Dear All:

To add some more crap to the fast accumulating pile of crap, may I be
allowed to suggest that having a NATIVE SLAVIC ancestor is CULTURALLY
superior to having a representative of a NATIVE AMERICAN tribe in one's
ETHNIC background?

Jacek


----- Original Message -----
From: "Nancy Gish" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, September 21, 2003 12:56 PM
Subject: Re: TSE Digest - 9 Sep 2003 to 10 Sep 2003 (#2003-203)


> Dear Richard,
>
> I do know about the very different histories of native cultures after
> Europeans arrived, and I realize many retain sovereign nations and
> cultures.  The largest "minority" in Maine is native American, and
> they also are sovereign--though that does not stop the state from
> intervening in water rights and fishing rights and causing conflicts.
> So you are right that I was too general in my statement.  But it is
> true that Europeans took the land and that the United States is now
> a nation and a culture based on European (mainly British) legal,
> political, and cultural history.  The native Americans own pockets of
> land and often struggle to sustain their ways of life (hence casinos,
> etc.).  So "destroyed" may be too strong, but in comparison to the
> time before "we" (though I have a native American ancestor, I have
> no family history of the culture) came, it is probably not.
> Best,
> Nancy
>
>
> Date sent:              Sun, 21 Sep 2003 10:28:30 -0600
> Send reply to:          "T. S. Eliot Discussion forum."
<[log in to unmask]>
> From:                   Richard Seddon <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject:                Re: TSE Digest - 9 Sep 2003 to 10 Sep 2003
(#2003-203)
> To:                     [log in to unmask]
>
> Nancy
>
> Which Native American culture are you referring to, the Navajo, the
> Taos,
> the Mescalero Apache,  the Jicarilla Apache, the Hopi, the Santa
> Clara,
> the Jemez, the Zuni or some Peoples?   The Navajo and the Taos
> speak
> languages as different as German and Italian.  There are at least 5
> separate languages among the Puebloans.  You are assuming a
> Pan-Native
> American culture that never existed except maybe in Hollywood.
> Furthermore, all Native Americans did not experience the total
> physical
> eradication that the Native Newfoundlanders did at the hands of the
> European Canadians.
>
> Many members of the tribes I listed live in their traditional culture and
> would very much resent it being dismissed as "destroyed".
>
> BTW:  The sovereign tribes of the Navajo and the Hopi happen to be
> currently in a state of aggression towards each other.  They are
> sufficiently sovereign to have "foreign" policies.  Few puebloans like the
> Navajo and some actually prefer Anglo company to Navajo.  Since I spent a
> significant part of my "growing up" time with the Navajo I sort of side
> with the Navajo but can understand the Puebloan point of view.
>
> Rick Seddon
> McIntosh, NM