? My mind tells me that something is wrong with this skewed vision of what it is to be equal.

For the Nez Perce things were at first... good. They ceded a small portion of land to the American
government, rightly believing that there was more than enough room for all. And then a white settler
found GOLD in a river in the river. It was not long before Washington offered to change the treaty terms and move the Indians to a reserve in Idaho (Lapwai reservation) and the white man would have Wallowa valley. Many chiefs agreed; Old Chief Tu-eka-kas (he and his son both had the English name of Joseph) didn't want to part with the land where his ancestors lay buried. He and called it the Thief Treaty. White settlers began to trickle into Wallowa valley and the Bureau of Indian Affairs said
that since Chief Tu-eka-kas had never agreed to the treaty of 1863 Wallowa valley belonged to them and the white settlers were ordered to leave. But the white settlers refused, and more kept coming; they built bridges, roads, and houses. In 1875 President Grant and the government changed their minds and the President signed a proclamation declaring Wallowa valley open to white settlers. Things were getting nasty. Two ranchers shot and killed a young Indian boy after accusing him of stealing their horses. The settlers, fearing retribution, requested military protection. This doesn't sound like all are equal.

And so it was that in May 1877 Brigadier General Oliver Otis Howard was ordered to remove the
Indians from Wallowa valley. They were given thirty days to leave and start on their way to the Lapwai
reservation. Seeing that to stay would mean war they were wisely and prudently departing. They were
in fact a day away from the reservation. When a group of young braves, justly angered at the white man for ordering them off the hunting grounds of their ancestors, killing their parents, and stealing their possessions killed 19 white men. Chief Hin-mah-too-yah-lah-ket, son of Tu-eka-kas, realized that war was inevitable when alone at last, after a lengthy council of war, he wept for the ones who would fall, the nineteen who had fallen, and for his homeland, which he knew he would never again see. The succeeding incidents are important but I have not the time to go over them all. Let it suffice to say that at 4:00 pm October fifth in the year 1877 Chief Hin-mah-too-yah-lah-ket surrendered, a mere 40 miles from the Canadian border and safety, with these famous unforgettable words “Tell General Howard I know what is in his heart. What he has told me before, I have in my heart. I am tired of fighting. Our chiefs are killed. Looking Glass is dead. Too-hool-hool-zote is dead. The old men are dead. It is the young men who say “Yes” and “No”. He who led the young men is dead. It is cold and we have no blankets. The little children are freezing to death. My people, some of them, have run away to the hills, and have no blankets, no food. No one knows where they are- perhaps freezing to death. I want to have time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I shall find them all dead. Hear me, my chiefs! I am tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever.” Although it is a mere translation, the power of Chief Hin-mah-too-yah-lah-ket is still plainly visible. Although bowed by the loss of his nearest and dearest friends and family and land, his words reflect how he was at heart a truly great man. They were sent to the almost uninhabitable reservation in Oklahoma. Hundreds died from malaria and other vicious diseases. “We ought not to be forced into a country not fitted by climate to our health, a place were we cannot live-where the country will not let us live.” said Chief Hin-mah-too-yah-lah-ket. He petitioned for the right to return to Wallowa valley “ I do not acknowledge that he (General Howard) had the right to order me to leave Wallowa at any time. I deny that either my father or myself ever sold that land. It is still our land. It may never again be our home, but my father sleeps there, and I love it as I love my mother. I left there hoping to avoid bloodshed....” but no one would sell him any land, and the government refused to admit the fact that he still owned it.

For years chief Hin-mah-too-yah-lah-ket tried to buy back at least his parents graves. He gave many talks all over the country. “If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace. There need be no trouble. Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it...” On September 21, 1904 he collapsed and died at the age of only 64. The reservation doctor said that he died of a broken heart. At his funeral his nephew Yellow Wolf said “ Joseph( Hin-mah-too-yah-lah-ket) is dead, but his words are not dead. His words will live forever.” All that is left is his words. In his lifetime he could not change the world but today... he lives past the grave in his writings and speeches. And I hope that listening to his words you have come to a more complete understanding our countries kind of “equality”.

Our history as a nation is very short as such things go. We cannot ignore the centuries of our history in which only the Native Americans inhabited this land. We don't understand the America that was. In order to build a successful future you need be able to grasp and comprehend the past. You cannot build a wall unless you know what bricks you are using. Our existence is so fragile that in order for us to survive we need to stop “cutting off our nose to spit our face.” We must throw aside the barriers of class, race, county, and family: “united we stand, divided we fall.” We must be able to take our past and with it build a future in which we can truly say “all men are equal”.

Publication Date: 08-25-2009

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