The Blackfeet

[joewiggs]

The Blackfeet were the largest, most fierce,proud and haughty tribe of the Algonquin (no, I'm not referring to the shady lawyer on the Amos & Andy show) Nation. They wore moccasins and leggins in the winter made from from the skins of black animals tanned with the hair on; the moccasins and leggins made for summer use were also blackened.

The Blackfeet were constantly at war with the Sioux, Crows, Snakes and anyone else they may happened to come across.

They believed and worshipped the "Great Spirit" and offered their prayers only to him. The Blackfeet buried their dead in the ground and placed their war weapons on the grave.

To the Blackeet there was no such thing as hell or the Bad Spirit. To them all things were the work of the Good Spirit visited on them. When bad things did occur it was because of the anger of the Good Spirit which had to be appeased.

[tbw]

One does not appreciate the Native American "Spirit" enough until one comes into close contact with it. It is still alive and well today, and we all could learn alot from what they could share with us if we would only listen. Some people may view what they believed and what they did was savage, but we who classify ourselves as modern and religious ought to rethink these values, because the have become more perverted than spiritual, more outwardly ritualistic than inwardly meaningful and just perhaps more savage than they ever were.

[joewiggs]

Exactly Dennis, we must remember that a large portion of the "savagery" displayed by the Native American was the result of "white" savagery committed by them.

On can never condone inhuman acts perpetrated against one another but, to stand upon a soap box and shout, "They done it first" absolves nothing.

[tbw]

We see today in the spirits of these native people a certain restlessness. No, it's not a rebellious nature most would like to implant into that statement. It's more of a 'discontent' with what the white man has done to the land, the very nature of our environment, and what capitalism has done to exploit it through greed.

These natives today are proud of their heritage, and rightly so, for what they were left was not what their forefathers ever envisioned. Interestingly enough, not all natives fought the whites, and they still in the end 'paid the same price' as those who did. They still lost their lands, they still had to be assimilated into the white mans ways, culture and beliefs. In reality a kind of ethnic cleansing. perhaps just as repulsive as King Edward the 2nd's Prima Nocture and no less indignant.



The white mans expansion operated solely toward the fulfilling of one purpose: to add the other conquered peoples to their own. This was achieved through forced assimilation, a process which transformed individuals into the white mans way, enhancing, and simultaneously controlling, individuals by implanting or appending to their way of life, and the meaning of it - to what the white man said it was.

[Cutter]

I agree as well. I went to high school in Dale Oklahoma, and a lot of my friends were from the Kickapoo and Absentee Shawnee tribes. As you all know I was raised in Billings, and from early on have been close to the various cultures.
However, the nature of man, up to and including now, has been one of conquest and expansion. The Frankish, Egyptian, Persian, Macedonian , French , Chinese , Roman, Hunnic , Mongol, and numerous other empires attest to that.
The native american societies were no exception. I'd be hard pressed to think of a time when two cultures met and there wasn't any fuss and bother.
If an extra terristreial scout saw us, even now, he would report back "give this species more time to evolve, they are still doing the tribal warfare thing."
So I guess, when Columbus set foot in the new world, all what happened since that day, was unavoidable, and part of a species such as us, to mature as a whole.
Well, that my thinking anyway.

[joewiggs]

Cutter, I have never heard it said better. You are exactly right including the flying saucer perspective. It is really sad that "man" can do no better. The best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, ergo, there is not much hope for us.

[Cutter]

Joe, I respectfully disagree that man can do no better. I was pointing out that we are evolving, and we aren't grown up, as a whole, to act and react better amongst ourselves. We haven't been here all that long, as things go, so there's a lot of maturing yet to do. Which we will, there is no doubt.
I guess I was saying what happened during the expansion west was not peculiar, compared to other history. If it had happened any different, that, in my eyes, would have been most peculiar.

On the contrary, if we don't blow each other to kingdom come, there's all kinds of hope for us.

[joewiggs]

And I, respectfully, agree with you. It is much better to view the glass half full than half empty for hope is eternal..